Authored by Autumn Spredemann via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Oscar Taylor is scrambling to cover household expenses for the first time in his adult life.
“It has gotten so dismal that my wife is planning on looking for work after the new year,” said Mr. Taylor, owner of Barrett Rifles in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
He said his wife hasn’t had to work a job since the birth of their first child nearly seven years ago.
Sioux Falls has additional challenges. The city has a population of about 200,000 people, and Mr. Taylor said it’s been hit by a “slew of layoffs.”
This is compounded by the “ever-increasing prices” of grocery staples like eggs, milk, and bread. Mr. Taylor says some everyday items have nearly doubled in price over the past few years, and wages aren’t keeping up.
The Taylor family isn’t alone in the struggle.
One survey noted 70 percent of Americans are feeling stressed about their personal finances. And an August analysis revealed that 54 percent of mothers have a hard time finding a job that accommodates the dual task of raising children.
“We have had to make the choice. Pay our bills or save money. We’ve obviously chosen to pay our bills, but had to stop contributing to our retirement fund for the time being,” Mr. Taylor told The Epoch Times.
It’s a decision many Americans now face: choosing near-term survival at the cost of their future.
One in every three U.S. workers says they’re “significantly behind” on retirement savings, according to a September Bankrate analysis. Nearly a quarter of Americans couldn’t contribute to their retirement savings at all in 2022 or 2023.
John Lin, owner of JB Motor Works in Philadelphia, said he’s felt the “downward trend” of the U.S. economy on multiple levels.
“As a small business owner, saving money has always been a bit of a challenge. But it’s certainly become much harder with the increased cost of utilities, rent, and other general expenses,” Mr. Lin told The Epoch Times.
“The pie has effectively gotten smaller, while slices needed from it have gotten bigger.”
Mr. Lin said that with the increased cost of car parts for his business over the past year, he’s been forced to increase service prices. But, he also sympathizes with his customers, since he’s in the same boat, paying inflated prices on everything from food to housing and utilities.
“Besides increased service costs, we’ve seen decreased customer visits as people now try to cut back on expenses and are more hesitant to invest in car repairs. As the owner, that directly affects my income stream and overall financial stability,” Mr. Lin said.
Small businesses are considered a barometer for measuring the economic health of a nation. The Biden administration announced more than 10 million applications for new small businesses between 2021 and 2022. Yet, as with most numbers, it doesn’t capture the reality for many business owners.
Last year, high inflation threatened to close 65 percent of American small businesses. Even with lower inflation this year, more than half of U.S. business owners say it remains their number one challenge.
In general, under the Biden administration Americans have higher credit card debt, fewer savings, and a housing crisis that has only worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To be sure, the high inflation of the past 2-plus years has done lots of economic damage,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Mr. Zandi said that in July this year the average American household spent $202 more than in July 2022 and a staggering $709 more than July 2021.
And while the Biden administration uses reduced inflation and the creation of 13 million new jobs as a counterpoint, the message fails to resonate in households that are struggling to make ends meet.
Research shows just 43 percent of U.S. adults have enough in a savings account to cover a $1,000 emergency bill. In August, 61 percent of adults said they’re barely making it between pay periods, according to a CNBC poll of 4,000 people.
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‘One in every three U.S. workers says they’re “significantly behind” on retirement savings’…I would guess it’s off the charts higher than this talking point.
“One in three workers SAY…”
That’s only because 2/3 of Americans think having nine grand in an IRA is a plan.
No worries . . . Moderna and Pfizer have the solution.
That parallels my point that there is NO WAY IN HELL anyone is going to know what they’ll need tomorrow OR how much it will cost if they can find it. Planning for the unknown is pissing up a rope.
Jesus said,”Give no thought to the things of tomorrow. Sufficient unto the day are the troubles thereof”.
and tomorrow we die.
Not only is off the chart people are takin hardship loans out of their 401k’s.
‘ Yea , the highway is alive tonight , nobody’s fooling nobody as to where it goes….
I’m sittin’ down here in the campfire light , with the ghost of old Tom Joad. ‘
RATM
I’m making slightly more money than I did when Traitor Joe stole office, but CAN’T afford what I COULD afford before he stole office. It’s hard to lie to people who are LIVING the TRUTH!
Gotta use your head, man. Get a government “job”.
Cringe. Save moar, morans. Stopping buying avocado toast and pull yourselves up by your bootstraps.
And stop voting for the robbers.
No, go punch you Congressman in the nose for being a traitor, and tell him if things do not change he will be hanging from a rope.
Our bootstraps were made in CHINAH and broke.
