Rep. Debbie Lesko’s office showed off this year’s Christmas decorations available to them due to “Bidenflation”: a single, plain sign poking fun at historic inflation rates.
“Due to Bidenflation all we could afford was this crummy sign,” read the sign, with a classic depiction of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist begging for more food with an empty bowl of porridge, next to a picture of a Christmas hat-wearing Biden pointing at Twist with the caption “I did that!”
Lesko explained in a post that “Bidenflation” had a detrimental impact on her office’s tradition of decorating for Christmas.
“It’s a long-standing tradition that the second floor of Longworth is decorated for Christmas,” said Lesko. “My staff and I wanted to participate, but with Bidenflation who can afford it?”
It’s a long-standing tradition that the second floor of Longworth is decorated for Christmas. My staff and I wanted to participate, but with Bidenflation who can afford it? pic.twitter.com/IG0z5YVIXJ
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported last month that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of all items increased by 3.2 percent compared to last year, with food at about three percent higher, all other items at four percent higher, and energy down over five percent.
On Tuesday, the BLS confirmed a .1 percent increase in the CPI last month, noting that overall cost of living reflected in the shelter index offset the decline in the energy index.
The greatest increases occurred in the cost of meals eating out, medical care commodities (drugs, medical equipment, and supplies), and services less energy services including shelter and transportation.
Meals at home increased by 1.7 percent: cereals and bakery products increased by 3.4 percent; meats, poultry, fish, and eggs increased by .1 percent; dairy and related products decreased by 1.4 percent, fruits and vegetables increased by .4 percent, nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials increased by 2.9 percent, and all other foods increased by 3.3 percent.
Eating out increased by 5.3 percent: full service meals and snacks increased by 4.3 percent, and limited services and meals increased by six percent.
Energy commodities decreased by 9.8 percent: gas decreased by 8.9 percent and fuel oil decreased by 24.8 percent. Energy services decreased by .1 percent: electricity increased by 3.4 percent, while utility gas decreased by 10.4 percent.
Commodities less food and energy commodities sustained their price levels: new vehicles increased by 1.3 percent, while used cars and trucks decreased by 3.8 percent; apparel increased by 1.1 percent; medical care commodities increased by five percent; alcoholic beverages increased by 2.9 percent; and tobacco and smoking products increased by 7.7 percent.
Services less energy services increased by 5.5 percent. Shelter increased by 6.5 percent, with rent of primary residence increased by 6.9 percent and owners’ equivalent rent of residences increased by 6.7 percent.
Transportation services increased by 10.1 percent: motor vehicle maintenance and repair increased by 8.5 percent, motor vehicle insurance increased by 19.2 percent, and airline fare decreased by 12.1 percent.
Medical care services decreased by .9 percent, with physicians’ services decreased by .7 percent and hospital services increased by 6.3 percent.
Under President Joe Biden, the CPI hit a four-decade high last June: a 9.1 percent increase.
Annual inflation rates under former President Donald Trump averaged out to 1.9 percent: 2.1 percent in 2017, 1.9 percent in 2018, 2.3 percent in 2019, and 1.4 percent in 2020. The average annual inflation rates under Biden — factoring in 2021, 2022, and the latest inflation rate from this year — sits at over 5.5 percent.
These increases translate to Arizonans having to spend tens of thousands of dollars more for everyday necessities on average.
A study released earlier this year found that the average Arizona household must spend over $13,300 more to maintain the same standard of living they had in January 2021 — the state with the third-highest averages, just after Utah and Colorado.
The Thanksgiving dinner table may have also looked different this year. This year’s annual American Farm Bureau reported an average cost of $61 for a basic 10-person Thanksgiving dinner, down three dollars from last year but still eight dollars higher than 2021.
The average gas price in Arizona is currently at about $3.30.
Biden administration officials indicated to reporters this week that they anticipate 2024 will bring a continued decline in inflation. The Federal Reserve didn’t modify interest rates on Wednesday; Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that they would cut them next year.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Americans are paying the price for an economy seemingly in decline.
A recent study, released by CBS News, showed that “the typical American household must spend an additional $11,434 annually just to maintain the same standard of living they enjoyed in January of 2021, right before inflation soared to 40-year highs.”
These numbers showed that Arizona has experienced the high-end of inflation and added cost-of-living expenses for residents. On average, Arizona households must spend $13,329 more than they did in January 2021. Only two states, Utah and Colorado, are ahead of Arizona.
One of the contributing factors to the higher costs of living in the Grand Canyon State might be the prices at gas pumps, which have consistently been more than many other states in America. Throughout 2023, Republicans at the Arizona Legislature have attempted to get to the bottom of the reasons for the above-average prices for gas. Earlier this fall, the Joint Legislative Ad Hoc Study Committee on Air Quality and Energy convened to hear from Michelle Wilson, the Regulatory Compliance Administrator for the Arizona Department of Weights and Measures.
