A growing number of Americans are not feeling the “joy” that's the campaign strategy employed by Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, and a new Census Bureau report shows that the average Biden-Harris administration is giving back much of what it gained during the Trump era.
In 2015, the year before President Donald Trump took office, the median American household income was $71,000. Four years later, it was $81,210, an increase of more than $10,000. By 2023, median household income will fall to $80,610, the bureau reports. (These figures are adjusted for inflation.)
Rising cost of living
The rising cost of living is severely impacting the average family. Here are the actual numbers since the current administration took office (with hats off to Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse):
Gas: +46.1%
Power: +30.7%
Fuel oil: +43.4%
Airfare: +21 percent
Hotel: +49.4%
Food: +21.5%
Baby food: +29.5%
K-12 Food: +66.2 percent
Rent: +22.5%
Transportation: +32 percent
Auto Insurance: +54.9%
Overall inflation rate: +20.3%
But the most striking figures are: Real average weekly earnings fell by 3.4%.
Don't get hung up on numbers
Economic heavyweights are reporting that the economy is doing well. The day after the Federal Reserve released its Beige Book on the U.S. economy, reporting that three-quarters of the economy is slowing, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, “We're not seeing meaningful layoffs. … We're seeing a good, robust economy and we expect it to continue.” After reviewing the economic data, she added, “There are no flashing red lights.”
The Beige Book found that nine of the 12 Federal Reserve districts reported slowing economies, up from just five six weeks ago.
Ms. Yellen might want to ask families in wealthy states like Florida, New York and Texas, where 4 in 10 people are struggling to pay their bills, or Mississippi, Alabama and West Virginia, where the number is closer to half.
Yellen might ask the 27,000 former Intel, Cisco, IBM and Apple employees who have been laid off so far this year, or the 12,000 UPS workers who will soon receive notice to do so, or the 3,700 Samsung employees who will soon be laid off, after the company just announced it would cut 15% of its sales and marketing staff and 30% of its administrative staff. And let's not forget the owners of the more than 450 companies that have filed for bankruptcy protection this year, the highest number since 2020 and the second-highest since 2010, according to S&P Global Intelligence.
Gallup predicted a coming economic slowdown in July, reporting that nearly half of Americans rated the U.S. economic situation as “bad” for the 29th consecutive month. Seven in 10 Americans said they thought the economy was “getting worse.”
According to Gallup, the economy and inflation top the list of concerns, which bodes ill for Harris. New York Times op-ed columnist Patrick Healy wrote about Harris' political strategy: “Joy is not a strategy…Joyful momalas will not win you an election.”
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