US I People struggle due the rising food prices

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]On another topic, having to choose between eating lunch or dinner, that is the reality for millions of working families in the United States, according to study by the Urban Institute. High gas prices and soaring inflation are driving an increasing number of US citizens to seek alternatives to meet their basic food needs. Reporting from New York, our correspondent Henry Carmelo has the details.

[00:00:24]In major US cities, assists like these are becoming increasingly common.

[00:00:30]Long lines of people at food banks desperate to find a way to put food on the tables. The war with Iran and the skyrocketing cost of living mean that for millions of Americans, their paychecks simply aren't enough to make it to the end of the month. Prices are going up for many working people. Many non-working people, especially pensioners like myself. Um, and it's a concern it will as long as there's instability in the world.

[00:00:59]>> I see I noticed this the price For example, before like a $4.99, now it's $9.99, $10.99. Yeah, it is increased. According to the most recent data from the Department of Labor, inflation in the month of May went up to 3.8% and further increase is expected in the coming months. For economic analyst Louis Montes, the war against Iran has marked a turning point in the purchasing power of the working class both in the United States and across the rest of the world. Uh, you have the US consumer has been severely impacted by uh, this um, this war. In this case, uh, you have for example diesel, which is key for that uh, trans- uh, to transport many of the goods uh, that consume. These are they they are uh, they have a direct impact on the on the US consumers. Uh, gas as as I uh, previously mentioned has gone up more than a dollar 10 cents up to 50 in certain instances.

[00:02:04]Uh you know, this is basically a direct impact of the on the economy. According to the AAA, the national average price per gallon for regular gasoline stands at $4.56, while diesel is at $5.65, more than double the price from a year ago. But for President Trump, neither the high inflation or the economic hardships Americans are enduring seems to matter. I don't think about the American financial situation. I don't think about anything. I think about one thing. You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That's It's just beyond repulsive to hear that a president is not considering the well-being of the US consumer just because he is trying to settle uh some political score or even for his own ego a war that is hard First of all, that he has not that that the goals of the war have not been declared, uh that he's not even able to call a war a war. He calls it an expedition and later plays around with semantics to call it a truce, to call it, you know, anything but the real thing, which is a war.

[00:03:22]While President Trump's priority remains focused on his international militaristic crusade intended, according to analysts, to divert attention from such sensitive matters as his involvement in the Epstein files, millions of Americans who cast their votes based on the promise to make America great again continue to stand in long lines holding on to the sole hope that at least today, at this community food bank, the supplies will not run out.

[00:03:55]Pablo Daniel Joe and Henry Carmelo Telemundo New York.