Two studies from the Federal Reserve, which were cited by the GOP on Monday, found that inflation reduces poorer Americans’ lifetime consumption more than wealthier Americans. Additionally, the studies indicated that gas prices are the main reason inflation has hurt low-income individuals more.
Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee warned that inflation was disproportionately impacting Americans in lower income brackets as the prices of housing, gasoline, and food increase rapidly. The party has been continually highlighting the dangers of rising prices as the 2022 midterm elections approach.
GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, and ranking member of the committee, blamed Democrats for the widespread leap in prices and decline in Americans’ real wages. “Democrats’ reckless spending has driven inflation to a three decade high, and it’s making life harder for poor and middle class Americans,” he said. “Inflation is eating into the livelihoods of American families. It’s causing them to fall further behind. The reckless spending must stop.”
But Democrats continue to hold that increased demand and overwhelmed supply chains after the coronavirus pandemic are to blame, which means inflation, to some degree, was inevitable.
“When we shut down the economy in 3/2020, it was inevitable that we’d have some inflation as things restarted,” wrote Jesse Rothstein, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and a former Labor Department chief economist during the Obama administration. “Overall,” he added on Twitter, “the cycle has been milder than we had any right to expect – no mass starvation, no depression. What is the story in which it could have gone better than this?”
The passage of a $1 trillion infrastructure bill and a $1.75 trillion social bill has been promised by Democrats to keep price increases in check and encourage more Americans to get back into the work force. Still, the Republican Party has plans to continue emphasizing the harmful effects of inflation as part of their strategy to win back seats in the 2022 midterm elections.
“We must continue to focus on the failures of the Biden economy,” wrote Rep. Jim Banks, Republican of Indiana and chair of the Republican Study Committee, following the Virginia election this November. “Our early focus on runaway inflation and the growing supply chain crisis is hitting home with voters. We need to keep hammering away and work on bringing solutions to the table to address their concerns.”
