The latest print of the Consumer Price Index measuring inflationary pain that continues to be felt by Americans showed that no, inflation is still not coming down. In November, the Consumer Price Index registered another 0.1 percent increase in the costs of goods and services paid by Americans for a 12-month increase of 3.1 percent.
CPI for all items rose 0.1% in November; shelter up https://t.co/dJyJeKlXDJ #CPI #BLSdata
— BLS-Labor Statistics (@BLS_gov) December 12, 2023
Core CPI inflation — which excludes more volatile food and energy indexes — rose 0.3 percent in November for a 4.0 percent annual increase. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, one of the largest contributors to November's still-increasing inflation was the cost of shelter, which has spiked 6.5 percent over the last 12 months. In addition, the food index has risen 2.9 percent in the last year.
As House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) pointed out on Tuesday morning following the release of November's CPI that showed prices are now 17.4 percent higher than they were when President Joe Biden took office:
This Christmas, thanks to President Biden’s inflation crisis, many parents will struggle to afford that holiday meal with family and friends or presents for their kids. The extra expense of the holidays is an unwelcome reminder of the already high cost families are facing. Instead of doing anything to help families struggling to afford the cost of living, out-of-touch Democrats prefer to pretend that prices are falling and small businesses are thriving. Working families leaving items unchecked on their kid’s Christmas wish list know the truth.
As a result of inflation, American workers' real wages are down 3.7 percent since Biden took office as a result of more than 24 straight months in which inflation outstripped wage growth, and the Federal Reserve's reaction to inflation — raising interest rates to their highest levels since early 2001 — means mortgage rates hit a more than two decade-high this fall at 7.8 percent while credit card debt broke records to surpass $1 trillion.
President Biden and Democrats, of course, will ignore the reality of the economic hardship being faced by Americans as a result of their tax-and-spend binge that set off inflation. They, thanks to a heavy assist from its stenographers in the mainstream media, will take an undeserved victory lap on Tuesday's CPI report.
The Associated Press provided a clear example of ignoring the literal numbers of the CPI report — which showed an increase in headline CPI, core CPI, monthly, and annual numbers — to claim that inflation "ticked down again."
AP on CPI report: “inflation ticked down again…”
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) December 12, 2023
What the CPI actually said: inflation “rose 0.1% in November” and “rose 3.1 percent over the last 12 months…”
They’re running Biden admin spin as “news.” pic.twitter.com/tFk9j9RtM1
All eyes now turn to the Federal Reserve as it considers what to do with interest rates this week — whether to maintain a pause in rate increases or turn the pressure up again with another increase for the Fed's target rates as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell & Co. seek to return inflation to its target of just two percent.
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