Prices spiked again in September, the Labor Department reported Wednesday, fueling a trend that’s dogged the economy for most of President Joe Biden’s term. So much for his promise that inflation was just “temporary.”
“Most of the price increases we’ve seen are . . . expected to be temporary,” the prez claimed back in July, after inflation had soared steadily from just 1.4 percent in January (President Donald Trump’s last month in office) to 5.4 percent in June.
Yet the Consumer Price Index remained at 13-year highs in July, August and now September — and shows no sign of falling soon. Federal Reserve officials now warn inflation may last longer than thought.
Year-over-year prices for groceries, gasoline, new vehicles and other items all rose notably last month. Social Security officials said benefits will have to rise 5.9 percent, the largest hike in 40 years, to keep pace. And while Biden has bragged that wages are up, too, they haven’t risen as fast as prices, so Americans have lost ground.
Let’s face it: Inflation is essentially a tax that hurts the poor and middle class most, especially those on fixed incomes and folks with savings. And Biden’s agenda has fueled the spikes: In March, Democrats passed a $300-per-week bonus for people not going back to work, worsening a labor shortage and supply-chain issues.
Worker shortages now have countless cargo ships stuck outside US ports with 250,000 containers waiting to be unloaded and rail yards also backed up. A container of merchandise costs $30,000 to ship from Asia, vs. just $3,000 pre-pandemic. You pay those costs, via higher prices — if you can get goods at all.
Wednesday, Biden announced extended hours at ports, but it’s not clear how that might ease the worker crunch. Meanwhile, the end of COVID lockdowns has unleashed pent-up demand, yet Democrats’ $2 trillion spending bill in March — and their push to spend trillions more — has only thrown gas on the fire. (As has the Fed’s $120 billion-a-month boosts to the money supply.)
Biden’s claim that high inflation is “temporary” and “expected” is typical: He insisted the border crisis was seasonal and not even a “crisis.” And his botched bugout from Afghanistan was a great “success.”
The steady nosedive in his approval ratings says Americans don’t buy it. Heck, with Bidenflation sucking up their paychecks, they can’t afford to.