The Shadow
The GDP for the first quarter has been announced at 1.5 percent, revealing that the economy is slowing.
Fear of a recession looms as inflation gnaws its way like a rodent into Americans’ pocketbooks.
A bear market has the value of stocks plunging.
Who does inflation negatively impact?
Those on fixed incomes who live below the poverty level feel the pinch the most.
Those who commute to their workplaces perhaps grit their teeth as they are filling up their vehicles at the pump.
The national average for one gallon of regular-grade gasoline was $2.39 a gallon on Jan. 20, 2021, the day President Joe Biden took office, and now the national average has skyrocketed to $4.27 per gallon for the same kind of gasoline.
The previous historic-high price for one gallon of regular-grade gasoline in the U.S. prior to Jan. 20, 2021, was $4.10 per gallon for regular-grade gasoline in 2008 during President George W. Bush’s Administration. Pain at the pump continues as summer nears without relief in sight.
A contributing factor to driving nationwide inflation higher is the rise in the price of a gallon of diesel fuel that has spiked from $3.24 a year ago to $5.57. Freight, trucking and construction industries rely heavily on diesel fuel, and farmers rely on diesel fuel as well for their tractors.
The higher cost to move goods from place to place combined with the higher cost for farmers to operate their tractors have driven up the prices of consumer goods, especially food prices and fuel prices.
How did America go from exporting more oil than was being imported during a brief stint of energy independence to suffering from a shortage that has led President Joe Biden to tap into the nation’s oil reserve while trying to persuade OPEC to increase its oil production?
As a teacher in the Huntington Beach Union High School District at the time, I remember the 1974 Arab Oil Embargo that caused gasoline prices to soar from 35 cents per gallon to 75 cents per gallon.
That was in Calif. where motorists could only purchase gasoline on the day of the month that matched the last number on their license plates, odd numbers one day and even numbers the next.
Speaking of Calif., during the past two weeks, the price of one gallon of regular-grade gasoline has leaped 33 cents per gallon from $4.38 to $4.71 in Camarillo.
Nonethanol gasoline is recommended for the car that I own, and I filled the tank this week at Covington Farm & Fuel to the tune of $4.93.9 per gallon of regular-grade gasoline.
With Putin’s projected three-day war against Ukraine still raging three months later and Russia’s oil distribution to other nations being curtailed, prices at the pump have jumped.
What is the state of our nation?
Our Southern Border is being overrun by record high numbers of illegal aliens from more than 150 nations, and recently, the FBI intervened after discovering a terrorist threat from those who came across the Southern Border with the intent to assassinate former President George W. Bush.
One illegal alien lied about his age and was released in Florida where he committed a murder.
Many have been bused or flown into several states at the expense of the U.S. Government.
Since the “Stay in Mexico Policy” was reversed, a record number of illegal aliens have been apprehended and released, requiring the U.S. Border Patrol to tie up its agents with administrative duties.
With Title 42 soon to be discontinued by the Biden Administration, Border Patrol predicts that millions more will flood across the Southern Border. Only a federal judge’s ruling stands in the way while an appeal by the Biden Administration plays out.
The understaffing has created a dangerous situation in that far fewer members of the Border Patrol are available to perform their main duties of preventing the cartels form smuggling drugs, eliminating sex trafficking, apprehending illegal aliens and stopping all nefarious activities.
When will enough be enough?
Will Americans get out of their chairs and shout from their windows the way fictional character, Howard Beale, a newscaster in the 1976 movie, “Network,” admonished them to do?
Beale directed Americans to open their windows and shout, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!”
