by Sundance at The Conservative Treehouse
We noted last month the inflation issues were not going to get better and indeed they are getting worse. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released the latest inflation data, and the rate of inflation continues to increase at an alarming rate; now at 5% year over year for all items.
With only six months of JoeBama economic policy hitting so far, the rate of inflation is now four times larger under Biden than it was under Trump policies.
Everything the Biden administration is doing is making things worse, and now we are seeing big drops in real wages as the inflation rate is far beyond wage growth. Under Biden inflation is massive and wage growth is non-existent. This is an exact reversal of the Trump-era outcome where inflation was low and wage growth rates were high.
Year-over-year price comparisons for regular unleaded gasoline are now +58.2%. [Table 7] Stunning increases in fuel. Natural gas is up 13.5%. The prices of durable goods like furniture are up 9.8% while the prices for washers/dryers have jumped up over 26%. Used car prices are up 29.7%, while every durable good is showing massive increases (appliances, clothes, furniture, jewelry, etc). Even televisions are up almost 5%, after years of continually lower prices.
The May increase in energy prices “was the largest 12-month increase since the period ending April 1980”, over forty years ago. Yes, with 28% increases in overall energy prices Biden is mirroring Jimmy Carter in the outcome of his economic policy (this is not accidental).
Food prices are also skyrocketing. If you have tried to purchase lemons, limes or citrus recently you would know the BLS measure of May inflation for citrus products at 9% is low considering what you are seeing right now. Things are getting worse. [Table 7 Has the Details]
The rapid increases in price for food and gasoline are hitting the middle-class hard. As this continues it will most likely have a downstream effect on more luxury items and durable goods (which also cost more). Spend more on food/gas and you might not be able to purchase that new furniture you wanted. Durable good inventories increase and manufacturing layoffs in those sectors begin.
Despite institutional investors purchasing homes, it will be very interesting to watch how…
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