Posted on 11/29/2023 7:45:30 AM PST by george76
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, according to a recent analysis of government data.
Such figures underscore the financial squeeze many families continue to face even as the the rate of U.S. inflation recedes and the economy by many measures remains strong, with the jobless rate at a two-decade low.
Even so, many Americans say they aren't feeling those gains, and this fall more people reported struggling financially than they did prior to the pandemic, according to CBS News polling. Inflation is the main reason Americans express pessimism about economy despite its bright points, which also include stronger wage gains in recent years.
"On the edge"..
Average hourly pay for workers has increased robust 13.6% since January 2021, although that lags the 17% increase in inflation during the same period, according to government data. The main categories requiring heavier spending for consumers simply to tread water: food, transportation, housing and energy, which together account for almost 80 cents of every $1 in additional spending, according to the analysis from Republican members of the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee.
"Middle- and low-income Americans aren't doing well enough — they are living fragilely on the edge," said Gene Ludwig, chairman of the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity (LISEP), a think thank whose own analysis found that the income needed to cover the basics fell short by almost $14,000, on average, in 2022.
Where inflation bites hardest..
Around the U.S., the state with the highest additional expenditures to afford the same standard of living compared with 2021 is Colorado, where a household must spend an extra $15,000 per year, the JEC analysis found. Residents in Arkansas, meanwhile, have to spend the least to maintain their standard of living, at about $8,500 on an annual basis.
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Inflation takes a bigger bite out of lower-income households because by necessity they spend a bigger share of their income on basics than higher-income Americans.
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Food costs and basic costs are up more than other costs
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Consumers are still paying more, albeit at a slower pace, on top of the higher prices that were locked in when price hikes surged in 2022 and earlier this year.
The best thing to do would be to raise taxes. That will fix it.
MY current SS income is $16,884.
That much “extra” would be wonderful.
Expecting SS increase in Jan of approx $500 annual.
About right...maybe a tad more in my case...
All this because of the low IQ fools running things for the deep state!
What about those who do not pay taxes but live off welfare and other benefits?
I have only received 2.5% pay increase in last 3 years. I decided to retire at 65. Self employed for 25 years.made great money.
My SS is more than I make working for a cheapskate. Done with it.
This massive uptick in expense per household has not been met, I’m afraid, by an equal degree of belt-tightening. My biggest clue would be the fact that in Quarter 2 this year, credit card debt surpassed $1 trillion.
While our government talks in trillions all the time, I can’t even imagine the magnitude of that much credit card debt. The families in question can’t print the money to buy their own debt like the government can.
I don’t know who the proverbial piper is; but someone once said he’s gotta be paid (or he’ll come for your children).
When I retired in 2020 I started driving for Door Dash for fun and to get out of the house a bit because I was my mom’s caretaker and needed a little breather. Now, it is used to supplement my SS check, and I still can’t make ends meet, even after dramatically reducing as many expenses as possible.
I’m glad you’re a hustler like that. I hope the hustle pays off more than at present, or you find another. Bless you.
$11,400 in a single day! That’s got to be the scariest headline I’ve seen in a while...
If I recall correctly, I received a $1 increase in my hourly
(commission)pay in the last 10 years of my working life. That was in the days before Bidenomics. Since then, have had more increases in S.S. than that, but now we have Bidenomics to deal with, so it’s going downhill again. No way to pay for needed home repairs now, & there may be other things on the way that I have no knowledge of yet.
It’s a fun little gig, but more fun when I don’t NEED it.
CBS is reporting this? Guess the employees of CBS are staring to feel the pinch also.
Looked at the price of a new truck? It can easily go over $100,000.
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