RNC: Bidenomics Means Pain for Prices

By the Republican National Committee

EVERYTHING COSTS MORE THANKS TO BIDEN

The latest Consumer Price Index data shows year-over-year inflation increased last month to 3.2 percent – twice the rate compared to when Biden took office and higher than expected.
- Inflation has been at or above 3 percent for 35 straight months, well above the Fed’s average target of 2 percent.
- Core consumer prices – stripping out food and energy – rose by 3.8 percent, also above expectations.
Prices have risen by 18.6 percent since Biden took office – with Americans still reeling from its lasting effects.
- On a year-over-year basis, inflation under Biden has averaged 5.6 percent – more than double the level of inflation seen under any of the last four presidents.
- Food prices are up 21.2 percent, rent is up 20 percent, and electricity is up 28.4 percent since Biden took office.
With persistent inflation having eaten away at wage gains, more and more Americans are struggling financially.
- Bidenflation outpaced wages for a majority of Biden’s presidency – both year-over-year real average hourly earnings and real average weekly earnings were negative for 25 months.
Real wages remain lower than when Biden first took office.
- Inflation-adjusted average weekly wages were $397.90 when Biden took office and are now $381.20 – the BLS adjusts to 1982-1984 dollars – meaning Americans have seen a 4.2 percent pay cut under Biden.
  - Under President Trump, real average weekly wages rose 8.2 percent.

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.
- 78 percent of Americans report having to live paycheck to paycheck in 2023, up 6 percent from the previous year.
The personal savings rate was 3.8 percent in January, well below a decades long average of roughly 8.9 percent.
Bidenomics has cost the middle class $2.4 trillion from March 2022 to July 2023.
- The average middle-class household lost over $33,000 in real wealth over a similar time period.
Americans are increasingly borrowing to cover daily expenses, finding their regular income is no longer enough to make ends meet.
- Total household debt is at an all-time high of $17.5 trillion.
- Credit card debt recently hit a new record high of $1.13 trillion.
- The share of Americans in financial distress due to credit card debt is the highest since the Great Recession.
- JP Morgan predicts that nearly all Americans will be worse off financially by mid-2024 than they were pre-pandemic.

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.
- Thanks to higher interest rates, the monthly mortgage payment on a median-priced home is twice as much as when Biden took office.
- Rent affordability is the worst on record, with a new high of 22.4 million renter households considered cost-burdened.
- Biden’s favorite economist – Moody’s Mark Zandi – says purchasing a home or a car right now is “completely unaffordable for the typical American household.”
Car insurance is now at a new record high, increasing 26 percent from last year.
U.S. average gas prices currently sit at $3.39 per gallon – which is 42 percent or a dollar per gallon higher than when Biden became president.
- Under Biden, the price of a gallon of gas has been above $3 per gallon for 1,035 days in a row.
Americans have lost over $3,700 paying higher energy costs since Biden took office.

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.
61 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Biden is handling inflation according to an Economist/YouGov poll.
60 percent of Americans believe the economy is on the wrong track, 58 percent think the economy is weak, and 54 percent say their current personal economic situation is underwater according to a Harvard-Harris poll.
Fewer than four in 10 registered voters say Biden deserves to be reelected according to Gallup.
65 percent of Americans remember the economy under Trump as being good, compared with 38 percent under Biden according to a recent CBS news poll.

DEMOCRATS’ RESPONSE 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 2022, every single Democrat voted to pass the Bidenflation Scam, which experts said would 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 would either make inflation worse or do basically nothing to bring down inflation.
- The Tax Foundation concluded that the Bidenflation Scam Act would “worsen inflation especially in the first four” years.
Yesterday, Biden unveiled his budget for FY 2025: a $7.3 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.
A recent 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.
- Eight of the top 10 states with the largest increases in personal income in the third quarter of 2023 are led by Republicans.

The Patriot Post® · RNC: Bidenomics Means Pain for Prices