Americans Know Who’s Responsible For Their Astronomical Grocery Bills, And It Ain’t Putin

Every Sunday night, I do my grocery shopping for the week, and every time I do, I watch my bill get higher and higher. My grand total this week came to over $100: $62.62 at Aldi, which is known for its almost exclusively off-brand goods and low prices, and $41.23 at Woodman’s for all the things I couldn’t get at Aldi — like chicken because the poultry shelves were almost bare.

There were no extras in my cart — no bottles of wine or impulse desserts — just what I needed for standard meals, plus a pack of Aldi-brand paper towels and a case of the cheapest sparkling water. I carried all of the bags into my apartment in one trip.

This week’s total would have been even higher, but I’m still using up some items from last week. The grand total then was more than $180, with $100.71 at Aldi and $80.76 at Woodman’s. And I’m feeding only two people. Think about how those same numbers might affect a single mom, or how much higher those numbers are for a family of four, six, or eight.

Americans across the country are suffering under astronomical prices for bare essentials such as groceries to feed their families and gasoline to get to work. And when they get to those jobs, wages aren’t keeping up with President Joe Biden’s skyrocketing inflation.

It’s a vicious and demoralizing cycle for people so recently rocked by the government’s heavy-handed response to a virus. More than anything, they want to get their lives back to normal and reclaim their financial security. They’ve been feeling knocked down for more than two years, and now thanks to Biden’s record inflation, they just can’t get back up.

“I don’t think the administration grasps how bad it is when you go to the grocery store or gas station, get shocked by how much you’re paying, get frustrated… and then two weeks or a month later, you’re shocked again because it is even higher,” tweeted National Review’s Jim Geraghty, perfectly capturing the disposition of weary Americans.

Meanwhile, the Biden White House is in full-blown spin mode, desperately trying to shift the blame for America’s economic disaster off the incoherent buffoon who’s responsible and onto anyone within striking distance. They’ve pretended there was no inflation. Then they insisted it was “transitory.” Next came the straight-faced declarations that, actually, inflation is a good thing because it means we’re moving on from Covid.

Now the administration has employed a new tactic: Blame everything on Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin. It’s under this strategy that we’ve been graced with the political messaging campaign where inflation goes by the name of “Putin’s Price Hike.”

Biden has called it this repeatedly, and his Democrat mouthpieces have followed suit. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki used the Putin catchphrase and then had the audacity to claim we’re “in a better place than we were last month.”

OK, I’ll bite. Do you feel like you’re in a better place than last month? Has your salary kept up with inflation? Has your commuting cost or your grocery bill become an easier pill to swallow? What about other necessary costs like personal hygiene products, baby formula, school and office supplies, or home and vehicle maintenance needs?

March’s consumer price index dropped this week, and inflation numbers are horrific. We’re up 8.5 percent since March of last year, a jaw-dropping four-decade increase. Yet hearing single-digit figures in the 8 percent range don’t really capture the acute weight shouldered by American consumers. After all, if you’ve pumped gas recently, you know 8.5 percent doesn’t capture the sinking feeling in your chest when you swipe your card.

That’s because you’re paying closer to 50 percent more for gas. On top of that, Americans are spending over 35 percent more on used vehicles and 12.5 percent more on new ones; 21.6 percent more on natural gas utilities; nearly 14 percent more for grocery staples like eggs, meat, and fish; and over 11 percent more on their electric bills.

Just as your prices go up, Biden approval numbers keep going down. According to a new CBS News/YouGov poll, only 31 percent of respondents voiced approval for how Biden is handling inflation. A whopping 69 percent disapprove. Meanwhile, a new CNBC poll shows his overall approval at an abysmal 38 percent. If the corrupt corporate media pollsters are getting numbers this bad, just imagine how bad his approval rating actually is.

That’s because despite all the Democrats’ deflection to Putin and Covid and those pesky consumers, Americans know their wallets are lighter and their minds are heavier due to the policies and incompetence of Biden and his foolish administration. Their solutions consist of spending more money, relinquishing energy independence, and pandering to their party’s radicals.

The Biden White House can keep trying to sell “Putin’s Price Hike,” but Americans aren’t buying it. Heck, they can’t afford to.

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