Gabriel Ortiz
The White House announced the details of the Inflation Reduction Act last month, laying out the numbers and goals to exist over the next 10 years. According to the White House, the Inflation Reduction Act will lower prescription drug costs, health care costs, and energy costs, build a clean energy economy and reduce the deficit.
The inflation rate has been steadily increasing since April 2021, when it was 4.16%, to 9.06% in June 2022. However, it has decreased to 8.26% as of August 31, 2022. The effects of increased inflation influence all aspects of the economy, including gas prices, supply chains, food prices, and more.
Young people suffer from the effects of inflation more than any other group. This is because they generally have just started out in their careers, need to save money, and have little disposable income due to living costs. Inflation at this time could make it harder for them to buy their first homes, impact university fees and other debts, and increase the cost of buying cars and items such as food.
“The price of food has gone up,” said Ben Lucas, a Towson University student. “Now I get fewer snacks and buy simple grocery items”
Ben is not as concerned about inflation right now as he was a couple of months ago. He thinks the main cause of global inflation started with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Javon Pinkney, a security officer thinks otherwise.
“Inflation on the global scale goes back to when COVID hit, and us taxpayers, we know it could have been prevented,” Pinkney said.
The combination of inflation and social effects of COVID displaced many jobs, but not for Tony Pence, the owner of Celebrated Summer Records in Hampden, Baltimore.
“My business is vinyl records, they are an archaic thing, but they are coming back after the past couple of years, so coupled with the fact that prices have been going up regardless, I haven’t been too affected.”
Pence claims that COVID accentuated business for him because now that people were quarantined inside their homes, they found collecting vinyl records to be an exciting and interesting hobby.
“The store does okay, people are still excited, but we are dealing with a production log jam; people are still very interested and excited,” Pence said. “There is a log jam, and prices are going up. There are records that should be pressed but aren’t. They are in line with thousands of records.”
If inflation is high and your salary does not keep up with the cost of living, it will become harder to save for future goals. Javon tries to live realistically.
“I’m not really struggling; it’s about how you live your lifestyle, spend, budget; I don’t live above my means; I don’t want to be the person that lives in debt,” Pinkney said, “I live in my means.”
There are a lot of directions to point fingers. Like Alaina Soto, a senior at Towson University, says, “I blame rich people.”
The Inflation Reduction Act will tax high-income earners, specifically a 15% corporate minimum tax funded with $222 billion.
The total $737 billion inflation reduction act will show changes as soon as this upcoming fiscal year; more updates to come with the White House statements.