k-12 tax & $pending climate: Most of today’s higher prices are Biden-era inflation
Before the 2022 midterms, Americans were facing the worst inflation in 40 years, a collapse in real wages, the highest murder rate since the 1990s and the worst border crisis in U.S. history. Yet, despite these headwinds, Joe Biden got one of the best midterm results of any president since John F. Kennedy.
Well, today, things are better by nearly every metric. The border is secure, and the violent crime rate is falling at a historic pace. The poverty rate is at a record low. Real median household income is at the highest level since the Census Bureau began tracking it in 1967, while inflation was 3.4 percent in August — higher than most would like, but slightly below the post-1957 average. The economy is growing and has created over 1 million new private-sector jobs since President Donald Trump took office, and the unemployment rate is just 4.1 percent. Growth is being driven by the private sector, not by inflationary government handouts.
In other words, the economy is objectively in great shape. Nonetheless, polling shows that three-quarters of people rate it as poor or fair, and Republicans are bracing for a blue wave in November that could sweep them out of power on Capitol Hill.
So, what gives?
Here’s why so many are sour on the economy: Consumer prices today are 27.2 percent higher than they were in January 2021. Something that cost $100 when Biden took office now costs about $127. That is a massive increase in prices in just over five and a half years.
Biden bears the lion’s share of the blame for that cumulative increase. The consumer price index rose 21.4 percent from January 2021 to January 2025 (Biden’s term), while it has risen just 4.8 percent since Trump took office. In other words, of that $27 in rising costs, about $21 came on Biden’s watch, while about $6 was on Trump’s watch.
