Inflation and Shortages Hit Home

Biden did this

Inflation sure is hitting me hard. For the first time ever, I paid $100 to fill up my rickety old 2020 Camry with nearly 140,000 miles on it. Here’s a screenshot:

I keep records of my gas spending, and two years ago, pre-Biden, it was $42 for a similar amount of close to 15.5 gallons. So it more than doubled. He blames it on “Putin,” but everybody knows the price spikes hit hard as soon as he took office, cut off production and the Keystone XL pipeline and began pumping so much money into the system — trillions of new waste — inflation was inevitable.

Last Oct. 20 I paid $63.58 for a similar amount (about 15.5 gallons). My last similar fillup under Trump was $44.46.

Then there are the shortages. I just took this at Target:

Actually, I’m on the Keto/Low Carb/Atkins/You-Don’t-Get-Delicious-Pizza-Ice-Cream-Diet. So I don’t eat bread. But I saw this walking through the store.

Some say the food shortages are due to the boycott of Russia, which includes not only oil and gas, but fertilizer. Farmers are hit with triple fertilizer prices, passing it along to us.

At least there were no shortages in the meat aisle — but everything cost 50% more than a year ago. Even the Covid shortages never caused such price hikes.

The gas hikes alone will cost me about $3,000 a year — after paying high high taxes. The food hikes, maybe $2,000 more. $5,000 a year I don’t have. Of course, I’m stupid enough to live in Taxifornia, where it’s $6-plus per gallon, 50% more than in more civilized states.

In his State of the Union Address, Biden cautioned producers not to increase prices or cut wages, but to find ways to cut costs — such as? Going out of business? Maybe Biden will impose wage and price controls, like Nixon did in 1971, making everything worse.

A recession now is headed our way, likely this fall. Have a great week.