Leer en Español
The United States is facing one of the worst economic crises in decades. Since the collapse of the housing bubble in 2008, the country has not faced such a drastic depreciation of its currency, with a 5.4% cumulative inflation rate in the last 12 months through September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Since taking office, the Biden administration has reiterated decisions that continue to affect the national economy: the shutdown of the Keystone XL Pipeline (which not only caused the loss of more than 10 thousand jobs, but also reduced the expectations of energy self-sustainability in the country and caused a rise in fuel prices) as well as the bills to raise the tax burden on taxpayers, the exacerbated increase in public spending, and the shutdown and restrictions on trade imposed in liberal states. All have drastically deteriorated Americans’ quality of life.
The generalized inflation rate has seen a 24.9% increase in the cost of energy, coupled with a 4.1% rise in food prices, and a 6.4% hike in the price of utilities so far this year.
“We can’t afford the new rent”
Viviana Sanchez, a Hispanic woman residing in the Edgewater area of Miami, told El American that her lease expires in December. She currently pays $1,956 for a two-bedroom apartment. However, the Rental Community has informed her that the new rental price for her apartment will be $2,422. She and her partner have tried to find a new place to move to in the area, but so far they have had no luck: “This complicates things a lot for us, because it is not only the increase in the price of the apartment, it is also the gas, the food, it is very hard for us, we can’t afford the new rent.”
Sanchez mentioned that many people have decided to move to Florida because of the confinements and restrictions that occur in other parts of the country: “People are moving to Florida to look for work and have some freedom, this has also made it difficult for us to find a place to move, prices have skyrocketed and our salaries remain the same”.
Alejandro Corredor, another Hispanic resident in South Florida, drives a Mazda CX-5, which has a fuel capacity of 14.79 gallons. He commutes daily from Doral to Downtown Miami.
“Last year I filled up my truck with approximately $35, now I have to spend $60 to fill it up, in the last month I spent more than $350 on fuel alone,” Corredor told El American.
Buying groceries has also become a problem
In July, the White House celebrated that Americans would save 16 cents on the 4th of July Barbecue. The post, nevertheless, was not taken with pleasure by part of the population: the prices of utilities, rent and gasoline had already gone through the roof at the time of this message.
At the Glasgow COP26 summit, President Joe Biden stated that food, chicken and meat prices were going up because, according to him, traders were inflating prices and breaking federal laws. In the past, Biden had said that inflation can be controlled with more government spending and monetary issuance, which would, on paper, create more jobs and increase demand, something that historically has been proven not to work.
Claudio Parra, father of a family, commented to El American that the prices of his markets have also skyrocketed: “We are a family of three, we have a little girl, we used to spend between $150 and $180 dollars a week in market, now I am closer to $250 a week, I have noticed that mainly the price of proteins has skyrocketed”. Parra, who is a resident of South Miami, added that the prices of restaurants have also inflated.
“Eating out has also become more expensive, at IBurger the classic hamburger cost $10 dollars last year, now it costs $14, and to that you have to add the tip and taxes, it may not seem like much, but in a family of three every little increase hits the pocket.”
In the month of September alone, food went up 0.8% in the country, and the cost of food per delivery also went up 1.2%. All of this has reduced the purchasing power of the average American, who now must choose between going to the market or going out to eat on the street, but they will hardly be able to do both.
Government spending is paid for by Americans
Motivated by the pandemic, all Americans received “stimulus” checks from the State. Republican President Donald Trump was the first to implement these policies, and then his successor, Democrat Joe Biden also broke the bank to hand out money to citizens.
Many took the government’s decision as a gift, but “gift” is financed with taxpayers’ labor and payments. The high government spending is directly transferred to the national debt that has reached the outrageous figure of over $28 trillion. Biden, nonetheless, wants to increase this figure with his spending plan that he estimated at 3. 5 trillion dollars —which after the refusal of the moderate wing of his party, has been reduced to 1.75 trillion dollars—, a sum that will dig into the economy.
Last week, news leaked that the Biden administration intended to compensate with $450,000 dollars each illegal immigrant who had crossed the border and been separated from his family. This was later denied by President denied, but even the liberal media, such as CNN, have made a fact-checking of Biden’s statements.
The state continues to expand, its spending does nothing but growing and taxes are increasing. Job creation, however, has slowed down, and the economy is in decline due to the regulations and restrictions that the Government itself has established.
Inflation is destroying the lives of Americans, and if the current administration continues to increase government spending without encouraging investment and production, we can expect the dollar to continue to lose its purchasing power. Americans will, as a result, find it increasingly difficult to meet their needs. In the end, all the debt and imbalances committed today will be paid by the most innocent and least responsible: the children and grandchildren of this indebted generation.
Emmanuel Rincón is a lawyer, writer, novelist and essayist. He has won several international literary awards. He is Editor-at-large at El American // Emmanuel Rincón es abogado, escritor, novelista y ensayista. Ganador de diversos premios literarios internacionales. Es editor-at-large en El American