DOUGLAS MONTANDON, San Clemente
Remember, if you can, the around-the-block gas lines in the ’70s-’80s. No guarantee you could gas up your vehicle, even if you made it to the pump.
Even-odd rationing, camping out at local gas stations, limiting the amount of gasoline you could purchase, and the gas stations posting flags green if they had gas, yellow if rationing was in effect and red if they were out of gas.
I feel most Americans would have gladly paid $6 a gallon to fill up in the ’70s to avoid hour-long lines; I know I would have. OPEC was flexing its muscles and disrupting oil supplies. We made it through those times, and we will make it through our latest bump-in-the-road challenges.
Today’s situation is different, but the bottom line is still the same. Middle-class Americans are in the middle of a short-term, price-gouging, greedy retail war. Inflation is the popular word politicians are using as they position themselves for the next election.
All will claim they can fix inflation if we vote for them, but that’s just another big lie. The truth is, inflation can only fix itself based on long-term “supply and demand” consumption.
My message is to be patient, don’t panic, be polite and think of the people of Ukraine fighting for their very lives and not the price of a gallon of gas.
Putin is following Hitler’s “anti-democratic” playbook and will hopefully come to the same conclusion.