The Cost Of Living Is Out Of Control

The Cost Of Living Is Out Of Control

Michael

Do you feel financial stress on a regular basis? If so, you are certainly not alone. As you will see below, a new survey has discovered that more than two-thirds of the entire country is feeling “anxiety and depression” due to financial stress. The cost of living is totally out of control, and it is absolutely crushing the middle class. Earlier today, we learned that the official rate of inflation has gone up again. Apparently it was the largest increase in five months, but I don’t put much stock in the official government numbers because I know how much they have been manipulated. In fact, the formula for calculating the official rate of inflation has been altered dozens of times since Jimmy Carter was in the White House, and every time they change the formula the goal is to make inflation look lower than it actually is. To me, what really matters are the prices that we are hit with on a day to day basis, and those prices have been skyrocketing.

I am old enough to remember when summer vacations were actually affordable.  Gasoline was under a dollar a gallon, and you could stay at cheap motels for less than 20 dollars a night as you drove across the nation.

But these days even a vacation that lasts for just a few days can put you deep into debt…

Summer vacations have become a thing of the past for much of the population, and that is extremely unfortunate.

Of course the cost of just about everything else has been rapidly rising as well.

Let me give you some examples.

For the past five years, U.S. home prices have been rising at a pace of almost 10 percent a year…

Over the past five years, U.S. home values have increased by roughly 8–9% per year on average, while over the past ten years, they’ve risen about 6–7% per year on average. In other words, national home prices saw an exceptionally rapid climb in recent years, far above historical norms.

I can understand why so many young people are so frustrated right now.

The average price of a home in the United States has now risen above half a million dollars.

But they keep telling us that inflation is low.

Give me a break.

Health insurance has also been getting a lot more expensive…

Average monthly premiums for families with employer-provided health coverage in California’s private sector nearly doubled over the last 15 years, from just over $1,000 in 2008 to almost $2,000 in 2023, a KFF Health News analysis of federal data shows. That’s more than twice the rate of inflation. Also, employees have had to absorb a growing share of the cost.

The spike is not confined to California. Average premiums for families with employer-provided health coverage grew as fast nationwide as they did in California from 2008 through 2023, federal data shows. Premiums continued to grow rapidly in 2024, according to KFF.

Who can afford a monthly health insurance premium of $2,000?

In the old days, they would call that “highway robbery”.

And don’t even get me started on the price of food.

Rising food prices are the number one reason why the number of Americans facing food insecurity has nearly doubled over the past four years.

Anyone that actually believes that things are “fine” is simply not living in reality.

Things are so bad that approximately one-fourth of the U.S. population is now using “buy now, pay later” loans to pay for everyday living expenses…

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