Civic Register
| 1.14.22
Inflation Surged 7% Over Past Year in December, Highest Level Since 1982
How do you feel about the rise in consumer prices?
What’s the story?
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday that the all items consumer price index rose by 7% over the last 12 months through December, which is the highest rate since a comparable period ending in June 1982 and more than three times the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.
- Month-to-month consumer prices rose by 0.5% in December on a seasonally adjusted basis. That’s down slightly from the 0.8% rate measured in November and the 0.9% rate measured in October.
What goods did prices increase the most for?
- Here’s a rundown of the common items which have seen the largest increase in inflation year-over-year (notable monthly changes in parentheses):
- Gasoline prices for all types of gas increased 49.6% over the last 12 months.
- Fuel oil increased 41%.
- Used cars and trucks increased 37.3%.
- Car and truck rental increased 36%.
- Propane, kerosene, and firewood increased 33.8%.
- Utility gas service (piped) increased 24.1%.
- Lodging away from home increased 23.9%.
- Beef and veal increased 18.6%.
- Bacon, breakfast sausage, and related products increased 18.6%.
- Furniture and bedding increased 13.8%.
- New vehicles increased 11.8%.
- Eggs increased 11.1%.
- Chicken increased 10.4%.
- Fresh fish and seafood increased 10.2%.
- Citrus fruits increased 9.7%.
- Laundry and dry cleaning services increased 8.4%.
- Baby food increased 7.9%.
- Apples increased 7.8%.
- Tools, hardware, outdoor equipment and supplies increased 7.2%.
- Coffee increased 6.3%.
- Electricity increased 6.3%.
- Footwear increased 6%.
- Apparel increased 5.8%.
- Frozen fruits and vegetables increased 5.6%.
- Potatoes increased 4.8%.
- Milk increased 4.2%.
- Lettuce increased 3.4%.
What is inflation and how is it measured?
- Inflation is a measure of the decline of purchasing power for a given currency over time, which in the U.S. means that a dollar effectively buys less than it did in prior periods because prices rise.
- The most common way inflation is measured is through the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U), which shows changes in prices paid for a “representative basket of goods and services” by an urban consumer group representing about 93% of the U.S. population.
- CPI-U includes food, energy, commodities like cars and clothes, plus services such as rent and healthcare; and the relative importance of each to the overall basket shifts according to its proportion of all spending in a given month. This overall number is known as “headline” CPI, although economists also track a metric called “core” CPI which excludes food and energy because those categories tend to have more volatility.
- The Federal Reserve aims to keep inflation at about 2% as part of its dual mandate of promoting stable prices and full employment, as a modest amount of inflation is viewed as an optimum policy in terms of encouraging consumer spending without penalizing savings and investment. When inflation starts to get out of control, the Fed raises interest rates to encourage more savings and less consumer spending.
— Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: iStock.com / sefa ozel)
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Thank You Biden a idiot President.
I think everyone is unhappy with inflation, but to blame it on Biden is a big mistake. Policies of past presidents also contribute to it, but the biggest culprit is COVID and American Greed. COVID has knocked what few workers we have from the workforce causing shortages and price increases. That coupled with the greed of corporations who streamlined their manufacturing and supply chains to the point that they broke because of their fragility.
Inflation for those who aren’t getting a wage increase this year means life costs more, less money into retirement or savings and a plethora of other issues.
This idiot told us yesterday that he’s done a great job in his first year in office. There is such a disconnect. Biden doesn’t have to buy groceries, only to find empty shelves. He doesn’t have to buy gas for the “Beast”, only to find gas prices at least $1.00 more per gallon than this time last year. The sad part of all this is we’re just one year into this administration. SAD!
And THIS is why Biden and the left’s approval is plummeting (among dozens of other incompetencies). And yet the poll declares that, despite being concerned, the left won’t hold themselves accountable. Embarrassing. 🤦♂️
Again, what I think is important, not what I feel. Inflation is usually caused by an oversupply of money. Congress and the Federal Reserve are causing this by uncontrolled borrowing/lending. A glut in money in the economy without an increase in production will always cause inflation. The fault is on Congress.
No surprised. If you look at the situation leading up to now and the fact that inflation is happening on a global scale it shouldn’t be much of a shock to most people. To expect a complete turnaround of the situation in a year or less is delusional.
Oh yeah yeah spend more of my money, term limits for all these people, they’re getting rich off our money
Your tell them, burrkitty! ❤️😊❤️😊. They want to blame everything on Biden. If the grotesque baboon, that some used to call president, had acknowledged and taken steps to deal with Covid, things would be much better now. Isn’t it funny how the Repugnants make, or do not handle, the problems they helped create, but leave them for the Dems to clean up, time after time? When will the minority see that their Repugnants are blaming the Dems for the problems they have created? When do they see how their Repugnants are stonewalling Biden at every step that he is taking to save us and our country from a dictator wannabe and make our lives and our country better? It’s time to put the orange baboon in jail for his coup attempt . Unless we do that, our GREAT America is doomed. No doubt about it!
After the Biden press conference, I'm convinced he has NO CLUE what American consumers are going thru! His wife's relative surprised him 2 weeks ago when she complained the price of a pound of hamburger was $4.99 a pound. The same hamburger I bought a year ago for $2.89 a pound. NO CLUE that as a senior citizen on a fixed income I'm using my savings that I thought would be for medical care for my daily food.
Rich people are at fault again!
Want a change - vote out liberals. Go Brandon!!
It’s happening everywhere and it’s recoil from the pandemic effects. It was also predicted by economists. It’s not political, it’s just a thing that is happening.
P.S. It is interesting to compare the comments from the Trump cult here to those from the rest of us. The former are the usual hysterical fact-free rants with all the buzzwords they have been taught to use without understanding what they actually mean. Also LOTS OF CAPS because they dearly love shouting. Meanwhile the rest of us point out the real-world origins of the problem and provide documentation to support our view.
I am, of course, concerned about inflation. But I also know it's a world-wide problem, the roots of which include corporate policies like "just in time" manufacturing that assumed an uninterrupted flow of worldwide commerce and completely a reliable transportation infrastructure. None of which were reasonable assumptions (indeed, some us have known they were bad assumptions for decades), as the worldwide SARS-Cov-2 pandemic has demonstrated. None of which, of course, will prevent the radical right from ignoring the scope of the problem and blame it on "progressive" policies of the Biden administration, even though the far right Senate has never allowed any of those policies to be implemented.
Consumer prices need to come down. The economy is doing good but, inflation is not.
The inflation is not Biden fault
Yet another excuse for corporations to price gouge. Inflation is an artificial event made to make already bloated corporations and their shareholders richer.
Biden administration is the cause
Everyone is concerned about the rising prices but I understand why - we were all staying at home, not buying anything for 2 years and now everyone wants what they didn't have. Everything shut down so supplies are scarce, getting supplies to where they belong is slow, people are still getting Covid because so many people will not get the vaccine. What do you expect? Lets get Covid behind us and things will improve (slowly but surely). Quit blaming the President as he has tried to do what the former President would not do - just nice to have an adult in the White House instead of a petulant child.