One Third of Americans "Very Concerned" Over Ability to Pay Energy Bills
Under President Biden's watch, electricity has increased by 22%, and utility/piped gas services have increased by 47%. Twenty million households are behind on utility bills. Winter is coming.
A favorite polling firm is TIPP Insights, which has been conducting public opinion surveys such as the IBD/TIPP poll for about 30 years. I follow their work closely. Their polling of the 2016 presidential election (Trump v. Hillary) was spot on.
This weekend, they published the results of a new survey that should scare incumbent Democratic officeholders on the ballot on November 8th, at least the ones (all of them in Congress) who voted to hose the economy with over $5 trillion in inflationary spending over the past two years and are still at it (and that’s not counting the trillions spent during the pandemic when the Trump Administration shut down the economy). Our money supply (M2) has grown more than 40 percent since February 2020. Even most Democrats blame Biden's policies for runaway inflation. Yelling “Donald Trump!” and “Abortion!” and pointing to other shiny objects won’t save them.
“…Inflation is taking its toll and not sparing anyone,” TIPP concludes their analysis of their latest survey. “Americans are coping in various ways, including cutting back on food, driving, etc. Real wages have fallen for 17 months in a row. The average American household spends $5,400 a year due to inflation. With many Americans living paycheck to paycheck, finding the extra cash to pay is a big challenge.”
And it’s not just TIPP expressing their opinion. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) agrees. “Inflation has cut into the finances of the middle class more than that of low- and high-income households, according to a CBO report from Sept. 22,” reported the Epoch Times.
And Americans are likely to know when they cast ballots (early voting began in Virginia last Friday) that inflation is not alone in driving up their utility bills - Joe Biden and the Democrats’ energy policies have also wreaked havoc, from the cancellation of the KXL pipeline from Canada to federal and offshore oil and gas leases. They saw Joe Biden begging Saudi Arabia for oil when, during the Trump Administration, America reached energy independence, with a national average of $2.25 per gallon of gas the month Trump departed the White House. As TIPP noted, recent declines from record high gasoline prices come from people simply forgoing travel and consolidating trips. Those increases began well before (and were exacerbated by) Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Energy costs are a major factor in every facet of food production, from fertilizer to packaging and logistics. And Biden Administration regulators want to make that worse with burdensome and expensive supply chain reporting mandates. Nutty left-wing governments like New Jersey’s didn’t stop with bans on plastic bags in grocery stores - they now ban paper bags, and force stressed consumers to buy reusable bags that present food safety issues. Higher food prices also signal food shortages. Political unrest won’t be far behind. Ask Sri Lanka.
And Winter isn’t even here yet. Given supply constraints and growing urgency, policy options are limited. Watch the Biden Administration, just before the November 8 elections, propose more federal subsidies under an expanded LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) and dare Congress to kill it, coupled with a new round of demonization of utility and energy companies. But nothing to increase our energy supply and decrease supply chain costs, especially for middle-class Americans whom Bidenflation hardest hits.
Marie Antoinette, call your office.
Read the whole thing here:
Americans Worry About Utility Bills Amid Bidenflation
Under President Biden's watch, electricity has increased by 22%, and utility/piped gas services have increased by 47%.
September 24, 2022. 7:40 AM
As Bidenflation rages like wildfire at 12.6%, two-thirds (65%) of Americans are concerned about their ability to pay utility bills. The shocking finding comes from the Investor’s Business Daily/TIPP Poll of 1,277 Americans completed early September.
Overall, energy prices have increased 43% since February 2021, the month after President Biden took office. Under President Biden’s watch, electricity is up by 22%, and utility/piped gas services are up by 47%. We computed the increases using the August CPI data but rebased to Feb 2021.
The situation is dire. Bloomberg recently reported that more than 20 million households are behind on utility bills. The suppliers will likely take action against delinquent customers and shut off their power. Such action would present hardship in the coming winter.
The IBD/TIPP Poll asked Americans: How concerned are you about the ability to pay your utility bills? The results:
35% are very concerned,
30% are somewhat concerned,
17% are not very concerned,
14% are not at all concerned, and
3% are not sure.
Under The Hood
Our data analysis of 36 demographic groups shows that the sentiment is universal. Interestingly, except for one, all other 35 groups shared the concern. The only demographic group with less than 50% expressing concern was those aged 65 and up (48%).
Concerns were shared by 64% of those in the Northeast, 64% in the Midwest, 66% in the South, and 63% in the West. Further, 66% of urban, 61% of suburban, and 67% of rural respondents are worried.
The groups with over 70% concerned are aged 25-44 (74%) and households with $30K to $50K income (72%).
Implications
The TIPP Poll results support the data from the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey conducted mid-August. An analysis of the Census Bureau data by the Help Advisor website showed that:
One in four (26%) Americans reduced basic expenses such as food and medicine to pay their energy bills in the last 12 months.
One in six (16%) adults report having kept their home at a temperature that felt unsafe or unhealthy in the past year due to rising energy costs.
In some states, the percentage of residents sacrificing basic needs to pay energy bills is significantly higher than the national average.
In summary, inflation is taking its toll and not sparing anyone. Americans are coping in various ways, including cutting back on food, driving, etc. Real wages have fallen for 17 months in a row. The average American household spends $5,400 a year due to inflation. With many Americans living paycheck to paycheck, finding the extra cash to pay is a big challenge.
What you call Bidenflation is global inflation. Energy prices are largely set by global markets. Here in Europe, where I’m visiting, a 22% rise in electricity prices would be viewed as a bargain. Energy costs in much of the world are rising much faster than in the US. We are doing comparatively well in a global emergency.