The Fed got an earful during a town hall-type event event recently: Higher interest rates together with instability in commodity prices has a stranglehold on the American agriculturalist right now, which leads to a stranglehold on all of rural America, said Whitney Ferris-Hansen, who owns and operates J/W Farms and Ranch in Burlington, Colorado.
Heres a perspective on the stark reality of Bidenomics and its effects American families:
Were basically in the midst of a perfect storm, said Derrick Chubbs, president and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida, noting increased costs of healthcare, childcare, transportation and insurance, along with groceries and housing.
This is thanks to the stranglehold of high rates and inflation, along with a cooling labor market, according to an executive from Indeed who also commented.
Finally, at the event Powell said the Fed expects to start cutting rates later this year, but only once they feel they have inflation under control. (Which could take a while longer.)
So lets take a deeper look into what all of this could mean
Watching the economic storm through rose-colored glasses
A recent article contrasted on-the-ground reality with the White House message that everything is fine:
President Joe Biden is trying to persuade Americans that the economy is on the upswing, and he has been touting economic indicators that he says prove it: easing inflation, rising job growth and wages, unemployment near record lows
We could be generous and grant thats the view from 30,000 feet (or from the Oval Office).
The reason Bidens message isnt resonating is pretty simple. It doesnt reflect the economic reality were facing. For example:
Two years of steep inflation has hit working families hard, especially those living paycheck to paycheck.
For those who cant make ends meet, pawn shops are increasingly filling the gap:
Pawn balances have risen across the country in the past two years, said Laura Wasileski, spokeswoman for the National Pawnbrokers Association.
The reasons, she said, include cost-of-living increases, the lack of access to credit, short-term emergencies, and the fact that 50% of American households do not have $1,000 in savings to cover those emergencies.
Clay Baron, a fourth-generation pawnbroker in El Paso, Texas, is running out of space in his shop.
When times are good and people have money, theres going to be more money coming in. People will be buying the stuff, Baron said. When people need money, theres going to be more money going out of the store, which is whats happening now.
One customer, Arturo Washington, was less worried about Barons inventory glut and more worried about filling his gas tank:
For those of us who are retired, the economy is going very badly
The cost of basic foods is very, very, very expensive. And every day they raise prices more on basic foods. Its not right.
Not to quibble, and I really dont intend to downplay Mr. Washingtons struggle but theres no shadowy cabal of grocers, no mysterious they colluding to squeeze every dime out of struggling families.