After Democrats Went Whole Hog On Spending, Americans’ Wallets Get Seared By Inflation

‘The Public Views Inflation As The Top Problem Facing The United States – And No Other Concern Comes Close,’ With A Majority Blaming President Biden’s Economic Policies

“The NBC News poll also finds 39 percent of Americans approving of President Biden’s job as president, versus 56 percent who say they disapprove. While Biden’s approval rating is essentially unchanged from March’s poll — when it was at 40 percent — the new number represents the lowest mark of his presidency.” (“Support For Abortion Rights Hits New High As Midterm Outlook Is Grim For Democrats,” NBC News, 5/15/2022)

• “But the poll also found that this Supreme Court draft opinion hasn’t substantially altered the overall political environment heading into November’s elections — with inflation and the economy remaining the public’s top issues, President Joe Biden’s job rating falling below 40 percent and a whopping 75 percent of Americans saying the country is headed in the wrong direction. It’s the fourth straight NBC News poll with the wrong-track number higher than 70 percent, and the fifth time in the poll’s 34-year history when the wrong-track number hit 75 percent or higher. The other times were in 2008 (during the Great Recession) and 2013 (during a government shutdown).” (“Support For Abortion Rights Hits New High As Midterm Outlook Is Grim For Democrats,” NBC News, 5/15/2022)

• “Only 33 percent approve of Biden’s handling of the economy… Sixty-five percent of adults say their family’s income is falling behind the cost of living… The cost of living remains the public’s top issue facing the country — followed by jobs and the economy…” (“Support For Abortion Rights Hits New High As Midterm Outlook Is Grim For Democrats,” NBC News, 5/15/2022)

“The public views inflation as the top problem facing the United States – and no other concern comes close. Seven-in-ten Americans view inflation as a very big problem for the country, followed by the affordability of health care (55%) and violent crime (54%).” (“By a wide margin, Americans view inflation as the top problem facing the country today,” Pew Research Center, 5/12/2022)

“The US public’s view of the nation’s economy is the worst it’s been in a decade, a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS finds, with many Americans also saying they feel financial strain in their own lives. That pessimism also reflects on President Joe Biden, whose ratings for handling the economy remain sharply negative. A majority of US adults say his policies have hurt the economy, and 8 in 10 say the government isn’t doing enough to combat inflation. Only 23% rate economic conditions as even somewhat good, down from 37% in December and 54% last April. The last time public perception of the economy was this poor in CNN’s polling was November 2011, when 18% called economic conditions good.” (“CNN Poll: Most Americans Have A Dismal View Of The US Economy,” CNN, 5/04/2022)

Americans Shopping For Groceries Are Being Hit Hard By Inflation: ‘Gosh, Is This Ever Going To Come Down?,’ ‘You’re Penny-Pinching,’ ‘We’re Never Having Short Ribs Again,’ ‘It’s Seltzer Water And Ground Turkey For The Time Being’

LOUISVILLE, KY: “At the glass display cases at Kingsley Meats and Catering near Bowman Field, prices are a common topic. ‘Our loyal customers, they’ll say, “Gosh, is this ever going to come down?”‘ owner Jeff Fisher said…. Inflation’s impact is clear when looking at the freshly ground and sliced offerings at the nearly 80-year-old butcher shop … Bone-in chicken breasts are selling for $3.89 per pound, up from $2.89 before the pandemic. Center cut pork chops have gone from $2.98 per pound to $4.29. Meanwhile, USDA prime steak — the best Fisher sells — is $34.98 per pound, nearly twice the $17.98 pre-pandemic price. And king crab legs have skyrocketed. Around $24 per pound in 2020, the crab legs now are going for $59.98. ‘Those are the ones that like, holy cow, nobody’s going to pay that,’ he said. ‘But you know, some people still do.’ He hasn’t seen consumers altogether stop buying products, but some have altered how much they buy. ‘They might still buy a prime T-bone steak or some crab king legs but it’ll be for themselves and their husband, not when they’re having eight of their friends over,’ he said. Wholesale prices are up at the small meat packing businesses where Fisher sources his proteins, as are prices on many non-food items, such as the paper and plastic products used for packaging.” (“From Coffee To Kizito Cookies, Inflation Trickles Down To Louisville Food Businesses,” [Louisville] Courier Journal, 4/26/2022)

