U.S. President Joe Biden is struggling to help alleviate rising prices, hurting American families and hurting their popularity
US inflation rose to a new four-decade high in May, defying hopes that price pressures had peaked and deepening President Joe Biden’s political concerns as Americans struggle to cover the cost of goods such as food and gas.
Government figures released on Friday put inflation at 8.6%, extending unprecedented gains, with gas prices hitting record highs driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and pandemic supply chain challenges.
“I am doing everything in my power to curb Putin’s rising prices and bring down the price of gas and food,” he said Friday as he spoke at the Los Angeles port.
The president has tried to convey his optimistic message about economic progress in the wake of the pandemic, including rapid GDP growth and record job creation, while urging Congress to take steps to reduce the costs of specific products.
But he acknowledged that rising inflation was a serious problem, and said in an earlier statement that the United States “needs to do more, and faster, to bring down prices.”
According to the Department of Labor report, prices continued to rise last month for goods such as housing, groceries, air fares and new and used vehicles, setting new records in various categories.
Some economists expected the easing of pandemic restrictions to shift U.S. consumer demand for services and away from goods, which they said would ease inflationary pressures, but service prices also rose. .
The CPI rose one percent compared to April, after a modest 0.3 percent increase from the previous month, the Labor Department reported, much higher than analysts expected.
Fuel oil more than doubled, rising 106.7 percent, the largest increase in CPI history in 1935.
“We are asking Congress to pass shipping legislation that would reduce the cost of moving goods abroad.”
But with the pandemic still affecting other parts of the world, the thick of the global supply chain has pushed demand far beyond resources.
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, which measures how American consumers feel about the economy, personal finances and business and purchasing conditions, fell sharply on Friday from 58.4 to 50, 2, its lowest recorded value.
The rise in the CPI “increases the likelihood of even more aggressive Fed rate hikes to curb inflationary expectations,” said Mickey Levy of Berenberg Capital Markets, adding that a pause in rate hikes September “seems increasingly unlikely.”
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