The bureau conducted a poll in late June and early July asking whether adults in households have had difficulty paying for usual household expenses in the last seven days. According to the data, four in 10 adults said it has either been somewhat or very difficult to cover usual household expenses. (Related: American workers have lost $3,400 in yearly income due to unrelenting inflation.)
This figure suggests that more than 91 million Americans are struggling with expenses right now – 48 million who have a "somewhat difficult" time with expenses and 43 million having a "very difficult" time. Another 58 million were having a "little difficulty" meeting expenses, for a total of nearly 150 million Americans having at least a little difficulty dealing with finances.
In 2020, when the bureau started asking this question, over a third of respondents – around 130 million Americans – reported having a little, somewhat or very difficult time covering household bills.
This improved last year as the economy started recovering, with only around 60 million Americans having a somewhat or very difficult time covering household expenses. But as the inflation crisis took hold, the number of Americans having a somewhat or very difficult time with expenses started rising again.
Inflation main culprit in financial difficulties of American families
These findings come as Americans battle inflation levels unseen in over 40 years. In June, the year-over-year inflation rate surged to 9.1 percent, according to the latest consumer price index of the Department of Labor. Energy prices rose to 41.6 percent, and food prices rose to 10.4 percent. Other expenses like automobiles and housing also became a lot more expensive compared to last year.
According to Ryan Sweet, an economist for the financial services company Moody's Analytics, the typical household is forced to spend an additional $493 per month to buy the same amount of goods or services they relied on last year.
President Joe Biden said tackling inflation is the administration's "top priority," even as the White House continues to downplay the struggles of tens of millions of Americans and deny the possibility of a looming recession.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed unemployment is at a historic low and hundreds of thousands of new jobs are being created monthly. These, she claimed, indicate that the country is not "in a recession or even a pre-recession [period]."
But economists and conservative politicians have pushed back against this claim and blamed the financial difficulties Americans are dealing with on the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic lockdowns, the subsequent supply chain crises and the inflation crisis stemming from Biden's government ramping up spending.
"Joe Biden is failing," said Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, in a tweet reacting to the bureau's survey.
"The pandemic's effects continue to be felt in multiple aspects of life, including the elevated number of New Yorkers who continue to have trouble paying their utility bills," noted New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who revealed that one in eight state residents have delayed payments on utility bills, owing a combined total of more than $1.8 billion to the state.
"The first quarter was negative. The second quarter was negative as well," said Arthur Laffer, an economist who previously worked for the administration of former President Ronald Reagan. "If you believe the Atlanta Fed, the recession is already here. We're in a recession. The question is, how bad is it going to be?"
Learn more news about the inflation crisis at Inflation.news.
Watch this clip from InfoWars as Owen Shroyer talks about how record-high inflation and record-low polling numbers prove that the Biden administration is an embarrassment.
This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.
More related stories:
US unemployment claims rise to highest level in eight months.
Inflation relief stimulus checks handed out by states could fuel even more inflation.
US household wealth drops for first time since Q1 2020.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck amid inflation crisis.
Worker productivity under Biden experienced a 7.5% drop, its biggest decline since 1947.
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