A podcast host and former national press secretary for Sen. Bernie SandersBernie SandersBriahna Joy Gray discusses nationalization of oil industry Sanders introduces bill seeking MLB antitrust exemption Sunrise Movement seeks to support progressives in Pennsylvania, North Carolina MORE(I-Vt.)’s presidential campaign discussed what nationalizing the oil industry would look like amid soaring fuel prices.

In Hill.TV’s “Rising,” Briahna Joy Gray cited articles that pointed to historical examples where “for the same price the country bailed out the airline industry, it could just buy the airline industry.”

“It made me think of all those historic cases in this country where there’s been bailouts and bankruptcies and the like where the state took control of these companies, including General Motors in 2008, and then just took them out. quietly returned to the companies without actually doing what a normal acquisition would do, which is trying to return the profits to the owner,” Gray said.

She added that the move would be “essentially the same acquisition model as corporate mergers that everyone does all the time.”

“It’s just the government buying up the majority of the shares, if not all of the company, and then implementing policies that are in the public interest rather than for corporate profit,” she explained. .

His comments come as gas prices recently spiked after the United States banned oil imports from Russia as part of its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Now some states, like Maryland and Georgia, have already offered temporary breaks on gasoline taxes in order to make prices more bearable.

A recent politico-morning consultation survey showed that 73% of respondents said they supported a temporary federal tax break and 72% would support a similar move on state taxes.