Inflation is affecting almost every facet of life, including gas, food and housing costs. | Adobe Stock
Inflation is affecting almost every facet of life, including gas, food and housing costs. | Adobe Stock
With gas prices still on the rise across much of the country, a new Gasoline Misery Index report pegs the average cost increase for Wisconsin residents this year at $607.
Metro Business Daily's report placed the price increase for Americans nationwide this year when compared to 2021 at $636. The index tracks how much more or less the average consumer will have to spend on gasoline on an annual basis.
Compiled using gas price data from the American Automobile Association (AAA), average fuel efficiency (mpg) data from the U.S. Department of Energy and average miles driven from MetroMile.com, the Gas Misery Index lists the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline and adjusts using the average miles traveled by the average miles per gallon of American cars.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is among those leaving little doubt about who he thinks bares the most blame for the runaway costs.
"The Biden economy continues to set new terrible records," McConnell posted on Twitter this week. "Inflation just hit its fastest pace in more than 40 years. Food, gas and housing costs are crushing families. Prices are soaring way faster than workers' pay growth."
Earlier this month, the Biden administration went public with plans to release up to 180 million barrels of crude oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the next six months in hopes of curbing the rising prices, which have slowly started to trickle down at the gas pump.
As of April 14, the national average price per gallon of regular gasoline stood at $4.07, a 75% increase from January 2021 when the average price was $2.33, a U.S. Energy Information Administration report said.
With Americans now spending an average of $914 more per year on gas than they did when the president first took over in the White House, Metro Business Daily now refers to the increase as the Biden Misery Index.
The pump increases come at a time when the country is also struggling with inflation numbers that recently registered at 8.5%, spelling across-the-board price increases for many already cash-strapped consumers.
On Tuesday, April 12, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index data for the 12 months ending with March 2022. The data showed an 8.5% all-items annual increase, which is the largest increase since 1981—more than 40 years. The gasoline index rose 18.3% in March, accounting for more than half of the all-items monthly increase.
Biden's latest attempt at lowering inflation includes extending the availability of higher biofuel blends of gasoline—such as E15, which uses a 15% ethanol blend—during the summer to cut surging fuel prices and reduce reliance on foreign energy sources, a recent Reuters report said. There was previously a summertime ban on E15 fuel due to concerns that it contributes to smog in hot weather. The president's new edict now paves the way for Americans to keep buying E15 from June 1 to Sept. 15.
With his poll numbers badly sagging under the weight of all the cost increases, Biden has sought to point to the ongoing war in Ukraine as the launching point for all the financial turmoil.
"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," he said.
As of Friday, Wisconsin residents are paying an average of $3.75 per gallon of regular gas, a AAA report said.
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