“You go to work — food going up, gas going up, everything going up — but your pay not going up,” said one exasperated driver as he pays $5 a gallon for gas. Food prices have risen 12% year-over-year. Rent is up more than 40% and the Federal Reserve just raised interest rates by 0.75% this week. “The Fed’s going to break something. They’re either going to break inflation, or they’re going to break the economy,” said Ryan Sweet, an economist with Moody’s Analytics. He said it could take up to a year for the economy to right itself.
Meanwhile, safety-net programs like SNAP may soon be downsized to pre-COVID-19 levels, leaving many families hurting. Adele LaTourette of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey cited the pandemic’s “domino impact” that has left many still struggling, even as inflation adds more economic stress.
