Keystone Today

Recently an opinion contributor for USA Today used data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to argue that high rates of inflation caused by President Joe Biden and Democrats disproportionately affect people of color in Pennsylvania and across the nation.

DaQuawn Bruce, the executive director of the Concerned Communities for America, which focuses on facilitating liberation and social transformation of communities of color across the United States, wrote an article published on the USA Today website July 19.

With inflation at 9.1% and potentially getting worse, this has led many Black Americans who voted for Biden, to begin turning away from his administration, Bruce wrote. “Bidenomics is breaking the economic back of Black America.”

"The reasons why inflation hits Black and brown people harder than others is simple,” Bruce stated. “We have less money on average than other groups, and we spend more of the money we do have on things that are affected the most by inflation.”

Bruce called inflation a hidden tax on the poor, and claimed it disproportionately affects people of color. A June report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed that the inflation rate for Blacks is 0.2% higher than the national average. For Hispanics it was about 0.6% higher.

Another reason why inflation hits Black and brown people harder is because they tend to have less money than other groups, and a large portion of the money they have is spent on things like gas and used vehicles: two things heavily affected by inflation, according to Bruce. The report also found that Black Americans spend more of their income on transportation than white groups.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported in 2019 that Black Americans represented 23.8% of the population living in poverty while only accounting for 13.2% of the total population.

A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in April, which showed necessities like electricity and cellular service takes up much of the budget for Black Americans.

In November, the Bank of America released a study showing Black, Hispanic, and Latino households spent 7.1% of their post-tax income on energy and 5.4% is spent by other groups. Blacks also spend 12.5% of their income on food, compared to 11.1%. for others.

World Population Review estimates that in Pennsylvania, 12.6% of the population or 1,621,737 people are Black. Approximately 7.31% or 935,216 people in Pennsylvania are Hispanic.