EDITORIAL: Harris-Biden failures continue to crush many families

Democrats can’t believe that Americans aren’t more enthusiastic about the Harris-Biden economy, but crunching the numbers helps explain the voter skepticism. The rampant inflation unleashed by this administration’s irresponsible spending binges continues to drain the finances of U.S. families.

Over the past four years, consumer prices in American cities have risen 26 percent faster than private-sector wages, note Sens. Ted Cruz and Rick Scott in a Wall Street Journal commentary this week. The average price of a new car is up nearly 20 percent since January 2021. Throw in rising insurance costs, higher gasoline prices and more expansive financing terms, and the cost of owning and maintaining a vehicle for a year has risen 32 percent under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the two Republican senators calculate.

The same is true with homeownership. Thanks to higher mortgage interest rates — triggered by the Fed’s efforts to fight the 9 percent inflation created by the White House and congressional Democrats — “the total cost of buying and financing a home has more than doubled” since Donald Trump left office. Add escalating utility and insurance costs, Sens. Cruz and Scott report, and the cost of “owning and living in a home rose from $19,119 a year in 2021 to $36,736 today.”

These numbers are in line with similar analyses. A report from Moody’s Analytics this year determined that Americans are paying for goods and services “on average $784 more each month compared with the same time two years ago and $1,069 more compared with three years ago, before the inflation crisis began.” That’s nearly a $13,000 annual increase since 2021.

Inflation is, in fact, a silent tax that falls most heavily on poorer Americans, who can least afford it. While the rate of price increases has stabilized over the past year, prices haven’t fallen, meaning families are still paying more for everyday staples, cratering budgets.

As Fox Business reports, prices are up 18.94 percent since January 2021, leading many Americans to eat up savings or turn to high-interest credit cards — a recipe for future financial distress.

“A decade of good economic policy,” Sens. Cruz and Scott write, “is likely needed to overcome the failures of the current administration.”

Yet Ms. Harris — who says she would have done nothing differently than her boss over the past four years — promises price controls, rent caps, a more aggressive regulatory state and continued handouts for favored green special interests.

Is it any wonder that many American voters have concluded that they simply can’t afford a repeat of the past four years?