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To the Editor:

When I was a child, one of the things my parents taught me was, “Don’t be a person who says, ‘I told you so‘.” For 80 years I have tried very hard to comply with their lesson, but it gets more difficult every day, and I think I have finally reached my limit. In prior letters I cautioned your readers that Biden would not be a good leader of this nation, and his policies would cause us hardships. Now I think a recent national poll has confirmed my suspicions. It appears that 88% of those polled think he is doing a terrible job, and only 10% think he is performing satisfactorily. Even many Democrats do not want him to run again. I think at this point I am justified in saying, “I told you so.” At least he seems to be living up to his campaign promise to disrupt our energy industries and put an end to our domestic fossil fuels. Before he was elected, I could fill my pickup’s gas tank for about $45.00. My last few fill-ups have cost me $90, $100, $100, $110, and $108. Now I understand that he has released oil from our strategic reserve … NOT to our military, but to the world market where some of it will probably end up in India or perhaps even China. Meanwhile he is blaming gas station owners, oil company CEOs, and Putin for these increases at the pump. 

That one-pound bag of black-eyed peas that cost me 98 cents before Biden was elected cost me $1.38 a few weeks ago, and $1.69 today. We do eat other things, of course, but they have increased too. I also warned your readers that we would soon be overcome with illegal immigrants. Now they are invading at a rate exceeding 200,000 per month (and those are only the ones we know about). Our military forces cannot meet their enlistment requirements. I’m sure also that because of these high fuel costs flight training has been curtailed. Perhaps it is my imagination, but I do not see as many helicopters doing touch and go landings at our local airport as I saw two years ago. Maybe the military is converting them to use electric motors instead of jet engines. I wonder how much more our school systems are having to pay for fuel for buses, and our sheriff for fuel for his police cars.

Because we are so dependent on agriculture in this area, another thing that worries me is the high cost of fuel, seed, chemicals and fertilizer and its impact on our farmers and ultimately our food supply. All the while the White House tries to convince us that things are all right, our economy is doing well, and our borders are secure. My 401(k) has become a 301(k) and I may not live long enough to see it recover. I think my parents (if they were still here) would forgive me for saying, “I told you so.”

Ash Cutchin

Courtland