Americans, like much of the rest of the world, have been having to pay a much higher cost to live since the COVID pandemic hit in 2020.

Though unlike most other western nations, America's inflation is grossly out of proportion. While the experts claim that it's only at 7%, these are numbers games, and the actual amount that people are spending out of their pockets is around 30% extra just to live.

The Dollar Tree didn't raise their prices to $1.07, did they? Politicians didn't give themselves a 7% raise; they gave themselves a 21% raise. So, what does that tell you? Just like rental rates across the board in America, which have risen over 20% since last year; it really goes to show you just how out of control inflation actually is.

It's the rent hikes that are truly hitting people where it hurts the most.

It's a good-news, bad-news thing in America, to be sure. It's good news for landlords. Due to a massive housing shortage, more people are renting apartments and rental houses than ever before, so it's really the boom times for landlords out there, especially since SCOTUS struck down moratoriums. Though for Americans who need to keep a roof over their heads and are forced to rent, paying this extra cost out of pocket is really brutal.

According to Business Insider, the average American's rent is now 32% of their income. That is mightily out of proportion with what rent was throughout most of American history. Until the early 2000s, most Americans' rental budget was just over 10 to 20% of their income. Even that was difficult for millions. Now consider paying one third of what you earn just to keep a crappy roof over your head in some tiny apartment with no yard and no privacy. It's driving people to the brink.

It's Not Inflation; It's Putin

According to President Joe Biden, his Press Secretary Jen Psaki, and the majority of corporate-owned media outlets, printing money, shutting down businesses, and pushing to ban fossil fuels has nothing to do with the inflation we're dealing with. Although it's been happening since early 2021, it's actually Vladimir Putin's fault, because Russia is so incredibly horrible! And it's true, to be clear, that Russia is horrible. They're committing war crimes every single day that they're illegally invading a sovereign nation. However, despite how horrible Russia is, they do not have the power to go back in time to raise America's prices a year before invading Ukraine. The fact they're being scapegoated as the cause of all problems is pure gaslighting.

The fact is that America's politicians have failed Americans. Instead of keeping businesses open for Americans, the government forced 80% of them closed entirely, claiming it was for everyone's safety. Very odd, that, considering Walmart stayed open, with hundreds of people walking around in close proximity. Along with Amazon and its many distribution centers where thousands mingle together. It's almost as if the government wanted to keep corporations open in order to transfer wealth to them. But that's getting into Russel Brand and Alex Jones territory, so you better not even think that. The government had your best interests at heart, and that's why they forced you into poverty and then made billion-dollar corporations even richer.

Republicans Aren't Much Help Either

This is not some piece against the Joe Biden administration. Republican politicians don't do much to drive the prices down either, and especially don't help much with inflation. Historically speaking, no politicians in America have supported a debt-based, centralized fiat currency like Republicans.

Inflation is par for the course when dealing with an unregulated, privatized institution that can just create money on demand. There's nothing basing the US Dollar on any tangible asset. Not gold, and certainly not supply and demand; the agreed-upon idea of a currency exchange is not agreed upon at all but rather subject to the whims of a centralized banking authority. So just as you're getting used to budgeting for groceries and gas, here comes another 5% rent increase.

According to global political figures who unabashedly brag about interfering in America's economy without any repercussions, you will own nothing and be happy. Of course, if you say that out loud, you're decried as some conspiracy theorist, even though you're just quoting the World Economic Forum and their groomed politicians. Now with a housing shortage and massive rent increases, the "own nothing" part seems to be coming true. And nobody is too happy about it.