Commentary: Inflation hitting Ohioans this holiday season
During the holidays, the only inflated thing Ohioans care to see are the floats at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Unfortunately, this year we will see inflation everywhere we look. Rents have risen, gas prices are up, and many of our store shelves are empty. Bad economic policies coming out of the Joe Biden’s White House have created a financial crisis for nearly every American family.
As prices rise, it’s getting harder for working class Ohioans to make ends meet. This Thanksgiving, if we are fortunate enough to find what we need at the grocery store, the holiday feast that typically ends with us loosening our belt a notch or two will be doing just the opposite as we are forced to pinch pennies.
According to the New York Times, "nearly every ingredient, from the turkey to the after-dinner coffee" will cost more. The cost of turkey is up 22%, other meat and poultry is up 12%, salad dressing costs 7.7% more, seasonings are up 5%, and baking products are up over 3.5%. We will feel the pain before we even arrive for our holiday feast with gas up 42% since last year.
For the average Ohioan who brings home less than $900 a week after taxes, these increases are crippling. As the Christmas season approaches, the White House has already warned Americans that there are many things we won’t be able to get this year. For those old enough to remember, it calls to mind the Carter presidency, of which inflation was a mainstay.
Inflation is a hidden tax on all Ohioans and despite assurances from the White House, there is no indication that this will be transitory and that prices will revert back to normal.
We have not seen prices rise this much in more than three decades. The irresponsible monetary policies of the 1970s led to widespread issues including gas shortages, 20% interest rates, and, ultimately, a recession.
Since his first days in office President Biden has pursued policies that have exacerbated this crisis. From shutting down the Keystone XL Pipeline and attacking American energy sources to attempting to inject trillions of dollars into the economy to promote a far left agenda, Biden has set our nation up for failure.
He has projected a weaker American foreign policy, ignored the supply chain crisis, aided and abetted illegal immigration, and promoted policies that put America last.
As Biden continues to promote his Build Back Better agenda, which could add trillions of dollars to our national debt, Americans continue to suffer the effects of his wasteful spending.
His assurances that he won’t raise taxes on people earning less than $400,000 a year don’t mean much if our savings and wages are eaten up by a monetary policy that reduces a family’s spending capacity.
In his first 11 months in office he has been spending like a drunken sailor and as any recovering alcoholic will admit, step one to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Until then we will all suffer the consequences of our president’s out of control spending.
Keith Faber, a Republican, is the auditor of the state of Ohio.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Ohio Auditor Keith Faber says inflation is rising
