While low-income Americans without taxpayer-funded assistance might be struggling the most under President Joe Biden’s economic malaise, research shows that even those with incomes that would have offered financial security just a few years ago are now finding it difficult to make ends meet.
Inflation continues to push the cost of necessities higher, thus forcing many Americans further into debt — and the Biden administration’s big-spending agenda, which has exacerbated the situation, shows no signs of slowing down.
The result is that many households earning six-figure incomes are no longer capable of achieving the goals historically associated with the American dream. As CNBC confirmed, concerns about soaring consumer costs are clearly not limited to Biden’s conservative critics.
Elise Gould, the senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, explained that “wages haven’t kept up with the cost of living,” making upward financial mobility all but impossible for many Americans.
The outlet also spoke to psychologist Sabrina Romanoff, who noted that “the benchmark of a six-figure salary used to be the gold standard income” but is no longer enough for people living across much of the country to get ahead.
“It represented the tipping point of finally earning a disposable income and building savings and spending based on your wants, not just your needs,” she added. “Now people making well over six figures are still living paycheck to paycheck. So what used to symbolize financial freedom is now keeping people stressed about making ends meet.”
A report analyzing how much a family of four would need to earn each year to maintain expenses such as a mortgage and car payment while saving 20% found that every U.S. state now requires substantially more than $100,000, with deep blue states dominating the top of the list.
The necessary annual income in Hawaii eclipsed a quarter of a million dollars, with California coming in a close second at $245,723. On the other end of the list was Mississippi, where the American dream requires an annual household income of $109,516.
Slow growth and persistent inflation. Bidenomics is hard at work to destroy the American Dream.
🔗 https://t.co/s7K5kghZBo pic.twitter.com/w9QOHxALtl— Rep. Burgess Owens (@RepBurgessOwens) April 25, 2024
“Right now, the American dream has turned into a nightmare for so many families,” opined U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) in her response to Biden’s State of the Union address earlier this year. “The true, unvarnished state of our union begins and ends with this: Our families are hurting; our country can do better.”
