The United States economy is slowing down, and its effects on Americans’ personal finances will having devastating political consequences for President Joe Biden. According to a new report, auto repossessions and home foreclosures are climbing; it is likely to erode the already shattered confidence of the American people in Joe Biden’s ability to manage the economy.
“The slowdown is starting to show up in Americans’ personal finances. According to a recent survey from Bankrate, 49% of U.S. adults have less savings compared to a year ago. Ten percent of those surveyed said they have no savings at all,” NBC News reported Monday.
“As a result of the expiration of government stimulus and current [economic] headwinds, we have seen delinquencies ticking up in this space over the last several months,” said Margaret Rowe, a senior director at Fitch ratings group.
Fitch data show U.S. auto loan delinquencies among subprime borrowers have just about returned to pre-pandemic levels from the record low set in summer 2021.
Meanwhile, home foreclosure filings have begun to surge. According to data from ATTOM, a property analytics company, U.S. foreclosure filings totaled 95,712 in the first quarter of 2023. That’s 6% higher than in the previous quarter and 22% higher than a year ago.
Foreclosure activity in the United States continues to increase, with 36,617 properties foreclosing in March of this year — a 20% rise compared to February and a 10% increase from the previous year. This also marks the 23rd consecutive month of a year-over-year increase in foreclosure activity.
According to Attom CEO Rob Barber, foreclosure activity has increased since the end of the pandemic-era federal foreclosure moratorium in July 2021, with an estimated 2 million homeowners falling behind on their home loans due to pandemic-related hardships. As bad as that sounds, economists actually predicted worse, but the outlook for the rest of the year doesn’t look good due to the changing housing market, higher mortgage interest rates, and inflation.
“It’s likely that foreclosure filings will keep rising, but nothing like we saw back when the bubble burst in 2008,” Barber explained.
Economists also predict a “mild recession” later this year, even though unemployment is expected to remain low.
Joe Biden likes to tell the country that the economy is in the best shape ever because of him and his policies, but the reality is that people are suffering, and the news comes at the most inconvenient time for him, as he’s just announced his intention to run for president again. With Americans suffering, it’s hard to see what kind of case he can make to convince voters that he deserves four more years in the Oval Office.
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