Silver State Times

Republicans say that Nevadans are already straining under the effects of inflation, and criticized the state's Democrats in Washington, D.C., for voting for a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill that they say will likely raise taxes.

“Nevadans are getting crushed by rising prices," former Nevada Attorney General and current Senate candidate Adam Laxalt tweeted. "What’s Senator @CortezMasto doing about it? Nothing. She’s too busy helping socialist Bernie Sanders pass his progressive wishlist.”

Although Nevada's Republican contingent all turned their backs on the bill, 13 House GOP members and 19 Republican senators crossed sides and pushed the infrastructure bill through.

Inflation has been on a tear, hitting a 31-year high and sending stock markets tumbling Wednesday. Consumers have seen higher prices across the board, but most notably at the grocery store and gas station. As winter heating bills come in, they are projected to feel the pinch there, too.

How bad is it? Official numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that “your money is now losing 1% of its value every 30 days,” tweeted Preston Byrne, a fellow and economist at the Adam Smith Institute.

Economists who had been expecting prices to go up as an effect of the pandemic were even shocked by the pace. "We expected inflation would get worse before it got better, but not this much worse," Robert Frick, a corporate economist with Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote. "Particularly painful is the increase in food prices as we approach the holidays, and the rise in energy prices as we plan to travel more to family get-togethers."

“However, both those increases are likely to be temporary, and the forecasts that inflation overall will drop early-to-mid-next year still seems credible,” he added.

Even the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has reflected the upward pressure on prices. The CPI increased by .6% in October, exceeding the .4% that economists expected. For the past 12 months, the index has shown a 6.2% increase, the highest one-year jump in 30 years, axios.com reported.

According to CNN Business, the huge stimulus given to Americans during the height of the pandemic during the Trump administration has likely made inflation worse, because it increased savings, boosted wealth and then demand, said Rick Rieder, BlackRock's chief investment officer of global fixed income.

"Further employment gains will continue to be a major driver of continued demand strength for goods and services, and higher wages will be a story that will sustain itself for many months to come," he said, according to CNN.

Democrats are said to be expected to use the passage of the infrastructure bill as a way to keep control of the legislative branch in next year's midterm elections. But that might backfire as financial pressure on voters ramps up.

The inflation numbers have prompted an outcry from Republican critics for government to curtail spending. Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said this is the "exact wrong time" to be raising taxes.

The infrastructure bill, through tax increases, will add to the financial woes of most Americans, says Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).

“The lie that this is only about going after rich people is frankly not true and they will go after a lot of ordinary people when this thing gets passed,"  he said.