LEXINGTON, KY: “Critchfield Meats Family Market has been impacted by inflation and rising food cost, like most. One store manager, Jerry Cinnamon, says, ‘Inflation is hitting everybody out there.’ … Critchfield’s store says they are doing everything they can to keep costs low. ‘We get people from all over Kentucky to come in and get our meats - we have for years. They all save up and come in once a month. But I can see where people will not be getting prepared foods because they’ll perish quicker,’ CInnamon said. ‘And having to stock up on the staples, so that they can make less trips with the price of gas and everything else, that’s probably exactly what people are doing.’” (“Food Costs Rising Impact Existing Convenience Food Taxes,” LEX18, 5/11/2022)

MARINA DEL REY, CA: “Susan Pollack, a property manager who was shopping one afternoon last week at a Costco in Marina del Rey, Calif., said she was startled that the price of a bulk pack of toilet paper had surged from $17 to $25. At her local kosher butcher shop, the prices were rising even higher: more than $200 for a 5-pack of short ribs. ‘I told my husband, “We’re never having short ribs again,”‘ she said.” (“Facing Higher Grocery Prices, Shoppers Change Habits,” The New York Times, 5/15/2022)

ELIZABETH, NJ: “At a Stop and Shop in Elizabeth, N.J., Hagar Dale, a 35-year-old Instacart shopper, pointed out that a single packet of powdered drink mix that once sold for 25 cents shot up to 36 cents in early May. Two days later, it was selling for 56 cents, she said. ‘Lord forbid if you have a big shop to do,’ Ms. Dale said as she left the grocery store with a customer’s order. ‘You’re penny-pinching.’” (“Facing Higher Grocery Prices, Shoppers Change Habits,” The New York Times, 5/15/2022)

• “Isabel Chambergo, 62, a warehouse worker in Elizabeth, N.J., said that meals she once planned at home are now mapped out while she is shopping, so she can use her phone to scan items for digital coupons. That saves $10 to $15 per shopping trip, she said. ‘That’s how I manage,’ Ms. Chambergo said as she left a Stop and Shop in Elizabeth with her husband, Arturo, 62. ‘It helps a little,’ she said. ‘It’s not a lot, but I’m trying to buy healthy things that also fill us up.’ That is, if she can even find the ingredients she needs. Ms. Chambergo said she used to buy a quinoa-and-rice mix at Stop and Shop that she used to make hearty soups. But it has not been on the shelves for at least two months.” (“Facing Higher Grocery Prices, Shoppers Change Habits,” The New York Times, 5/15/2022)

SHORT HILLS, NJ: “Alyssa Sutton, a 53-year-old home-theater business owner, left King’s Food Market in Short Hills, N.J., a grocery chain where a 13-ounce jar of Bonne Maman preserves was selling for $6.49. ‘This inflation thing is a real problem,’ she said. ‘When you’re paying twice as much to fill your gas tank and twice as much for everything, you’ve got to say to yourself, ‘Well, do I really need to buy everything at King’s?’’” (“Facing Higher Grocery Prices, Shoppers Change Habits,” The New York Times, 5/15/2022)

SOUTH RIDING, VA: “There are plenty of supermarkets in South Riding, Va., where Susana Yoo lives. But she drives nine miles to Centreville to shop at H Mart, a Korean grocery store, where fresh vegetables, like large bunches of green onions, cost slightly less. From there, she will go to Trader Joe’s, which has ‘pretty good prices for meat.’ Then, it’s off to Costco for nonperishable bulk items that can be stored. To save a little money, ‘I have to go to three different places,’ Ms. Yoo said.” (“Facing Higher Grocery Prices, Shoppers Change Habits,” The New York Times, 5/15/2022)