Big Country Expat posted an article showing that he bought a turkey for .49¢ a pound in 2021. Now it’s averaging $1.71 a pound… Almost a 350% increase in 2 years… Did anyone here get a 350% wage increase?
I paid .29 cents/lb this year.
I paid .97 cents for a big one and $1.13 for a young one, but they are not making money selling these birds at those prices, I can assure you. We have 4 Turkeys right now and even with free range they eat a lot.
Mine was .29 cents/lb but I had to have a total grocery bill of at least $50 to get that price.
Some folks feed them tungsten, too, which raise the price even more:
https://rogerssportinggoods.com/federal-premium-heavyweight-tss-turkey-loads-410-gauge-3-7-8oz-1100fps/
https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/browning-tss-tungsten-turkey-shotshells
};^D
Homesteading ain’t exactly cheap.
.49 a pound this year in Florida. Butterballs
I get a free turkey at work and a Starbucks card and a lunch at Christmas.
Anyone here remember Christmas bonus checks and profit sharing checks?
Butterball fresh turkey. .99 per lb in AKland
Better check with the Biden family accountant on that one.
Everyone I know seems to be doing fine.
Lol, fake GNL. Well that settles it, then.
Iska,
Remember, I live in the City of Mordor. Everyone’s rich around here.
Indeed.
Tumors stay fed by drawing off blood from surrounding tissues via angiogenesis.
Washington, D.raculas’ C.annibals
Sooooo true. Criminals all.
I love honeycrisp apples (like in that grocery store picture from NYC). I rarely buy them because they’re >$3 a pound. Galas from Aldis are usually ~ $1/ pound.
We shop Aldis for most of our groceries……its a damn good store.
…”Working” for someone else.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeycrisp
For a compromise, look for the Cosmic apples. A recent crossbreed, has good flavor like a honeycrisp for less money.
I live in orchard country, Rural Maryland. The local cold packing house has walk-in self serve/ pay for bags of apples year round. Biggest Fujis I have ever seen! About $15 for a bushel (less than $.50/ pound). Now try that in a non-white area!!
I was at HomeDepot over the weekend picking up some items to finish a project. At the checkout I was stunned by the price and asked the lady if she had rung up the paint twice. Nope.
I said, “Wow! Things are really getting expensive.”
Her reply was, “It’s overwhelming when you live paycheck to paycheck” and I could see the hurt in her eyes. I wished her well and went about my day.
Best Economy Ever! Bullshit.
So glad we paid off the house with our Stimmies a few years back. Zero debt, and while paying more sucks we are able to because we aren’t giving the banker any of our $
Just finished painting the outside of my house and was stunned to pay $70/gal for the paint. So glad that it is mostly brick and I only had to paint gutters, soffits, facia and a little siding on a dormer. At 70+, that 24′ ladder sure seemed to be taller than the last time I went through this exercise.
You paid your house off with $1,200 stimulus checks, did ya?
Some houses are less expensive outside of Mordor.
I need to get the hell out of this place for sure.
No but it went into the fund that paid off our mortgage early. Every spare cent has gone to that for many years. Paid off our 30 year mortgage in just over 10. Would have been sooner but student loans got in the way.
Arizona, that’s awesome. Very happy for you.
single wide ?
Home Depot has perfected the art of predatory pricing.
I don’t know it’s ever been a piece of cake. Keeping head above water as far as debt certainly helps when economies stiffen .
I cannot recall the last time I grilled steaks. Beef steaks have not been part of the grocery bill for a long time. I decided to buy some T-bone fur treat down the road placing in the freezer. Three T-bones rang up at $40!
There are some neighbors cattle that get loose. Hum, actually I’m surprised enterprising people in the area have not “harvested” a cow or two.
I have read that the illegals don’t mind slaughtering a head or two down near the border.
Oddly enough but farmers in Alberta and Sask have been reporting cattle theft the last few years. Gonna have to bring back hang’n for rustlers agin
Before the scamdemic the yearly average of cattle rustling in Oklahoma was around 3,200.
There are a few cattle around here no one claims or cannot catch. Like wild pigs but wild cattle. I’m shooting one if on my land. There is a black angus bull I think someone has shot. It had a reputation of chasing people.
Find a farmer that you can buy a 1/2 beef from. Last year it worked out to about $4.50 a pound all in including paying the farmer, and the processor. This was for steaks, roasts, and burger. Better yet, the animals lived a decent life on a small farm and ate more than just grain.
https://beefinitiative.com/
My uncle owns a large farm that includes a creamery, beef/ swine operations, agricultural, and dairy farming. We butcher onsite two days per year (fall and spring). I always purchase a half steer (grass-fed and grain finished) and a whole hog. We butcher, vacuum pack and flash freeze in one day. The pork eats grain, as well as scraps and lots of leftover milk/ ice cream from the creamery. Best beef/ pork I have ever tasted.
