I watched an interview with Trump and he said after the November election electric bills, heating oil bills, etc. are going to be very expensive. Huh?

[sage2021]

As it is now, my electric bill has tripled. I am afraid if after the November election my electric bill will be so high I won't be able to afford it. In some states, people will freeze to death. I just can't believe this is happening! Although I am sure it will. If Trump was still our president, none of this would be happening to us. We were energy independent when Trump was in office. Now all of our lives are changing for the worse (unless you are rich of course).

[FunkyMonkee]

And, you can thank your dear old, OLD, uncle Joe because, he REALLY cares about us!

I agree with the real President, as soon as the elections are over, things are gonna go through the roof!! Although I don't think Joey's doing shit about any of it to actually make the prices go down anywhere, I'm pretty sure that, if he DOES have a hand in it, it's to get more dem votes and, as soon as the elections are over, everything goes through the roof no matter which side wins! But, especially if the dems lose!! That'll be like spanking your kid for doing something bad!! If the dems DO manage to win (probably by cheating, AGAIN!!), the prices will still go up because he no longer gives a flying fuck about us, anymore. (NOT that he actually ever did!!) He got what he wants!!

[sage2021]

@FunkyMonkee you are absolutely right. It is still hard to believe that what we are saying is true, and our lives as we know them are going to be like living hell. Only the strong will survive and that sure isn't me. Take care YOU!
Sage🌹

[FunkyMonkee]

You take care, too, hun!! Do the best you can.

[RiseofArtemis]

If you vote for Trump he will probably try to make them cheaper. You need to understand where your electricity comes from. The democrrats are all about green energy which means you will pay more. If it comes from renewable sources, then you can expect it to go up a lot.

[nightdrot]

Well, in fairness, Mr. Trump's prediction is a little like predicting the sunrise. It is a pretty safe prediction.

To start, Mr. Trump has a fair point when he notes - as he has in the past - that his handling of the economy was, on the whole, better than that of his successor. The rate of inflation fell to 1.4%, unemployment was about what it is now and interest rates were lower - which means that the stock market was better.

For all that, Mr. Trump was faced with the pandemic and that had all sorts of distorting effects on the economy. Effects that continue and that, on the whole, Mr. Biden has not handled all that well. Thus the rate of inflation is at 8.3%. That is down from the 9.1% that it reached earlier in the year, but it is still a 40 year high.

That said, Mr. Trump's prediction is likely to be borne out because as the nation heads into the winter months, demand for energy will increase and thus prices with it. This further being complicated by supply chain restrictions, for some of which Mr. Biden bears the blame. (See also restrictions on oil drilling, the abolition of various pipeline projects, etc.) Other factors for which Mr. Biden really has no control. (See also the Russian invasion of Ukraine as Exhibit A. See also the after-effects of the pandemic, etc.)

Mr. Trump has timed this out with the mid-term elections but that is really just coincidental timing. The mid-term elections are in late Fall and the really cold Winter weather that will increase the demand for energy will come after that.

To be sure, the Biden administration has, on the whole, handled economic policy with ten thumbed incompetence. However, some of the factors at work would be there no matter who was in the White House. So Mr. Trump has a point, but less of a point than might be assumed.

Also, it is well to recall that the nation has been here before. Indeed has seen worse. In 1979, under then President Carter, the rate of inflation hit 14.5% - the highest ever in peacetime. In 1980, still under Mr. Carter, the rate of inflation hit 13.1% - the second highest inflation rate in peacetime and the first time the nation experienced back-to-back years of double digit inflation.

Suffice to say, it is why, at the end of 1980, Mr. Reagan won in a landslide election. He subsequently brought inflation down to 1.1% by 1986. While inflation would move up and down in the post-Reagan years, it would never again hit the levels seen in 1979 to 1981 - until now.

(Recall again, Mr. Biden's worst showing was 9.4% and is currently at 8.3%. To repeat, the nation has been here - and worse - before. Barring the unforeseen, inflation is apt to reach the 9% level again, but no economist of which I am aware is predicting a return to the late 1970s levels.)

This to note that Mr. Trump inherited a far better inflationary environment than did Mr. Reagan and the former is perhaps taking more credit than he ought for inflation in his tenure. to be sure, Mr. Biden has made things worse, but Mr. Trump has a bad habit of taking credit for things that to which he was really more the beneficiary than the initiator.

