The Indicator Biden Fails To Get — Working Americans Are Losing Affordability

While it’s quite true that year-over-year inflation is cooling as the Fed has slammed on the brakes, and it’s also the case that people are working, as the unemployment rate is low, what the Bidens don’t understand is that their economic poll numbers are hovering in the 30s because average working people are losing affordability, on a daily basis. You may have a job — which is great — but after inflation your take-home pay has gone down 26 of the past 29 months. So, you may have to take a second job. In fact, each spouse in the family may have to take a second job just to get by. What’s the problem here? The level of prices has risen significantly in the past two years — from President Biden’s frenzied government spending, his war on fossil fuels, and the Fed’s money-printing up until recently.The level of the consumer price index, for one, is up 16 percent since February 2021. Day-to-day necessities like groceries are up 19 percent. Gasoline at $3.85 is up about 40 percent. It was about $2.35 a couple years ago. Meats, poultry, and fish are up 19 percent. New cars are up 20 percent if you can get one. Used autos are up 34 percent. You go down the list, and you can see that these outsized price hikes take a real toll on traditional family life. Overall real wages are down about 3 percent. The average family is spending more than $700 a month more for everyday purchases than they were two years ago. With mortgage rates now running upwards of 7.5 percent, housing affordability is the worst since 1997, according to a friend, Liz Peek. And, according to Speaker McCarthy, the reality of back-to-school under Bidenomics is very expensive. Pens, markers, and mechanical pencils cost 13 percent more today. Binders and folders cost 48.5 percent more than they did last year. Crayons and highlighters are up an average of 18.5 percent over the past year. So, when my friend Jared Bernstein, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, says that questions about inflation have gone “stale,” he’s really missing the point.Affordability is different than inflation. The causality may be similar — namely excess spending and money creation — the reality, though, is that individual prices can be family killers. The other point worth making is that despite a softer inflation rate recently, especially compared to the gigantic inflation a year ago, the overall problem of rising prices has not yet been solved. Also, I want to make one more point. Last week, I spoke with President Trump about the need for supply-side policies like lower taxes and regulations and a lid on federal spending. But Mr. Trump’s first love is something he calls “liquid gold.” That refers to our vast energy resources, including oil and gas. Liquid gold affects literally hundreds of prices throughout our economy. The obvious one is gasoline. Open up those spigots, reignite production, and hundreds of business and family-oriented prices will go back down to where they were several years ago. That will conquer family inflation, and all the other “flations” you can think of.From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business News.

The Indicator Biden Fails To Get — Working Americans Are Losing Affordability

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