The cost-of-living squeeze is robbing Americans of 20% of their income — inflation at a rate not seen in 40 years, Bloomberg reports.

While the Biden administration keeps touting the “success” of Bidenomics and the declining rate of inflated prices, Americans are realizing that prices have not and will not come down. Consumers see this firsthand in the lack of affordable housing, food and gas — all hitting them squarely in the face and likely to be the determining factor in whether President Biden wins a second term.

Four in 10 voters in swing states said the U.S. economy is their No. 1 issue in the 2024 presidential election, according to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll.

It now costs $119.27 to buy the same goods and services that a family could afford for $100 in 2020. Housing affordability is at the worst on record, with rents up 20% and mortgages up a whopping 42%.

According to a Census Bureau survey, food rose 32% in the past three years, with a four-person household spending an average of $238.32 in a week for food at home in January 2020. Today, that’s soared to $315.22.

According to Bloomberg’s analysis, groceries cost 25% more. Electricity is also up by 25%, and natural gas prices have risen 29%. Used cars are now 35% more expensive, and auto insurance has climbed by 33%.

A pound of ground beef is now $5.23 on average, up 34% from $3.89 in January 2020. A one point, a carton of eggs was costing three times more.

Restaurants are charging 32% more for burgers, 17% more for pizza and 23% extra for chicken dishes.

The annual cost of child care in the U.S. was $10,853 at the end of 2022, 32% higher than 2019, according to data from Child Care Aware of America and Bank of America.

The high cost of living has boosted the average employer-sponsored heath insurance premium to nearly $24,000, causing 40% of Americans to delay or skip necessary health care.

At the same time, while the average nominal income has risen 20%, because of inflation, it’s actually only a 0.6% increase.

‘Huge Slap in the Face’

“It’s a huge slap in the face, and I’m surprised that some people are saying inflation’s coming down,” says Ryan Essenburg, a 50-year-old resident in the San Francisco Bay Area. “You get your bill, and it’s like, ‘What’s happening here?’”

Even homeowners are feeling the punishment of far higher property taxes and homeowner's insurance, plus the entrapment of higher mortgage rates preventing them from moving.

“I bought a very modest house and did all these things that we felt like we were supposed to do — like live within our means, don’t overspend, save,” says Anthony Ford, 35, an analytics engineer who lives outside Dayton, Ohio.

“It all just keeps getting further away from being able to take that next step,” Ford says.

“I feel like I’m on a hamster wheel that’s just — I’m not getting ahead ever,” concurs 33-year-old Tamarah Victor of Needham, Mass.

Combined Pain

Consumers are feeling the combined pain of higher food, housing, heating, transportation and medical costs, and are cutting back on vacations or luxuries.

Splurging on oneself even through little luxuries “is a lot harder to do when your energy bill keeps ticking upwards, and every time you go to the grocery store, it’s so much more than you anticipated,” says Matt Canter, a partner at Global Strategy Group. “Unfortunately, this data suggests that is the experience that more and more Americans are having.”

Wells Fargo Senior Economist Sarah House observes, “The reality is setting in for consumers that prices rarely go down, especially not in the aggregate.”