By the Republican National Committee
EVERYTHING COSTS MORE THANKS TO BIDEN
- The latest Consumer Price Index data shows the year-over-year inflation rate last month was 3.1 percent – twice the rate compared to when Biden took office and higher than expected.
<ul>
<li> Inflation has been at or above 3 percent for 34 straight months, well above the Fed's average target of <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/20/the-federal-reserves-2percent-inflation-targeting-policy-explained.html">2 percent</a>.</li>
<li>Core consumer prices – stripping out food and energy – rose by <a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SA0L1E?output_view=pct_12mths">3.9 percent</a>, also <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/13/cpi-inflation-january-2024-consumer-prices-rose-0point3percent-in-january-more-than-expected-as-the-annual-rate-moved-to-3point1percent.html">above expectations</a>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Prices have risen by <a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SA0">17.9 percent</a> since Biden took office – with Americans still reeling from the lasting effects of inflation.
<ul>
<li>On a year-over-year basis, inflation under Biden has <a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SA0?output_view=pct_12mths">averaged 5.7 percent</a> – more than double the level of inflation seen under any of the last four presidents.</li>
<li>Food prices are up <a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SAF11">21 percent</a>, rent is up <a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SAH1">19.4 percent</a>, and electricity is up <a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SEHF01">28.6 percent</a> since Biden took office.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>With persistent inflation having eaten away at wage gains, more and more Americans are struggling financially.
<ul>
<li>Bidenflation outpaced wages for a majority of Biden's presidency – year-over-year real average hourly earnings were negative for <a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0500000013?output_view=pct_12mths">25 months</a> and real average weekly earnings were negative for <a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0500000012?output_view=pct_12mths">26 months</a>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Real wages remain <a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0500000013">lower</a> than when Biden first took office.
<ul>
<li>Inflation-adjusted average hourly wages were $11.40 when Biden took office and are now $11.16 – the BLS adjusts to 1982-1984 dollars – meaning Americans have seen a <a href="https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CES0500000013">2.1 percent pay cut</a> under Biden.</li>
</ul>
</li>
AMERICANS' FINANCES ARE BEING DECIMATED
- Americans are suffering from the lasting effects of Biden's historic inflation, with many struggling to pay their debts, save for retirement, or afford rent.
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/benefits-compensation/inflation-workers-high-cost-of-living">62 percent</a> of Americans report living paycheck to paycheck, including <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/economic-divide-widening-almost-third-120000620.html">a third who earn over $150k per year</a>.</li>
<li>Food banks are <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/food-bank-pandemic-calfresh-18596623.php">struggling</a> to keep up with demand for food assistance.</li>
<li>Care.com's <a href="https://www.care.com/c/how-much-does-child-care-cost/?irclickid=XQDWpARgkxyPWPe3Sw2JM3FmUkHwxt3B1ULdxk0&irpid=10078&utm_source=impact&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_content=1505650&utm_id=kiplinger.com&irgwc=1&utm_campaign=Skimbit%20Ltd._AFI00000">2024 Cost of Care report</a> found that 35 percent of American families have had to dip into their savings to cover the cost of childcare.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The personal savings rate was <a href="https://www.bea.gov/data/income-saving/personal-saving-rate">3.7 percent</a> in December, well below a decades long average of roughly <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/03/americans-are-saving-less-in-2023-im-concerned-top-economist-says.html">8.9 percent</a>.</li>
<li>Bidenomics has cost the middle class <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2023-bidenomics-middle-class-economic-anxiety-2024-election/">$2.4 trillion</a> from March 2022 to March 2023.
<ul>
<li>The average middle-class household has <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2023-bidenomics-middle-class-economic-anxiety-2024-election/">lost over $33,000 in real wealth</a> over the same period.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Americans are increasingly borrowing to cover daily expenses, finding their regular income is no longer enough to make ends meet.
<ul>
<li>Entering the new year, total household debt is at all-time high of <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/guides/banking/american-debt-2024/#:~:text=The%20total%20household%20debt%20of,which%20federal%20data%20was%20available.">$17.3 trillion</a>.</li>
<li>36 percent of Americans report having <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2024-inflation-credit-card-debt-emergency-saving-lending-tree-report/">more credit card debt</a> than long-term savings, with borrowers blaming inflation and rising interest rates.</li>
<li>Credit card delinquencies have <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/11/economy/credit-card-delinquencies/index.html">surpassed pre-pandemic levels</a> for the first time.</li>
</ul>
</li>
THE COST OF LIVING IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY UNAFFORDABLE
- The Fed has hiked interest rates 11 times since March 2022 – now at their highest level in 22 years – making it harder for families to buy a home, finance a car, pay off debt, and perform various other financial transactions.
