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With Winter Coming, 20 Million Americans Are Behind on their Utility Bills.
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 other shiny objects isn’t going to 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 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.
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:
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35% are very concerned,
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30% are somewhat concerned,
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17% are not very concerned,
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14% are not at all concerned, and
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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:
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One in four (26%) Americans reduced basic expenses such as food and medicine to pay their energy bills in the last 12 months.
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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.
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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.
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Yep, and I’ll bet that the Democrats living in DC are not at all concerned. (except maybe for those low-earning black families who live on the “other side of the tracks”, and whom Congress and lobbyists totally ignore).
It’s just a coincidence, but our gas company made a huge billing mistake earlier this year, and for three months we will have a credit balance on our bill!
Saw an interesting analysis this afternoon. The generic ballot question is obsolete. Strong Blue districts and strong Red districts skew the question and almost cancel each other out. The way to sense the outcome in the House is to take the Cook and 538 “toss-ups” and isolate them. In these districts the Democrats are in deep doo-doo, especially on questions of the economy and the President’s approval ratings. And the Republicans only have to take 1/3 of those to claim the House.
30 years ago Bill Clinton was onto this kind of thing (from Wikipedia):
I hope the Republicans can get on message with this.
Cheap energy is prosperity. Biden’s War on Inflation is designed to crush Americans to please the eco-commies. When Biden is done, the cost of energy will be triple what it was under Trump and the average American will have lost a quarter of their real-income. A great depression is coming.
It takes more than a year to produce new environment rules. Here’s what’s coming:
EPA Finalizes Greenhouse Gas Standards for Passenger Vehicles, Paving Way for a Zero-Emissions Future
Gas went up 50 cents a gallon here (southeastern Wisconsin) overnight.
Was in the $3.40s yesterday, $3.99 today.
That’s odd – it is down to $3.45 per gallon here in the Northern Virginia suburbs where government workers and Members of Congress live. I can’t imagine why.
They will just put a law in that utilities can not be shutdown and if somebody can’t pay it will be covered somehow.
Wisconsin (and I assume most northern states) has a had a moratorium on wintertime utility shut-offs for decades.
Here is a portion of the first paragraph of that news release. Newspeak is so cute.
There is no such thing as a “zero-emission vehicle”. Even more laughable is the term “partial zero-emission vehicle”. It may be electric, but it isn’t zero-emission.
So why aren’t the Republicans making this point?
Any why aren’t they 30 points ahead in every poll?
So why aren’t the Republicans making this point?
And why aren’t they 30 points ahead in every poll?
Kevin McCarthy referred to inflation as Biden taking a month of income from everyone this year. I think he should be more specific and say “Bidenflation is the grinch that stole Christmas”.
Because the public won’t understand.
Here’s how it worked: COVID, was ‘addressed’ by government mandated shutdowns and hysterical claims that left people freaked, confused, isolated, and monetarily vulnerable which ‘forced’ government to ‘move’ (in that Bushian way) by promising and later sometimes even providing ‘relief’.
It will work the same way again for our current problems , and people will be so grateful for the ‘relief’, the source of the inflation and ‘supply chain issues’ will be of little interest. Moreover, pols will claim it’s somehow all Trump’s fault or Putin’s fault or some other nonsense and besides, OMFG INSEREKTION!!!111
It seems my contempt runneth over.
I would guess that it is because of a fatal explosion and fire that has shut down the BP refinery in Toledo.
Ah. We noticed yesterday that gas prices had gone way up to $4.20 or something like that, and we wondered why. All sorts of mysterious explosions in infrastructure these days in Russia, in Ukraine, and in several other countries. I wonder if they have anything in common.
Because the plan is for them to lose the election and for the Democrats win. The fix is in, the rigging is done.
Here is Wharton Business School professor of finance, Jeremy Siegel, seemingly at wits end about the — not only wrong, but — rationally the opposite of what is necessary to protect and improve the economy being done which is destroying the economy. At the end he says in frustration that “poor monetary policy would be an understatement.” Despite his professional expertise, he seems to be naively assuming that this is all a good-natured mistake while it could very well be deliberate, with the goal being to “crush the economy” as he sees happening. 5 min of his interview.
News from New England:
First we were told that to save the planet and to lower our utility costs, we should go out and buy energy-efficient appliances.
Then it was no longer possible to buy anything but “energy-efficient” appliances.
I would better handle the increase in my utility bills, if my attitiude was not shot to hell.
Where were the energy savings now that so many Americans have complied? I never noticed any savings at all – even before the Biden inflationary cycle kicked in.
On top of that, my 7 yr old refrigerator is broken down and needs to be replaced. So even if somewhere along the line, it had offered a slight decrease in the PG&E bill, scrapping the damn thing so soon in its life cycle adds more to its carbon footprint than the appliance would have saved.
To a political observer, America’s politics is a big tent.
Sure on the right entrance to the venue, there is a sign proclaiming reverence for the unborn, respect for national sovereignty, maintaining our borders, plus freedom from bowing down to ridiculous, expensive and inept “Climate Crisis” demands.” For rank and file Republicans that all sounds great.
On the left entrance to the venue, there is a sign proclaiming its policies of tolerance and inclusion, respect for the working poor, ability of women to have abortion freely available, protection of the environment, and a serious commitment to “no war” and a push back on military spending.
But both entrances lead to Clown Circus world.
During 2020, I said that Biden’s counter to MAGA was Make Depression Great Again. The signs were there for those willing to see.
Even that is a bit off, since prices actually started to rise right after Election Day. Everyone knew what was coming.
I left Arizona in August of 2020, and when I fueled up the U-Haul truck in Alamogordo, gas was $1.69.