Ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, polls reveal that most Americans are focused on kitchen-table issues—primarily inflation, jobs, crime, illegal immigration, education, and health care. These are the pressing domestic concerns, while global matters such as global pacts and security alliances remain secondary. Among these, inflation has become a pressing public concern.
Since 2021, inflation has skyrocketed, starting at 1.4 percent in January 2021, and peaking in June 2022 at 9.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Essential goods have been hit the hardest—impacting most strongly many middle- and low-income households who live paycheck to paycheck. What are the plans of the leading presidential candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris, and former President Donald Trump, to tackle inflation and improve the economy, and what is the root cause of the inflation?
A Sharp Increase in Government Spending
Though supply chain disruptions during the pandemic had an impact on global inflation as noted by the White House, the main driver has been a massive surge in government spending. Early in his administration, President Joe Biden passed the American Rescue Plan, a fiscal stimulus aimed at helping to lift the economy, especially targeting lower income families to help soften the blow of the pandemic.
All in all, Biden rolled out public expenditure plans exceeding $6 trillion—around 30 percent of the annual U.S. GDP. These included infrastructure projects such as green energy expansion, and increased welfare distribution. Since then, the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, as well as the influx of illegal immigration, have continued to add significantly to government expenditures.
The United States over the past four years added nearly $10 trillion to the national debt, causing it to rise from close to $27 trillion in 2020 to nearly $36 trillion as of October 2024. This amounts to an average debt per citizen, regardless of age, of $105,000.
For everyday Americans, the rising cost of living has been evident in two main areas.
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