The consumer price index (CPI) released on Thursday looks more like an alleged benefit for the questioned Joe Biden than what Americans actually receive when they have to buy basic necessities of all kinds.
The stark contrast between the reality Americans are experiencing and the Biden administration’s data and statements regarding inflation and the economy in general has been a regular and constant feature for nearly four years.
For their part, the mainstream left-wing press and news agencies – which have become mouthpieces for the White House – promote the false triumphalism typical of this political tendency, which always seeks to justify erroneous economic platforms and alienate people from reality.
Even before he was attacked for his mental and physical health, Biden’s disapproval rating on the economy has been above 78% on average in polls over the last two years of his term, with some polls exceeding 82%, so Americans are pretty clear about the real job of the current administration.
According to data from the Department of Labor of the Joe Biden administration, prices fell 0.1% in one month, contrary to what analysts expected, who expected an increase of 0.1% in one month and 3.1% in one year, according to the consensus published by MarketWatch.
But with less than four months to go until the presidential election and the chaos facing the Democrats, including Biden, the numbers change like magic. And they always tend to favor the White House. This has been the case since January 2021 to date.
“Significant progress”
Biden no longer knows which way to lean on to sell optimism and try to convince voters that his economic disaster has been phenomenal, so he welcomed “significant progress.”
But this encouragement, far from the truth, that Biden is now offering comes too late after almost four years of hardship and is even less convincing to consumers, whose purchasing power has been reduced by more than 26% with the worst inflation in almost five decades, where prices have barely fallen, except for the government, which claims that excluding energy and food prices, the so-called core inflation rose “slightly” in one month, by 0.1%, but is the lowest recorded since August 2021.
The Most food pricesfar from descending, have continued on the rise at a slower pace due to the very high level reached compared to the real value of each product. Meat and sausages, for example, are already showing unsustainable prices and the pound that in 2018-2019 was sold in markets between 6 and 7 dollars on average depending on the type of meat and cut, now exceeds 13 dollars on average; double or almost double.
The price of new and used vehicles has dropped somewhat compared to the steep rise in 2022, but they are becoming increasingly unaffordable. inflated value The housing market is at an all-time high. In some states, far from falling, it has risen to an average of over 400,000. In general, the value is over 387,000, when in the 2010s the average price of a property was 275,000.
And so, a long list of still extremely inflated prices has diminished both the consumption and the way of life of Americans, the majority of whom work to be able to pay for their basic needs, and millions of whom barely have enough to do so and have been forced to have a second job, which is also insufficient for them.
The “descents” in figures
As expected, the data was better than actual market expectations, which pointed to a 0.2% increase, according to MarketWatch.
The “drop” affected – according to the report – energy prices, which “fell 2%” in one month. Within that sector, gasoline prices fell by 3.8%, after a 3.6% drop in May.
This is what the government says, but prices in most states have risen as is typical every summer. Historically, gasoline prices never go down in winter or summer, but under this administration it seems that everything is different depending on the political crisis that exists or what the left wants to convince us of.
In June, inflation registered its second month of “decline”, supposedly on its way to the 2% target set by the Federal Reserve (Fed, the US central bank), the same financial institution – supposedly independent – that – for a whole year – reiterated that inflation was temporary. This explains the lack of confidence in some institutions during Biden’s term, always marked by that false optimism far removed from reality.
The pressures
Politicians, pro-Biden analysts and liberal media outlets have been pushing the idea for a year and a half that the Federal Reserve is in a position to begin lowering interest rates. But the Fed Board knows that prices have not really fallen as claimed at the moment. And that is what American consumers are feeling.
The CPI index is important for Americans’ purchasing power because it is the index to which pensions are indexed, but to conduct its monetary policy the Fed prefers another index, the PCE, which will be published on July 26.
The Fed has so far refused to cut rates, lacking sufficient data to indicate that inflation was on track for a sustainable comeback.
Since 2022, when it reached its highest level in June due to the failed economic policies of the current administration and reached 9.5% at an annual rate, inflation in the United States, according to the Biden administration, has experienced a slowdown.
The next Fed meeting is scheduled for July 30-31, but the first rate cut is not expected to come before its mid-September meeting, the last before the presidential election in November.
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Source: With information from AP and other sources.
