President Joe Biden and Democrats keep telling Americans not to worry about inflation, that it’s only temporary. Yet the record price hikes keep getting worse.
On Thursday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported yet another jump, a full 1 percent, in the producer price index (which measures prices before they reach consumers) for the month of July. Wholesale prices are now up 7.8 percent over the past year, the fastest annual surge since such recordkeeping began in 2010.
On Wednesday, the BLS reported consumer prices rose 0.5 percent in July, or 5.4 percent over the past year — maintaining June’s yearly pace, the largest in 13 years.
Biden actually bragged that it wasn’t even higher, yet wages are up only 4 percent from a year ago, so Americans have lost ground.
And the prez is clearly worried: “There are going to be ups and down,” he rationalized Wednesday, announcing several (useless) steps to curb the spike, like “bringing together” port operators to encourage speedier operations and boost supplies and begging the Arab oil cartel to up production.
Meanwhile, he’s rushing to shell out trillions more in federal cash — via a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package and $3.5 trillion in social spending, just months after his nearly $2 trillion COVID relief package followed $4 trillion in COVID spending last year. (What’s a few trillion, here and there, right?)
Trouble is, all the new cash pumped into the economy — particularly the hundreds of billions funded with debt — is only fueling already pent-up demand, even as supplies remain bottlenecked.
Average Americans are fretting, too: A whopping 86 percent say they’re concerned about inflation, a Fox News poll showed Wednesday, and 79 percent blame at least part of it on Biden policies.
Those at the bottom suffer most: Prices are up for housing, food, energy, new vehicles and other goods. About 75 percent of those with incomes under $50,000 cite rising grocery and gas prices for their financial woes.
“The degree to which lower-income households are feeling the squeeze on food and fuel . . . highlights the risk that inflation could push families on the brink over the financial edge,” warns Democratic pollster Chris Anderson, one of the poll’s directors.
Washington clearly needs to hit the brakes. Emergency relief was needed in the depths of the pandemic, but Democrats’ continued drive to spend is only spreading misery.