According to Joe Biden and his administration, the policies they’ve implemented in the last couple of years have only strengthened America. But as economist after economist can attest to, they have only attacked your paychecks.
Of course, you and I don’t really need to be told that, do we?
Everywhere we look, prices are higher. Gas costs more, as does putting food on the table, paying for rent, keeping the lights on, and just about everything else.
And naturally, those hardest hit are those in the lower to middle classes.
As Tiana Lowe Doescher told the Washington Examiner recently, the cost of living in the United States has risen a whopping 16 percent in the last two years, or basically since Biden entered the White House. Unfortunately, the amount most of us get paid hasn’t increased nearly enough to match that.
And that means we’re losing 16 percent of our spending power.
Doescher wrote that the numbers are even more appalling when we break them down by certain categories.
“The consumer price index, specifically for food, is up 19% since January 2021, and electricity prices are up 23%. Used car prices are up a staggering 30%, and car repairs cost 23% more than two years ago.”
Note that these are all things the average American has to pay for. They are necessities.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, experts say things will only worsen as the year continues and we head into 2024.
The first sign of that comes from Fitch Ratings officially downgrading the United States’ credit rating from AAA to AA+. As Kevin O’Leary, star of “Shark Tank,” says, that’s a very bad thing.
For those who don’t speak economics as O’Leary, it basically means that both the US dollar and the US Treasury bill are losing value. And so people are also losing faith in their abilities.
But how does that even happen in the first place?
Well, as the Heritage Foundation’s E.J. Antoni explains, it is a direct result of the Biden administration’s “spending, borrowing, and printing too much money.” Antoni notes that thanks to the administration’s policies, the yield on US Treasuries is higher. But that also means that it costs more to “service” the debt, meaning interest rates are also higher, which means the national debt grows even faster as that interest is added. Financing costs also go up.
Antoni calls it a “death spiral.”
An American Institute for Economic Research economist Peter Earle points out that it means there is “increasing doubt about the US government’s ability to meet its financial obligations.”
But what does that mean for you?
Well, it means rent is up about 16 percent. Interest rates have skyrocketed. So if you plan on buying a home, be prepared to pay a whopping 7 percent in interest, compared to the average 3 percent charged when Trump was in office.
Of course, it also means gas prices are higher than they were when Trump was in office. Hell, according to AAA and a report from The Associated Press, gas sits at an average of around $3.78 a gallon, which is about 25 cents higher than it was just one month ago.
On top of all that extra spending we must do, companies are letting people go right and left. They are cutting hours, cutting benefits, and cutting corners just to try to make ends meet. So unemployment is up right along with inflation.
And if Fitch Ratings is accurate with their calculations, they fully expect the US to be in a full recession soon, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2023 and extending into 2024. This means that the Federal Reserve will likely raise interest rates yet again nearing September.
A death spiral is right… the sooner we get someone else in office to reverse these policies, the better.