You ain’t seen nothing yet.
And leaving the border wide open to allow ten thousand or more a day to pour into the country will just add to the demand for resources and drive prices even higher and continue to make life more difficult for everyone.
How long can this continue??
For as long as you are willing to put up with it.
Moos, you hit the nail squarely on the head.
Until the system is completely overwhelmed & the people demand full socialism per Cloward-Piven.
The HNIC (0bama) is a big fan of the strategy, along with trickle up poverty.
Rice and beans til you get things in better shape budget wise. Mexicans make fifty different dinners out of beans and rice. Eggs are a good thing for any time of day, also chili and spaghetti go a long way.
Tuna and canned salmon, homemade soups and stews with cornbread is excellent cheap eating and very nutritious. If you stop buying crap, you can eat really well for less. And stop buying soft drinks, they are soooo bad for your health.
That is staples here. Not a lot of junk, pretzels and crackers for snacks, oranges too. Nothing real expensive. Picked up 10 pounds of fresh stone ground corn meal at a annual celebration event. The corn comes from Mennonites on the other side of he Red River. Goes quite well with the garden produced Zipper cream peas and pink eye purple hull peas. Quite a bit of those peas in the freezer along with contender green beans. And, fresh turnip greens. Peas, greens, cornbread, I pig out on that stuff.
Can I come by for dinner at your house Tex, you are my brother from another mother, I could live off the things you listed. My mother’s favorite was purple hull crowder peas.
My Zippers did not do so well this year, but with the Crowder peas, green beans, butter beans, squash and a bumper crop of okra, the freezers are well stocked. The neighbor’s greens are just now ready to pick and I expect to have a few quarts picked and frozen by the end of the month, plus we will be eating them fresh until it gets too cold for them.
Tn, sounds so good. I’ll be in TN for the holiday, hope the weather holds out.
Front moving through right now and we will be saying goodbye to the 70’s for a while, but it has brought an inch of much needed rain. Turnip/mustard greens usually can be picked until mid-January around here in W TN. Same for lettuce and spinach.
Purple hulls and cowpeas are the bomb…on rice with pickled pepper juice and a little salt.
Purple hulls did not do well this year, unless you put them in really early. It went from very wet to very hot & dry pretty early in the season. My Grandmother made a salsa with tomatoes, onion & bell pepper in a vinegar/water/sugar solution that is mighty fine on peas and ALWAYS with cornbread, unless you are making Jambalaya.
bacon and lobster, don’ t leave earth without it. oh, and butter dammit.
Since 1776, 80%!!!!!!! of the money supply in the US has been created out of thin air by the bankster fed IN THE LAST THREE YEARS.
They have stolen 40% of our buying power in three years.
Nevermind all they have stolen since 1913.
From all of us for three generations.
And they give the new money to the rich and MIC.
If you don’t know how it works.
youtub video Fiat Empire G. Edward Griffin
“” Money as Debt.
Very, very, interesting book.
They own it all including you by means of toxic currency.
http://www.newpeopleorder.com/
A quote from the movie “A Bug’s Life” said it all:
“You let one ant stand up to us, then they all might stand up.
Those ‘puny little ants’ outnumber us 100 to one.
And if they ever figure that out, there goes OUR way of life!
It’s not about food.
It’s about keeping those ants in line.”
Thought for the day
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it, and a moral code that glorifies it” — Frederic Bastiat, Author and Economist
“In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value.” -Alan Greenspan: 1966 essay entitled, “Gold and Economic Freedom
Truth is my sword.
try buying a gmo pizza at the dollar general with a gold coin. not that you would want to, but many folks around my area of appalacia would indeed.
The standard of living has been steadily decreasing in the US for 50 years. It has decreased drastically since Biden took office. The US cattle heard is now at its lowest level since 1962, the reason is beef is now so expensive, far fewer people can afford it and are eating pork and chicken.
When I was growing up, the most common American vacation was to load the family in the car and take a 1 or 2 week road trip, staying in motels, and eating in restaurants. Can you imagine what that would cost today for a family of 4?
That was not a vacation for the rich, it was what the average blue collar worker could easily do.
Along with those vacations, the average American worker could afford a new car every 2 years, and to have a vacation home on a lake or river or mountains.
You are being sold down the river by the people you put into political office, and yet you are not angry enough to go get in their face about it, so I suppose you deserve what you are getting….
Yea, vote harder.
We didn’t vote for the fed.
Truth is my sword.