GAINESVILLE, VA: “At the Giant in Gainesville, Va., Kimberly Heneault said she paused in front of a display of coffee creamers and saw they were double the usual price. ‘Oh, you know what? I don’t really need that,’ she said to herself and moved on.” (“Facing Higher Grocery Prices, Shoppers Change Habits,” The New York Times, 5/15/2022)

CLEVELAND, OH: “Northeast Ohio grocery shoppers like Brian Metz of Cleveland didn’t need to be told of the latest inflation numbers released Tuesday, he’s living them. His grocery bill was close to $400 forcing him to make tough choices. ‘Buy cheap, buy store brand stuff the best you can do,’ said Metz who doesn’t see an end in sight. ‘Not anytime soon sorry to say.’” (“Northeast Ohio Grocery Shoppers Don’t Need To Be Told The New Inflation Numbers, They’re Living Them,” News 5 Cleveland, 5/11/2022)

GOODYEAR, AZ: “The soaring prices weigh on voters like DeMareo Fricks Sr., who delivers groceries in Goodyear, Arizona, using the online shopping app Instacart. On an unseasonably cool spring day, he mused that customers are buying the same amount of groceries -- but tipping less -- and his fuel costs have doubled.” (“This Is Where Inflation Runs Hottest In America. Just Ask Voters,” Bloomberg News, 4/30/2022)

BOSTON, MA: “Recent surveys suggest restaurant spending is one of the first things people would cut because of rising prices. Indeed, at a supermarket around the corner from Rock City Pizza [in Boston], many shoppers say they’ve already traded eating out for more cooking at home. ‘Yeah, for me it’s seltzer water and ground turkey for the time being,’ says Chris Puzacke, leaving the store with his groceries. He says he’s already gone from his usual three to four dinners out a week to less than once a week. Even when he found himself walking by his favorite chicken wing place last week, Puzacke says he kept walking. ‘The first thing that came to mind was ‘I can only imagine how expensive a plate of chicken wings is right now,’ ‘ he says. ‘So I skipped it. I’m definitely holding back.’” (“Restaurants That Survived The Pandemic Are Now Threatened By Inflation, NPR, 5/11/2022)

• “Retirees Tom and Debbie McGovern have also cut back on their dinners out, indulging on special occasions only. ‘We used to go out every day pretty much,’ says Tom McGovern. And definitely for ‘every Red Sox game and every Bruins game.’ ‘I like to be with people and get that energy,’ adds Debbie McGovern. ‘But now it’s just once in a while. It’s just too expensive.’” (“Restaurants That Survived The Pandemic Are Now Threatened By Inflation, NPR, 5/11/2022)

Restaurants Are Being Squeezed From All Sides, From Higher Food And Supply Costs, To Difficulty Finding Workers, To Customers Forced To Become More Price-Sensitive

“Rock City Pizza is one of the countless restaurants around the nation that are struggling with sky-high food prices — as well as higher costs for rent, labor, gasoline and cooking gas — but are limited in how much of those increases they can pass on to their customers. It’s especially challenging for lower-priced places, as their profit margins are typically tighter and their clientele tends to be more price-sensitive. ‘These establishments cannot deal with these rapid escalating costs,’ says Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research and knowledge at the National Restaurant Association. It’s a kind of ‘double whammy’ the industry hasn’t seen in generations.” (“Restaurants That Survived The Pandemic Are Now Threatened By Inflation, NPR, 5/11/2022)

• “Wholesale food costs were 17% higher in March than the same time last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And, as of December, average hourly earnings for restaurant and bar employees had risen 15% in the prior year, more than any other year on record.” (“Restaurants That Survived The Pandemic Are Now Threatened By Inflation, NPR, 5/11/2022)

