The best cure for high gas prices could be -- high gas prices

There's not a lot that Joe Biden, Congress or the Federal Reserve can do to bring down the record high gas prices. High gas prices themselves might do the job for them.

That's because big swings in prices of a good or service are typically caused by an imbalance between supply and demand. And when the imbalances cause prices to soar, as has happened to gas and oil prices since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, those high prices can help rebalance supply and demand. How? By causing more supply and/or less demand.

Increasing energy supply, especially enough to rebalance markets, will be difficult. It would take many months, maybe years, to significantly increase US refinery capacity to match where it was before the pandemic. And oil companies seem committed to not flooding the market with oil, which could drive down prices. Instead, oil companies are using their windfall profits to increase share repurchases or dividends and help boost their stock prices.