Why Are Americans Still Feeling the Economic Squeeze?

Richard Stern / Nicole Huyer /

The Biden-Harris administration sought to redefine a “recession,” and almost every jobs report for the last four years has been revised downward.

There is a grand plan to convince Americans that the economy is fine—but are they buying it? If the economy is in good shape, why is our government lying about growth, and why are Americans still feeling the squeeze?

It all goes back to the disastrous big-government liberal policies of the last four years.

Before President Biden took office, our national debt was roughly $27.7 trillion. The Biden administration has added over $8.3 trillion of national debt, skyrocketing the total to $36 trillion.

The national debt is rising over $1 trillion every 100 days. These are the stark numbers of fiscal and monetary policy gone wrong—an attempt to give the economy a buzz without regard for the hangover.

To accommodate the reckless spending, the Federal Reserve flooded an enormous amount of new money into the economy through a process known as “quantitative easing.” This initial flood was exacerbated by the Biden administration’s three rounds of stimulus checks. Over this short time frame, the market was flooded with $6.3 trillion in newly printed currency, a 40% money supply spike.

The government can create money out of thin air, but can’t create new housing, food, or other consumer goods and services out of nothing. This created the classic case of more dollars chasing fewer goods and services, causing a whirlwind of inflation, spiking from 1.4% in January 2021 to 9% in 2022.

As this round of inflation has obliterated nearly one-fifth of the value of the dollar, the cost of living has shot up more than $20,000 annually for a typical family of four.

Since 2022, the Fed has somewhat attempted to reverse course and tame inflation by reducing the money supply. Reckless government spending from the Biden regime and Congress, however, has undermined this. So now, we have both economic ills—high interest rates that choke economic growth and high inflation that crushes household budgets.

With inflation still high, the Fed began to increase the money supply again in the months leading up to the election. Here again, the Fed clearly and corruptly worked with the Biden regime to artificially stimulate the economy without regard for the detrimental consequences after the election.

Right on cue, the first report after the election has inflation back to over 3%.

We must hold the bureaucrats accountable rather than allow the government to manipulate the economy through reckless spending and money printing. The government must abide by the conservative economic principles the founders laid out in the Constitution.

Every American worker, entrepreneur, and family knows best how to use their hard-earned money to provide for themselves and their communities and to invest for future prosperity. In contrast, government interventions and regulations destabilize the market by distorting incentives for political aims.

Our government must have a balanced budget and limit federal debt. Our country has seldom seen such unconscionable and copious federal spending as we’ve witnessed under this administration.

Americans are feeling the squeeze on their wallets and bank accounts. Despite the clear financial distress of individuals, households, and the economy, liberals have no intention of altering their spending habits with your money or revising their policies.

There is a glimmer of hope. The electorate has rejected these leftist fiscal and monetary policies. President-elect Donald Trump has laid out a limited-government economic policy focused on the well-being of Americans.

The economic policies of Mr. Trump’s first term gave 50-year-low unemployment rates and rising family incomes. If he builds on this legacy, then his prudent public policy prescriptions will preserve not only the economy but also individual well-being, the family, and the American dream.

Originally appeared in The Washington Times