Could we be headed for Jimmy Carter-era inflation again?

Heaven forbid that this great country is headed into a new round of President Jimmy Carter-era inflation rates. But if the April report on inflation is any indicator, hold on!
    The April Consumer Price Index, which is the indicator for inflation, was just released and it didn’t bring good news for this country. The rate of inflation over the past year jumped to 4.2%, up from 2.6% in the prior month—the highest level since 2008.
    Anyone younger than us Baby Boomers has no idea what we’re talking about and what we experienced during the Carter era.
    Interest rates at 22%. Gas around $5 per gallon, not to mention the shortage of gas. Speed limits dropped to 55 on all highways to save gas.
    Oil prices world wide skyrocketed as we depended on foreign oil from the Middle East to feed our demand.
    The president asked us to turn our thermostats down and put on a sweater or two during cold weather to save energy and keep the thermostat higher during the summer.
    Inflation grew 15-18% per year during the Carter presidency. One thing it did benefit was great rates for CDs.
    It’s taken us almost a generation to get to an economy where the U.S. was energy independent, with low interest rates to borrow capital to grow our businesses. If inflation continues, all this will unravel before our eyes.
    Even as the COVID-19 pandemic starts to subside, our government has already flooded the economy with so much money and aid that it’s more lucrative for the unemployed to collect government checks than go back to work. This comes at a time when there are more jobs than workers to fill them.
    This week gave us a glimpse of what could happen if the Green New Deal forces us to abandon the use of fossil fuels for transportation.
    When a major gasoline pipeline that feeds the southeastern states of our country was shut down due to a computer hack, gas stations ran out of gas. The long lines of cars waiting for gas was reminiscent of those during the energy crisis of the Carter era.
    This is not the direction our country needs to head. Our elected leaders on both sides of the aisle must come together to do what’s best for our country, not what’s best for their party.