‘Inflation Is Just Ridiculous Now … It’s Harder To Do Business Than It Was In The Pandemic,’ ‘Everything That Actually Goes Into Serving You A Cup Of Coffee, All Those Prices Have Risen Steadily’

LOUISVILLE, KY: “If it hasn’t already, the price of your morning cup of joe could be rising. And at Ntaba Coffee Haus … it happened in late February, general manager Zach Wilson said…. ‘We’re trying not to pass on too much to the customers, but it comes to a time when you just have to,’ Wilson said. ‘We’re trying to do as little increments as possible.’ A medium-sized drip coffee went from $3 to $3.25 in February, while a medium latte went up from $3.50 to $4.00. A popular brand of pastry went up 50 cents as well, Wilson added. ‘The thing you’re paying for, it’s priced for a reason because it’s all the other stuff that goes into the shop,’ Wilson said…. ‘Everything that actually goes into serving you a cup of coffee, all those prices have risen steadily,’ Wilson said. And inflation could cause Ntaba Coffee Haus to raise their retail prices again ‘in a couple of months,’ Wilson said. ‘The new hurdle for people is going to be getting over, kind of like, a six-dollar coffee cup hurdle.’” (“From Coffee To Kizito Cookies, Inflation Trickles Down To Louisville Food Businesses,” [Louisville] Courier Journal, 4/26/2022)

• “Local favorite Kizito Cookies is facing its first retail price increase in five years. The rising cost of business is taking a toll, said Todd Bartlett, co-owner of Kizito Cookies … Prices for ingredients like butter and eggs are way up, while the cost of labor and transportation continue to increase as well. Bartlett said Kizito Cookies just can’t absorb those costs anymore. Right now, the company — which was founded and is co-owned by ‘Cookie Lady’ Elizabeth Kizito — is buying butter for $3.69 a pound, up from $2.38 in 2021. And eggs that were once $1.80 a dozen now cost $2.70, Bartlett said. ‘There’s just so much in flux,’ he said. ‘We were waiting for prices to stabilize but it doesn’t look like they’re going to.’ … Although Kizito Cookies doesn’t know exactly how much the retail price will increase, Bartlett said, it’s a sure thing in the coming months.” (“From Coffee To Kizito Cookies, Inflation Trickles Down To Louisville Food Businesses,” [Louisville] Courier Journal, 4/26/2022)

BOSTON, MA: “It was a lot of hard work, and a little bit of luck, that helped 34-year-old Joseph Charles steer his Boston pizza place through the worst of the pandemic…. ‘It was real tough,’ Charles recalls. ‘Real trying times. But we did what we had to. And fortunately we’re here now.’ Unfortunately, however, doing business now is no less trying. ‘Inflation is just ridiculous now,’ says Charles. ‘It’s harder to do business than it was in the pandemic. It is.’ While his sales over the last two years rebounded to about 75% of what they were pre-pandemic, Charles says they’ve now slumped back down to about half, as his customers — who are also feeling the pinch — are cutting spending.” (“Restaurants That Survived The Pandemic Are Now Threatened By Inflation, NPR, 5/11/2022)

• “Charles says his payroll has ballooned even more; he’s paying staff 1 1/2 times what he paid them two years ago, and even more to his delivery guys, as gas prices have spiked. On the weekends, he says, the $400 he used to pay for deliveries has swelled to about $1,000, as he is now paying drivers more and also reimbursing them for gas. ‘You’ve got to be creative to keep them,’ he says. ‘You really do.’ At the same time, Charles’ rent has jumped about 15%, and some basic paper goods that are his staples, such as bags, plates and containers, have quadrupled in price. ‘It’s just nuts,’ he says, sighing. To compensate, Charles has been raising menu prices — so often that he stopped printing paper menus and switched to a digital menu only. But he’s all too aware that there’s a limit to how much inflation his customers will tolerate. A large plain pizza is already 19 bucks; add mushroom and onion, delivery and tax, and it’s $31 and change. And that’s before any tip for the delivery person.” (“Restaurants That Survived The Pandemic Are Now Threatened By Inflation, NPR, 5/11/2022)

