The consumer price index (CPI) rose to 3.7% year-on-year, compared to 3.2% in July, according to Labor Department data released on Wednesday.
The reading exceeded analysts’ expectations of 3.6%, according to Market Watch consensus, although inflation was 0.6% in a month, compared with 0.2% in July.
At similar prices in 2022, the inflation In the US it was over 7%, which is why conservative and independent experts are questioning the data presented by Joe Biden’s administration.
Gasoline prices contributed the most to the monthly increase, “accounting for more than half of the increase,” the Labor Department explained in its press release, which also highlighted “the continued development of the housing index, which continues.” rising up”.
According to the White House institutions, inflation began to rise again in July, driven in particular by housing prices. Washington has said inflation rates have been reduced for a year, but consumers are suffering the opposite and prices have continued to skyrocket in 2022 without the relief announced by the Federal Reserve.
For example, grocery, car, insurance, rental and real estate prices have remained about the same as in 2021 and 2022. While gasoline averages over $3.50, a price only the White House has called considered satisfactory.
Between 2021 and 2022, overall food costs increased by more than 60% (+46%) due to increased fuel prices. And the moderation that the Federal Reserve advocates is not being seen in U.S. markets, and very high prices are putting additional strain on the vast majority of Americans.
During former President Donald Trump’s administration, a regular gallon of gas cost an average of about $2.25, and in several states drivers paid less than that. The same thing happened because of the Energy independence, which Trump achieved in 2019.
From day one in office, the Biden administration has undone this tremendous achievement and fueled the worst inflation in the US in five decades. Now the US relies on the prices per barrel of oil set by OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), which has reduced its production by more than 3 million barrels per day in the last two years, to prices above 80 and 90 dollars per barrel to hold crude oil.
According to government data, energy prices have fallen by 3.6% since August 2022.
Excluding the more volatile prices for energy and food, so-called core inflation was 0.3% in August, compared to 0.2% in the previous month. However, the annual rate of this index fell from 4.7% in July to 4.3% in August.
A few days before the next Fed meeting
The figures come a week before the US Federal Reserve (Fed) meets to decide whether to raise interest rates again in the hope of reducing inflation or leave them at current levels so as not to slow down economic activity to affect.
The benchmark interest rate is now in a range of 5.25% to 5.50%, the highest level in 22 years, after being increased 11 times since March 2022.
However, the Fed is prioritizing its decisions on PCE, an inflation index that rose to 3.3% year-on-year in July and which the Federal Reserve wants to keep at around 2%.
Inflation is a key issue in the US election campaign ahead of the November 2024 presidential election.
Democrat Joe Biden and his advisers insist, clearly out of touch with reality, that their economic policies have made it possible to curb inflation, even though it was the current administration that created them. In 2020, inflation closed at 1.4% under Trump’s power.
The Biden administration put the figure at 9.1% in just a year and a half in June 2022, and analysts believed that this figure was higher compared to the huge price increase.
The increase in inflation caused a loss of purchasing power of 2.3%. Families have lost nearly $7,000 in purchasing power annually during Biden’s term, and that number would be much greater without the financial aid provided in 2021 and 2022 and other measures due to the pandemic.
The labor shortage in the world’s leading economy led to rising salaries, but it is the element with which the press justifies the economic disaster of Joe Biden’s policies, when in reality many other factors have caused the high and persistent inflation in the USA, which is far from over if the US remains dependent on oil prices imposed by OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and the OPEC+ strategic alliance.
