The disconnect between average consumers and affluent, cloistered media commentators is rarely so clear as it is now that inflation has topped its highest point in three decades.

People are struggling. The cost of basic and luxury goods, everything from groceries to utilities to appliances, has climbed in the past several months. Families are restructuring their personal finances to cope with the incremental increases in the consumer price index.

Recommended Stories

MSNBC host says people can afford higher prices: Need to put inflation ‘in perspective’

Whiny millennials are better off than they believe

Real wages up 1.3%, inflation down 20% since Trump took office