• Heresy_generator@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    62
    arrow-down
    8
    ·
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    The typical American household must spend an additional $11,434 annually just to maintain the same standard of living they enjoyed in January of 2021, right before inflation soared to 40-year highs, according to a recent analysis of government data.

    That seems absurdly high and does not match my personal experience at all.

    The analysis, from Republican members of the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee

    Oh. So people like JD Vance, Tom Cotton and Mike Lee are responsible for this lie, damn lie, and statistical analysis.

    I can only assume they included many people the rest of us would consider rather rich in their “typical American household”; If I’m paying an extra few percent in inflation it’s not nearly that much, but for someone making mid-six figures with a lifestyle matching that income a couple of percent can add up to a lot of money.

    • plz1@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      28
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      10 months ago

      Yeah, 2021, when Biden took office. Sketchy report for sure.

    • ChexMax@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      24
      ·
      10 months ago

      I mean that’s 950 a month. My husband and I weren’t rich, but we used to order in weekly, we didn’t have to compare prices when grocery shopping, and we used to go on a trip (not out of the country but possibly out of the state) once or twice a year. We used to have streaming services (almost all of them). We used to buy our friends’ birthday gifts and each other Christmas presents. We used to have two cars. We used to buy candles and name brand cleaners. Now we do none of that, plus our rent went way up. We are scraping by. We have no streaming services, one car, eat a lot of rice, and are not exchanging Christmas gifts. We don’t go to events of any kind, and we don’t consider vacations. I’m not surprised that it easily adds up to 950 a month, especially when you consider the two rent increases between Jan of 2021 and now (the latest was a 30% increase)

    • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      10 months ago

      They’re saying household, so I bet you can divide by four and get less than a thousand a year over a three year period. My solitary life has most certainly not gotten eleven thousand dollars more expensive for “basics”.