As seen in City Hall
Joe Biden, once again ice cream cone in hand, was asked about the state of the economy last weekend. Biden again responded with a remarkably distant, boastful “strong as hell.”
But is it? A recent poll by Scott Rasmussen tells us that over 60 percent of Americans believe they will face rising inflation in the coming months. This comes on top of months of record inflation Americans have grappled with since the last time Biden held court with the media at an ice cream shop.
Americans clearly do not trust that Joe Biden’s economic policies will bring any relief anytime soon, whether at the gas pump, the grocery store, or virtually anywhere else. But runaway federal spending continues to fuel price increases and will continue to weigh on the American people . This begs the question: will the next Congress pull itself together? The Biden administration has had an opportunity to revitalize our energy independence and strengthen our country’s fragile supply chain, but the government’s actions are at odds with restoring our country’s economy.
On the first day of the Biden administration, inflation was 1.4%. From Biden’s decision to shut down American oil and gas exploration, to Congress’ astronomical spending packages, to endless spending on America’s proxy war in Eastern Europe, to our nation’s supply chain woes, this summer American families saw inflation hit an all-time high of 9.1% . Although the September CPI report showed inflation at 8.2% yoy, it remains nearly seven times higher than on the first day of Joe Biden’s presidency. Biden chose to do away with the pro-business growth policies introduced by the Trump administration and pushed for radical, heavily regulated economic policies that would benefit only those who align themselves with the radical left’s agenda. Part of that agenda involves dramatically changing the habits of the American people by ending oil and gas exploration and pushing a Green New Deal agenda.
On January 21, 2021, the national gas price average was $2.33 per gallon. President Biden quickly declared war on fossil fuels, revoked permits for the Keystone XL pipeline, and halted domestic power generation. As a result, oil production collapsed, American oil and gas workers were laid off, and gas prices rose to historic highs. This summer, gas prices rose to over $5 a gallon. Seeking a quick, temporary fix, Biden released 180 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, reducing our country’s inventories to their lowest level in over thirty years and jeopardizing our energy security. Biden has pleaded with our foreign opponents to increase oil production, even asking OPEC to delay its decision to cut oil production until after the election, and has threatened to withhold military and financial aid to Saudi Arabia if it complies with the White House’s request not comply. Not only is our energy security a national security threat to our country, but our supply chains, weakened by COVID-19 regulations and excessive regulatory burdens that constrain our free market economy, are also a reason for high prices.
COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccination regulations continue to damage America’s already fragile supply chain. Earlier this year, Canada banned unvaccinated US truck drivers from entering Canada. A multi-billion dollar revenue stream for the US caused tens of thousands of truck drivers to quit as many northern border states that depended on cross-border trade could no longer get the products they needed. Farmers and ranchers were unable to obtain the fertilizers and equipment needed to grow crops and produce food for the American people.
The war in Ukraine is also stretching critical supply chain movements and hurting our economy, but that shouldn’t be the case. Biden should put the interests of American taxpayers ahead of the escalation of a European conflict that could very well be catastrophic. After all, endless wars abroad are incompatible with limited government – something that politicians on both sides of the aisle have abandoned in recent years.
In November, American voters will go to the polls to focus on pocket money issues, reject candidates who have aligned themselves with Biden’s failed economic policies, vote for those who champion pro-market, pro-growth economic principles, and reject Biden’s regulatory burdens that ban the market to function freely outside of government manipulation.
Adam Brandon is the President of FreedomWorks.
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