Bottom line, these are not good times - and to be sure, Mr. Biden has been a ten thumbed bungler in terms of the management of the economy. (To the extent that any President "manages" the economy. Control of such a large and complex thing being less absolute than media analysis and the popular culture imagines.) However, Mr. Trump is not quite the hero he portrays himself as being and his predictions are not especially insightful.

As noted, the nation has been here before and has gotten through it. Best to ride out the storm, hold elected officials to account, and move on.

[nightdrot]

Type-o:

This sentence: "(Recall again, Mr. Biden's worst showing was 9.4% and is currently at 8.3%..."

Should read "(Recall again, Mr. Biden's worst showing was 9.1% and is currently at 8.3%..."

[sage2021]

@nightdrot in 1979 I became a single mother to a baby that was a few months old. I wasn't making much money at my receptionist job, but I honestly don't remember any problems at the checkout at the grocery store, and didn't freak out at gas prices like we do now.
I do know we were in a recession when Regan was President only because I read about it many years later. Reagan closed down all of the mental health institutions and the patients were homeless. I read the country was so infuriated with Mrs. Regan because she was spending tax payers money to redecorate the White House and ordered expensive china dishware, etc. . while America was in a recession.
I would remember if I couldn't have afford diapers or milk for my baby.
So, it seems to me that something is definitely different this time during this recession (that is not official yet). Is it because there were a lot less people using resources than we have now?

[nightdrot]

What is different is that memories fade and the public has the attention of a flea.

The truth is the economy was far worse than it is now. Whatever your recollections - and perhaps, being a new parent, you were focused on other things.

The stats don't lie: 14.5% inflation in 1979. The prime interest rate - the rate banks charge their very best customers - hit 21.5%. (Meaning that mortgages were going for as high as 25%.) The result was a recession with the unemployment rate peaking at 10.8%. (That's higher than even the so-called "Great Recession" - which peaked at 10.1%.)

Whatever your memories, the data says what it says. Also, as to President Reagan, there was no closing down of mental health facilities and most of the vitriol directed at Mrs. Reagan at the time had more to do with her dressing too well.

At any rate, Mr. Reagan's job approval rating - at its lowest - was 38% in 1982. It peaked at an eye bulging 71% from December, 1985 to August, 1986. (Plus there were two spikes - briefly to 83% after the assassination attempt and to 81% after the Grenada invasion of 1983.) Suffice to say, Mr. Trump - let alone, to date, Mr. Biden - never reached those levels.

This recession is different in that the unemployment rate is much lower - in part because the workforce participation rate is at record lows due to the pandemic. The pandemic has warped the economic performance. Still, in terms of inflation, it has come nowhere near the 1979 and 1980 levels and likely will not given that the Fed is already intervening, albeit somewhat ineptly, to lower it.

[sage2021]

@nightdrot I am sure you're right about all of this. I was a new mom, and my husband abandoned me and our new son at Christmas 1978, so I was walking around with a new baby and a broken heart💔.
Thank you so much for putting my head back on my shoulders ☮️

[nightdrot]

You are sweet and don't give it a thought. Given all that was going on in your life, even the kinds of things that were going on at that time probably felt like background noise to you.

If you think about it, though, you may remember the gas lines and such. In my home state, they even, for a time, set up a system where you could only buy gas on even or odd numbers dates based on your license plate. (If your plate ended in an odd number, you could only buy gas on odd numbered days and so on.)

It was quite an era.

Anyhow, as I say, don't give it a thought and I am glad you found what I wrote helpful. You sound like an amazing lady who met some tough challenges in your day. You deserve a ton of credit for that!!

[sage2021]

@nightdrot Well thank you kind sir 🙂

[OlderAndWiser]

. . . and Democrats will never learn!

[Surely]

Higher energy prices after the election is also my prediction! Lower energy prices, if you can call it that, works against Joey’s gang mindset of going green. Why buy electric? When gas is “cheap”?
I heard an economist say that Joey needs ten dollar a gallon gas to make his Green new Deal a reality!
But I also heard an energy guy say that California needs 20 full size nuclear plants buy 2035 to supply the projected electrical needs!
So hang onto your wallets if the people voting in November don’t open their eyes before voting!

