Back to school brings new challenges

Inflation has soared from 1.4% in January 2021 to 8.5% in July of this year, and parents are bearing the brunt of these increased costs as they face their annual back-to-school shopping trips — on top of the mounting costs for just about everything else they buy.

Retailers are being faced with increased wholesale costs, which they’re forced to pass on to consumers. For instance, at a local grocery chain in Richland, hamburger meat is $12.99 a pound and milk is $3.29 a gallon — on sale. And as parents try to manage these price increases, they also have to purchase books, notebooks, pens and pencils, backpacks, and new clothes. At the same store, a three-ring binder costs an outrageous $8.49. It’s no surprise then, that a Morning Consult report found that 19% of parents cannot “afford all the back-to-school supplies they need,” compared to 9% who said the same in 2020.

The Consumer Price Index, a mechanism for measuring how much average consumers are paying for goods and services, was up by 8.6% year-over-year in May, the steepest climb since 1981. Food prices alone have risen by more than 10% from last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Inflation is up and our parents are paying the price, but it’s the students who are bearing the burden.

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., House Democrats pushed an inflationary spending bill to give tax breaks for purchasing electric vehicles (which most Americans can’t afford) along with a new natural gas tax, which could jeopardize 100,000 jobs and lead to a 17% increase in monthly natural gas bills, costing the average American family roughly $100 per year.

Right now, Americans are concerned with making ends meet and being able to afford the proper nutrition for their families — not giving tax breaks to the wealthy or throwing more money to special interest groups so politicians can make themselves look and feel good.

Though price hikes have hit products across the board, some categories have seen bigger surges. Commodities like beef, pork and chicken are up, as are eggs and milk. The basics that families need to provide nutritious meals for their kids, and enough energy to get through the school day, are being hit hardest by inflation.

So how do we reverse the situation? How do we lower costs so our families can afford the goods they need?

It’s simple. The primary culprit for inflation is escalating transportation costs driven by fuel price spikes. So, to lower inflation, we need to restore American energy independence to increase the supply of energy and lower its cost. Thankfully, we have the resources to do just that. In the United States, we produce energy cleaner and safer than anywhere else in the world, for traditional resources like oil and natural gas as well as for emerging resources and innovative technologies. So, by supporting the many American energy producers we already have — with an emphasis on baseload energy resources — we can provide the energy our communities need all year long, lower energy costs, and in turn, make basic goods affordable for our families once more.

The pathway is clear, and come November, we will make the changes American families are desperate for.