• “[A]s hard as he tries, he is all too aware it might not be enough. Opening Rock City Pizza in 2003 was his dream come true. He had worked seven days a week as an employee of another pizza place, saving every penny he could to open one of his own. Now, after all his hard work building a successful business and surviving even the pandemic, it’s hard to fathom, he says, but it’s possible that he could end up having to surrender to inflation. ‘It’s like you thought you won, but we’re not done yet,’ he says. ‘It’s really tough to stay afloat right now, [and] it’s drastic enough to reevaluate the situation.’ Everything, he sighs, ‘is on the table.’” (“Restaurants That Survived The Pandemic Are Now Threatened By Inflation, NPR, 5/11/2022)

DAYTON, OH: “Food truck operators who are getting ready for the summer say this season will be a little more challenging. Cortlands Mobile Grill owner Gui Ansley sets up in Courthouse Square Monday through Friday. He said he’s experiencing fluctuating food prices because of inflation and supply chain issues. ‘Chicken wings have gone up to $160, now they’re back down to $104. But now chicken breasts gone up to $160 a case,’ Ansley said. Ansley said he shops around for the best deal so he doesn’t have to raise prices for customers. When that’s not possible, he’s had to temporarily pull items from the menu. ‘I did have to lose my number one thing, the chicken wings, I had to stop selling those for a couple of weeks,’ Ansley said.” (“Food Trucks To Boutiques: Miami Valley Small Businesses Challenged By Inflation,” WDTN, 5/11/2022)

• “The Entrepreneurs Shoppe in the Wright Dunbar District is filled with products from 30 small businesses. Owner Tae Winston said those business owners are frustrated as costs continue to go up. ‘A lot of businesses have to use UPS and other shipping places, the delivery fees are higher, it’s hard to get things, a lot of things are on back order, and then the gas prices don’t make it any better,’ Winston said. Winston said the biggest inflation impact she’s seen is less foot traffic in her store. ‘A lot of people don’t have money to shop because the economy’s bad, so we’re seeing a low, decrease on sales,’ Winston said.” (“Food Trucks To Boutiques: Miami Valley Small Businesses Challenged By Inflation,” WDTN, 5/11/2022)

SAN ANTONIO, TX: “For Ricardo Montelongo making food isn’t just a job it’s his passion…. These days it takes more to keep his food truck Ay Que Rico going. ‘It’s costing us a little bit more to do things that we’re doing the same for the past five years,’ Montelongo said. It costs 25 to 30 percent more. Since 2022 started Montelongo has been impacted by inflation. Everything from food to supplies and even gas is driving costs up. ‘The food industry is just really slim profit margins. And now it’s just gotten extremely difficult to kind of like, navigate through all the, the increasing prices and not just that just the product, you know, shortages,’ Montelongo said.” (“‘Figuring It Out’: Food Trucks Feeling The Pinch From Inflation During 2022,” News4SA, 5/01/2022)

