President Joe Biden touted “progress” in inflation even as one measure of price increases reached a 40-year high. The consumer price index rose 0.4% in September, showing that inflation remained at a near four-decade high of 8.2%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Thursday.
“This latest data from the Department of Labor shows inflation is not only crushing American families, but getting worse. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, hit a new 40-year high,” EJ Antoni, a research fellow for regional economics in the Center for Data Analysis at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s multimedia news organization.)
While the September report did not mark the highest annual consumer price index increase under the Biden administration, it did register the highest core consumer price index increase, which excludes food and energy, Antoni explained.
Antoni, who said people are poorer because of higher prices, said families are being crushed by the prices of staple items like eggs and butter only continuing to rise.
“Americans are watching the prices of food staples like eggs and butter soar over 30%, while flour, soup, and dairy products have risen over 20%. Families cannot afford to live in Biden’s America,” Antoni added.
“The current inflationary scourge is the direct result of the Federal Reserve printing trillions of dollars to finance a profligate Congress and White House. If we want it to end, we must end the federal spending that is fueling it,” he said.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics report showed a 0.8% increase in the the food index, a 1.9% increase in the transportation services index, and a 2.9% increase in the natural gas index from August.
The report also showed a 4.9% decrease in the gasoline index, a 1.1% decrease in the used cars and trucks index, and a 4.7% decrease in energy commodities from August.
“Today’s report shows some progress in the fight against higher prices, even as we have more work to do. Inflation over the last three months has averaged 2%, at an annualized rate. That’s down from 11% in the prior quarter,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
“But even with this progress, prices are still too high. Fighting the global inflation that is affecting countries around the world and working families here at home is my top priority,” Biden added.
The producer price index rose 0.4% in September and a total of 8.5% since last year, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.
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