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Keeping Warm This Winter Could Be More Costly As Inflation Heats Up – Reason.com

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Americans are likely to experience significant rises in their winter heating bills due to higher fuel prices and rising inflation. The U.S. Department of Energy released a warning Wednesday.

About half of American households rely on natural gas for heat, and they will pay about 30 percent more for heat than last year—and perhaps as much as 50 percent more if the winter is 10 percent colder than expected, the department estimates. The average American family who relies on natural gas for heat this winter will spend $746, an increase of $570. The cost of heating homes with propane, or heating oil (which accounts for approximately 9 percent) will rise more than 40%. However, the costs of heating houses with electricity should increase slightly by about 6 percent.

“The looming increase, on top of rising prices for many consumer goods and commodities, is likely to cause stress for Americans at many income levels. According to economists, households that are still affected by the Covid-19 epidemic will be most adversely affected by higher utility bills. The Wall Street Journal.

Due to lower than normal prices in 2018, the expected rise in home-heating cost is partly due to higher-than-normal demand for fuels during 2020. As a result, prices fell and so did the price. However, the winter forecasts predict that prices will rise well beyond their current 2019 levels.

Inflation is stubbornly high in the United States because of fuel prices. Wednesday’s consumer price index monthly report showed an increase of 5.4 percentage year-over–year, while energy prices rose more than 24 percent over the previous 12 months.

The current global crisis is caused by high energy costs. In Europe, the price of gasoline has soared in recent months and energy prices as a whole are rising—though part of the problem is a complex pricing scheme imposed by the European Union that disrupts price signals to consumers, the Financial TimesNotes. Last weekend, the entire nation of Lebanon lost electricity due to an interruption in the state’s electrical grid.

Anne Bradbury, CEO of the American Exploration & Production Council, a trade association representing energy companies, said in a statement that the situation in Europe should be a warning to the Biden administration as it considers plans for higher taxes and new regulations that will only keep increasing energy prices. American will be paying more for energy by pursuing policies that reduce supply and make production of oil and natural gas in America harder,” Bradbury said.

Many people believe that the current inflation levels are not reflecting what is actually happening right now in the economy. So-called shadow inflation is occuring in ways that might not show up in the consumer price index—instead of raising prices, for example, some businesses might cut back on services or simply take longer to get things done.

The 2021 version for many services may not be the same as that of 2019. Statisticians still treat them like the 2019 version, even though many of them are significantly worse,” says Alan Cole, an ex-senior economist at the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. Full Stack Economics Newsletter. The result was inflation in an unmeasured quality dimension. Instead of paying more for the exact same product, many people pay less for it.

Since shadow inflation is not possible in the energy sector so Americans feel the full impact of the rising costs. It’s a costly winter. Even without any added burdens from federal policy makers who hike prices or crimp supply, fuel prices serve as a stark reminder that rising inflation—which could be here to stay for longer than anyone would like—has serious consequences for just about everyone.

FREE MINDS

Field Trip is a Canadian startup that bets more Americans will try psychotherapy using drugs such as MDMA or psilocybin. Although the company has three clinics located in Los Angeles, New York City and Toronto, they have ambitious plans for opening 75 more locations over the course of the next three-years. Vox Reports:

Ketamine can be prescribed only by a doctor. However, the Drug Enforcement Agency lists psychedelics such as MDMA and psilocybin in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substance Act. This means that they are not medically useful and have a high risk for abuse. There is growing evidence that using psychedelics can lead to revolutionary medications. When combined with traditional therapy, they may be able to help those who have not seen results from current treatments. Several US cities have decriminalized psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms), and the Food and Drug Administration is currently overseeing clinical trials to use psychedelics for depression and PTSD treatment.

Potentially, this revolutionary approach for mental health is also a great opportunity to pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. Although promising studies have been funded privately, the government still prohibits the widespread availability of psychedelic therapies.

Read on ReasonNick Gillespie of’s Nick Gillespie discusses the opportunities that slow-rolling MDMA legalization and other psychedelic drug relegalization has created for both investors and people who are looking to widen their perspectives.

FREIGHT MARKETS

Although there isn’t a single solution to supply chain issues right now, the Jones Act only makes things more difficult.

QUICK HITS

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• Captain Kirk went to space yesterday and was profoundly moved by the experience.

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