Inflation impacts everyone no matter what their political affiliation is. The Free Dictionary defines inflation as the “reduction in purchasing power of a currency.” Inflation has historically occurred when a country prints too much of its currency in too short a period of time.
When COVID-19 surfaced two years ago, federal, state, and local governments shut down many businesses, and millions of employees were laid off to “prevent the spread of the disease.”
To make up for the loss of income, federal and state governments passed out several billion dollars in the form of stimulus checks. The U.S. government raised the debt ceiling, thus printing a lot of new currency in a short period of time. They also raised the minimum wage and provided historic raises to Social Security and government recipients.
Even though there were substantial wage increases for those who were still working and those who weren’t, they were erased by increases in the consumer price index, which is the average change over time in the prices paid for a market basket of consumer goods and services, which were twice the amount of the income gains—the result was an instant reduction in purchasing power of our currency.
In other words, you had more folding money in your pocket, but you were paying more of it for fewer goods and services.
There is another inflationary factor to consider: the cost of government regulation. One commodity is key to providing goods and services, and its availability has been adversely impacted by one political party at the national and local levels. It is fossil fuel, which propels the gears of industry and commerce.
President Joe Biden recently said that the Russians are responsible for price increases at the gasoline/diesel pumps. He also said during the run-up to his election that it was his goal to eliminate the production and use of fossil fuels in the United States, and since then he and his party have done everything in their power to achieve that goal using government regulation.
As thousands of workers commute north and south from Santa Maria and Lompoc each day, not taking action to increase internal fuel supplies will crush those on fixed incomes, low- and middle-income families, farmers, truckers, and workers as businesses close and the family cost of living increases to untenable levels just to get to work due to the lack of reliable, lower cost energy sources.
I use a credit card when I purchase fuel for my vehicle every Friday; therefore, I can see the weekly difference in what I pay at the pump. My miles driven is consistent week to week so it’s easy to make a direct comparison of my fuel costs. Last week my fuel cost was 50 percent higher than the week before.
I am sure that yours was too, no matter who you voted for. Why did this happen? Well, the week before, President Biden stopped buying oil from Russia because of their barbaric actions in the Ukraine; more than 70 percent of Americans, including my family, supported this action. But did he do anything about replacing that lost supply—no!
To make up for it, he is pushing the green agenda with renewed vigor. It is leading to a substantial increase in gasoline/diesel cost to every citizen of our country due to the reduced fuel supply.
Even if the nation went “all in” to achieve this green goal, it would take trillions of dollars to create new infrastructure and at least two decades of concerted effort. And the nation still wouldn’t be able to eliminate the use of fossil fuels because they are used to produce green energy equipment, clothing, consumer electronics, etc.
The German government tried this, and they failed miserably, and this year they had to reverse course to survive.
Biden also claims that turning on the U.S. fossil fuel supply will take months—remember it only took one hour following the 2021 inauguration to shut it off, therefore it should only take an hour to turn it back on.
And the Biden administration claims that the oil industry has thousands of leases but refuses to produce oil to keep prices up is a fraud. Why, because even though they have leases, the government refuses to issue the permits necessary to extract and transport the crude oil.
To make my point, in our county three members of the Board of Supervisors recently denied a trucking permit for an oil producer, once again proving that environmental elitists dictate a misguided energy policy in this county. Previously the Board of Supervisors, led by 1st, 2nd, and 3rd District supervisors, have denied every oil project in the county for the last several years.
Supervisors Joan Hartmann, Gregg Hart, and Das Williams, all of whom have a transportation allowance, apparently don’t care about their constituents who don’t have a transportation allowance and are losing their purchasing power. They only care about pandering to a poorly thought-out green energy agenda; thus, they have directly contributed to the soaring cost of gasoline and diesel.
In Santa Barbara County it would take a change in direction by the Board of Supervisors to restart oil exploration, extraction, and transportation. Oil industry representatives are on record saying it would take days, not months, to begin producing oil again once permits are issued.
Considering the current Board of Supervisors majority, don’t hold your breath waiting for this to happen. In the meantime, the plight of the working poor and folks on fixed incomes will only worsen.
An election is near—a change of philosophy is needed. In the upcoming election throw your party affiliation away and vote for the candidate who is committed to making a tangible improvement in your ability to meet your family’s financial needs through a reduction of gas pump prices.
Ron Fink writes to the Sun from Lompoc. Send a letter for publication to letters@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 24-31, 2022.
