“The money is not enough for almost anything …, everything is very expensive”, is the expression of Josefina Méndez, a woman from 79 years, at the exit of a supermarket in the city of Rosemead, northeast of Los Angeles County.
She and her daughter María went to a Walmart store , where they bought little food and two board games: Monopoly and Jumanji, as an early Christmas present for Josefina’s two granddaughters.
“These days, we avoid eating meat ”Said the woman, who, like millions of Americans, is feeling the onslaught of historic inflation, such as has not been seen since 1990.
According Federal authorities, the inflationary index for October reached a record 6.2%.
Josefina’s purchasing power has also decreased considerably, but her pension income Social Security (SSI) have not changed in years.
In 2021, the new federal SSI amount for one person was $ 794 monthly and $ 1, 191 per month for a couple. SSI is a federal program funded with general funds from the United States Department of the Treasury.
Wherever you dig, Americans like Josefina no longer feel hard but rather the dense historical inflation that has forced them to fasten their seat belts much more.
Gasoline, electricity, meat, milk, eggs, cars and housing are only a minimum part of the products whose prices have skyrocketed.
“Put it down now!” commented Arnold Martínez, a construction worker, while putting only $ 30 of gasoline to his black Hyundai Sonata, at a Montebello station. Every day the price is changing and it is not fair! ”
Biden’s Nightmare
According to the economist Carlos Guamán, the causes of inflation are due to the excess of capital that the government disbursed, because people love to consume when there are not enough supplies in inventory due to the problem of distribution in ports and the increase in the price of a barrel oil over $ 96. 00,
“All that and not counting the pandemic is like the perfect storm for everything to rise in price,” said Guamán, who considered that current inflation “is going to be the president’s nightmare Biden, who, together with the Federal Reserve System (FED) has to take drastic measures such as raising interest rates, reducing the purchase of bonds and stop printing so much money to put a stop to this situation. ”
However, during the first week of November, the central banking system left rates unchanged interest between 0% and 0. 30%; while announcing the start of the reduction of liquidity injections in 15, 000 million dollars per month.
With this decision the volume of bond purchases per month, currently at 120, 000 millions of dollars, would be progressively reduced with the aim of completely ending the program by mid 2022.
The gas
Nationwide, the price of gasoline rose another two cents during the first week of November and the national average of a gallon was $ 3. 42, a mark that had been reached in September of 2014.
The latest decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, on maintaining its planned gradual increase in production will not help lower supply constraints, so it is highly likely that any relief will come from the side of a decrease in demand.
“Nobody has a crystal ball to predict when the pressure on the gasoline pumps will be reduced, ”said Doug Shupe, spokesman for the American Automobile Association (AAA), to Real America News.
He added that, unfortunately “no one knows when the price of a gallon of gasoline will drop”.
“We will continue to see high costs because the Gasoline demand has increased 9% more than in previous years. ”
However, the average price in Los Angeles has increased in six of the last seven days, 6.8 cents, including 1.4 cents on Friday, according to AAA data. This is 21. 2 cents more than a month ago and $ 1. 50 more expensive than a year ago.
Thus, the average price of a gallon of gasoline rose to $ 4. 657 in Los Angeles; $ 4. 400 in Riverside and $ 4. 64 in Orange County. These costs had not been seen since October 2012.
“I just retired and I am already feeling the severity of the shortage,” said Silvia Landeros, who lives in southern San Gabriel and worked as an electronics assembler.
“Before I used to drive a lot of miles, but now I only use the car to drive my niece to school.”
Fight uphill
Kenia Alcocer, California Vice President for the National Steering Committee of the Poor People’s Campaign: A Call for Moral Renaissance (PPC), considered that the situation of the current economy could have been prevented before and during the covid pandemic – 19.
“Thousands of deaths and millions of lost jobs could also have been avoided with legislation that protected the working class and the most deprived c with better employment benefits or universal health insurance for all, “he said.
” People are suffering because with the pandemic it became clear that the rich became much richer and the poor much poorer. ”
According to the CFP, the economy of The United States has multiplied by 18 in the last 50 years and wealth inequality has also expanded, living costs have risen and social programs have been restructured and drastically cut.
Starting in the decade of 1990, wages of 80 Poorest% of workers have largely remained stagnant and today there are 64 millions of people work leaving for less than $ 15 The time.
“For years we fought in the $ 15 the hour, but we have realized that they are no longer enough, “said Alcocer, who is also an organizer with Unión de Vecinos, the Los Angeles Tenant Union (LATU) location in Boyle Heights .
“People continue to be harassed by racism, job discrimination, lack of protection in their jobs and fear of being evicted from their homes,” said the activist who immigrated to the United States from Guerrero, Mexico in 1990.
“That is why [en abril de 2020] we decided to go on strike regarding the payment of rent, because the question was to eat or pay the rent. They speak of recovery, but we have not come out of the pandemic and poor people continue to die, ”he added.
“Every so often they call me to tell me that a child tested positive [de coronavirus] at school and their parents have to stay home to take care of them; that further aggravates their precarious situation. ”
Faced with the economic reality of poor families, the participation of the richest 1% in the economy has almost doubled to more than 20% of national income, affirms the PPP.
In 2016, Forbes magazine reported that the 400 wealthier Americans got rich off 476, 000 millions. The fortunes of two of them: Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and Jeff Bezos, of Amazon, exceeds 191, 000 millions individually, a combined total wealth for almost 204 millions of Americans.
“The costs of basic needs such as housing, medical care and education have also increased dramatically,” explained Alcocer.
“During the last 30 years, rents have risen faster than incomes in almost every urban area in the country. ”
PPP data, indicate that, in 2016, there was no state or county in the nation where someone earning the federal minimum wage could afford a two market rate rooms.
Only one in four of those eligible for receiving federal housing assistance really does. This has precipitated a structural housing crisis with 2.5 to 3.5 million people living in shelters, transitional housing centers and tent cities.
“That’s why , our campaign has already been extended to 40 states in the country, ”said Alcocer. “We are in so many struggles because the attacks are everywhere: racism, discrimination, poverty, health, environmental health, lack of health insurance, housing, etc.”
The CFP estimates that in the United States there are 7.4 million people, women, children, young people and the elderly who are on the verge of becoming homeless and end up destitute, and 32 millions of people without health insurance.
“In There is a lot of abundance in this country and we see it with California’s strong economy globally “, said Alcocer.
” The problem is that the economy is healthy and stable for certain people, and it is not possible that we still see thousands of children who go to bed without having tried food at home because their parents have no money ”, he added.
To save gas
• Buy aggressively for the lowest prices. You can save by paying attention to the prices of the stations along your route. But don’t go too far out of your way to save a few pennies on gas, because you’ll be wasting more money than you want to save. Use the free AAA Mobile app to find the cheapest gas prices closest to you.
• Shared ride. You can reduce your fuel costs by 50 % sharing transportation costs with another person.
• Combine errands and business trips . Plan your route in advance every day to travel as efficiently as possible.
• Check your tire pressure. Under-inflated tires can reduce fuel economy by up to 2% per pound of pressure.
• Slow down, accelerate and brake smoothly, and anticipate driving conditions. If you lightly press the accelerator and brake pedal, you can change your gear, one from a rough gear to a smooth one. That can add up to a 15% improvement in fuel efficiency.
• Clean the garbage from the trunk. Some people carry hundreds of pounds of unnecessary items in their trunk. The more weight the car carries, the harder the engine will have to work and the fewer miles per gallon it will get.
Source: Marie Montgomery, AAA Spokesperson.