According to a recent survey, nearly four out of ten Americans worry about not having enough money to pay all of their payments on time—a figure that is even higher than it was during the Great Recession of 2008–2009.
According to a CNN poll, 39% of Americans worry most or always about not being able to pay their expenses. Compared to the 37% increase during the 2008 crisis, when unemployment was close to 10%, this represents a 33% gain since the worst of the bidenflation.
The Biden-Harris administration’s inflation hit unprecedented levels in the modern era. Although it has somewhat decreased recently, it is still persistently high, driving up the price of necessities like food, gas, housing, and other essentials like utilities. CNN went on to say that “consumers are still trying to catch up to the price spikes of the last few years.”
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Referencing the survey, the Daily Signal added:
Still trying to catch up is an understatement. The gap between nominal wages and inflation-adjusted wages since 2021 is more than 20%. So, it looks like you’re making a lot more, but even accounting for official inflation, workers have lost thousands in income.
Of course, if official inflation is a lie, which seems likely, going by real-world prices from housing to restaurants and groceries, then workers have lost a lot more.
To illustrate, official inflation since COVID-19 is 21%, but fast-food menu prices—a standard finance proxy for true inflation—are up more than twice that, while housing costs have doubled since COVID-19, between rising house prices and rising mortgage rates.
If those real-world numbers are closer to true inflation, then workers have lost potentially thousands per month.
Additionally, CNN noted that over one-third, or 35 percent of respondents, claimed they had to take on additional part-time job in order to make ends meet. This includes approximately half of workers under 45, 52% of Latinos, and 44% of Black people.
“That explains why jobs are rising on paper, yet the actual number of employed Americans is plunging—down 600,000 in the past eight months alone,” the Daily Signal noted.
Nearly half of Americans are cutting back on their driving to conserve petrol, and over two-thirds are cutting back on their grocery buying. Furthermore, 4 out of 10 Americans currently pay for necessities like groceries and gas with credit cards.
LSEG analysts had predicted a rise of 175,000 jobs in July, but businesses only added 114,000, according to Labor Department statistics that was made public earlier this month. Furthermore, the unemployment rate suddenly rose from 4.1% to 4.3%, defying expectations that it would stay steady.
“It marked the highest level for the jobless rate since October 2021,” Fox Business reported.
“Temperatures might be hot around the country, but there’s no summer heatwave for the job market,” said ManpowerGroup North America president Becky Frankiewicz. “With across-the-board cooling, we have lost most of the gains we saw from the first quarter of the year.”
In a May Financial Times-Michigan Ross poll, the former president was viewed as having greater economic credibility than the incumbent, Joe Biden, by an 8-point margin, 43–35 percent.
The poll analysis notes that Trump has gained 2 points since the previous survey. “In another worrying sign for the White House, the monthly FT-Michigan Ross survey has consistently found voters more than Biden when it comes to handling the economy,” the analysis reads.
With only 40% of people supporting Biden and 58% disapproving, only 28% of voters believe he has improved the economy.
Vice President Kamala Harris faces a difficult task in separating herself from Biden’s economic views, which she has previously supported on several occasions. As a member of the “Biden-Harris administration” and in response to Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s comments this week that there is “no daylight” between Biden and Harris in terms of economic and other issues, she has also been irrevocably linked to his White House.
