CASH CRUNCH

Leaders, including President Joe Biden, have hailed the strength of the U.S. economy. But middle-class Americans told Newsweek

- JOSHUA RHETT MILLER

Christine Maddy stretches her buck by shopping at discount stores, forgoing vacations and scrimping whenever possible to keep her family afloat. To the mother of five in rural Minnesota, that penny-pinching plan also means raising chickens, geese and ducks to offset the high cost of food.

Despite earning a "great wage" as a registered nurse, Maddy said she and her husband, Ryan, who works as a union crane operator, struggle to save money in a precarious economy. Yet some observers, including President Joe Biden, predict it will avoid a downturn in favor of a soft landing as inflation cools following a number of interest rate rises by the Federal Reserve.

"Yes, yes, yes," Biden said on August 14 when asked if the U.S. had beaten inflation that had risen sharply following the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. "I told you they're going to have a soft landing—we're going to have a soft landing. My policies are working. Start writing that way. OK?" Maddy, 44, flatly disagrees with Biden. "That's really out of touch with reality," she told Newsweek. "Our wages probably total $175,000 a year, and while we can pay our bills, there's nothing left over."

'Shopping Has Definitely Changed'

Maddy, of Grand Rapids, said declaring the U.S. economy as "very strong"—like International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva did in late June—feels out of touch to many Americans, citing prohibitive food costs, rising real estate taxes and escalating energy bills.

"Oh my gosh, yeah," she said when asked if inflation had severely impacted her family in recent years. "Things that we would normally buy have just doubled or tripled in price, and we definitely feel the pinch."

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Maddy considered her middle-class family financially stable, with frequent trips to department stores without scanning every price tag. That's no longer the case, she acknowledged.