The Biden pay cut just got more severe as surging inflation reduces Americans’ real wages and living standards. On Wednesday, the Labor Department announced that the consumer price index increased by 6.2% over the last year, the fastest pace in over 30 years. October marks the sixth consecutive month that inflation has grown by 5% or more on a year-over-year basis — significantly outpacing wage growth and putting Americans further and further behind. Bidenflation is the next pandemic.
The topline CPI number obscures even higher inflation among commodities like food and energy that Americans actually consume. When you strip out deflationary tech products from the index, price increases are even more substantial. The price of gas is up 50% over the last year, and the cost of fuel oil to heat homes has risen nearly 60%. The price of beef is up 20% and pork 14%.
Americans are staring down their most expensive Thanksgiving dinner in history, a bitter pill to swallow considering many families skipped Thanksgiving get-togethers last year due to the pandemic.
And there’s additional bad news. On Tuesday, the Labor Department announced that the producer price index, which reflects what businesses pay, accelerated at 8.6%. This runaway inflation hits small businesses especially hard. They generally have smaller margins and economies of scale than their big business competitors, who often enjoy pricing power over their suppliers to mitigate inflation’s impacts.
Unsurprisingly, Job Creators Network’s October Monthly Monitor Poll finds that small business sentiment declined for a third consecutive month, with inflation cited as by far the biggest concern among surveyed small business owners.
“It’s a never-ending loop — by the time you’ve implemented one price increase, you’re already ready to implement a new one,” small business pricing consultant Tom McTaggart explained to the Wall Street Journal. “It’s like trying to hit a moving target while you’re standing on a moving platform.”
This painful inflation is largely a result of President Biden and congressional Democrats’ trillions of dollars in reckless spending that devalues the currency. Late last week, Congress passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure-in-name-only bill that will worsen inflation by showering money on political and environmental priorities. According to the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, only about one in four of the legislation’s dollars are for roads, bridges, highways, and airports. Much of the rest goes to big green boondoggles.