‘It Has To Change’: Small Business Owners Sound Off On Crushing Inflation
They cut hours, slashed budgets, raised prices anything to keep their doors open. There were no extra pots of money and no more government loans. They were small-business owners, and if they d had good years and not so good years, now they were having a very, very bad year.
On top of that, their customers thought they were price-gouging, which was laughable and infuriating at the same time.
They re just redirecting their anger, because I m the only point for them, says Hamza El Jamal, a garage and gas station owner in upstate New York. I tell them, I don t know if you ve watched the news anytime recently, but this isn t exactly in my hands.
The people whose hands it is in? They ve taken to finger-pointing or pretending.
A few months back, President Joe Biden blamed the Russians for our inflationary woes. Americans budgets are being stretched by price increases and families are starting to feel the impacts of Putin s price hike, he tweeted May 10.
By early July, it was gas-station owners. Bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you re paying for the product, the president tweeted.
Then, just a few days ago, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre shrugged off all the hand-wringing. We are stronger economically than we have been in history, she told reporters.
It was insulting. Americans can see for themselves the alarming dip in their 401ks, and the stock market failing to rally. They know they are paying more for less, that every trip to the gas station or the grocery store is at least $100. They know that they are not, in fact, stronger economically than ever.
I spoke with a half-dozen small-business owners about inflation and the economy and their place in it. They d survived the pandemic and the lockdowns, but they were not sure they would survive this.
If they want to blame someone, they should blame Tony Fauci and his pals. Biden of course is all for the big lock down, evidently will all its utter irrationality.