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Grand Canyon Times

Sunday, May 19, 2024

The real inflation in America today

Restaurant increasing prices

Perhaps the greatest lie that is being told to the American people today is that the economy is “booming.”

From mainstream media outlets like Forbes and MSNBC, to the incumbent president himself, the narrative usually points to such indicators as a drop in the unemployment rate, an increase in job openings and rising wages.

But the truth of the matter is that these numbers are either outright false or are completely overtaken by the far more pressing economic indicator of our times: Crushing inflation at the highest levels in 40 years.

While inflation is by far the worst economic problem facing Americans today, it is far from the only one.

Inflation has affected every aspect of American life, including basic necessities for everyday survival.

Even despite President Joe Biden’s releasing of strategic oil reserves to offset rising gas prices, diesel gas prices have still reached record highs: The national average price for a gallon of diesel gasoline currently sits at $5.54; in May of 2021, the average was just $2.42.

Meanwhile, the national average for regular gas is now $4.328, while in May of last year it was only $2.96. Just as devastating as the rising gas prices are the spiking prices of groceries. Food prices have risen by 9.4% compared to last year, marking the fastest rate of inflation for food since 1981.

Grocery prices rose even higher, with a 10.8% increase. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 8.3% compared to one year ago, surpassing economic expectations of an 8.1% increase; from March to April, the CPI rose by 0.3% instead of the expected 0.2% increase predicted by experts.

The first quarter was nothing short of a disaster for the American economy.

The GDP shrank by 1.4%, the complete opposite of the 1% gain that most economists predicted. In the same quarter, the economy’s labor output plummeted by a staggering 7.5%, the worst such drop for a single quarter since 1947.

The Biden administration and their supporters in the mainstream media hope that most Americans will ignore the realities of everyday life, in favor of the positive spin that because wages are “rising,” that must mean the economy is doing better than ever before.

But with costs rising even faster than wages, Americans are still seeing a net loss on a daily basis. Biden’s inflation is now forcing Americans to “unretire” in record numbers.

In one survey, 20% of retirees stated their intention to return to work in order to offset the staggering costs of inflation. And Americans still in the workforce are not faring much better: The average hourly earnings for American employees dropped by at least 2.6% in the month of April, which was more than enough to erase any gains that may have been made as a result of wages rising.

One thing that has become painfully clear above all else as a result of Biden’s disastrous economy: The current state of affairs is completely unsustainable.

If something is not done to immediately reverse course, then the nation will be heading for an economic crisis unlike anything we have seen in modern history.

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