• That’s still being too generous. There was some semblance of a welfare state during the pandemic, most of which is gone now. Combined with the fact that inflation has driven bills through the roof, it’s definitely much worse. My household’s monthly grocery bill increased over $200 for the same amount of food and the rest of our bills have also seen increases. Meanwhile, our household income did not increase enough to compensate. We’ve basically lost all of our disposable income and are having to make cuts to stay afloat. This is a worse financial spot than we were in even 5 years ago.

    • Yup.

      My grocery bills skyrocketed two years ago. I was lucky in that my rent situation didn’t change, but that was only because my landlord’s property manager was incompetent and never renewed my lease, so it went month-to-month with the same rate. I’ve since become a homeowner because I didn’t want to get squeezed out of my preferred neighborhood.

      Most people are feeling a huge crunch from cost-of-living increases and housing scarcity, and Biden’s going to be blamed for it in the next election.