By Samuel Strait, Reporter at Large – May 19, 2021 — Cartoon credit to www.coxandforkum.com For those that do not go into town on a daily basis, or for that matter very often, probably the first thing that they will notice is that the price of regular gasoline is up well over $4 per gallon. Those of us that live in this part of the world often see spikes in gasoline prices when the fuel mix is changed, before holidays, and at the beginning of Summer, no surprise there. What we haven't seen for several years now is the kind of fuel price spike of over a dollar per gallon for several years. Up until the end of January of 2021, the fluctuation of fuel prices had been modest, perhaps only a few cents per gallon at a time. Most are going to point to the recent East Coast pipeline disruption as the culprit for rapidly increasing price and short supply, something not really seen since the 70's under President Jimmy Carter. That probably isn't the whole story. For some months now, Americans have been receiving the same kind of rapid increase for a number of things that they purchase, and services that they contract. Escalating grocery costs, electricity, water and sewer are some of the most noticeable, unless you don't have to pay attention to such mundane increases. Higher cost for Insurance, health, auto, and home, have all increased in some cases 10% or more. Property taxes have increased by the usual 2% (thank heaven for Proposition 13), sales tax by 14%. We will no doubt find that both State and Federal Taxes are soon to increase, just how much we won't know quite yet. All in all the added costs to our budget has for most of us taken a rather significant hit over the past three months. It should not be very hard to discover why that is. As was pointed out in a recent article by Roger Gitlin in these very pages "Have You Noticed The Spike In Costs In Del Norte County," the current Federal Administration has set a course which will increase the National Debt by trillions. Now any one who believes that can occur without consequences is living a sheltered existence. What isn't apparent, is exactly who will pay the biggest price for this activity from the Federal Government? The wealthy, I don't think so. Those that feed at the taxpayers dinner table? Not them either. You guessed it, the very people that the Federal Government is purportedly trying to help; the poor, the small business person, those laid off by the pandemic, and seniors living on a fixed income are all going to feel the pain when not only prices have increased, taxes have gone up, but their dollars have declined in value. It takes more of them to get the same thing back. When government tinkers with the economy by giving money out like toilet paper, it soon becomes just that. We have had multiple examples of just such activities in the past century, something our current leadership at all levels cannot seem to comprehend. It is not as if this should be a surprise for anyone, nor what is happening, because this has been carried out since January 20,2021. A ton of excuses have been given for why things are not working out very well, but the bottom line is that when governments are more concerned with guaranteed income for some people, open borders, and a host of open wallet policies, nothing good will come of it. When we say that the Country is in debt to the tune of nearly thirty trillion dollars, and more spending is in the hopper, how can this be a rational way to behave? Those that have already seen those checks from the government for hundreds if not thousands of dollars have just seen them disappear with the recent tide of inflation. It will not stop any time soon as both local, and that is important, State, and Federal Governments gear up to spend far more. As "Cadillac" style projects pour out of the mouths of our local representatives and needed projects are ignored, it can't be made any clearer that swimming pool openings, and grand front street park improvements are best left for another time. Handicapped ramps at random street corners and bicycle paths are something that also can wait. The US Census Bureau recently came out with some interesting numbers that claim the average salary for Del Norters was a bit over $45,000. While that seems like a high number, the Census Bureau also said that the poverty level was higher than typical and high level earners were also higher than other similar areas. Since not many who make salaries above $100,000 occupy private sector jobs in this area, it is rather easy to show who those employees really are, the Public Sector. Keep that in mind as you struggle over the next year and a half to pay bills and experience a decline in life style. The unaffected "Kings, Queens, Prince, and Princesses" of our political classes are returning the rest of us to that of the life of serfs. Clearly their concern is not for the poor, the small business owner, the unemployed, or the senior citizen who lives on the meager increases offered by Social Security.