Rather than bashing President Joe Biden for things beyond any president’s control, why does the keeper of the electronic sign near the Glade bridge not educate himself a little deeper about how the world really works?

I just returned from Marionville late last month where the price of gas at the Quik Fill was $3.849 and at the Keystone station $3.809 — the latter 19 cents cheaper than in Warren and the former presumably owned by the same refining company that charges $3.999 in Warren.

Maybe Biden conspired with United Refining to add 15 plus cents to the local price, but I suspect that good old capitalism allows United to charge whatever they please wherever they please. The facts, if the sign keeper truly wants to acknowledge them, are as follows: ” U.S. oil production is forecast to average an all-time high of 12.8 million barrels a day this year and keep growing to 13.1 million in 2024, the federal Energy Information Administration said in its latest forecast. That’s up from the most recent trough of 5 million barrels a day in 2008, and probably enough to help the U.S. to keep its title as the No. 1 global crude oil producer. … While the United States’ reliance on OPEC for oil imports has diminished, the country’s fuel market is still dependent on decisions made at the oil cartel’s meetings in Vienna — no matter how much oil comes out of U.S. shale fields … oil production from federal lands and waters has risen on Biden’s watch, reaching past 3 million barrels per day last year. The high mark during President Donald Trump’s term was 2.75 million barrels a day.”

Perhaps we should add a smidgen of greed into the definition of capitalism, for plenty of entrepreneurs and corporations have hoarded billions of dollars at the expense of the rest of us. It is noteworthy to remember that the entire cost of rebuilding New Orleans after hurricane Katrina was about $125 billion; that could have been paid for by Elon Musk and he still would have had $80 billion leftover.

The top five richest Americans all have a tidy nest egg of over $100 billion each. “They earned it!” many might chant. Not true. “Equity income was the main source – 83% – of lifetime income for the top 0.1% in the 50-54 age group. In contrast, households in the bottom 90% of the distribution earned 80% to 90% of their lifetime income from labor services. A very small fraction of people became rich purely through labor earnings.” This from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

The fear of socialism spoken of by so many fails to recognize that many government “entitlement” programs would not be necessary if employers — mainly the huge corporations and their top executives — simply paid a living wage. The dismantling of high-paying union jobs along with corporations shipping jobs to China and other cheap labor countries have all contributed to our present economy.

While 37% of Americans may live in poverty — defined as $19,720 for a two-person household — by world standards we have safety nets many countries do not have, and as the wealthiest nation in history we try to make sure that no one suffers. Nothing wrong with “socialism” when defined as compassion.

Either way, it’s hardly Mr. Biden’s fault that gasoline costs $4 in Warren. Things are a bit more complicated than easy sound bites.

Wes Jacobs is a Warren resident.