Recent estimates, both from members of the U.S. Congressional Joint Economic Committee and from NerdWallet, indicated that the average American household may have to spend $11,500 just to maintain the same standard of living as in previous years.
The price of eggs last month was up 39.8% over August 2021; gasoline was up 25.8%; health insurance, 24.3%; groceries, 13.5%; and plane tickets, 33.4%. Although the 10.8% drop in gas prices in August reportedly slowed U.S. inflation, these and most other prices have continued to climb.
Consumer inflation over 2021 was, as of last week, 8.3%.
The U.S. Congressional Joint Economic Committee Republicans published their state inflation tracker results in late August, indicating both the annualized inflation cost per household and price increases since January 2021, when President Joe Biden took office.
More Americans are taking on credit card debt as skyrocketing inflation for basic necessities continues to burden families.
In a recent survey from CreditCards.com commissioned by YouGov, 60 percent of Americans have been carrying monthly credit card debt for at least 12 months –– a ten percent increase from 2021.
Credit card debt among all Americans is approximately $887 billion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York report.
