Is this President Biden’s version of “getting stuff done” that the country overwhelmingly supports?
The inflation beast is going to be around for quite some time since there aren’t a lot of levers Biden can pull to dampen the effects once his policies helped light the fire. Inflation in September was once again hovering around a 40-year-high which seems like the norm for most of the Biden presidency.
Along with the price increases, that just keep coming, real wages are down slightly making the impact of inflation even worse:
Real average hourly earnings are falling again, down 0.1 percent month over month in September. They'd been rising in July & August on the back of falling gas prices, but today's hot CPI print pushed real earnings down again.
Source: https://t.co/uIZgg4DGJY pic.twitter.com/ZU4Y59sEvw
— Daniel Zhao (@DanielBZhao) October 13, 2022
As CNBC reports, the numbers are thorny, and are worse than Wall Street and analysts expected:
Prices consumers pay for a wide variety of goods and services rose more than expected in September as inflation pressures continued to weigh on the U.S. economy.
The consumer price index for the month increased 0.4% for the month, more than the 0.3% Dow Jones estimate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. On a 12-month basis, so-called headline inflation was up 8.2%, off its peak around 9% in June but still hovering near the highest levels since the early 1980s.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, core CPI accelerated 0.6% against the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.4% increase. Core inflation was up 6.6% from a year ago.
The report rattled financial markets, with stock market futures plunging and Treasury yields moving up.
At this point, it feels like a scenario where “the beatings will continue until morale improves.” In other words, Biden would like everyone to stop complaining about inflation and the economy. He signed a bill called the “Inflation Reduction Act,” after all, what else do you want him to do?
What can derail this train other than continued rate hikes and more economic tempering? It’s going to keep getting worse before it gets better:
Closely watched shelter costs, which make up about one-third of CPI, rose 0.7% and are up 6.6% from a year ago. Transportation services also showed a big bump, increasing 1.9% on the month and 14.6% on an annual basis. Medical care costs rose 1% in September.
The rising costs meant more bad news for workers, whose average hourly earnings declined 0.1% for the month on an inflation-adjusted basis and are off 3% from a year ago, according to a separate BLS release.
Inflation is rising despite aggressive Federal Reserve efforts to get price increases under control.
It’s across the board on everything with food prices leading the way. Here’s Biden’s list of accomplishments that should be rolling in every GOP campaign commercial:
Annual inflation via BLS just out:
42.9% airline fares
33.1% utility gas
30.5% eggs
18.2% gasoline
17.2% chicken
15.7% coffee
15.2% milk
14.7% bread
10.1% furniture
9.2% vegetables
8.2% all items
8.2% fruit
8.1% ham
7.6% women apparel
7.2% used cars
6.7% rent
3.7% men apparel— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) October 13, 2022
As all those prices rise and wages drop by 0.1%, it’s no wonder more people than ever feel like they can’t catch up and certainly can’t get ahead. It’s also no wonder why Democrats would rather focus on abortion and woke stuff rather than the economy, inflation, and what’s happening to real wages.
If it’s a question of whether voters feel “better off” than they did a few years ago, the answer clearly isn’t to elect more Democrats.
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