Place credit (and blame) where due

To The Eagle:

Last week a contributor treated us to a mixed menu of sour grapes, a sour attitude, and a hefty helping of disinformation.

First, that perennial whine about gas prices supposedly being an indicator of the state of Bidenomics is actually an indicator of that fellow’s misleading economic illogic. Of course gas prices are higher at the local Chevron station! It’s perpetually a nickel or a dime more expensive than the station across the street, and those in Longview.

To ice the cake, this was Labor Day week, when it’s a great American tradition for vacationers and holiday drivers to be gouged just a bit more by our beloved petroleum monopolists. Also, rural gas stations routinely charge more, having much less competition than urban stations. I’m not going to bother re-explaining why presidential administrations have as little control of fuel prices as they have over Chevron, Shell, etc.

Riddle me this. Every major holiday sees a jump in fuel prices, yet even though groceries are pricier, the price per pound of ham, turkey and all the trimmings reliably go down, I’m sure, to compete with other markets. As an insufferable optimist, I suspect that might also happen, to keep the holiday fixins’ affordable for everyone.

That writer’s statement that “not one prescription item is cheaper today than when Trump was in office” is unadulterated baloney. Eli Lilly recently announced they are lowering the cost of insulin by 70 percent and capping what patients pay out-of-pocket for insulin at $35.

That’s because the Biden Administration announced the first 10 Medicare Part D drugs that have been selected for price negotiation for the first time ever. They are among the most common and costly prescriptions that treat everything from heart failure, blood clots, diabetes, arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and more. Ten additional drugs will have lower negotiated prices every year.

We’ve reached this milestone because of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. Ask god to bless America all you want. It’s Biden and the Democrats who bring those blessings home for everyone.

JB Bouchard

Puget Island