MESA, AZ: “Myke Olsen said he had to make the tough decision to raise menu prices twice during the pandemic. Olsen runs Myke’s Pizza, a pizzeria inside Cider Corps in downtown Mesa. Fortunately, customers have been understanding, he said. In the first year of the pandemic, items like gloves would go out of stock, then return at three times the cost, he said. A case of gloves that cost $67 before the pandemic, leaped to $210 in 2020. Though the price has since fallen to $100 to $120 for a case, it’s still significantly higher than the pre-pandemic price tag, Olsen said. The cost of some goods can fluctuate week by week, and he estimates the amount he spends on supplies has gone up 25% overall since before the pandemic. Myke’s Pizza already sources ingredients like flour from Central Milling in Utah and Hayden Flour Mills in Arizona — higher quality flour that cost double or more compared to flour from major wholesale distributors like Sysco and Shamrock, he said…. Combined with a rent increase and fees to advertise constant job openings, the only viable solution seemed to be raising menu prices and adding lunch hours to sell more pizza. ‘Only thing I can think of is to use lower quality ingredients and to pay employees less,’ Olsen said. ‘Neither of those are acceptable for me. The best thing for us to do is just to make more pizza. The higher volume of pizza we make, the more bang for our buck in terms of rent and other fixed costs that don’t fluctuate.’” (“$100 Limes? Here’s Why Your Tacos Cost More Today Than They Did A Year Ago,” The Arizona Republic, 5/10/2022)

ARIZONA: “In 2020, a few months after working at Barrio Cafe, [Jorge] Picos started his own food truck, Estero Beach Tacos, serving Baja California-style seafood tacos. Last year the rising costs of running a food truck led him to return to the mortgage industry during the week while running the taco truck on weekends. A box of limes that cost $40 in 2021 now costs $100, he said. He estimates he is spending 15-20% more to make each taco compared to when he started. Estero Beach Tacos sources mahi-mahi and ‘pretty big shrimp’ from San Diego, Picos said. While switching to farmed tilapia or smaller shrimp would be easier and cheaper to stock, it’s not a change he wants to make. Even frying oil prices have gone up, he lamented. Picos also considered cutting back on costlier menu items like carne asada, but felt he needed to keep it for customers who don’t eat fish or shrimp. It’s not just food. Other supplies, from paper products to propane to gas for his food truck, have gotten more expensive too, Picos said…. Picos said he raised the prices of his tacos last month to help pay his workers. ‘In the food industry, it’s really hard to find workers period, but it’s because they’re not getting paid well, and they’re not getting compensated. I want to compensate them more, and if I have to raise my prices, I will pay them more as well,’ Picos said.” (“$100 Limes? Here’s Why Your Tacos Cost More Today Than They Did A Year Ago,” The Arizona Republic, 5/10/2022)

And Inflation Is Also ‘Hitting The Farmers Pretty, Pretty Hard,’ As They Struggle With ‘Skyrocketing Diesel And Fertilizer Costs’

LOUISVILLE, KY: “Inflation has also affected vendors who sell their products at farmers markets, where business owners say they’ve needed to increase their prices. ’It’s a struggle. It’s always a struggle,’ said Dudley Tapp, a farmer who sells his On Tapp Dairy products on Saturdays beside other small business operators … He said he comes with his wife every Saturday with the hopes of making a living and maintaining the farm he has owned all his life. Tapp said he had to raise prices just as the pandemic began and now inflation is ‘hitting the farmers pretty, pretty hard.’ He said he had to raise prices because he could not get his animals into the butcher. ‘We were running out of product and the butchers charge twice as much as normal, it seemed.’” (“From Coffee To Kizito Cookies, Inflation Trickles Down To Louisville Food Businesses,” [Louisville] Courier Journal, 4/26/2022)

PORTAGE COUNTY, OH: “At a Portage County farm, Chuck Sayre said last month that their inflation over last year because of skyrocketing diesel and fertilizer costs is 78%. ‘The bread prices, the milk prices, that’s what happened eight months ago. For us now, when these input costs go up, when our 78% inflation hits us we have to pass that on,’ Sayre said. ‘That’s when your inflation will hit.’” (“Northeast Ohio Grocery Shoppers Don’t Need To Be Told The New Inflation Numbers, They’re Living Them,” News 5 Cleveland, 5/11/2022)

