General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI am utterly convinced that the major driver in politics is the price of gasoline
Most of Americans are just that short-sighted.
Prove me wrong.
BlueTsunami2018
(3,850 posts)But the prices for everything are really high right now. Thats a big problem.
ProfessorGAC
(69,459 posts)Shipping costs, warehousing costs, and production of food products are all influenced by fuel costs, especially the first.
So, consumer goods all have upward price pressure.
Sure, some goods may be more expensive to produce right now, (but most of the reported financial reasons are pretty flimsy), but the high fuel costs compound things.
Normally inflation doesn't include fuel cost for this very reason. Consumer prices are autocorrelated to fuel so economists like to leave that out. Actually, finding that degree of autocorrelation is pretty easy, so correcting figures for "double counting" isn't that hard. The economics community has been lazy & negligent in this area for decades.
hamsterjill
(15,441 posts)That also factors in to this, including the argument as to gas prices. Costs more to move goods, etc.
Average working people see empty shelves and get scared, and they get mad.
Elessar Zappa
(15,421 posts)A lot of swing voters vote based on how their wallets doing.
madville
(7,448 posts)I dont remember seeing grocery price increases like this in the last 40 years, especially on meat. That affects almost every person.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)up next year and in 2024, it will definitely be an issue that will help GOPers at the polls.
Goodheart
(5,760 posts)And most Americans are too economically illiterate to understand its causes, or the bigger picture.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)right wing talking point.
Ask Jimmy Carter who gets blamed for inflation, even if it wasnt his fault.
spooky3
(35,927 posts)Buddy1
(10 posts)Im struggling with increased prices on gas and food. How do we deem inflation as a non-issue?
maxsolomon
(34,929 posts)It's been how long since we experienced real Inflation? 1991 was the last time the US had a rate over 4%.
There are 30 year olds who've never experienced it before.
The Finger of Blame must be pointed, despite most of it being beyond anyone's control, and Biden is in the way.
Decoy of Fenris
(1,954 posts)Without financial security and stability, you can't expect people to care about other more nuanced issues. You think someone who lives paycheck to paycheck with two jobs, struggling to find out what to eat next, gives a shit about wind-power or refugees or social justice? They're going to vote for what makes their lives easier.
It's just a political representation of the Hierarchy of Needs: People won't vote for anything that doesn't directly impact their current "Level" on the hierarchy. The worse the economy, the more "basic" the voter. Right now the economy's shit, inflation's bonkers, gas is through the roof and basic food and goods prices are spiked. That tends to happen regardless of party in charge. Unfortunately, Democrats are going to reap that particularly rotten harvest unless it gets addressed before 2022, I think.
Response to Goodheart (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
bearsfootball516
(6,457 posts)I drive past 5 gas stations every morning on my way to work, and 5 on my way home. Thats 10 times a day my eyes glance up at the prices and subconsciously I think Wow, thats high.
Im lucky to be in a position where it doesnt impact me. But for tens of millions of low and middle income Americans, it hurts. I used to be in a spot where I only put enough gas in my tank to make it to the next payday. It was awful. And millions of Americans go through that every day.
And yes, I know that the President doesnt have any control over gas prices. Im just saying, I can understand the discomfort someone would feel over gas prices.
Metaphorical
(2,174 posts)Irony is that things like ADP employment numbers right now are through the roof.
My anticipation is that once we get into the Spring, assuming we don't see another Delta-like variant emerge, most of the supply chain issues should resolve themselves pretty quickly. Oil prices are still lower than they were six years ago, and look to be topping out at around $80 bbl for WTI. We got used to seeing oil at $40-$50 bbl, but historically that's on the low end.
Still, the perception is that food and oil prices are high, and yes, people really are that short-sighted (and not just Americans), especially when corporate media is fanning the flames.
qazplm135
(7,465 posts)and a lot more about their general life.
d_r
(6,907 posts)That these people drive these gas guzzlers then turn around and cry about gas prices.
InAbLuEsTaTe
(24,514 posts)NickB79
(19,555 posts)We've never voluntarily reduced our fuel consumption through conservation and purchasing fuel-efficient cars except when high prices at the pump convinced us to. Every time prices fall, Prius sales drop and truck sales spike.
And the only way we have a chance in hell of combating climate change is by lowering gas and diesel use.
BUT....
Politicians who even suggest we raise gas prices just a few cents to protect the environment get pilloried by voters, who end up electing the guys who don't give a fuck about the climate.
ymetca
(1,182 posts)always jacks the price of gasoline when their butts are on the hot-seat, which is normally when a Dem is in the White House.
Of course, when W was in charge, and gas was $8 a gallon, he just started a war to to take our minds off the subject. QED. Remember when the GOP was touting how we'd just take all that sweet Iraqi oil? Hmm.. what happened there?
Black Gold always has the ace-up-the-sleeve, especially when Winter is Coming and the fear of freezing to death can be used to "hone" voters' priorities.
Supply and demand ain't got nothin' on that cartel.
ProfessorGAC
(69,459 posts)That's the trick. Big oil actually doesn't set prices as both raw material & refined product are sold through the commodities market. (Although, the fix is in on refined goods, due to the long ago agreed upon cost plus floor.)
But, OPEC & the oil giants pumping their own raw material can manipulate both supply & demand. So the prices, which are supposed to be independent of producers pricing, really aren't.
Geez, BP or Shell could decide to plan refinery turnarounds as the work with cheap crude, holding 10 days of low cost product, waiting for the markets to react to 2 refineries going down for 3 months.
That's hardly price independence.
The approval to allow refined goods to be commoditized (eliminating any incentive for refiners to compete on price) was to "protect" the consumer. Didn't work out that way, and most experts at the time accurately predicted this.
Ron Green
(9,839 posts)Gasoline is cheap, and always has been. Thats why weve built an unsustainable world on it.
And economic growth is no longer desirable, or even possible, on a dying planet. The 20th-Century bubble has burst, and only fools will continue to look to the stock market or the GDP for anything positive.
Until we get politicians wholl tell these truths we are done for.
Devil Child
(2,728 posts)Most citizens of the US exist paycheck to paycheck so they do indeed care about gas prices and things like inflation. So yeah, short-sighted due to harsh necessities of life.
KY_EnviroGuy
(14,593 posts)Prove me wrong.......
Initech
(101,554 posts)Yeah let's give oil companies free money and see what happens.
onenote
(44,202 posts)In November 2000, the average price of a gallon of gas was $1.526 -- Bush elected.
Four years later, the price of gas was up to almost $2.00 - and Bush was re-elected
When Obama defeated McCain in 2008, the price was $2.24
Four years later, the price was almost $3.50 -- and Obama was re-elected
Despite the price of gas having fallen to $2.18 in November 2016, Trump was elected
And even though the price had fallen to $2.10 in November 2020, Trump lost.
If the price of gas was the "major driver" in politics, you wouldn't see those results.