Mortgage inflation and The Stupid Party

Bidenomics tells us don’t worry; be happy. We live in the best of all possible economies, just as Joe Scarborough recently told Americans the “truth” that we are experiencing the best of all possible Joe Bidens. The economy is fantastic, outstanding, never better, and the Mummified Meat Puppet Administration (MMPA) is working every day to whip inflation, not, they solemnly intone, that it needs any whipping. The Washington Examiner begs to differ:

“Home shoppers today need to make more than $106,000 to comfortably afford a home,” according to the report. “That is 80% more than in January 2020.”

A monthly mortgage payment for a typical U.S. home has nearly doubled since January 2020, the report notes, up 96.4% to $2,188. The calculations are based on a 10% down payment.

Home values also increased over 42% in the last four years, with the typical home nationwide worth roughly $343,000, according to Zillow’s January market report. Mortgage rates in January 2020 were 3%, the report notes. By February 2024, they are closer to 7%.

Graphic: West Yellowstone (MT, USA), Targhee Pass Highway Haus—2002.  Dietmar Rabich.

Wikimedia Commons.org.  CC BY-SA 4.0

One suspects the figures are even worse if calculated from January of 2021 when Joe Biden took office. Considering the price of fuel is directly connected with the price of everything else, and Biden’s handlers took immediate steps to ensure the price of fuel skyrocketed. It’s hardly surprising to learn housing is far more expensive, and less of it is being built.

It’s commonly known we’re approaching $2 trillion in credit card debt. Many Americans are using high-interest credit cards for daily necessities. Motor vehicle loan debt is also approaching $2 trillion, and anyone with car insurance knows those rates have also dramatically increased.

While costs have increased, wages have not. In 2020, a household income of $59,000 a year “could comfortably afford the monthly mortgage on a typical U.S. home, spending no more than 30% of its income with a 10% down payment,” the report notes. “That was below the U.S. median income of about $66,000, meaning more than half of American households had the financial means to afford homeownership.”

Four years later that analysis no longer holds true. Today, roughly $106,500 is needed to comfortably afford a mortgage payment, the report states, “well above what a typical U.S. household earns each year, estimated at about $81,000.”

Apartments used to be a way for young Americans to save money for a mortgage, but no longer. In much of America, even a one-bedroom apartment goes for $2000 and more a month. Much of the country has no appreciable savings, and can’t afford an unexpected $1000 dollar emergency. Twenty+ dollar McDonald’s burgers are a sign of the times.  Inexpensive fast food, circa 2024, is neither. What’s a middle class that can’t afford McDonald’s or a “starter” home?

That’s why it’s amazing Donald Trump is only single digits ahead of Joe Biden in most polls. To be sure, many polls are weighted to give Democrats/socialist/communists (D/s/cs) the advantage, but with how much economic reality do Americans need to be smacked in the head before they’re able to see to the bottom of their empty bank accounts?

As much grief as Senator Katie Britt has taken for her response to Biden’s State of the Disunion teleprompter slurring, she asked one vital question: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” Too few Republicans are asking that question, which they should be asking, backed with the kinds of facts the Examiner is presenting, every day from now until the month or so of voting around November.

That Americans just might need constant reminders that the MMPA is lying about economics and pretty much everything else, and economic policy is more important than abortion, the non-insurrection insurrection of January 6 or trans issues, is a disquieting sign of our times. But if Donald Trump is to win, and our representative republic is to survive, economic reality, which polls indicate is most American’s primary issue, has to be at the forefront of every republican’s 2024 campaign.

To steal one of Trump’s favorite phrases, we’ll have to wait to see just how stupid The Stupid Party really is.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.