More than any other factor, high prices for consumer goods shifted the country to the right and delivered the presidency to Donald Trump.

Yes, prices are not right for most Americans—they are just too high. Paying for groceries has become a huge burden on the pocketbooks of working-class America, but Vice President Kamala Harris simply never put forward a clear and compelling message on the issue. Not only did she fail to explain how she would fight inflation, but she failed to articulate forcefully how Trump's policies would reignite it.

How could an administration that presided over both a global post-pandemic price surge, and inflation's precipitous decline almost to the Federal Reserve-targeted 2 percent level, not use the slogan "We fight it, Trump will ignite it"?

Now that the election is over, we will see how Trump's planned tax cuts, deportation of immigrants, and attempts to diminish the independence of the Fed will affect interest rates and inflation. However, I think there is a more effective way to deal with the clear burden and anxiety that consumers feel when it comes to groceries, gasoline, drug prices, and other must-have consumer items—regardless of who they voted for.

I am always bewildered to see gas stations no more than a block apart with substantial differences in the price of a gallon of gas. I regularly see signs in my neighborhood for gasoline at $3.79, and right down the street another service station offering the same amount for $3.09. For a 20 gallon fill up that is a $12.00 difference each time, probably $600 more over the course of a year. Yet I see little indication that the cheaper gas station has more business than the more expensive one, nor do I find that being a loyal buyer of cheaper gas has any negative impact on how my car runs.

This........

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