Today I stood in line at a store and a few of us were talking about rising gas prices. Comments were made such as “ We won’t be able to make as many trips” and “ We can’t afford both gas and groceries”. A woman chimed in “Let’s go Brandon.” Since I’m not of any political persuasion, I’m more middle of the road, I’m assuming that comment was a way of saying it’s the Democrat’s fault or, more precisely, Biden’s administration.

Why do we have to place blame without really knowing all the facts?

Another conversation I was in recently about gas prices showed a willingness to pay the higher prices to help Ukraine. I hadn’t heard that rationalization before so I started to investigate. I have some sources of articles, essays, and opinions written by scholars and experts on politics, world affairs, economics and other topics. The authors have many credentials and understand the topics better than the average citizens on the street. I listen to their analyses and form my own opinions based on their shared knowledge. I don’t follow party lines or kowtow to biased reporting.

In researching gas prices I’ve found the following information in more than three of my readings: The rising price of gasoline has more to do with COVID and the laws of supply and demand. During the world’s period of lockdown due to Covid, the demand dropped drastically leaving a surplus which dropped the price of oil. Since the demand was low, production slowed down. During the last few months, the Covid grip has eased substantially. People are getting out more. The demand has increased accordingly. Since production is low, prices are high. There is always a time lag in balancing supply versus demand. Hence the prices vary. This is a simple concept that I learned in high school and the experts place the “blame” on this easy to understand basic economic law.

So before blaming, make sure you have all the facts. Turn to the experts rather than the party line. When repeating “Let’s go Brandon” or other slogans, you might appear unable to critically think for yourself. Which is what I felt from those who heartily concurred that “Let’s go Brandon” was the cause.