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Mike Rowe brilliantly shot down the Biden administration for claiming “Putin price hikes” are responsible for causing record-high inflation rates, which impact basic necessities like gas and groceries.
Inflation was increasing and impacting gas prices long before Russia’s invasion into Ukraine. Biden has continued to blame what he called the “Putin price hikes” for inflation in all areas. Biden said, “Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide a half a world away.”
Rowe said truckers are not buying the Biden administration’s claims that it’s all the fault of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He explained, “I get videos almost every day now from people we’ve featured on ‘Dirty Jobs’ and on ‘How America Works.’ They are just sending me videos of them at the gas pump. And some of them are filling up, you know, 18-wheelers. And I’m not kidding you — $1,110, $1,200” for a fillup.” Watch the clip:
When asked whether truckers agree with Biden’s claim that fuel price increases are the fault of Putin, Rowe responded no.
“The ones I know aren’t” buying Biden’s claim, Rowe confirmed.
“Guy said to me the other day: ‘It’s like falling down the stairs in slow motion, you know,’” he said.
“We know it’s coming. We’re watching it happen. It’s happening in real time,” Rowe said. “And it’s not just diesel, it’s not just gasoline. If you bring it back to food … you have to talk about fertilizer, too. The cost of — there’s no food without fertilizer in this country. The cost of fertilizer is hundreds, hundreds of percent higher than it was.”
“We know it’s awful. [But] when you put $1,200 in your gas tank – and just six months ago it was costing you $600 or $700, the exponential reality of it is starting to sink in. You just can’t walk that back,” he said.
More on this story via IJR:
Rowe said the cost of fuel “touches every single thing that matters in this country, from food production and transportation, obviously, all of it.”
— Advertisement — Average national diesel fuel costs reached a record $5.37 per gallon on Tuesday, up nearly 5 cents from the previous day, according to AAA. A year ago, diesel averaged $3.087.
Diesel makes things go, from trucks to trains to farm equipment to the crab boats on “Deadliest Catch” — narrated by Rowe — to big ocean vessels. Even a form of diesel engine drives jet planes, although with a differently refined fuel.
But fuel prices were increasing long before Russia invaded Ukraine, rising from $2.379 per gallon on Jan. 18, 2021 — the week Biden took office — to $3.53 on Feb. 21 of this year — three days before the invasion, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
He noted that average people are seeing inflation in places other than the gas pump. At restaurants, for instance, the cost of a steak has doubled in a half-year.
High fuel costs present another threat, according to NBC News. In the midst of snags in the world supply chain, the price of diesel might force smaller trucking companies to park their rigs.
