Another Month, Another Horrible Inflation Report
TownhallJan 11
Inflation Spiked in December After Trending Down for Months
The Facts
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Thursday that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.4% for the 12 months ending December, accelerating 0.3% from the previous month. Excluding food and energy prices, inflation rose at a the same rate as in November.
According to the agency, the larger-than-expected inflation rate for December was mostly due to a 0.4% jump in the monthly housing index, as well as increases of 0.2% and 0.4% in food and gas prices, respectively.
The Spin
Republican narrative
Further monthly inflation spikes are bad enough, but more important ahead of this year's election is that Americans are paying 23% to 37% more on groceries and 28% more to heat their homes than when Biden took office, all while real weekly earnings have plunged 4.5%. Despite claims that the inflation fight was over, this latest CPI report doesn't comes as a surprise. Biden and his fellow congressional Democrats have spent exorbitant amounts of money they don't have — this is the end result of "Build Back Better" and "Bidenomics."
Democratic narrative
Consumer sentiment prior to Trump's election through today showed Democrats offering optimism at every point except during the market crash around COVID. Republican sentiment, however, immediately skyrocketed when Trump took office and then plummeted the second he was out. The economy has been on a roll over the past year — unemployment reaching a 50-year low, inflation consistently dropping — but the GOP has corrupted sentiment polls by changing their tune based on who's in office.
Nerd narrative
There's a 40% chance that the US will enter a recession before 2025, according to the Metaculus prediction community.