The Shadow
I’m sure that everyone has heard the term, “Inflation Nation.”
Politics aside, the term reminds me of an opposite saying inspired by the limbo, “How low can you go?”
Our nation and other nations around the world battled COVID-19 by shutting down businesses and shutting in people.
Now that COVID-19 and its variants are infecting fewer people with less devastating results, more people are out and about, and recently, the requirement of masking up while riding on airplanes has been dropped.
With the resumption of activities such as the recent Super Bowl and other sporting events that draw thousands of fans who are no longer required to wear masks, an increase in the demand for gasoline and diesel fuel to get fans to and from events in their vehicles has contributed to the inflation problem.
I was coaching and teaching in Calif. in the Huntington Beach Union High School District in 1974 when the Arab Oil Embargo caused the price of a gallon of gasoline to spike from 35 cents to 75 cents per gallon overnight.
The situation was so bad that motorists were not allowed to purchase gasoline except for every other day, and the restriction on purchasing gasoline was based on license plate numbers, ones ending in an odd number and ones ending in an even number.
Drivers of vehicles with license plates ending in an odd number were allowed to purchase fuel on an odd number day of the month while those drivers whose license plates ending with an even number were permitted to purchase fuel on even number days.
The COVID-19 pandemic cut down on traveling, and the demand for fuel decreased. Now that many nations around the world are bouncing back from the pandemic, demand for fuel has risen along with purchase prices.
Much of the supply of food and goods in America is provided by truckers, and when fuel prices spike, then the prices of goods the truckers haul spike as well.
I remember being hired to take hoe in hand and eliminate weeds from a cornfield on the banks of Left Beaver Creek in Eastern Kentucky during the early 1950s, and my friend who was hired to complete the job hoed along each row beside me.
As we went along hoeing row by row, we discussed what we would do with the pay we anticipated that we would each receive. In those days, one could purchase a ticket to see a movie and buy a bag of popcorn along with a soft drink and a candy bar for 50 cents.
After hoeing the corn patch for three hours, my friend and I informed the owner that we had finished the job, and he reached into his pocket and paid each of us a dime.
I had neglected to agree on a price for hoeing the corn before completing the job, and my father, once he heard the low pay my friend and I had received, told me that the lesson learned was worth far more than the dime I had earned.
Father instructed me to always price the job before accepting it. The memory serves to put into perspective the impact of inflation, and just today, I saw a candy bar priced for more than $2 at a BP Station where the price for a gallon of regular gasoline was displayed on its electronic sign for $3.95.
As for inflation, it is a double-edged sword, one that allows some to prosper by turning huge profits from the sale of real estate or goods while others are forced to sale their properties or businesses to avoid facing bankruptcy.
Because the majority of goods and food items in America are distributed by trucks from seaports, farms and factories, the spike in fuel prices results in inflated prices for groceries, building materials, food items, electronics and other goods.
Adding to the fuel crunch is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Putin cutting off fuel sales to two countries that are members of NATO.
Also, OPEC’s decision to refrain from supplying more oil to meet the increased global demand combined with what Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia named the “War on Coal,” anyone should be able to grasp the propensity of the situation that has led to historic high prices for fossil fuels and products derived from them.
“The term, “Drill Baby Drill,” has been shelved by Uncle Sam, and the current push to “Go Green” remains a stumbling block for the reduction of fuel prices to return to pre-pandemic levels.
While no one may admit to liking inflation, many become wealthy because of inflation, especially in real estate.
