The Slow Death of the Middle Class: Inflation’s Silent Stranglehold

All taxes make their payers worse off, but one stands above the others in its uniquely sinister nature. Inflation – the slow, subtle erosion of purchasing power– is the tax that kills the middle class.

The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Peter Schiff or SchiffGold.

That is where we are today. The Federal Reserve has used its tools to lock inflation into our lives for some time to come. For most citizens, our major challenge today is to fight the rise in prices for consumables that matter most to us: food, housing, clothing, and transportation.

Over the past 5 years, the government’s official measurement—the Consumer Price Index (CPI)—shows a cumulative increase of about 20 percent. A visit to the store by any consumer, however, tells a much different story. We see price jumps much more than the 20 percent CPI. It is common to see some items jump 30 percent or more, and that continues in 2025.