Biden's Inflation Narrative Dies
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest price inflation data, CPI inflation in March rose to a seven-month high, and price inflation hasn't proven nearly as transitory as the regime's economists have long predicted.
According to the BLS, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rose 3.5 percent year over year during March, without seasonal adjustment. That’s the thirty-seventh month in a row of inflation well above the Fed’s arbitrary 2 percent inflation target.
Month-over-month inflation was flat with the CPI rising by 0.4 percent from February to March, with seasonal adjustment. Month-to-month growth had also been 0.4 percent from January to February.
The ongoing price increases largely reflect growth in prices for food, services, electricity, and shelter.
For example, prices for “food away from home” were up 4.2 percent in March over the previous year. Gasoline prices rose 1.3 percent over the period, but electricity surged to 5.0 percent. Prices for "services less energy services" rose 5.4 percent, year over year, while shelter rose 5.7 percent over the period.
Some specific categories were well above even this in year-over-year price inflation. For example:
Car insurance prices: up 22.2%
Car repair prices: up 11.6%
Transportation prices: up 10.7%
Hospital services prices: up 7.5%
Homeowners' prices ("Owners' equivalent rent"): up 5.9%
Removing volatile energy and food prices from the index, we find price inflation nonetheless remains stubbornly high. So-called core CPI growth remains almost double the "two-percent target"—at 3.8 percent—keeping price inflation growth near thirty-year highs. In other words, core CPI is a long way from returning to "normal." Moreover, March's month-over-month increase remains at 0.4 percent, which is the largest increase recorded in any month since April 2023.
Biden Blames Corporate Greed
In recent months, supporters of the current regime have repeatedly claimed that inflation is "falling" or otherwise rapidly disappearing. Paul Krugman has been one of the most vocal cheerleaders claiming the problem of price inflation is "solved." This morning, before the release of the new report, South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn insisted that price inflation in going down, and that people only believe prices are rising because of online "disinformation."
This narrative, however, is quickly becoming implausible. Even the legacy-media headlines in response to the new CPI report are generally along the lines of how stubbornly high price inflation is "a political blow to Biden." Not surprisingly, Biden attempted to defend his "handling of inflation" by outright lying about the timeframe of when price inflation began its most recent surge upward. The President today claimed to have "dramatically" reduced price...(READ THIS FULL ARTICLE FREE HERE).