Census shows they finding it ‘somewhat or very difficult’ to pay usual expenses

Bob Unruh
WND News Center

Joe Biden’s economic policies for America – including his 9.1% inflation of just a year ago, his exploding interest rates to address that, and much more – have left tens of millions of American families struggling to make ends meet.

New Census data documented by Just the News reveals that 89.1 million people across the nation reported it was “somewhat or very difficult to pay for usual home expenses” from April 26-May 8.

The figure is from the latest Household Pulse Survey.

It said that represented 38.5% of adults this year, up from 34.4% one year ago and 26.7% during the same period in 2021.

It was just a year ago that inflation was documented at 9.1%, meaning millions of families essentially were without one-tenth of their annual income to live the same lifestyle. While that inflation number has been receding slowly in subsequent months, it remains at problematic levels.

Biden, during his State of the Union just weeks ago, claimed to have created 800,000 new jobs and cut the deficit by $1.7 trillion. But what he failed to mention is that many of 800,000 jobs were people returning to employment following the decimation wrought by COVID on the nation’s economy, and the deficit cut? That would be COVID-era help programs naturally ending as the pandemic finished.

Actually, Biden’s spending has increased the nation’s deficit, absent those programs ending.

President Donald Trump took Biden to task for his claims.

“Joe Biden has been a disaster for the economy. Between his massive tax hikes, his anti-energy crusade, and his trillions of dollars in wasteful spending, Biden caused the highest inflation in almost half a century. As a result, interest rates soared to crushing levels and now we are seeing bank failures that nobody believed even possible just two years ago,” he charged.

Biden also still has not been successful in addressing a looming “crisis” as the nation is expected to face a critical deadline in efforts to raise the debt ceiling – and continue paying bills. GOP members of the House already have approved a bill resolving that problem, but Democrats in the majority in the Senate have been unable to agree, even among themselves, on a solution.

A large part of the headaches facing Americans is the cost of housing, which exploded just as COVID was ending.

The Daily Mail documents that rent is far outpacing increases in income.

The report said average rents have risen by 134.9% since 1999, while incomes have gone up 76.8% over the same time.

The report said there now are just four states where average mortgage payments are lower that rents.

“The Moody’s analysis found that, in 2022, the proportion of American household income needed to rent an average-priced apartment breached 30% for the first time in 25 years of tracking the trend,” the report said.

Hawaii is the least affordable, the report said. And seven regions now have Rent-to-Income ratios above that level: Los Angeles, Miami, Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, New York, Boston and northern New Jersey.

San Jose and San Francisco were reported to have stunning average mortgages of more than $10,000.

And CNBC warned that mortgage applications were plunging – down 30% from a year ago, because of those interest rate hikes, which put the rate now above 7%.

The report explained, “Rates have been rising on a combination of concerns among investors. First, uncertainty over what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates, given a still strong economy; second, the battle over raising the debt ceiling and the possibility of a U.S. default.”