WC Wisconsin News

Wisconsinites in Congressman Ron Kind's district are growing increasingly worried as the cost of living dramatically rises across the U.S., while Kind supports further federal funding investments. 

Congressman Bryan Steele, of Wisconsin’s First District, expressed those concerns in a statement to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. 

“Over the past year, used cars have gotten almost 30% more expensive,” Steele said. “Plane tickets have gone up 24%. Shoes are 7.1% more expensive. Coffee, sugar, cotton and propane are all up double-digits. Higher materials costs have added $36,000 to the price of a new home.”

The country’s inflation rate rose to 5.4%, marking the largest increase recorded since August 2008, just a few months shy of the declaration of the Great Recession, Wispolitics reports. The increases were made evident in a recent Federal Reserve Bank of New York study, which estimates the median inflation rate for the next 12 months at 4.8%, more than double what is considered to be a healthy inflation rate.

“Everything just costs more, and no one’s really making more, other than if you get government money, which I did get some, but I’d rather have prices lower,” John Novak, a 52-year-old school maintenance worker based in Hudson, Wisconsin, said. “It’s a tough spot. We’re kind of coming out of this pandemic and then when you pour too much money in you just can’t get enough of what you want.”

As groceries, rent prices, gas and other living expenses continue to rise, Democrat lawmakers, including Kind, who represents the Third District including Hudson, have been pushing for another $6 trillion stimulus package that experts say will further accelerate costs. Federal Chair Powell recently added that supply bottlenecks put upward pressure on prices as the economy reopens and spending rebounds. He said the bottleneck effects were larger than expected, but inflation is expected to drop down toward the fed's goals as supply problems abate. 

"Inflation has increased notably and will likely remain elevated in coming months before moderating,” Powell said.  

Despite an overwhelming majority (88%) of American’s firmly expecting the inflation rate to rise while President Joe Biden remains in office, along with 83% expressing concerns about the increases, signs of inflation decreases were noted by the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index falling during the first 15 days of July. The workforce has also been replenished as nearly 605,000 jobs have been added monthly since Biden took office, with economic growth tracking above 7%.