High inflation? Pain at the pump? No one likes to have their income squeezed, and comparative pain is still pain. But it might help to see that, in relation to other wealthy countries, the U.S. is not an outlier:
Record energy prices drove the inflation rate across the countries using the common European currency to 8.6 percent in June, as the fallout of the war in Ukraine and the economic conflict it has sparked between Russia and Western Europe continued to bite.
Nearly half of the 19 countries in the eurozone have now reached double-digit inflation, figures released Friday by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency showed. The overall rate was the latest record high since the creation of the euro in 1999.
Many of the countries have depended heavily on Russia as a source of fossil fuels to run their economies and heat their homes. But the amount of energy, especially natural gas, flowing to Europe from Russia has been largely reduced by more than half since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, driving prices to record levels and leaving European governments scrambling for a solution. (our emphasis)
The U.S. inflation rate in May was 8.6 percent.
Even as prices have ticked down ahead of the Fourth of July weekend, Americans are still paying between $4 to $7 per gallon. Filling half a tank of a Toyota Camry — one of the world’s most popular sedans — costs about $40. If you’re driving a 2010 Camry — a model year we’re using based on the average age of cars on U.S. roads — you’ll go about 32 miles per gallon.
And that means $40 will get you around 250 miles down the highway.
But how far would $40 take you in the rest of the world? While U.S. costs at the pump hit records in June, they were lower than those in other countries with the largest economies, including France, Canada, China and Britain, but higher than those in other top oil producing nations such as Russia and Saudi Arabia. (our emphasis)
(click to enlarge)
(Source: Washington Post)
To be clear, we're not saying high inflation and high energy prices aren't an economic, political and, to some extent, moral problem. They are. But as others have noted, "inflation will pass, wages will rise, and supply chains will adapt."
The point is, the U.S. isn't beset by these problems in a vacuum, as Republicans would have you believe. It's a worldwide phenomenon to which governments, including ours, are struggling to respond while under pressure from anti- democratic forces.
Even so, the safest forecast for all of this is that this too shall pass.
