You know things are bad when the local Hooters goes bust.

Hooters, the Atlanta-based sports bar chain, abruptly closed nearly 40 “underperforming” restaurants across the U.S. this week, according to reports.

Hooters is just the latest in a string of restaurants around the country who’ve cried uncle as inflation and a change in dining habits had them in a chokehold.

TGI Fridays, MOD Pizza, Outback Steakhouse and Applebee’s cited “underperformance” as the main reason for closing certain restaurant sites, according to Forbes. Underperformance is business speak for not selling enough and missing profit expectations.

Denny’s specifically cited inflation-related challenges, like higher costs, as a factor forcing it to close 57 locations in 2023 and planning 10 to 20 more closures in 2024, according to a February earnings call.

Cracker Barrel and Hardees have also posted closed signs at various locations.

And that’s just the chains – the Boston restaurant scene has seen a swath of downsizing and closures. The industry has always tackled tight profit margins and cost headwinds, but inflation and the effect it’s had on customers is a particularly tough blow.

Call it Long Inflation. Like Long COVID, in which symptoms persist long after a person’s had the coronavirus, Long Inflation is hanging on to the economy, having a ripple effect on consumer spending, which in turn drags down businesses.

Restaurants have been especially vulnerable.

It’s not that American consumers have lost the desire to go out to eat. But if a family can’t swing the price of bacon every week, a trip to a family eatery after church is just not in the budget.

The domino effect of high prices well beyond the grocery store gets short shrift in Washington. The powers that be are still wrapping their heads around the idea that high prices eliminate options for many people.

As the New York Post reported, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was asked about inflation under President Biden in a Monday interview with Yahoo Finance. Grocery prices are up 20% under Biden, but that’s not a big deal for Yellen.

She said she goes to the grocery store every week, and isn’t shocked by the prices. Yellen is worth an estimated $20 million.  Must be nice.

According to Biden, the economy is doing just fine, robust even. Try telling that to all the restaurant staffers who got notice that their location is closing. Biden insists that he is a champion of the middle class, but inflation has made it difficult for people to remain in the middle class, as paychecks struggle to keep up with rising prices, and high interest rates.

That “transitory” inflation once predicted by D.C. has turned out to be pernicious, spreading through consumers, small businesses, large companies and leaving too many Americans struggling when they once had more than enough to get by on.

The first step to solving a problem is to admit that there is one. Biden and Co. have to face the fact that any economic growth is leaving too many Americans behind. If the president really wants to keep his digs at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., he should stop throwing money at student loan forgiveness, and start taking substantive action to tame the inflation beast.

Editorial cartoon by Gary Varvel (Creators Syndicate)