Americans weigh the cost of ‘defending freedom’ in Ukraine

President Joe Biden told Americans to prepare for the “costs” of Washington’s response to Russian aggression in Ukraine, but truck driver Jeremy Rakestraw wonders if he hasn’t already paid enough.

He decided to sell his truck when the monthly fuel bill doubled to $17,000, and although he is back on the road in a cargo vehicle from a company that covers gasoline, the high inflation that the United States has suffered in the last year keep eating up your pay.

“There is no one at home consuming electricity or gas, but (the bill) keeps going upRakestraw says, sitting in the 18-wheeler at a stop in Jessup, Maryland, 31 hours from his Salt Lake City home and 2 1/2 hours from New Jersey City, where he picked up the load.

As for Biden, “I don’t think I’m doing enough“, the Mint.

Such is the dilemma facing the US president as he prepares to announce new sanctions against Russia, after warning a country weary of price increases that “defending freedom will also have costs” for citizens.

Tensions with Moscow have already had a major impact on rising fuel prices. Yet some of those who make a living cruising America’s highways also recognize the need for Washington to take action to stop or at least limit a bloody war, even if it causes gasoline prices to rise further.

“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. they have to do somethingAbdullahi Ali, a taxi driver waiting for a passenger outside Union Station in Washington, where movement is sparser than before the pandemic, said Wednesday before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Risk premium”

For months, the general increase in prices, from fuel to food, has been weighing on the pockets of Americans, who are less satisfied with the Biden government and do not show enthusiasm for the economy, despite the fact that wages increase and millions of people who lost their jobs with the pandemic return to work.

The University of Michigan index that tracks consumer confidence slumped this month to its lowest level in ten years, while the average gallon of gasoline now costs $3.53, about a dollar more than it did before the pandemic, according to the American Automobile Association.

“Americans are already paying a small risk premium, so to speak, simply because the tension has risen” with Russia, observed Patrick De Haan, head of oil analysis at GasBuddy.

However, the United States is also a major oil producer, and Keith Wood, a trucker hoping to get out of Jessup, wonders why events beyond his borders would affect what he pays at the gas station.

“We are supposed to be self sufficient so I don’t know why the price would go up”, he reflects.

energy independence

Oil is traded on a global market, which means that while the United States is a major exporter of crude, that doesn’t necessarily translate into relief for drivers when prices rise.

And the peak occurred on Thursday. After Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine, European and US crude benchmarks broke the $100 a barrel mark for the first time since 2014.

While Biden has promised to take action to offset price increases, de Haan maintains that “no president can drastically change the global market.”

This is well understood by Moscow, which, according to de Haan, will use the threat of cutting off access to its vast oil production to try to get Western countries to back down on Ukraine.

“They’d shoot themselves in the foot if they capped oil exports, but even talking about it could inspire some action on Russia’s behalf.”, he says categorically.

Gasoline and diesel prices are among the most prominent indicators of the cost of living in the world’s largest economy, and voters are well known to express their frustration at the high costs they bear on presidents and their political parties. .

Dipson Abass’s earnings as a taxi driver in Washington have already been affected by rising prices. However, while reflecting on the situation in Ukraine, he expressed his willingness to bear the consequences of the sanctions.

“The price of gasoline is nothing compared to human life.” points. “So I’ll just say whatever sanctions they can put on Russia, let it go.”