President Joe Biden boasted Tuesday of the “progress” his administration has made on inflation in the wake of August’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, despite soaring food prices and a monthly increase in inflation across the board.
“Today’s data show more progress in bringing global inflation down in the US economy. Overall, prices have been essentially flat in our country these last two months: that is welcome news for American families, with more work still to do,” Biden said.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday that the CPI rose 8.3% over the previous year and 0.1% over the previous month. Moreover, food prices increased at the highest rate, 11.4%, since 1979.
“The index for food at home also rose 1.0 percent in June, the sixth consecutive increase of at least 1.0 percent in that index. Five of the six major grocery store food group indexes rose in June,” the BLS reported.
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Additionally, core prices, which exclude food and energy, were at 6.3%, a significant increase from July’s 5.9%, according to the BLS.
“Gas prices are down an average of $1.30 a gallon since the beginning of the summer,” Biden said. “This month, we saw some price increases slow from the month before at the grocery store. And real wages went up again for a second month in a row, giving hard-working families a little breathing room.”
The White House celebrated last month’s CPI report as heralding a peak to inflation, though the increase in core CPI, which excludes gas prices, indicates inflation may still continue to be a persistent problem.
After markets opened Tuesday, the S&P 500 was down more than 2.1%, the Dow 1.8%, and the NDXT dropped 3.2%.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Free Press.
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