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Nearly half of parents say they plan to go into debt this year to pay for school supplies because they are so expensive
Nearly half of parents say they plan to go into debt this year to pay for school supplies because they are so expensive

The Independent

time6 days ago

  • Business
  • The Independent

Nearly half of parents say they plan to go into debt this year to pay for school supplies because they are so expensive

Fears over rising prices — driven in part by President Donald Trump's tariffs — are convincing some parents to shop early and even consider going into debt for their children's school supplies. According to a report from Intuit Credit Karma aimed at parents with school-age children, 39 percent of respondents said they can't afford their back-to-school shopping this year. In the same survey, 44 percent of respondents said they planned to go into debt to cover the costs of school shopping. The number of parents who expect to go into debt to afford supplies for their children has risen by 10 percent since last year. When Intuit asked the same question in 2024, only 34 percent of parents reported planning to take on debt. According to a CNBC price and inflation tracker, the price of many school supply staples has increased since the pandemic. The cost of backpacks has increased by nearly 30 percent since 2021. Lead pencils and art supplies have increased by 26 percent, and tablets and paper pads by 24 percent. In other words, if a backpack was $12 around 2021, it's likely now around $15.60. In 2021, Amazon sold a 24-pack of Ticonderoga #2 lead pencils for $3.49. That same pack on Amazon today costs $5.49. Families with children in elementary school are reportedly planning, on average, $858.07 on school supplies this year. That number is a decrease from last year, when parents planned to spend $874.68, according to the National Retail Federation. The fear of rising prices has already shifted some parents' buying habits — according to the Intuit survey, more than half — 56 percent — of respondents said they're already cutting back on nonessential school purchases to save money. The potential for Trump's tariffs to drive up prices has driven early back-to-school shopping by parents hoping to save some money, a survey from Coresight Research found. Well over half of the respondents to that survey — 62 percent — said they planned to begin back-to-school shopping before August. John Mercer, an analyst at Coresight, told CNBC that the early buying was "probably to preempt any price rises." He said that retailers haven't raised prices yet, primarily due to Trump's pause on tariffs, but he expects that once the pause ends, prices will rise. 'At some point, if tariffs come in, there will be price impacts,' Mercer said, noting that 'consumers are right to be concerned.' The National Retail Foundation shared similar findings — parents are adjusting their buying this year in part due to fears that tariffs and inflation will lighten their wallets beyond what they can bear. 'Consumers are being mindful of the potential impacts of tariffs and inflation on back-to-school items, and have turned to early shopping, discount stores and summer sales for savings on school essentials,' Katherine Cullen, the National Retail Foundation's vice president of industry and consumer insights, said in a statement.

Japan PM faces reckoning in upper house election
Japan PM faces reckoning in upper house election

France 24

time19-07-2025

  • Business
  • France 24

Japan PM faces reckoning in upper house election

With many Japanese hurt by rising prices, especially for rice, opinion polls suggest that Ishiba's governing coalition could lose its majority in the upper house. This could be the final nail for Ishiba, having already been humiliatingly forced into a minority government after lower house elections in October. "Ishiba may need to step down," Toru Yoshida, a politics professor at Doshisha University, told AFP. Japan could "step into an unknown dimension of the ruling government being a minority in both the lower house and the upper house, which Japan has never experienced since World War II," Yoshida said. Ishiba's centre-right Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has governed Japan almost continuously since 1955, albeit with frequent changes of leader. Ishiba, 68, a self-avowed defence "geek" and train enthusiast, reached the top of the greasy pole last September on his fifth attempt and immediately called elections. But this backfired and the vote left the LDP and its small coalition partner Komeito needing support from opposition parties, stymying its legislative agenda. "Energy prices have swung sharply in recent months, as the government has flip-flopped between removing aid for household energy bills and adding new supports," said Stefan Angrick at Moody's Analytics. Trumped Out of 248 seats in the upper house, 125 are up for grabs on Sunday. The coalition needs 50 of these to keep a majority. Not helping is lingering resentment about an LDP funding scandal, and US tariffs of 25 percent due to bite from August 1 if there is no trade deal with the United States. Japan's massive auto industry, which accounts for eight percent of the country's jobs, is reeling from painful levies already in place. Weak export data last week stoked fears that the world's fourth-largest economy could tip into a technical recession. Despite Ishiba securing an early meeting with US President Donald Trump in February, and sending his trade envoy to Washington seven times, there has been no accord. Trump last week poured cold water on the prospects of an agreement, saying Japan won't "open up their country". "We will not easily compromise," Ishiba said earlier this month. Ishiba's apparently maximalist strategy of insisting all tariffs are cut to zero -- although this could change post-election -- has also drawn criticism. "How well his government is able to handle negotiations over US tariffs is extremely important, as it's important for the LDP to increase trust among the public," Masahisa Endo, politics professor at Waseda University, told AFP. 'Japanese first' The last time the LDP and Komeito failed to win a majority in the upper house was in 2010, having already fallen below the threshold in 2007. That was followed by a rare change of government in 2009, when the now-defunct Democratic Party of Japan governed for a rocky three years. Today the opposition is fragmented, and chances are slim that the parties can form an alternative government. One making inroads is the "Japanese-first" Sanseito, which opinion poll suggest could win more than 10 upper house seats, up from two now. The party wants "stricter rules and limits" on immigration, opposes "globalism" and "radical" gender policies, and wants a re-think on decarbonisation and vaccines. Last week it was forced to deny any links to Moscow -- which has backed populist parties elsewhere -- after a candidate was interviewed by Russian state media. "They put into words what I had been thinking about but couldn't put into words for many years," one voter told AFP at a Sanseito rally.

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