Keystone Today

Inflation is on the rise, and in Pennsylvania, residents think that something needs to be done.

People are feeling the pinch at the grocery store, at the sporting goods store, even the car dealership. And the Congressional Budget Office predicted in a recent report that not changing the current tax and spending laws by 2031 could push the U.S. national debt to 107% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), the highest level in history.

While businesses are reopening and the COVID-19 pandemic disruptions are subsiding, inflation is growing -- and people are noticing.

Hunter Tower | Freedom Foundation (PA)

A Chester mother, Marcella Burnie, told Fox 29 that her grocery bill for her family, including four children, was “$170 for this little bit. Everything is going up: food, things you need for the house, Pampers for the baby.”

Inflation is growing, and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) noted in a Feb. 21 letter to his colleagues that inflation is projected to rise to 2.3% or more, which is more than 60% above the pre-COVID low.

The Congressional Budget Office released a report titled “The Budget and Economic Outlook 2021 to 2031” in February. That report noted that the current federal debt held by the public is projected to reach 102% of GDP by the end of fiscal year 2021.

The inflation has many tightening their belts wherever possible. According to a Forbes, a survey conducted by Shopkick, an app that people use to get rewards for shopping, showed that 83% of the 19,000 shoppers surveyed in May are making choices to lower their spending due to concerns over inflation. Approximately 59% of those surveyed are switching to less-costly options and nearly 70% are not choosing items based on brand names.

Hunter Tower, the Pennsylvania director of Freedom Foundation, recently spoke out about how political policies have affected Pennsylvania residents financially.

"We are already seeing it every day. Higher costs of goods and services and higher gas prices mean an overall higher cost of living, and at the end of the day, the people who suffer the most are already our most vulnerable population. When government gets out of the way, people get back to work and businesses can regain the steam they lost during the past year,” Tower told Keystone Today. “Unemployment is a massive problem, and yet businesses cannot find people to work because we are paying them not to work. We are one of the top states in the nation in jobless claims. When we are on par with states like California, which has more than 26 million more residents, we have a huge problem.”

And he points to Pennsylvania’s delayed reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the inflation problem.

"We were told 'two weeks to slow the spread,' and Gov. (Tom) Wolf has kept us shut down for 15 months. Certainly, our delayed reopening has impacted inflation, because when the supply chain is disrupted, the cost of products rises. Thankfully, numerous businesses and leaders have decided to stand up to Gov. Wolf’s draconian and dystopian mandates,” Tower said. “When we force businesses to shut down, and then perhaps reopen at limited capacity, we disrupt the supply chain, making it harder and therefore more expensive to create and transport the products we need. Those commodities then become more expensive, and the cost is passed on to the consumer, not because the seller wants to raise prices, but because they have to in order to survive.”