What’s up doc? Well, Bugs, lots lately:

Heat, for sure. One hundred degree temps in June! Oh, my.

With that heat come higher electricity bills as air conditioners run at max levels. Oh, no, fuel costs will push those electricity bills even higher! Since costs for natural gas used to generate lots of our power are way up, fuel adjustments will be way up too. A year ago natural gas cost just over $3 per MCF, but recently the price has almost tripled.

Gasoline prices. The price per gallon for regular unleaded topped $4 and is headed to $5. Wow! A year ago the average price was $2.73 per gallon.

Food prices. From May 2021 to May 2022 the cost of oranges is up 22%, coffee 21%, milk 17%, rice 14%, sugar 13%, ground beef 12%, bacon 10%, and so on.

Used car prices. The upsurge in used car prices seems to have slowed, but prices are still up 22% over last year.

Home mortgage rates. Rates for 30-year home mortgage loans surged over 5% and headed toward 6% last week. Just months ago rates were closer to 3%.

Inflation. For the month of May the annual rate of inflation hit 8.6%, the highest level since December 1981. As a result, the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates – a half point in March followed by three-quarters of a point last week. That pushes up loan rates and credit card rates.

State tax collections. Through May state tax collections were on track to exceed last year’s total collections by over $500 million.

Politics. Political interest surged when two incumbent Republican congressmen struggled in their first primaries and now face difficult runoffs. Third District Congressman Michael Guest actually trailed upstart candidate Michael Cassidy though by less than one percentage point in their June 7 primary. The hot runoff issue appears to be Cassidy’s big spending proposals he posted on his web site – Medicare-for-all, marriage bonuses, and universal basic income (now suddenly deleted) – versus his desire to join the anti-spending House Freedom Caucus. Fourth District Congressman Steven Palazzo led his Republican primary with 32% of the vote followed by Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell with 25%. The hot issues here are the 68% who didn’t vote for Palazzo and the endorsements of Ezell by all four candidates who didn’t make the runoff.

The other hot political potato is who to blame for high prices. COVID-19 started it all. President Trump mishandled the response. Supply chain disruptions pushed up prices. Massive government spending, first by Trump and then by President Biden, further primed the inflation pump.

Putin’s Ukraine war jacked up oil and gas prices and further disrupted supply chains. Then there is the Federal Reserve whose duty it is to control inflation. After installing its own massive free money stimulus during the pandemic, the Fed failed to taper once massive government spending kicked in.

Lots to choose from.

Regrettably, Bugs, this long hot summer will see lots more ups before things cool down.

“For each one shall bear his own load” – Galatians 6:5.

Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson