As the US national average gas price hit $4.6 per gallon, Calamos President & CEO John Koudounis says that this is mainly due to the fiscal policy pursued by the Biden administration.
In his May 30, 2022, conversation with Fox News’ Mike Emanuel, Koudounis noted that energy is a huge sector of the US economy, and “these gas prices are definitely running inflation. Inflation is here.”
He explained that rising prices are not just going to the pump but also to the grocery store. “People sometimes do not understand the rippling effect of energy prices,” Koudounis said.
He brought the example of products such as fertilizers whose price has increased as a result of the rippling effect of energy prices.
“You can’t grow the crops you need and get the quantities that you are used to, unless you use fertilizers, that unfortunately contain some form of petroleum. You will not get the yield crop you had before,” Koudounis reported.
Fiscal policies impact gas prices
Koudounis said that, in his opinion, the Biden administration does not fully understand the root of the problem of rising energy prices.
“Fiscal policies have implications and that is why we have high energy prices, and that is why we have inflation and that is why it is very difficult for the Fed to control this,” he said.
The US was energy-independent but through fiscal policies, we have become energy-dependent, he noted.
“We now rely on countries like Russia, Iran and Venezuela for our gas,” Koudounis added. “We are paying them in order to produce gas. This is the reason gas prices are really high.”
“There is no question that the Ukraine war has added to that, but it was here beforehand,” Koudounis concluded.
Koudounis manages approximately $43 billion of investments
In addition to being President & CEO of Calamos Investments, a global investment firm, Koudounis is the Founder of the Chicago CEO COVID-19 Coalition, a coalition of Chicago’s business leaders in a humanitarian campaign for COVID-19 relief and recovery.
The Chicago CEO COVID-19 Coalition is bringing together leaders of Chicago companies to benefit local Chicago charities by providing the relief that Chicago needs now for vital and long-term recovery.
Koudounis, who manages approximately $43 billion of investments, is also a founding board member and executive committee member of The Hellenic Initiative, a non-profit, non-governmental organization with the aim of supporting Greece and Cyprus in the aftermath of the financial crisis by helping to foster entrepreneurship in both countries.
He is also a member of Leadership 100 and Chairman of the Metropolis of Chicago Foundation. In October 2016, he was inducted as an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Order of St. Andrew, the highest honor bestowed on a layman by the Orthodox Church.
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