Inflation Just Soared to a Brand-New 30-Year High
Another measure of inflation has hit a 30-year high as some say White House policies continue to hurt the economy.
Data emerged Friday showing that the personal consumption expenditures price index rose at an annual rate of 4.4 percent in September, the fastest pace of inflation since January 1991, according to CNBC.
Even without soaring food and energy costs, year-over-year inflation hit the highest rate since May 1991 at 3.6 percent.
As prices went up, personal income declined 1 percent in September.
“The original sin was an oversized American Rescue Plan. It contributed to both higher output but also higher prices,” said Jason Furman, who led the White House Council of Economic Advisers under former President Barack Obama, according to The New York Times.
Since then inflation has been “everywhere,” Republican Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas said. “You can’t live your life without seeing your paycheck buy less.”
The new Commerce Department figures showed energy costs up 24.9 percent since last year, with the price of goods up 5.9 percent, prices for services up 6.4 percent and the price of food up 4.1 percent.
It had been an article of faith in the Biden White House that the inflation was a side effect of the economy restarting and would settle down soon.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who this week said inflation would remain high through mid-2022, tried to pitch sunshine despite Friday’s bleak report.
“Year-over-year inflation remains high and will for some time simply because of what’s already happened in the first months of the year,” Yellen said. “But monthly rates I believe will come down in the second half of the year. I think we’ll see a return to levels close to 2 percent.”
Yellen said Americans have a high level of savings. However, data shows that the savings rate for September was 7.5 percent, the lowest month since December 2019.
In March, Janet Yellen said inflation is “not a significant risk.”
In May, she said it would only last for “several more months.”
Now, she says Biden’s spending will somehow REDUCE inflation.
Once again, Yellen is wrong. And her credibility is shot. https://t.co/9xsNoEluYa
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) October 29, 2021
In a Friday Op-Ed for CNBC, former Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota said the Biden administration needs to do more than tell Americans that everything will be fine sooner or later.
“The sense that Washington is not listening to them, and doesn’t care about them, is a recurring theme among rural voters,” she wrote.
“Dismissing their concerns about consumer costs with technical explanations about the nuances of Bureau of Labor Statistics reports risks hardening that perception and creating unnecessary political headwinds.”
“Among average Americans the debate is over. Ask them and they will tell you that inflation is real and it is [affecting] their daily lives.”
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