New Yorkers across the five boroughs are feeling the pain from President Joe Biden’s policies as skyrocketing inflation continues to devastate their paychecks and standard of living.
Fresh data from the US Census Bureau released Tuesday showed that inflation surges have outpaced the average pay raises of US workers in 2022 for the third consecutive year under the Biden administration. Inflation-adjusted median household income fell to $74,580 in 2022 — a 2.3% decline from the 2021 average of $76,330.
Americans have had to adjust their lifestyles as a result. Cash-strapped New Yorkers are going out less, buying cheaper groceries, borrowing from their family to pay rent, and even considering a move to Canada to escape the Bidenomics.
Recess Hyde, 34, a resident of Bushwick, Brooklyn, holds two jobs in fashion and marketing to get by. He has started researching menus online before a date to avoid getting shocked when the bill arrives.
“I feel it in my dating life,” Hyde told The Post. “I’ve cut back on girls. If I get a (date) … I gotta do some research on the place and see what the food and bottles cost. You have to do your research because the bills don’t stop and we don’t have the luxury of disposable income.”
Tselane Stevens, 62, told The Post that she hadn’t received a raise in three years prior to her move to Midwood, Brooklyn last month from Virginia. She had to turn to her family to help her pay the rent and would get groceries from a food bank.
“I haven’t bought new shoes or a new coat in three years, and I like shoes,” Stevens said.
She also blamed President Biden for not paying attention to “what’s going on right here in New York” in favor of “what’s happening internationally.”
American incomes have dropped 4.7% since their peak in 2019, reflecting how Biden’s economic policies have failed to counter pressures provoked by the pandemic — thus keeping inflation stubbornly high and wage gains too slow to keep up.
Indraja V., 32, moved to Manhattan in April for a job at a major tech consulting firm, getting a $20,000 raise in base pay — yet still struggles to have enough funds to pay off her debt and afford discretionary spending. Her rent and grocery costs are more than twice as expensive in NYC as they were in her former home of Tampa, Florida.
“It would be a dream for a lot of people to achieve a six-figure salary, but it feels so small,” Indraja said. “A slice of watermelon [at The Food Emporium] is $11. I sent a picture of it to my friends because I was so shocked.”
Petra Hanson, 55, from Dumbo, has been eating into her savings to survive for the past three years. She has been struggling to get work and blames businesses for taking advantage of inflation to jack prices up.
“It seems businesses are taking advantage of inflation so they’re like ‘oh, now we’re charging $8 for oat milk’,” Hanson said.
Lark Clark, 75, from Midwood, said the Big Apple’s high cost of living extends beyond food and rent — noting the rising cost of tickets to cultural events, saying “three years ago the ticket [to the Blue Note Jazz Club] would have cost $40 and now it’s $70.”
Hyde expressed concern that President Biden is “asleep” and “not a strong leader” when it comes to improving the economic climate. It remains to be seen just how long the American people can endure this assault on their pocketbooks and standard of living.
