Biden Administration Breaks Decades-Old Record for Inflation
Everywhere we look, prices are going up. At the gas pump, at the lumber yard, and in the bread aisle, Americans are paying far more for everyday items than they were under President Donald Trump…and in the decades before that as well.
President Biden hasn’t really been all that keen on rectifying our economic situation. But, to be fair, his administration doesn’t really appear to be all that invested in governing at all. They have no urgency when it comes to the border crisis, the employment crisis, or the supply chain crisis, let alone something as complex and widespread as inflation.
And so we suffer in ways that we haven’t suffered since the 1990’s.
The consumer price index, which is a basket of products ranging from gasoline and health care to groceries and rents, rose 6.2% from a year ago, the most since December 1990. That compared with the 5.9% Dow Jones estimate.
On a monthly basis, the CPI increased 0.9% against the 0.6% estimate.
Stripping out volatile food and energy prices, so-called core CPI was up 0.6% against the estimate of 0.4%. Annual core inflation ran at a 4.6% pace, compared with the 4% expectation and the highest since August 1991.
Fuel oil prices soared 12.3% for the month, part of a 59.1% increase over the past year. Energy prices overall rose 4.8% in October and are up 30% for the 12-month period.
And that’s not all…
Used vehicle prices again were a big contributor, rising 2.5% on the month and 26.4% for the year. New vehicle prices were up 1.4% and 9.8%, respectively.
Food prices also showed a sizeable bounce, up 0.9% and 5.3% respectively. Within the food category, meat, poultry, fish and eggs collectively rose 1.7% for the month and 11.9% year over year.
And, worst of all, there utter lack of effort being put forth by the Biden team means that we could be stuck with this sort of economic drag for some time.