David Barnes on Why Everything Costs More and What Can Be Done About It

David Barnes (0:00)

The utility bills are usually way lower lag, or a longer lag, lag time, when it comes to like, you know, you pay it a month after you've raised the prices, but also the rates can't go up until each utility company gets an approval to increase the rates. So those might be years in the making. So we're right now paying higher utility prices based on bad policies from a couple years ago.

And then the bad policies of today are gonna lead to higher prices in the future.

So we really need to start fixing some of these problems. And that's why all sorts of regulatory reforms are needed, permitting reforms are needed. Because while we talked about fuel and gas and stuff like that, even wind and solar and renewables, all these other things, you can't build a solar farm without permits. You can't build a wind farm without permits. Everybody needs permits. So whether you're more of a renewable fan or more of a fossil fuel fan, everybody thinks you need permitting, which is why we're optimistic that there will be some action in this last conference.

SPEAKER_2 (1:00)

Americans are capable of achieving extraordinary things when they have the freedom and opportunity to do so. This is American Potential.

David From (1:11)

Everyone, welcome to the American Potential podcast. I'm your host, David From. On today's episode, we're going to talk about cost of living, something that's really impacted just everybody.

You know, price increase, this thing's going up. You know, it's just such a problem that's been stubborn. You know, from the Biden administration, we saw it really go up. Now, you know, it's still a big problem. Engineer Matt, have you, you know, in your personal life or professional life, like, how's that impacting you?

SPEAKER_4 (1:41)

Oh, the price of everything has gone up across the board. And, you know, I'm a big car guy and cars are more expensive now than they have ever been, you know. That's one thing I think a lot of people have to consider if they're looking at a new car or a used car. But also thinking into my personal life a little bit, I have some friends, if we're talking about cost going up, and I know we've talked about housing costs before, but I have some friends about the same age as me. And they recently got married. They're looking at, they just had a kid and they're looking at, you know, buying a house and really planning routes with their family now.

And they're looking at doing it out of country. They're looking to move into, you know, a couple of various Asian countries because it's cheaper to live there, significantly cheaper, everything from food to homes and all of the above. And I can think of that personally. I've got friends who want to do that. And I've heard about that type of thing happening all over the place lately.

David From (2:37)

That's nuts. Wow. I heard moving to different states, moving countries. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_4 (2:41)

No, it's just a huge problem.

David From (2:42)

I mean, it just impacts us everywhere. I mean, of course, you're always shocked when you go to the gas pump, you know, you're like, gosh darn it, I can't believe this. They throw in state taxes and all, but just everything, you know, go to the grocery store everywhere. So, you know, I'm excited for us to talk about some solutions, some things that government can do to try to make it better. But, you know, people really need some action.

We'll talk about this with today's guest, David Barnes, who's the Senior Policy Director for Americans for Prosperity.

David, welcome.

David Barnes (3:10)

Thanks for having me on Other David.

David From (3:13)

Haha, love it. We'll let the listeners decide who's first place David and second place David.

So I'm excited to talk about this topic is so important. I mean, we've talked about this topic before, a few years back during the Biden administration even, it just unfortunately continues to be a problem. People just can't afford as much stuff. It's things cost more and it's a real challenge for our country and citizens. So I want to start with kind of a wonky thing, which is a portion of the Maritimes Act of the 1920s that impacts the cost of goods.

So that deals with the Jones Act and we've been advocating for its repeal. So you can tell us what's this issue and how does it relate to the price that we're paying for stuff?

David Barnes (4:00)

Sure. So the Jones Act is, as you said, a 1920 law. So 100 years old. It basically restricts the ability of ships to carry goods from one US port to another. The ships have to be American made, American crewed.