After the hearing, the Committee issued a press release to publicize that Wilson “admitted the Hobbs Administration was passive when oil companies in March warned of refinery shutdowns,” adding “that according to Wilson, for the first time in five years, the Governor’s office received a request from refineries to ask the EPA for a waiver, allowing for an alternative fuel type to provide an adequate supply for drivers and preventing a hike in gas prices.” Yet after the Governor’s Office “had conversations with the EPA about submitting a request for a waiver, … the EPA convinced Hobbs to not submit one.”
“Rather than making a case on behalf of Arizonans struggling to fill their tanks with prices hitting $5 per gallon, Governor Hobbs chose to not push back against the EPA and was complicit with the Biden Administration’s pro-inflation, radical environmentalist agenda,” said Senator Sine Kerr, the Committee’s co-chair. “As a result of Hobbs’ inaction, Maricopa County drivers were forced to shell out an extra several hundred million dollars just to get to their destinations during this supply disruption.”
The national average for gas prices, as of November 29, is $3.246 for a regular gallon of gas, which is down from last year’s average of $3.521 at the same time. Arizona clocks in at above average at $3.490, down from $4.055 at this time in 2022.
The state’s cost of living is regarded as one of the country’s highest, regardless of the study used to compute the ranking. The MERIC 2022 Cost of Living Index shows Arizona as 37th (out of 50) while RentCafe has the state’s costs at six percent higher than the national average.
Arizona’s housing market is also a contributing factor to the state’s high cost of living. According to Redfin, the median sale price in Arizona is $438,000, compared to $414,633 for the entire U.S. market (as of October 2023).
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
The latest read on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 5.2% real growth suggests the US economy soared in the third quarter. As momentum matters, this suggests the next quarter and the next will also be strong. One can hope, but a great downshift is far more likely.
For starters, it’s likely the economy was nowhere near as strong as the headline suggests. GDP gets all the love in the press, but Gross Domestic Income (GDI) is an equally valid measure. If we could measure these things precisely, they would always equate. GDI came in at 1.5%, much lower than GDP’s 5.2%.
Much the same data conflict arises in the jobs figures. According to the press fave employers’ survey, the economy created about 200 thousand jobs monthly since May. But the equally valid household survey has been flat over the same period. Again, that’s a big difference over an extended period between equally valid measures of the labor market.
One measure strong; one weak. Secret sauce clue: When major economic indicators send very different signals, it usually means the economy is at a turning point.
Why now? First, because the American consumer, that great engine representing about two-thirds of GDP, is running low on gas. The hoard of excess saving built up in years past is now mostly gone. LendingClub reports 60% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, which means they’ve little to fall back on and little room for error or bad luck.
The New York Fed confirms the consumer’s stretched thin, reporting that credit card debt last year displayed “the largest such increase since the beginning of our time series in 1999.” Credit card balances shoot up when savings go down and the checking account’s running dry. The Fed also reports the share of newly delinquent credit card users is the highest in about a decade and on an upward trend.
Going into the pandemic the Fed threw the sink at sustaining the economy, one consequence of which was high inflation. Coming out of the pandemic, the Fed finally woke up to inflation’s gathering momentum. The consequent good news is that inflation is trending downward.
The problem for the American consumer is the damage that inflation has already done. When inflation shot up in 2021 and 2022, nominal wages didn’t. Families took a huge hit in what they could afford and the gap remains. To preserve their standard of living, they resorted to spending down their past savings and spending up their credit card balances.
The natural consequence of stressed consumers is a downshift in spending. The National Retail Federation reports that core retail sales have been essentially flat for two months straight. Retailers report consumers are resisting price increases, hesitating to pay full price, and are increasingly looking for discounts and promotions. The obvious reaction to financial insecurity is to cut back; think cutting out the Rib-Eye at Whole Foods for hamburger from Aldi.
A weakening of consumer spending would occur against a shaky background elsewhere. Housing has been flat or down for two years now. Shipments and new orders both suggest the manufacturing sector is weak. If the consumer really is about out of gas, then the economy could see a marked downshift. And now we come full circle back to the Fed, which put us on this rollercoaster with its kitchen sink response to the pandemic.
The Fed is standing pat with its restrictive policies even as inflation slows and will likely do so for many months. Quite reasonably, before relaxing the Fed wants to be sure inflation continues toward its 2% goal rather than re-igniting. But standing pat while inflation slows means Fed policy is actually becoming steadily more restrictive. Today’s tapping becomes tomorrow’s stomping on the brakes, and thus is likely to generate the great 2024 downshift.
J.D. Foster is a contributor to the Daily Caller News Foundation. He is the former chief economist at the Office of Management and Budget and former chief economist and senior vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He now resides in relative freedom in the hills of Idaho.
