Inflation Continues to Rage As Food and Fuel Prices Spike Again

The October Consumer Price Index (CPI) measuring the costs of goods for Americans showed that, unsurprisingly, inflation continues to rage as Americans struggle to make ends meet. The October read showed inflation increased 0.4 percent over the previous month and advanced 7.7 percent in the last 12 months.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, October's read on inflation showed that the "index for shelter contributed over half of the monthly all items increase, with the indexes for gasoline and food also increasing." More specifically, BLS reported that the "energy index increased 1.8 percent over the month as the gasoline index and the electricity index rose, but the natural gas index decreased" while the "food index increased 0.6 percent over the month with the food at home index rising 0.4 percent."

Across the board, the 12-month cost increases for every item broken out in the CPI report was up. Food is 10.9 percent more expensive than one year ago, energy costs were up 17.6 percent, fuel oil is up 68.5 percent, and electricity is up 14.1 percent.

As Dagen McDowell noted, the October read on inflation does show slight cooling to the red-hot price increases that surged and have remained around 40-year highs under President Biden's "build back better" policies. But any slowing to inflation is — while Biden has continued his tax-and-spend agenda — solely due to the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes.

With what may be a hopeful sign that the Fed's actions are finally squeezing the life out of the economy in a way that slowed spending by making loans too expensive, there's still a long way to go — and a journey ahead that Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned would be one with more "pain" for American families.

As of now, October's CPI report shows some easing, but not in a significant way that Americans will yet feel in their wallets when they go to the grocery store or fill up their vehicle.

What's more, as our friend Ed Morrissey noted at HotAir this morning "based on the fundamentals in this report, the slight respite it does show may not last long."

What President Biden, congressional Democrats, and the mainstream media are likely to omit from their remarks on the latest inflation number is that "month-on-month inflation rose 0.4% for the second straight month" in October, as Morrissey noted, while "shelter costs rose twice as fast, its highest in several months."

So no, Thursday's inflation report is still not good news. But that won't stop Biden from repeating his dubious claim that he's leading American through a booming economic recovery and any financial issues are the fault of Putin or greedy oil companies. The data doesn't back up Biden's bragging, but he doesn't seem to care that Americans are suffering as a result.