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A growing number of Americans and their families are increasingly under financial duress as so-called “Bidenflation” continues to take a bigger bite out of paychecks, with some economists comparing rising prices to a hidden tax on monthly income.
“Inflation rose to 8.54% in March from 7.57% in February, having skyrocketed throughout Biden’s first year in office. Economists have pointed to Biden’s signature multi-trillion-dollar spending package as one of the drivers of inflation,” Fox Business reported Tuesday. “Biden and the Democrats have been pointing their fingers at [Russian President Vladimir] Putin [following his invasion of Ukraine] as the reason for the price hike, but Republicans are looking to the West Wing as the source of the economic troubles.”
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), head of the Republican Study Committee, remarked about the effect so much inflation has had on ordinary Americans.
“Inflation is substantially outpacing wage growth, which means Americans have taken a pay cut under the Biden presidency,” he told Fox News Digital. “Liberal, Obama White House economists warned the Democrats’ reckless spending would hurt working families, but Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi simply don’t care and want to spend even more.”
There are five areas in particular where Americans are really feeling the pressure, Fox Business noted.
At the grocery store: Food expenditures across the gambit have risen and are only expected to continue their upward climb, analysts say, and that’s taking a huge toll on consumers.
Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Ok., a House Ways and Means Committee member and co-chair of the Small Business Caucus, told Fox News Digital that businesses “rely on stability in the market and consistency from their government.”
“From the farms that grow our food to the factories that process it to the truck drivers to who deliver it to grocery stores and restaurants – everyone is experiencing volatility in the aftermath of pandemic restrictions and conflicting messages from their government,” Hern said.
“It’s probably too late to prevent a food shortage crisis entirely, but it’s not too late to take action to limit the damage by incentivizing employment, restoring stability, and strengthening our supply chain,” Hern added.
Pain at the pump: Oil prices have risen steadily throughout Biden’s presidency, spiking again following Putin’s invasion. Gas and diesel prices are two-and-three times higher today than when President Donald Trump left office.
Georgia Rep. Austin Scott said that no “American should have to choose between filling their gas tanks or their stomachs, but that’s the reality for many under this administration.”
“Biden’s irresponsible policies and the Left’s overspending are to blame,” Scott noted further, adding that “Biden’s gas crisis makes food more expensive.”
“Fuel prices contribute to rising food costs because farmers and truckers need diesel to operate and transport supplies,” Scott said. “Our reliance on foreign oil directly impacts our grocery bills.”
Currently, the average price for a gallon of gas is above $4.
Speaking of cars and trucks… New vehicle availability has been reduced thanks to a worsening global supply chain crisis that has especially hit the computer chip industry hard. As such, prices for used vehicles have skyrocketed around 30 percent. Even the number of electric vehicles available for sale are also down as the administration has begun to push them heavily.
Market analyst Stephanie Brinley told CarAndDriver.com she doesn’t “see MSRPs going down” but added that the price volatility could level out once supply meets demand, predicting that will happen in “late 2023, early 2024.”
Home energy is more expensive: Over the course of Biden’s presidency, home energy prices have also risen. Electricity has gone up around 9 percent while natural gas has risen roughly 24 percent.
“Typically, utility costs go up in the winter, but the rising prices have been steadily increasing for the past year,” Fox Business noted.
Home prices have soared, too: With a dearth of building materials — again, a supply chain issue — along with higher manufacturing and transport costs, the price of homes has risen dramatically, as well. But so, too, have prices for existing homes, leading some to believe that a 2008-like bubble is forming.
It’s also getting more expensive to buy a home thanks to rising interest rates, now averaging around 5.2 percent for a 30-year note, a 12-year high.
Rent costs have gone up as well: “[T]he average cost of a two-bedroom apartment in February 2022 costing $1,295 per month — up nearly $200 from the $1,100 average price in February 2021,” Fox Business added.
