“Soaring fuel prices have caused a majority of Americans to drive less and reduce spending in other areas of their household budgets,” according to the latest polling from Rasmussen Reports.
The poll found that “81% of American Adults say rising gasoline prices are a serious problem for their personal budget, including 56% who say higher gas prices are a Very Serious problem.” A mere “18% don’t consider the rising cost of gasoline a serious problem.” Must be nice.
Just as troubling is the effect of exploding gas prices on people’s spending habits. When people stop spending, recessions happen.
When asked if the cost of gasoline has caused them to drive less, 59 percent said yes, while only 36 percent said no.
Here’s the area that could spell the most trouble for the economy…
“Has the rising price of gasoline caused you to reduce spending on other purchases or activities?” A full 61 percent said yes, while only 35 percent said no.
This poll also backs up reports that black Americans are being hit the hardest. On the question of how serious a problem gas prices are, 63 percent of black respondents said “very serious,” compared to 57 percent of white respondents.
Spending creates demand, which creates commerce, which creates jobs in manufacturing, transportation, and retail. Spending is what drives the economy, and when people stop spending, the economy stalls.
Gas costs more now than at any time in our history. Where I live it’s $4.19 a gallon. Diesel is $5.09!
When energy prices explode, the cost of everything explodes because energy is required to manufacture, transport, and install everything.
We’re death-spiraling in a vicious cycle, and His Fraudulency Joe Biden can try to blame it all on Putin, but 1) no one believes him, and 2) it doesn’t matter. Biden refuses to do anything about these crippling energy costs, even though he has the authority to make it go away. All he has to do is open up our domestic energy reserves so countries that hate us — Russia, the Middle East, and Venezuela — can’t hurt us by flipping a switch.
Confidence is also an issue. If we had a president we believed in, someone we trusted to guide us out of this, someone more concerned with our well-being than with all the illegal immigrants he’s flooding the country with, we could gut through this in the belief relief was on the way. But no one looks at Joe Biden and sees a man capable of leading us out of this. What’s more, he is an enviro-sociopath who wants to bully and bruise us into buying Teslas.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
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