A Better East Texas: Prices rise again

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - A report came out recently that showed that wholesale prices for many goods and services have started to rise again. Just about anyone participating in the economy could have told us that. But we still have national leaders refusing to even acknowledge that inflation is an issue. President Biden won’t call it a recession and continues to downplay the impact of rising prices on all Americans. Which is what politicians do, especially in an election year where economic conditions can dominate. I sincerely hope that President Biden is being honest behind the scenes by acknowledging there is a problem. We can’t just blame Putin or OPEC or some foreign interest for all our economic woes. Those may be factors, but we are now truly seeing the impact of wide scale pay increases in so many industries. We are seeing the impact of reduced domestic energy exploration. And we are seeing the impact of out-of-control government spending. The actions taken by the federal government just don’t exist in a vacuum, there are consequences. Several months ago, the president took credit for gas prices dropping as a result of tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve which upped inventory, but he must also own it when prices rise. And to be fair, both parties share some responsibility but the party in power gets the majority of blame as well as any credit. Perhaps these final weeks before the mid-terms will yield some kind of policy surprise, which if nothing else, might give consumers some relief economically – and that will make for a Better East Texas.

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