Inflation rose at its fastest pace in 12 years during April, per the U.S. Department of Labor. The Consumer Price Index was up 4.2 percent from a year earlier. Per CNBC, the “increase in the annual headline CPI rate was the fastest since September 2008, while the monthly gain in core inflation was the largest since 1981.”
Just over one year ago oil producers had to pay their customers to take delivery of crude oil due to the massive drop-off in travel driven by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Energy prices overall are up more than 25 percent from a year earlier, including a 49.6 percent increase in gasoline and 37.3 percent for fuel oil.
Today, gas is more than $1.15 more expensive than it was one year ago, per AAA, with a national average price per gallon of Regular gas at $3.008. The price of diesel fuel, the fuel that powers our commercial trucks, is up $0.72 over the past year, driving up the cost of shipping.
It is not just food and fuel that is hurting America’s poor. The materials used in construction have skyrocketed. Lumber prices have risen 124 percent in 2021.
In fact, the cost of rough lumber to frame out a modest 1,500 square foot home has more than doubled from $14,000 to $29,000, according to Jeff Pemstein, Division President for Homes by Towne, as reported by Fox 40. This will push many homes out of the price range of lower-income Americans.
First, we need to reassert our energy independence. Rescind the executive order banning the Keystone Pipeline and those banning fracking on federal land so we can drive down the price of gas and the price of groceries. Open the economy and commit to not passing any additional COVID stimulus packages that deter work.
This will allow more businesses to re-open, or to open full-time, reducing unemployment and giving people who want to work more disposable income. In addition, investigate changing the laws that regulate the hours an over-the-road truck-driver can drive in a day. This will allow groceries to be delivered faster, at lower costs, that will lead to reduced prices on the store shelves. There are many other actions that the government can take to reduce this commodity inflation.