The state of the United States economy continues to concern experts and Americans alike.
Earlier this week, the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics noted that the American economy had experienced a 3.2% increase in inflation over the past year.
EJ Antoni, a public finance economist for the Heritage Foundation, reacted to the revelation, saying, “October was the fourth consecutive month of inflation outpacing monthly earnings growth. For 27 of the last 31 months, prices have risen faster than annual earnings. This decline in real earnings coupled with elevated borrowing costs from today’s higher interest rates have cost a typical American family the equivalent of about $7,400 in annual income under the Biden administration.”
Bidenomics is at is again. For the fourth consecutive month, inflation has outpaced monthly earnings. For 27 of the last 31 months, prices have risen faster than annual earnings. Current federal spending levels are unsustainable. @RealEJAntoni explains👇 https://t.co/iwoFfC04Q2
A recent poll from Global Strategy Group, which was conducted for the Financial Times and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, showed that 61% of respondents disapproved of the way Biden was handling the economy, while 55% believed that they are worse off since the start of his presidency. The largest concern of the group appeared to be with price increases to food (74%), and 75% believed that rising prices would pose the most significant threat to the American economy over the next six months.
The White House broadcasted a different perspective to the most recent report from the Bureau, stating that the numbers show “more progress bringing inflation down, with annual inflation now down by 65% from the peak.”
Today’s economic report shows more progress bringing inflation down, with annual inflation now down by 65% from the peak.
The Biden-Harris Administration will continue to fight to lower costs for hardworking families so they have more breathing room.
President Biden added, “Inflation has come down while the unemployment rate has been below 4% for 21 months in a row—the longest stretch in more than 50 years—while wages, wealth, and the share of working-age Americans with jobs are all higher now than before the pandemic.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
On September 19, I testified before a House subcommittee on the impacts of Bidenomics – yet it was clear that half the committee members weren’t even listening. That’s disturbing because our lawmakers have played a huge role in making the typical American family about $7,000 poorer in just two and a half years.
Instead of acknowledging the data I presented, the Democrats on the subcommittee only regurgitated their talking points and resorted to espousing falsehoods about the state of the economy. Even if half our leaders won’t listen to the facts, hopefully the American people will, so here’s the truth about Bidenomics.
Under President Joe Biden, the government has spent, borrowed, and created trillions of dollars, and that caused the highest inflation in four decades. This inflation is a real tax on the American people because it transfers wealth from the people to the government. And the size of that transfer has been staggering.
The average American worker today loses more of his hourly earnings through the hidden tax of inflation than in federal income taxes. That means inflation under Mr. Biden has effectively doubled the average American’s federal income tax liability. Nominal pay keeps going up, but real (inflation-adjusted) pay has gone down.
The typical American family with two parents working and with average weekly earnings has seen their weekly pay increase $230 under Biden, but those larger paychecks buy about $100 less. The result is an annual decrease in purchasing power of about $5,100.
Similarly, net household wealth is at a record high today, but only before adjusting for inflation. In real terms, net household wealth is roughly flat since the end of 2020. That means nearly all the trillions of dollars in additional net household wealth have been confiscated by the government under this president through the hidden tax of inflation.
That’s how the government has been financing its massive deficits for the last three years.
To combat the inflation that it helped cause, the Federal Reserve has increased interest rates which have compounded the pain for Americans. Borrowing costs have risen dramatically and are now about $1,800 higher annually for the typical American family. Coupled with their loss in purchasing power, this leaves a family about $7,000 poorer than when Mr. Biden took office.
Yet many people are even worse off than that. If you’re trying to buy a home today, the monthly mortgage payment on a median price home has more than doubled under Mr. Biden. Homeownership affordability is at one of its lowest levels on record, and less than half of American households can qualify for a mortgage. And many who qualify still can’t afford the payments.
The impact of Bidenomics on federal finances has been just as bad, with interest on the federal debt rising at the fastest pace on record. In less than a decade, interest payments will crowd out more than half of existing government spending.
While the Democrats on the subcommittee refused to listen to any facts I presented, nothing I said was about politics, but policy. President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, signed welfare reform and multiple balanced budgets. And the 12 years of low inflation that preceded Mr. Biden were overseen by both a Republican and a Democrat.
The laws of supply and demand are purely apolitical, with both Democrats and Republicans being subjected to them. The sooner today’s Democrats—and some Republicans—realize this, the sooner they can acknowledge the factual outcomes of Bidenomics and hopefully change course.
But if the conduct of the Democrats on the subcommittee before which I testified is any indication, we shouldn’t hold our breath.
E.J. Antoni is a contributor to The Daily Caller News Foundation, a public finance economist at The Heritage Foundation, and a senior fellow at Committee to Unleash Prosperity.
