The United States and Israel launched airstrikes in Iran at the end of February this year. Shortly after, the Strait of Hormuz became a crucial part of that conflict when Iran began attacking ships and blocking the use of the Strait. Wouldn’t you know it? That Strait is used to move more than 20 million barrels of oil every day, so as you can imagine, there is now a shortage of crude oil leaving that area. Naturally, that shortage hit us in the United States with much higher gasoline prices. Those prices went over $4 per gallon and are hovering just below that mark today.
The price of gasoline set record levels over the Labor Day weekend. With gasoline and diesel prices remaining high, we are all paying more for just about everything. This probably doesn’t mean much to wealthy people, but it means a lot to us ordinary people, and we all wait for the day prices start to go down.
A news feed had an article in it that said President Trump doesn’t expect prices at the pump to drop any time before our elections, so that means we can expect to continue paying high prices for fuel through at least the end of November.
I’m not sure how many times I’ve heard it said that the war in Iran is close to being over, that they (Iran) can’t hold out much longer, but I know it’s been said often enough that I won’t believe it until it actually happens and the prices at the pump start to fall.
While the cost of keeping our home comfortable here in Florida is reaching days when the use of electricity is somewhat less than in the summer, you folks back home in Minnesota are facing the days when your heating bill will rise and continue to be higher for the next several months.
Not only is the price we pay at the pump much higher than we’re used to, but fuel prices also affect delivery costs, manufacturing costs, and food production costs, so we all pay more for what we eat, with no real relief in sight.
I’m lucky enough to be able to pick up an extra shift at my part-time job if I need to, but what about people who can’t bring in any extra money to help cover higher costs? I think it’s a difficult task to explain this problem to those who have millions (or billions) and aren’t really harmed by higher prices. Most of us are left hoping for changes and getting by the best we can.
Have A Good Week!
