U.S. BUDGET VS. FAMILY BUDGET Based on 2022 figures
If a family spent
The
median family income in the U.S. is $70,784.
money like the federal government, it would spend
$90,663 per year . . .
. . . which means it would have put $19,879 on the
credit card in 2022 . . .
DRIVERS OF GROWING SPENDING Share of projected spending increase, 2023-2033
. . .
despite already being
$447,142 in debt.
Healthcare 30% SOURCE: CBO, Census Bureau, and Treasury Department
betray a vastly different reality, according to Antoni. “You would think the number of
jobs going up is a sign of wealth, but many of the current economic indicators are actually a sign of des- peration, since job numbers are cal- culated through payrolls, and with so many people having to work two jobs to make ends meet, it creates a statistical distortion,” said Antoni. Newsmax TV’s Bob Sellers, who
anchors the weekday “Wall Street Wrap” after the market closes, agreed that while several key data points could be used to make the argument of a brighter financial future, the ominous specter of debt casts a wide shadow over the nation’s economic outlook. “The level of debt is the No. 1 concern,” said Sellers, who authored Forbes Best Business Mistakes. “The consumer has a record level of debt, with student loan debt at a record high, and, of course, the federal gov- ernment’s debt of $34 trillion.” The consequences of the unprec-
edented debt trickle down through- out the economy, due to the govern- ment’s need to borrow large sums of money to pay its bills; that in turn leads to higher interest rates, which directly affect the nation’s real estate market, according to Sellers. “We are seeing that there just isn’t
enough inventory for people to buy homes, and that can be attributed to the higher mortgage rates caus-
Consumers Hurt by High Prices
T
he reality of people’s checkbooks, especially as the purchasing
power of their dollars continues to diminish, will be increasingly dificult to ignore as the presidential election creeps closer, according to Newsmax TV’s Bob Sellers. “The problem Biden has is that
he keeps telling us things are great because the GDP is still going up, but his political messaging is coming in conflict with what families are actually experiencing on the ground,” said Sellers. “The simple truth is that people
are no longer able to afford many of the things they had been accustomed to purchasing under President Donald Trump. “I don’t blame all of this on Biden, but it happened on his watch, and in a political sense, that is all that really matters,” he added. For a historical parallel, Americans
can look back to the 1992 presidential election campaign, when incumbent George H.W. Bush sought reelection, according to Sellers. “Bill Clinton understood this
simple fact of politics and went out of his way to relate to people, and tell people he could feel their pain,” said Sellers.
“Biden is trying the opposite
approach, in telling everyone that everything is great, and it isn’t hard to predict how that might work out.”
All Other Mandatory 4%
NOTE: Figures have been rounded. SOURCE: Congressional Budget Ofice
ing people who got mortgages when they were very, very low to not be able to take on a higher rate,” said Sellers.
Commercial real estate is a par-
ticularly vulnerable market, with many cities experiencing a glut of empty office space post-COVID-19. More office space is sitting empty in the United States than at any point since 1979, according to a Moody’s Analytics report from January. “This is something that doesn’t
get a lot of attention, but the prob- lem will hit the average person when regional banks start struggling, and once that happens, we begin seeing more bailouts, and that will bring about an entirely new set of prob- lems,” said Sellers. Economist Robert Murphy, a
senior fellow with the Mises Insti- tute, cautioned that if history is any indication, the nation could be on the verge of another downturn. “Many of the various measures
that optimists cite, claiming that the Fed has achieved a soft land- ing — such as disinflation with sta- ble and low unemployment — were also true in 2007, when the Fed had come off a steady series of rate hikes to cool off the housing bub- ble,” said Murphy. “At that time, too, prominent
officials were claiming there was a soft landing, when in fact we were on the verge of the global financial crisis.”
MARCH 2024 | NEWSMAX 17
Social Security
27%
Net Interest 21% Discretionary 17%
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