As the global economy tries to recover from the pandemic, American consumers might be paying a lot more for the essentials they need like gas and food.
Prices are rising globally and in the United States itself, the latest numbers show prices are up more than 5% over the last year. On one side, there are supply chain issues and on the other side, labor shortages aren’t helping.
Whether it is getting gas, electricity bills, or walking through empty shelves at local stores, the demand for imported goods is high but ports in the United States are backed up.
Gas prices increased up to 42% and energy prices went up 25%; a situation that would not help low-income consumers and income gaps in the nation. The income gap will widen because those that have a lot of resources, financials and otherwise will do much better in the constrained environment that we are in today.
Another challenge people are facing especially in the United States is despite unemployment numbers decreasing, those who work are having to pay more on their day-to-day while their wages aren’t high enough.
The port of Los Angeles is running 24 hours and 7 days a week now and port operators are hopeful that the backlog of shipments coming in with goods will clear up just in time for the holiday season.
