Puzder rips Biden's energy policy; jobs numbers
Former Hardee's executive offers analysis on 'The Story'
The Biden administration is executing a misguided and costly energy policy amid widespread inflation, and their explanation for a reduction on American energy production doesn't make sense, even in terms of preventing climate change, according to former CKE Restaurants CEO Andrew Puzder.
During his interview Friday on "The Story", host Martha MacCallum cut to White House press secretary Jen Psaki responding to a reporter's question about Biden's new reliance on OPEC as his administration blocks U.S. energy production.
Psaki said part of the oil issue has to do with the effects of Hurricane Ida on the Gulf Coast, while adding that "short-term supply issues" must be considered along with "the long-term impact of the climate" – further explaining that it is important to now focus moreso on renewable energy production.
In response, Puzder – whose former company is the parent of Carl's Jr and Hardee's -- said the White House's current increased reliance on OPEC is counterintuitive, given the fact oil exploration in the Middle East has environmental impacts just as domestic speculation does.
"How on earth does it help prevent carbon emissions if we use OPEC's and Russia’s oil instead of our oil?" Puzder questioned.
"That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. If you're using the oil, it’s the same carbon emissions," he said, adding that U.S. production is down 15% since "pre-pandemic."
"If we need more oil now to keep prices down – and we do, inflation is raging, part of that is energy prices – it's all due to Biden’s policies," he said.
Puzder added that the best way to bring down prices is instead to continue the Trump-era encouragement of domestic production on federal lands as well as returning to the Keystone Pipeline project between Alberta, Canada and Port Arthur, Texas, which was canceled by Biden on his first day in office.
"[S]top begging Russia and Saudi Arabia to give us oil – it makes us pay more for our energy costs."
On "The Story", Puzder also commented on the release of the latest jobs numbers, in which the actual figures missed Labor Department expectations by more than 300,000.
MacCallum reported the figure was around 194,000 – significantly short of the projected 500,000 – amid a labor market simultaneously suffering from high unemployment yet high numbers of job openings.
Puzder told MacCallum that that scenario is a unique economic conundrum:
"The problem is … we don’t have a jobs shortage as your numbers showed at the beginning of the show. We have almost 11 million job openings and 7.7 million people unemployed. The problem is not a shortage of jobs: It’s workers," he said.
"So if the programs [the administration] is proposing are government spending to create jobs, we don’t need to create jobs. We have the jobs. The other thing you’re spending on is discouraging people from working by providing benefits to people that don’t work, you’re actually hurting the problems, enhancing the problem of not enough workers," Puzder added, expressing concern that the White House has yet to "come to grips" with the true problems the economy is facing.
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