XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.politics.trump, dumb.ass.democrat   
   .america.hating.assholes   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: invalid@dont-email.me   
      
   In article    
   minnesota dumbasses  wrote:   
   >   
   > Rush has never been wrong before.   I agree with everything he says.   It   
   > looks like the leftists have been exposed again.   
      
   [This piece has been published in Restoring America to highlight   
   how soaring inflation rates, caused in part by the Biden   
   administration's irresponsible spending, are hurting low-income   
   and middle-class families.]   
      
   In 2019, then Senator (and now Vice President) Kamala Harris   
   said : "It’s clear, in our country right now, almost half of   
   American families are a $400 unexpected expense away from   
   complete upheaval. Four hundred dollars. That could be the car   
   breaks down. That could be a hospital bill you didn’t see   
   coming."   
      
   PolitiFact generously rated Harris’ claim as “ half true .” My   
   AEI colleague Michael Strain more persuasively broke down the   
   reasons why claims like Harris’ — which have been repeated by   
   other politicians — are simply false.   
      
   But whether half true or flat out wrong, it’s hard not to be   
   reminded of such claims on learning that the average U.S.   
   household is now paying $450 more per month for the same goods   
   as last year due to today’s 40-year-high inflation . What’s   
   more, that unexpected expense is far from an isolated event,   
   like a car repair or hospital bill. Instead, Americans are now   
   being forced to pay this added expense every month. For many,   
   that is causing painful tradeoffs between filling their tank,   
   buying groceries, or covering rent, utilities, and other   
   expenses.   
      
   For millions of lower-income families, the pain is especially   
   acute. Last month the Federal Reserve released its latest annual   
   report on the “Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2021,”   
   which provides background on Americans’ ability to withstand a   
   $400 unexpected expense. The report includes the following   
   chart, which displays adults who in 2021 would have had   
   difficulty managing a $400 emergency expense by income and   
   race/ethnicity:   
      
   Among adults with incomes under $50,000, an unexpected $400   
   expense would have resulted in an additional 20% of black adults   
   and 21 percent of Hispanic adults not being able to fully pay   
   their current month’s bills last year. Accounting for those who   
   already could not pay their current month’s bills, such   
   unexpected expenses would push the overall share of lower-income   
   black and Hispanic adults who were unable to pay their current   
   month’s bills to 53% and 48%, respectively.   
      
   The report notes that Americans’ ability to withstand a $400   
   unexpected expense improved overall in 2021 , including due to   
   “the additional COVID-19 relief measures enacted in 2021.” But   
   with generous pandemic unemployment benefits and expanded   
   monthly child tax credit payments expiring at the end of last   
   year, and inflation soaring above wage gains, those figures are   
   likely worse today .   
      
   Back in 2019, in response to a query from PolitiFact, the Harris   
   campaign defended Senator Harris’ claims about the “complete   
   upheaval” caused by a $400 unexpected expense this way :   
      
   Millions of hard-working Americans can’t cover an unexpected   
   $400 expense. They are a medical bill, a car repair, or a rent   
   increase away from having to make painful choices like turning   
   to a neighbor hat in hand to ask for a loan, putting themselves   
   in spiraling credit card debt, selling their car, or heading to   
   a pawn shop with their wedding ring. To presume any of these   
   things would not upend someone’s daily life is out of touch.   
   One wonders whether Vice President Harris regrets those remarks   
   now that the average U.S. household is paying $450 more per   
   month for everything they buy. Because if her 2019 claims about   
   $400 unexpected expenses are to be believed, then today’s   
   greater inflation-driven unexpected expenses must be causing   
   even more “complete upheaval” for millions of hardworking   
   Americans every month — including a disproportionate share of   
   lower-income and minority adults.   
      
   This article originally appeared in the AEIdeas blog and is   
   reprinted with kind permission from the American Enterprise   
   Institute.   
      
      
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