CATAWISSA, PA: “Rohrbach’s Farm sits on nearly 60 acres of farmland near Catawissa. Co-owner Mark Rohrbach led Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding on a tour of the farm’s cover crops, developed to manage the soil. There are many costs involved in managing a farm, including seeds, fertilizer, and fuel for the machinery. Still, with diesel fuel reaching historically high prices, things have been challenging for farmers. ‘Two years ago, we were at $1.40. Last year we were at $2.10, and now we are up to $4.05 was what we purchased recently.’ According to Rohrbach, this has a big impact on the farm’s profitability. The high fuel prices make it hard to budget because farmers do not know what their final product will be. ‘To try and establish your profitability based off of that, based off of an unknown, is really difficult when we have expenses like fuel, like fertilizer, that are so high. It makes budgeting difficult, and it makes for some difficult times,’ Rohrbach said.” (“High Diesel Fuel Prices Hitting Farmers,” WNEP, 5/04/2022)

YUMA COUNTY, CO: “Troy Schneider and his family have been farming in eastern Colorado for four generations…. ‘We have irrigated corn, irrigated alfalfa and irrigated grass for our cattle,’ Schneider said. ‘Then we have 2,600 acres of dry land that’s primarily wheat.’ Yet his crops across nearly 4,000 acres in Yuma and Washington counties aren’t growing as fast as inflation. ‘A year ago, we paid $2.50 for farm diesel. Today, it’s $5.25,’ he told CBS4’s Kelly Werthmann. Along with the soaring costs of fuel, Schneider says fertilizer prices have more than doubled since last spring – from $134/acre to $300.” (“Making Ends Meet: Colorado Farmers Impacted By Historic Inflation, War In Ukraine,” CBS 4 Denver, 5/05/2022)

But House Democrats Apparently Only Started Figuring Out That Inflation Is Hurting Americans Once Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) ‘Recently’ Discovered That Bacon Has Become More Expensive

“Only after Rep. Katie Porter put bacon in her cart at her local grocery store recently did she notice that its price had spiked to $9.99 a pound. Reluctantly, she put the package back. It was a dose of reality … When Porter gave an emotional speech about how inflation has been hitting her family for months during a private House Democratic Caucus meeting last week, she said it seemed like the first time the personal toll of high consumer prices had sunk in for some lawmakers in the room.” (Politico, 5/11/2022)

Yet Even Far-Left Vox Media Now Understands, ‘Biden’s American Rescue Plan Worsened Inflation’

“With President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda stalled in Congress, the American Rescue Plan — the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill Democrats passed in March 2021 — may stand as his biggest achievement. But did it contribute to the country’s current inflationary mess? The massive spending law, which included $1,400 checks for each person in a family, generous expansions to unemployment insurance and child tax credit benefits, and hundreds of billions in aid to state and local governments, was intended to help people in need and stimulate economic demand, and it did. Some economists argue, though, that all this came at the cost of making inflation worse. New Consumer Price Index numbers released Wednesday showed prices up 8.3 percent compared to one year before. And ‘core inflation,’ which excludes volatile energy and food prices, rose 0.6 percent in just one month. … What the future holds is uncertain, but to understand how we got here, it’s worth reassessing the past. The American Rescue Plan was drafted with good intentions, but it caused real problems.” (“Biden’s American Rescue Plan Worsened Inflation. The Question Is How Much.,” Vox, 5/12/2022)

• “The case that the American Rescue Plan contributed to inflation has three parts: its size, its timing, and the details of its spending. … High inflation is now here, and the worse and more persistent inflation is, the more likely it is that the Fed will raise rates to get it under control, and cause a recession. … In retrospect, it seems that Democrats simply didn’t take this seriously enough back in early 2021. They wrongly concluded that a stimulus far in excess of what models said was necessary was the less risky option. They thought they were still in the ‘money printer go brrr’ era, where there was less pressure to be judicious about where that money was going — so instead of targeting help to those who needed it, they sent hundreds of billions of dollars to well-off Americans and states doing just fine, for political reasons.” (“Biden’s American Rescue Plan Worsened Inflation. The Question Is How Much.,” Vox, 5/12/2022)