While Families Pay 40.5% More for Gas
Apparently, rising prices are delightful when you are not the person standing at the gas pump watching the numbers spin.
Inflation climbed to 4.2% in May, the highest annual rate in three years. Prices rose another 0.5% in a single month. Energy costs increased 23.5% over the past year. Gasoline prices jumped 40.5%.
And President Donald Trump’s response?
“I love the inflation.”
Yes. He actually said that.
Trump later tried to explain that he believed the numbers were better than expected given the war with Iran. But ordinary people do not pay their bills with presidential spin. They pay them with actual money. And every dollar spent filling the tank is a dollar that cannot be spent on groceries, rent, childcare, medications, or the electric bill.
Inflation Is Not an Abstract Number
Inflation is often discussed as though it is a political scoreboard.
It is not.
It is the parent wondering whether the family can afford the summer road trip they already promised the kids.
It is the worker whose commute suddenly costs substantially more, even though the paycheck did not magically grow with the gas bill.
It is the small business owner paying more for deliveries and trying to decide whether to raise prices or absorb another hit.
It is the retiree watching a fixed income stretch a little less every month.
The latest government report shows that the pain is not limited to gasoline. Energy prices rose sharply in May, while shelter costs, airline fares, medical care, personal care, and recreation also increased. Food prices rose 3.1% over the past year.
The Gas Pump Does Not Care About Political Excuses
The White House argues that the rising costs are temporary disruptions related to the Iran conflict and that prices will fall when the situation is resolved. Perhaps they will. Families certainly hope so.
But this administration does not get to treat a 40.5% increase in gasoline prices like an interesting little inconvenience.
People remember being promised lower prices.
They remember being told that affordability would improve.
They remember hearing that everything would be fixed quickly and easily.
Now they are being told to celebrate inflation because it could have been worse.
That is not a solution. That is a shrug from people who do not feel the consequences the way ordinary families do.
Read the Room
A president saying that he “loves” inflation while millions of people are paying more for basic necessities is not merely a clumsy choice of words.
It reveals a much larger problem.
Too many powerful people experience economic pain as a press-conference question. Everyone else experiences it when the debit card is declined, when the credit-card balance grows, or when one more ordinary expense becomes something that has to wait until payday.
Families are not asking for a victory lap.
They are asking how they are supposed to absorb another round of rising prices.
What in the flip?