I & I Editorial Board‘Inflation eased again.” “CPI inflation rate slows to 6%.” “Inflation fell for the eighth straight month in February.” Those are the headlines that greeted the latest Consumer Price Index Report. Why aren’t those ungrateful families celebrating?
Prices in February climbed 0.4% from the month before and 6% from the year before. Both are down slightly from January.
President Joe Biden cheered the news, saying that “today’s report shows annual inflation is down by a third from this summer” and is “the slowest annual increase since September 2021.”
Huzzah!
OK, sure, that 6% year-over-year bump is still three times the average inflation for the past three decades. And sure, it comes on top of the 7.9% jump in prices in February 2022. And, yes, it means that the Consumer Price Index has now risen 15% in the short time Biden has been in office.
But fear not! Because Biden is on top of the situation, and his “inflation reduction act” is clearly working. Right?
The problem with the focus on the overall CPI – which measures cost changes in a “basket of goods” – is that people aren’t buying this basket every month. Most are just trying to make ends meet. They’re trying to feed their families. Keep the lights on. Avoid eviction.
For these people – which is most people – inflation hasn’t moderated. It is far, far worse than the overall number suggests.
The latest CPI data show that the year-over-year price hikes for essentials such as food, electricity, heat, and rent were almost all in double digits in February. Here’s the year-over-year change for:
- Food at home: 10.2%
- Electricity: 12.9%
- Gas for heating: 14.3%
- Shelter: 8%
Grocery bills have surged a total of 20% since Biden took office. Electric bills are up 24%. Shelter costs have grown 13%.
Gasoline prices dipped by 2% year-over-year in February. So that’s a relief. Except they are still 45% higher than they were in January 2021.
Biden brags that wages are up, too. He’s right. But they haven’t come close to keeping pace with prices.
Average hourly wages have increased just 10.5% since Biden took office. After accounting for the 15% rise in overall prices, that’s a huge pay cut. The costs of feeding a family and keeping the lights on at home are soaring at twice the rate of wages.
It’s criminal that Biden wants to paper over this grim reality, but worse is that the mainstream press provides cover for him.
The current situation for most Americans is stark. The fact that none of the nation’s elites knows or cares reveals how dangerously out of touch they are.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
Using these vague “policy violations,” Google is now threatening to demonetize us. It’s part of Big Tech’s effort to silence conservative voices.
Yet according to a previous article, “As happened in February, Biden came in solidly ahead of all potential challengers. Of those participating in the poll, 43% said they support Biden, up from 38% last month”. “Useful idiots” continue to be in large numbers.
“Zero inflation”: Joe Biden.
It’s the same this side of the Pond, unfortunately.
Food, electricity, gas, telecomms, transport fuel through the roof in the UK, press reports of pensioners dying of hypothermia because they can’t even afford to run a single bar electric fire and the spiv Sunak and his smirking mate C – oops, sorry, Hunt have just increased the pension cap that mainly affects Snivel Serpents by so on retirement they’ll get an extra £4,000 per month on top of their already gold plated inflation-proofed final salary pensions.
The French have the largest general strike ever, 2 to 5 million out demonstrating and police brutality on every street corner.
One of the most prestigious banks, Credit Suisse is on the point of collapse and the Euro Bank bonds that prop up the entire rickety EU structure are looking decidedly dodgy.
And then there’s the Net Zero insanity…
Well, it sure ain’t boring!
Biden’s handlers have done their best to destroy America from within. Time to start sending them to jail.