Life in Joe Biden's America continues to become more and more expensive. Despite the voluminous amount of gaslighting done by the Biden administration to convince Americans that what they are living every day really isn't happening and that the economy is great — nothing to see here — people know better. More and more people are struggling to get by. The price of food, gas, and other everyday items continues to be high, and Americans are turning to potentially unstable financial ways to make ends meet every month. More Americans are being forced to put those everyday items on credit cards, and that could spell trouble for the country's financial situation down the road.  

No wonder credit card debt is at all time highs. No one can afford anything in this economy https://t.co/vVD0zGYbQS

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) March 12, 2024

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported on Wednesday, that the number of Americans applying for credit cards is at the highest rate since since October of 2022. In February of this year, the rate at which people applied for credit cards reached 43.4 percent. That is up from October 2023, when the rate was 42.5 percent, and 40.3 percent in June 2023. The inflation that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen assured us was "transitory" in 2021 is anything but. Consumer prices rose from January to February by 0.4 percent, up from the previous month of 0.3 percent. Year-over-year prices rose 3.2 percent, much higher than a Federal Reserve objective of two percent. 

The rate of credit card application rejections went down while the number of applications as a whole increased. Rejections fell from 21.1 percent in October 2023 to 18.7 percent in February 2024. However, the rejection rates for applications for things like mortgages, credit card limit increases, and mortgage refinance applications increased but decreased for credit cards and car loans. Current interest rates on new credit cards are also no help to Americans relying on them for those everyday purchases. The average annual percentage rate on a credit card now sits at 24.66 percent, up from 24.61 percent in February. 

Because more people are turning to credit cards for things like groceries and gas, America is poised to put itself in a world of economic hurt. In just the fourth quarter of 2023 alone, Americans accumulated a record-high of $17.5 trillion, a gain of $212 billion from the previous quarter. Other numbers are just as staggering: Credit card debt in the same fourth quarter of 2023 increased by $50 billion, and $143 billion for the entirety of 2023. this comes to a grand total of a mind-numbing $1.129 trillion of credit card debt. This is clearly not sustainable.

Credit card debt has become a burden for Americans as delinquencies on credit card loans are running at their highest level in almost 13 years.

It poses a big threat to Joe Biden’s re-election bid this yearhttps://t.co/ES6EKwyeiC pic.twitter.com/fKuQOAugMX

— Financial Times (@FT) March 20, 2024

My colleague Brandon Morse has echoed Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who has stated that he believes a major economic catastrophe will have to happen before Washington, D.C., sees that the U.S. must get government spending under control. Brandon rightly points out that:

 "It's going to take a mindset by the people. The people will have to have their backs pressed against a wall before they're willing to throw their hands up in the air and collectively agree that the government needs to be turned upside down, the creatures kicked out, and a reset button pressed." 

But mindset doesn't help people trying to put food on the table and gas in the car to get to work. With more than 60 percent of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, including those who earn $100,000 a year, mindset is not exactly a top priority. Brandon goes on to predict that things will get worse because most Americans truly don't know how close the nation is to that economic calamity, and politicians don't care. It is a recipe for economic disaster cooked up by Joe Biden's economy. If that gallon of milk is getting low, you might have to drink it slowly and make it last to avoid another credit card charge. 

Overall prices are up 19%. Grocery prices are up 28%. Real disposable income down 7.5%. Home ownership affordability down 36%. Credit card debt up 39%. Monthly savings down 80%.

Yeah. You’re doing great… pic.twitter.com/9EfNJumMEz

— Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) March 16, 2024

<