[exitseven]

I saw the same interview and came to the same conclusion. All the money that people made in the stock market during the Trump years has vanished. The increases in wages that happened when Trump was president has been nullified because of Bidenflation. It remains to be seen if Trump's middle class tax cut will be reversed as well.

[Jessica405]

Do not believe it is caused by Democrats!! That is not true. It is happening in UK and Europe just the same. It is nothing to do with the political party in power. Gasoline prices here dropped a bit, but still nearly double what it was a year or so ago. Electricity double, heating gas double, food the same.

[sage2021]

@Jessica405 so, do you believe that Biden is totally innocent when it comes to our gag prices jumping sky high? We were energy independent when Trump was our President. Biden cancelled the Keystone Pipeline and other things that made the United States have to grovel to other countries for oil. Saudi Arabia and other countries Biden visited turned him down and wouldn't cut a deal with him.
If only he would have kept his grubby little hands out of implementing the New Green Deal which AOC is pushing for, we would still be energy independent and wouldn't have to rely on other countries for oil. Because he is an idiot and is pussy whooped by all of those feminist women in Washington DC telling him what to do and he does it!

[Jessica405]

Sure! These problems you describe are not confined to US. Biden has no influence in this respect but it is still happening world wide. US is not a unique or special case. It is happening everywhere. It IS independent of politics.

[Sixgunsound]

I can’t help but believe that tightening the economic and resource screws on the American population is designed to make us kill each other for resources. Hey, If it worked in the Soviet Union under the Democrats idols, amirite?

[Avicenna]

Keep in mind that energy price inflation is the deliberate policy of the Biden Administration, and it's driven by the supply side (i. e., Biden's war on fossil fuels". This is not an accident, and it's happening in Europe as well.

[BeMuse]

Meanwhile in Florida...

https://rumble.com/v1kv5cn-gov.-desantis-unveiled-proposal-for-additional-1.1-billion-in-tax-relief.html

[BeMuse]

Democrats want to protect their Nazi layer in Ukraine. When Soros' say jump, they say how high... This is what Soros told them. They'll



That's why your electricity is so expensive... The Nazis don't want to lose, but lose they must.

[BeMuse]

Where is George Soros?
Ukraine?
Who else recently traveled to Ukraine?
PANIC is real.
ALL HANDS ON DECK.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/evil

Q

[joeldalton]

Yup, he was right. He also warned Germany about being too dependent on Russian gas. They laughed at him. Now they won’t be able to afford to heat their homes.

[Pot8o]

Why would the November election impact your electricity bill?
Also, I live in Europe, and our electricity bills have gone up crazily too. Is that Biden's fault too?

[sage2021]

@Pot8o like I mentioned as part of my question, when President Trump was our President, we were energy independent. When Biden took office, the first day he became our President he cancelled the Keystone Pipeline which permanently put thousands of people out of work. One stroke of Biden's pen and everything changed. Our country 🇺🇸 has been in trouble ever since Biden took office.
We were well off when Trump was our President; He is a business man not a politician. Therefore, he has a better sense for making decisions that are good for America 🇺🇸. Biden is a very old man that doesn't know where he is at most if the time. He continues to make bad decisions which has ruined every aspect of our country but just ignores all of the horrible things he has done to America.

[sage2021]

@Pot8o please read my reply to you

[Pot8o]

The Left cares about the long term. The Rigjt's approach of "drill baby, drill" is grossly irresponsible and will cause massive environmental problems down the line. I wonder what Republican's excuse will be when we have runaway climate change, mass migration because of it, and people are dying like flies in extreme weather events and coastal areas are flooding.

[Pot8o]

*Right's

[KrakenAttackin]

When you kill off domestic production, let Europe spiral into war, and deny that anything is wrong... yeah... Biden/Harris.

[NewsReader]

Prices would still be higher than before because of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Oil and gas prices go up and down together.

[Fireguy17]

gas just jumped up overnight in our town from $3.45 to $3.99.

[sage2021]

@Fireguy17 it's almost $6.00/gal. where I live.
They just keep us guessing don't they?

[AsaKyo]

I'd believe it since everything else is already super high

[AngryCarl]

Trump pointing out the absolutely bleeding obvious makes him appear comparatively sane. He's not.

[Anonymous]

https://www.youtube.com/embed/JE8bPNY9FUY

[Anonymous]

Sage, I do agree with you 100 %

[Anonymous]

not going to happen... they will go down