Bidenflation has been incredibly disastrous for our country. As inflation brought on by COVID was given a mixture of steroids and crack by the Biden administration, many Americans are simply finding themselves outpriced. Outpriced from their homes, their neighborhoods, their cars, and even their food. As salaries stay stagnant or even decline, many have been forced to blow through their savings or obliterate their credit to maintain their lifestyle.
E.J. Antoni, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, spoke with the Daily Caller about the situation. “The high probability of recession in the near term is very troubling when coupled with the decline in savings. People need more savings today than ever to cope with the higher cost of living, and instead, many families are headed into the next recession with less savings and more debt.”
With the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a measure of economic growth, remaining much higher than forecast at 2.1% for the second quarter of 2023, even the Federal Reserve has been unable to slow it down with sky-high interest rates. With spending as the cornerstone of the GDP of the US, their consistent growth has been coming at the expense of the American consumer.
A combination of needing to get things “now” instead of waiting is a large part of keeping the GDP so high. One thing many people took away from COVID was the need to live more in the moment. After learning that opportunities presented on Monday might be gone come Wednesday, people’s fear of missing out (FOMO) is at an all-time high.
In some cases, this FOMO has lent itself to sending resale prices on limited goods significantly higher than normal. Of specific interest are tickets to events. From the MLB playoffs to concert tickets, as well as tickets against the Kansas City Chiefs, all of them are seeing increased resale values due to FOMO. With bands touring less often, prices are higher than usual due to soaring touring costs. In return for that higher cost, they are being forced to put more into the tour to justify the increase, which in turn means more expenses.
As you can see, this is a cyclic situation.
With savings and credit accounts taking the brunt of this hit and income not keeping pack with other prices inflating, there needs to be a big change. Not just in consumer spending habits, but in the way our government is operating. The American people need a more dependable economy and marketplace to keep things going. One of the major problems with this was the temporary money many Americans were getting.
Ryan Ellis, president of the Center for a Free Economy, told the Daily Caller that there is a massive problem now. “Consumption is about 70 percent of GDP growth, so naturally, any additional consumption by households and businesses is going to add to GDP. But to the extent that consumption is fueled by one-time windfalls from the government, it’s bringing future consumption into the present. Eventually, the lack of real income to justify the higher consumption will catch up with the households and businesses.”
Getting the American way of life back on track shouldn’t mean running through 10 years of savings in 2 years. While most of us are responsible (at least to a degree) for the FOMO shopping, there is a lot of room to advance and change our situation. We just need to use our heads and make the right decisions.
These aren’t just the decision to wait on a big purchase or to save some money. We need to decide to educate ourselves and others on why voting conservatively is the only way to get this nation back on the right track. We need to ensure that we get the liberals out of office and take their proxy wars with Iran and China away. Supporting American-made businesses that support conservatives is another way. If we keep buying liberal products, we support liberal policies; enough is enough.