<ul>
<li>It now takes <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/07/investing/home-prices-affordability/index.html">41 percent</a> of a median household's income to cover the monthly principal and interest payments on a median-priced home, the highest percentage since 1984.</li>
<li><a href="https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FJimPethokoukis%2Fstatus%2F1350106023311323140&data=04%7C01%7CEKorpela%40gop.com%7C23d4a0496513497e0e9508d9ecc443d6%7C4a082c81950a410d9618462a9c74d6ae%7C1%7C0%7C637801149982931205%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=c0Oew%2BB0g3Pd%2FkVb7dxnv7jvasTGFSlETz%2FTA2x%2Bo3I%3D&reserved=0">Biden's favorite economist</a> – Moody's Mark Zandi – said that purchasing a home or a car right now is "<a href="https://www.pymnts.com/economy/2023/new-homes-and-cars-completely-unaffordable-amid-high-interest-rates/">completely unaffordable for the typical American household</a>."</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Renting is only getting more difficult for Americans as rental costs continue to surge while wages remain stagnant – with <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/30/economy/rent-prices-dropping-2024-apartments/index.html">low-to-moderate income renter households</a> getting hit the hardest.
<ul>
<li>Nearly half of renters are <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/01/25/1225957874/housing-unaffordable-for-record-half-all-u-s-renters-study-finds">cost-burdened</a> – spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing.</li>
<li>Rent is an average of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/30/economy/rent-prices-dropping-2024-apartments/index.html">$309 higher</a> than before the pandemic.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>U.S. average gas prices currently <a href="https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgasprices.aaa.com%2F&data=05%7C01%7CJacki%40gop.com%7Ca4b14b9dc0264defe8ba08da45627fe0%7C4a082c81950a410d9618462a9c74d6ae%7C1%7C0%7C637898586614368635%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=qhkX7bXbGAJnVt%2BZhCxryswHjeQADRJlZVFXr33RRFQ%3D&reserved=0">sit at $3.23 per gallon</a>, which is more than 80 cents per gallon higher than when Biden became president.
<ul>
<li>Under Biden, the price of a gallon of gas has been above $3 for <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210512201845/https:/gasprices.aaa.com/">1,007 days</a> in a row.</li>
</ul>
</li>
AMERICANS ARE NOT HAPPY WITH BIDEN'S ECONOMY
- American families are seeing higher prices for virtually everything, and they know exactly who to blame: Biden and Democrats.
- A majority of Americans believe Biden's policies have worsened economic conditions in the country, according to a CNN poll.
- Only 28 percent of Americans rated the economy as excellent or good compared to 57 percent in 2020, according to a Pew Research survey.
- Only 1 in 5 Americans believe they would be better off financially if Biden is reelected, according to a CBS News/YouGov poll.
- 64 percent of Americans disapprove of Biden's handling of the economy and 67 percent disapprove of Biden's handling of inflation.
- 63 percent of Americans believe the economy is on the wrong track and just 36 percent approve of Biden's handing of inflation, according to a Harvard-Harris poll.
- At 40 percent, Biden's average approval rating for his third full year in office is the second lowest among any modern-day president after Jimmy Carter.
DEMOCRATS' RESONSE TO THE INFLATION CRISIS BIDEN CREATED: MORE INFLATIONARY SPENDING
- As working-class families struggle to make ends meet thanks to inflation, voters know Democrats are to blame for rising prices.
- In 2021, Biden and Democrats passed their inflation-fueling $1.9 trillion "stimulus," which even liberal economists admit fueled inflation.
- In August, every single Democrat voted to pass the Bidenflation Scam, which experts say will worsen inflation and raise taxes on working-class Americans.
- Studies from the Tax Foundation, Penn Wharton Budget Model, Moody's, and the Congressional Budget Office all found that the bill will either make inflation worse or do basically nothing to bring down inflation.
- The Tax Foundation concluded that the Bidenflation Scam Act will "worsen inflation especially in the first four" years.
- In March, Biden unveiled his budget for FY 2024: a $6.9 trillion spending spree chock full of wasteful spending and higher taxes.
REPUBLICAN-LED STATES ARE DRIVING JOB GROWTH
- Biden deserves no credit for jobs that have been created – he paid Americans not to work for months and stifled economic growth.
- Republican-led states are the ones creating jobs and leading economic growth.
- The latest state jobs report shows that 10 of the top 12 states for jobs recovered since the coronavirus pandemic are led by Republican governors, and all 12 states have Republican-controlled legislatures.
- Out of the top 15 states with the lowest unemployment rates, 11 are led by Republican governors.
- The latest report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis found that seven of the top 10 states with the highest real GDP growth in the third quarter of 2023 have Republican governors.
Originally posted here. - Eight of the top 10 states with the largest increases in personal income in the third quarter of 2023 are led by Republicans.
