Inflation continues to impact local families

I do the weekly shopping at BJ’s for my family — mostly produce, a block of New York sharp cheddar, milk and some bread. For the longest time, it’s been $80 every time. It’s now $120, a 50% increase. To many, that may not sound like much, but it adds up to $160 a month, almost $2,000 a year.

That’s someone’s post-COVID-19 vacation, part of someone’s college savings or half a year of car payments. I’m fortunate to have a wife who’s a saver and was able to pre-buy our heating oil over the summer, locking in the price. Many don’t have the means to do that and are now trapped paying high prices to heat their homes, homes they’re in more because they can’t afford to fill their cars with gas as prices shoot toward $4 a gallon.

Inflation continues its march draining everyone’s wallets. In January, we saw inflation rise 7.5%, its highest level in 40 years. The last time it was this high, we entered a severe recession. This is now the biggest threat to the U.S. economy, and yet, for months, it was either ignored or, worse, denied by the White House.

Spokesperson Jen Psaki first said inflation was not a serious threat to the economy and it is temporary and then blamed corporate greed. She downplayed supply shortages, relegating real concerns to “the tragedy of the treadmill delayed.”

Despite inflation being very real to families in Tompkins County and across the country, this White House is blaming politics and, instead of changing course, is promising more of the same policies that got us here.

We’re now months into these price increases, and the White House has failed to make any meaningful change in its approach. It still seems to believe that cuts in fossil fuel supplies will somehow lower gas prices and that more federal spending will lower inflation instead of fueling it.

At least now, the White House isn’t denying inflation. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in September, “There still isn’t anything to suggest widespread inflation,” and Psaki said in August, “As we look at averages, the rate of inflation has actually come down and we continue to be at a projection where it is going to come back to normal rates next year.” How far into next year, she didn’t say.

Americans have noticed, not just Republicans and Independents. Close to a majority of Democrats in recent polls see this too. They believe it because it’s true. We are all in this together.

What to do now? Unfortunately, inflation has been ignored for so long, it will only be harder to turn this around. When it comes to gas and electricity prices, we need to increase energy supplies, both fossil fuels and electricity from other sources. This will take time, but the sooner we start, the sooner we’ll see returns.

Green New Deals including New York’s latest climate plan exclude nuclear power in their proposals, but it’s the only way other than natural gas to get the electricity we need. Nuclear energy will also take time to ramp up to give us baseload electricity that will eventually lower electricity prices. New York has some of the highest in the country, but we need to start now and abandon the Cuomo/Hochul policy of closing nuclear power plants.

It’s been suggested we extend the middle-class tax cut that was passed in the last Republican Congress. It hasn’t been renewed yet, but it should be. This would immediately put money back into your pocket.

We must start onshoring critical supply chains. Shortages of computer chips, pharmaceuticals and heavy equipment are not just inconvenient and raising the prices of all those goods; it’s a national security concern. We can’t rely on other nations for these basics, just as we can’t rely on them for energy supplies.

For most of us, the most noticeable shortages are at the grocery store. Some areas of the country are having trouble getting paper products, meat and eggs. It’s been repeated a lot that this is because of broken supply chains, but why are they still broken as COVID-19 wanes? Because we’ve continued restrictions and mandates in the nation far past when we knew they were either ineffective or, worse, damaging.

These mandates will continue to force prices higher. At this point, we must let our supply chains actually be chains and not ones with broken links.

With inflation, everyone should prepare for increasing interest rates. Just as the federal government should cut its debt, that’s pretty good advice considering the months ahead. You’ll see many locking into rates if they can. Inflation doesn’t care about party affiliation or what town you live in. The problem has been ignored or dismissed for too long. Congress and the president need to act.

Republican View appears in the last edition each month in Tompkins Weekly.