It depends on how you mean paycheck to paycheck. A third of Americans roughly rent their homes. Slightly more than half spend more than 30% and growing of their

It depends on how you mean paycheck to paycheck. A third of Americans roughly rent their homes. Slightly more than half spend more than 30% and growing of their income on housing. Wages have been flat or declining for about forty years in many industries. Roughly half of Americans own equity or stocks of some form through brokerage or retirement accounts, but that could mean as little as one share. Most people don't have money for an emergency $1000 expense. I would attribute inflation to some combination of the "silver tsunami" of retiring baby boomers, the Russian war of aggression upon Ukraine, the lasting disruption of the COVID pandemic, profit seeking from corporations, over reliance upon JIT inventories and underinvestment into infrastructure for decades, and the usual rent seeking. Some blame may be laid upon the Fed for keeping rates so low for so long, but there were probably sound political and economic reasons for doing so. However, I'm not economist, just an accountant who studied economics for awhile. > I'm having trouble understanding how this stimulus is responsible for today's inflation. The stimulus was paid out more to businesses than to citizens. The airline needed bailouts, paycheck protection program, etc. Defense spending is always increasing. Child tax credits and an expansion of snap/wic benefits and stimulus checks reduced child poverty for a time, but we're regressing in the US now as far as child poverty and malnourishment rates are concerned. I don't suppose I covered everything, and I am just recapping from memory here.