Plain English with Derek Thompson

Why Gas Prices Are Skyrocketing—and an Ingenious Plan to Bring Them Down

Jun 21, 2022

Skanda Amarnath, the Executive Director at Employ America and co-author of an innovative plan to enhance oil capacity, joins the discussion. He highlights the urgent need to tackle skyrocketing gas prices, now a major economic and political issue. The conversation explores the role of government policies in stabilizing the energy market and suggests strategies like using the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Amarnath also emphasizes the importance of balancing immediate economic relief with long-term climate goals in managing oil supply.

47:58

Episode guests

Skanda Amarnath

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Intro

4min

Navigating Oil Prices and Market Uncertainty

14min

Understanding Loan Guarantees and Economic Stability

2min

Navigating Gas Prices: Policy and Strategy

17min

Navigating Industry-Specific Bottlenecks for Economic Prosperity

4min

Navigating the Complexities of the Oil Industry and Energy Policy

2min

Expensive energy is an economic, psychological, and political scourge. Nominally, gas prices are at a record high. Adjusted for inflation, they could break the all-time record if they rise just another 35 cents. We should be desperately curious to solve this problem; so, that’s what this episode is all about. Today’s guest is Skanda Amarnath, the executive director at Employ America, which has quickly become one of my very favorite sources of research and commentary on economics. He is also the coauthor of an ingenious plan to increase oil capacity in a way that could reasonably bring down gas prices. This episode gets pretty deep into the weeds of policy and oil markets. But it was one of the most educational conversations I’ve had on this show. And I hope you find it similarly stimulating.

Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: Skanda Amarnath

Producer: Devon Manze

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