The Bruce Variant 🇺🇸 VOTE! (@greenLibertarian)

#gasoline at $4: Understanding #America’s strange obsession. Fuel prices in the #USA are akin to a constantly displayed #economic scorecard where the pump can trump #politics. One unique feature of #America is that gas PRICES are DISPLAYED publicly EVERYWHERE. Americans would probably think this strange if they weren’t so used to it. Gas prices are also an exacting science. In a country where $5 barely gets you a cup of coffee, an archaic convention has held on: prices are shown in tenths of a cent. This constant visibility gives gasoline a prominence that other cost items rarely achieve. #rent, #healthcare premiums, or #grocery bills rise and are noticed, but these changes are less frequently reinforced. No discussion of gas prices would be complete without addressing the #politics. The creation event for gas prices as a political touchstone was the oil shocks of the 1970s, which were of course caused by events in the #MiddleEast. Gas prices were chronically high during the presidency of George W. Bush. By 2008, fuel prices were explicitly part of the #presidential election #debate. RISING gas prices will only intensify #economic anxieties. With #Trump’s overall approval rating already LOW, this could spell trouble in the midterms. This is all the more true given that much of Trump’s base comprises more #rural – and thus #car-dependent – #voters. https://www.rt.com/business/640546-us-gasoline-prices-skyrocket/