Liberals desperate to boost President Joseph Biden’s reelection hopes claim there is an unprecedented “upswing” in the U.S. economy underway today. At a meeting of the United Auto Workers in Warren, Michigan, Feb. 1, Biden bragged the U.S. has “the strongest economy in the whole damn world.”
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman took this hoopla talk even further in a Feb. 2 piece titled “Our Economy Is Better Than ‘Goldilocks.’” He crooned, “Growth is piping hot, inflation is refreshingly cool. So much winning!”
But working people face a far different reality. Persistently rising prices on groceries, soaring rents and high utility bills make it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.
Grocery prices have jumped by 25% over the past four years, outpacing overall inflation of 19% during the same period. While cost increases in some groceries slowed last year, they keep on rising on a number of necessities for working-class families.
Groceries went up by 1.3% last year. This figure was kept somewhat lower by a few exceptions, like falling prices for eggs and lettuce. But prices for vital necessities — including beef, baby food, sugar and citrus fruits — rose by over 5%. And, of course, grocery store owners’ profits remain higher than before the COVID pandemic began in 2020.
The impact of inflation is sharply class-divided. Working-class families with their lower incomes have been hit the hardest by rising grocery prices. They spend 31% of their income on food, compared with 8% for bosses and their upper-middle-class hangers on.
Food banks around the country report increases in people seeking assistance. The Rhode Island Community Food Bank in Providence told the Washington Post they now serve 80,000 people a month, up 20% from a year ago.
Another food item whose price is jumping this year is Girl Scout cookies. The Scouts in New York say their price per box — sales start this week — is going up from $5 last year to $7 today. “Girl Scouts are not immune to rising costs,” they opine.
In a Feb. 2 article aptly titled “Inflation has fallen. Why are groceries still so expensive?” the Post describes the situation facing Jasmine Sanders, 23. She works two jobs, at H&R Block and at a home health care company, while struggling to provide food for herself and her two young children in Helena, Montana.
She said she wasn’t planning to vote in this year’s presidential election because both candidates seemed the same. But because of the difficulty she faces putting food on the table, she’s rethinking her position.
“At the moment, Trump is looking like the better guy,” she said. “Last time, I thought he had too many scandals. But now with inflation going on, with prices the way they are, it seems like he wants to make the economy better for people like us.”
The liberal media’s “Bidenomics” ballyhoo isn’t selling well in working-class neighborhoods.