“Do it Now!” – Biden Still Demanding Gas Station Owners Cut Prices

President Biden lashed out at gas stations on Tuesday for allegedly being tardy in lowering the price of fuel in line with dropping oil prices.

During a meeting Monday with economic aides, Biden lamented that while crude prices fell sharply last month, it has taken a “long time” for the drop in price to trickle down to the consumer.

“We haven’t seen the lower prices reflected at the pump though. Meanwhile, oil and gas companies are still making record profits — billions of dollars in profit,” the president said Monday.

“My message is simple. To the companies running gas stations and setting those prices at the pump: Bring down the prices you’re charging at the pump to reflect the cost you pay for the product.”

Biden’s comments, which were posted by the White House, were reported by Insider.

The president exhorted gas stations to pass along savings to customers more quickly.

“Do it now,” Biden said. “Do it now. Not a month from now — do it now.”

“And it’s going to save people a lot of money.”

Bob Bilbruck, CEO of business strategy firm Captjur, told The Post that Biden was “way off base.”

“I grew up in the convenience store gas station business,” Bilbruck said.

“Margins are razor-thin in these operations and depending on their relationship in the buying ecosystem, they may be buying from a bulk fueler or directly from the producer [so] we are talking very little difference in prices,” he said.

Since gas station owners work on small margins, they are under “constant competitive pressures from the station next door to keep their prices competitive.”

“This is simple supply and demand,” Bilbruck told The Post.

“You have less drilling going on and less oil and gas being refined — prices go up.”

He added: “It’s basic economics — if Biden wanted to make a true impact and get costs down for the consumer, there are many things he could do.”

Free-market advocates also did not take too kindly to the president’s comments.

“Having the president of the country pressuring private companies into cutting profit is not a good look at best,” geopolitical analyst Irina Tsukerman, who heads Scarab Rising, told The Post.

“These comments indicate that Biden is avoiding responsibility for his own contribution to the price crisis — the policies that have driven up the gas prices to begin with, failure to allow for leases on federal land, the shutdown of pipeline projects, the gas tax hike, among others.”

The average price of a gallon of fuel ticked up to $3.75 nationwide on Tuesday — which is 17% higher compared to a year ago, when the cost was $3.19 per gallon.

Biden administration officials touted the drop in gas prices from mid-June, when they reached a record high of $5.02.

Last week, gas prices rose for the first time, snapping a 99-day streak of falling prices.

Gasoline prices mostly reflect trends in global oil prices, and crude — both the US benchmark and the international Brent — have been slumping since mid-June on growing fears of a global recession that would reduce demand for energy.

US crude rose $0.73 on Tuesday, closing at $77.44 a barrel. Brent crude jumped 1.32% to $85.17 a barrel.

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