When Oil Companies Set Energy Policy, Workers Pay the Price

Here's what's real about affordability right now: A gallon of gas costs more, sure. But the deeper problem is that your paycheck hasn't kept pace with prices in decades.

According to The Hill, President Trump met with oil and gas retailers and refineries at the White House as oil prices jumped again. The goal is clear: use energy prices as a midterm campaign tool. But here's what matters: meeting with oil companies to discuss affordability is like asking banks to fix the housing crisis.

The affordability crisis isn't about a single commodity spiking. It's systemic. Since 1979, productivity in America jumped 92.4 percent. Wages? Up 33.6 percent. That gap is where families live, choosing between rent and insulin, between a tank of gas and groceries. And it affects everything.

Why this matters to your wallet

When energy policy gets written in rooms with oil executives, it tends to protect oil company profits instead of your ability to afford to live. Short-term price tweaks feel good before an election. But they don't solve the problem. They just defer it.

The clean energy transition is framed as a cost. But it's actually the largest job-creation opportunity in American history, solar installers, wind technicians, grid modernization, battery manufacturing. These are good-paying jobs that can't be outsourced. They're also jobs where wages actually keep up with what things cost.

Meeting with oil refineries to tackle affordability is backwards. It's like asking the problem to solve itself.