- cross-posted to:
- usa@lemmy.ml
- collapse@slrpnk.net
- cross-posted to:
- usa@lemmy.ml
- collapse@slrpnk.net
…
Ms Ellis works full-time as a nurse’s assistant and has a second part-time job.
But she needs to economise. She has switched stores, cut out brand-name items like Dove soap and Stroehmann bread, and all but said goodbye to her favourite Chick-fil-A sandwich.
Still, Ms Ellis has sometimes turned to risky payday loans (short-term borrowing with high interest rates) as she grapples with grocery prices that have surged 25% since Mr Biden entered office in January 2021.
“Prior to inflation,” she says, “I didn’t have any debt, I didn’t have any credit cards, never applied for like a payday loan or any of those things. But since inflation, I needed to do all those things…I’ve had to downgrade my life completely.”
The leap in grocery prices has outpaced the historic 20% rise in living costs that followed the pandemic, squeezing households around the country and fuelling widespread economic and political discontent.
Also… inflation is always there. My parents made a laughable amount of money together compared to what I make. The only difference is time. Once time passes your income becomes smaller than the new generations. Thus making you eventually homeless after retirement.
I hope these words help others understand how inflation is another tool to make us work our ass off during our useful life and then make good riddance of us after we’re no longer useful.
This is why you save money while you’re working and plan for retirement inclusive of inflation. You retire with a fixed income that is built with annual inflation in mind. It’s not “designed” to keep anyone poor. That’s utter nonsense.