By Guy Page
Vermonters know inflation is up. Way up. What’s going on?
Gasoline prices are way up. A year ago, an average gallon of Vermont regular unleaded cost $2.45. Today it costs $3.53, according to a recent Gas Buddy online report.
Heating fuel prices are way up. The gallon of heating oil that cost $1.91 on Jan. 27, 2021 cost $3.20 on Jan. 31, 2022, a Vermont report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.
Food prices are way up. Nationwide, food prices rose seven percent from January ‘21 to January ‘22 – including 12.5% for fish and meat. Vermonters are in the top three states for monthly grocery bills, according to online sources.
Used cars are up 40%, new cars up 12% from January to January, federal statistics say.
Firearms and ammunication prices both have skyrocketed due to increased demand and supply chain problems. Housing is not only far pricier in Vermont, it’s virtually unobtainable.
Overall, U.S. inflation is at 7.5%. Worse yet, no-one in power is predicting inflation will slow. The Biden administration recently said it hopes inflation will ease by the end of the year.
It is not lost on some observers that many of the very items deplored by left-leaning advocacy groups – fossil fuels, meat, single-occupant vehicles, and firearms – all have inflation rates higher than the average. Neither is it lost on fuel consumers in particular that President Biden shut down a major pipeline on his first day of office and fuel supply has been in decline ever since. His decisions are at least partly to blame.
And so Vermonters ask: why is inflation happening? Who’s to blame? And how can it be fixed? Will the solution come from market activity or government action? Big questions, with many answers. One thing is for sure: Vermonters are watching and waiting for state and federal government action that takes their cost-of-living concerns seriously.
Categories: Commentary
Very clever cartoon analysis! That picture tells the truth in one frame.
Would you rather have a recession? The inflation is being used as an excuse by the monopolistic corporations to raise prices. The are making record profits, and they are bragging about it. Nixon back in the day threatened the oil companies with a windfall profits tax, and prices on fuel dropped.
Don’t give up on the idea of having a recession just yet…….Thanks to the multi-trillions of dollars of unfunded and out of control spending coming out of Washington for the past two years we now have the highest rate of inflation in nearly two generations.
The FED is now alert to the inflationary danger and posed to begin raising interest rates and instituting other corrective measures…… If inflation continues its upward spiral and the FED reacts with aggressive rate hikes, we could indeed see a recession resulting in painful consequences for all Americans…….A massive stock market drop, borrowing costs skyrocketing, a real estate bust, retail prices prices through the roof, lay-offs and more all with the middle class and poor suffering the most.
Yes we could see an ugly recession……The situation is especially dire with Joe Biden sitting at the top of the government and unable to even acknowledge the root causes of the growing inflationary problem.
Thank goodness that Joe Manchin joined the Republicans to put the breaks on the crazy spending.
Taxes need to be raised on the wealthy at rates that existed before Reagan. There needs to be wealth tax also. The military needs to be cut in half, and Institute Medicare for all. Student loans need to be forgiven, and in there place a system of higher ed funding that is more equitable and less userous. That is how you forge a new way forward.
IPS, Bernie, is that you Bernie ?
There you go…….. Biden’s Build Back Better program repackaged…….Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, AOC and the Squad couldn’t have said it better…….More free stuff leading to a wider pathway to more raging inflation, harsher FED actions required with a crippling recession to follow……..All of which would hit low and middle class families the hardest.
Then with Russia on the front steps of Ukraine, China pressing to take Taiwan, Iran with missiles that can reach Israel…….These countries would all be on board with the US cutting military funding in half and making the United States the next Ukraine to be bullied…….If Russia peacefully backs down on Ukraine, it will be because of US strength and not a military cut in half.
Tax the rich to include a wealth tax with the realization that once this low hanging fruit is taken the need to provide more revenue to fund “free stuff” falls on the middle class.
You save your criticism and your ignorance about what’s causing the inflation for a Democrat to be in office, and not much of one either. But, you are overlooking one major thing, Trump has spent more money than Biden has, or probably will, even if he got Build Back Better, which would have been paid for if all the elements of it were in tact. The first Cares act was the largest upward transfer of wealth in history. At $5 trillion, 80% of it benefited the top 10%. Workers and small businesses got crumbs. Trump signed that, and made sure his name was on the checks. And then there was the tax cut he signed, that benefited mostly top incomes; but had no effect on the rest of the economy. That, in term of lost revenues, was more expensive than anything that has been proposed by Biden and the Democrats.
My comment:
“Thanks to the multi-trillions of dollars of unfunded and out of control spending coming out of Washington for the past two years we now have the highest rate of inflation in nearly two generations.”……….Covers Trump’s contribution to the spending problem as he was in office during the two years cited.
Beyond that ad hominem attacks are conversation enders.
So how is it Biden’s Biden’s inflation?
We can also thank Joe for being the best firearm salesman since Barack Hussein Obama…
Now if we could only get ammunition, and components to stoke all those new firearms !
Pfff. Who cares about voters? We’ll just fortify the votes!
If you have lived long enough or know history, whenever the dollar is in trouble of collapse because of inflationary policy by government or embezzlement is to squeeze dissidents in the middle class, the best cover becomes war. The policy of the Biden administration is to punish anyone who defies the elite. They don’t want to govern anymore. They are tired of having to take care of you. IMHO food scarcity, health rationing, inflation, tax, tax, tax climate policy and inequity of process under the law is a policy of a clear and present danger to try to make the populous turn on themselves so the elites can bring in the Klaus Schwab global RESET of a technocracy of total control as in China.
https://www.brighteon.com/78416901-bb1b-4fd1-9e75-1a38fdcb6668
Spend money you don’t have is the recipe.
Print money with zero backing – that is the product
The result is that folks who had savings and retirement
“settled” are now screwed but good/BAD!!
Bankruptcy is bad business! Making products makes lives!
United States of America are trying to tip the scales of reality,
and WE ALL are threatened with falling off the cliff.
I have a T Shirt with only one hole –
that I will trade for your half eaten banana!