Surging U.S. gas and food prices have prompted residents of Southern California to head south of the border to do their shopping and fill up their tanks.
According to NewsNation, some Californians are even driving hours to save money.
Many Californians make the 20-minute journey every day from San Diego to the San Ysidro border, which leads directly to Tijuana, to bargain hunt.
“If you are on a budget, you gotta take care of yourself,” said David McCarty, who lives in Chula Vista, California.
Gibran Jimenez drove nearly two hours to get to Tijuana with his wife, two children and a third due next month. He says he needs all the financial help he can get.
“I gotta save as much as I can; every penny counts,” Jimenez said.
For the seventh straight month, food prices in the U.S. have skyrocketed. California bargain hunters are shopping in Tijuana like never before. Shop owners at the popular Mercado Hidalgo have seen a 20 to 30% increase in American tourism during the weekdays.
When you look at the cost it’s easy to see why. A gallon of milk is 50% off compared to the U.S., a four-pack of toilet paper is nearly $4 cheaper and a 24-pack of Tylenol is also $1 less.
Many aren’t worrying about the cost to get there and often fill up on gas because it’s $1.24 cheaper than in California. As of Thursday, the average price for regular gasoline in California is $5.38 per gallon, according to AAA.
Inflation hit a peak in June, with consumer prices reaching 9.1 percent year-over-year.
Meanwhile, because the Consumer Price Index showed annual inflation dropped slightly to 8.5 percent in July, the White House claimed the U.S. had “zero inflation.”
“I just want to say a number: zero,” Biden said last week while acknowledging Americans are “still hurting.”
“Today, we received news that our economy had 0% inflation in the month of July — 0 percent,” he continued. “Here’s what that means: while the price of some things go up — went up last month, the price of other things went down by the same amount. The result? Zero inflation last month.”
Republicans blasted the president over the comments.
“Ridiculous BS from the White House,” tweeted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). “There’s 8.5% inflation and basically everything anyone ever buys went up in price. This is just cruel gaslighting from the Biden admin.”
