President Biden has adopted the term "Bidenomics" to tout his economic policies ahead of the 2024 election. While the president remains confident in his economic plan, critics like one Georgia small business owner insist inflation is still "hurting" Americans.
"I don't know where he's looking. He's not looking on Main Street. He's not looking at small business because we're hurting. It hasn't gotten any better for us," Manuel's Tavern owner Brian Maloof said.
On "America Reports" Wednesday, the Atlanta restaurant owner detailed how his near-seventy-year-old restaurant has had to embrace historic price increases to keep doors open.
"So being an independent restaurant, we can take really quick action. We purposely delayed. That's important that you understand we purposely delayed our price increases because I wanted to believe that the transitory inflation I talked about was real, and I did not want to be a business that was in some panic-driven, price increase, unnecessary situation and putting a burden on our customers," Maloof explained. "So we delayed that to our detriment because when Jerome Powell spoke to Congress and said we need to stop using the phrase transitory, to be honest, the floodgates opened."
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Despite claims during the pandemic and in the early months following, many economists claimed inflation was only a transitory issue. Years later, inflation remains a problem for American families with consumer prices up 15% from January 2021.
The inflation problem forced many small businesses like Manuel's Tavern to pass costs on to consumers. In order to survive, Maloof raised prices across the menu at the Atlanta staple by about 6.5%.
Maloof explained that his restaurant was starting to see "double-digit percentage increases" on critical services from utilities to even accounting.
"What shocked us was that the mathematical formula we used to set prices, it wasn't working anymore. So we have these equations and they've worked for over 50 years, and now they weren't working," he said. "That was really surprising to me. That was a big indication to me that the entire landscape of business had changed, that the fundamentals, the bedrock of how this economic engine works, has been blown up. It's just it's just gone."
Beyond Manuel's Tavern, the overall economy is still hurting business despite some improvements with food costs.
"There's been some small improvements in food cost. I will say that. That's been a good thing," Maloof said. "But the labor shortage is real. Customer spending is down and people have gotten tight because their expenses are way up. Utilities and insurance for them. Rent, in a lot of cases from my employees. I hear that constantly now. I have employees coming to me telling me about $400 a month increases in their rent. So that's real. And it's hurting everyone."
Earlier this month, the Labor Department released the May Consumer Price Index which put inflation at 4% year over year.
Although inflation has cooled from a peak of 9.1%, it remains about more than double the pre-pandemic average and well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target rate.
Consumers continued to see some reprieve in May in the form of lower energy costs, which fell 3.6% over the course of the month and are down 11.7% compared to the same time last year.
Other price gains proved persistent and stubbornly high in May: Shelter costs, which account for about 40% of the core inflation increase, rose 0.6% for the month and are up 8% over the past year. Used vehicle prices, meanwhile, increased 4.4% last month – the same as in April.
Grocery prices, a visceral reminder of inflation for many Americans, accelerated again in May: Food costs jumped 0.2% in May after falling the previous two months.
While President Biden continues to celebrate his economic success, business owners like Maloof and everyday Americans feel the pressure of persistent inflation and worry about inflation's far-reaching consequences.
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Maloof added he hopes other business owners and local leaders will speak up about the "disconnect" between "BIdenomics" and the reality for most Americans.
"I just hope other people speak up because something is being missed, something very fundamental," he said. "What is coming out of Washington and what's happening on Main Street, it seems like it's 180 degrees different. And I don't know where the disconnect is, but somebody needs to put it together and figure out that there's a real problem here."
FOX Business' Megan Henney contributed to this report.
