Prices rise 5.4 percent in June over last year as economy continues to recover
Source: Washington Post
Still, policymakers at the Federal Reserve and White House continue to predict that as the economy has time to heal, inflation will settle back down.
Data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday showed that prices rose 0.9 percent in the past month. The latest figures arent likely to rattle officials who have long maintained that the price increases are a temporary feature of a bumpy economic recovery. Their expectation is that inflation will simmer down closer to the Feds 2 percent annual target next year and in 2023.
There are a few reasons inflation is on the rise. For starters, prices in 2021 are being compared to those from 2020, when the pandemic caused the economy to shut down and prices fell.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/07/13/inflation-cpi-june-prices-fed/
Calista241
(5,586 posts)Inflation is one of the single biggest risks for Dems going into the 2022 elections. The other is crime.
jimfields33
(15,789 posts)That a few months ago cost 75 dollars.
riversedge
(70,205 posts)local store. but whow. I know almost every item was UP!! UP!!
Waiting for beans in garden. been eating the lettuce, onions so far.
IronLionZion
(45,433 posts)it's highly competitive depending on the product. A lot of this increase is from restaurants/businesses purchasing more food after opening up 100% capacity.
Oil is it's own beast and is global. Then there are products like computer chips and lumber to look out for depending on raw material availability.
NickB79
(19,236 posts)A lot of food cost increases are baked in by the drought (pardon the pun).
And given the long term climate trends towards permanent aridification, a lot of that Western agriculture is never coming back
IronLionZion
(45,433 posts)not sure about other farm products since much of it is traded globally.
Evolve Dammit
(16,725 posts)GB_RN
(2,350 posts)Rising temperatures in the west, especially warmer winters in Canada allow the pine bark beetle populations to survive over the winters, leading to larger and larger broods. The beetle broods then kill the pine trees that are used for lumber. Circular problem. Add that problem to tRump's tariffs on Canadian lumber (don't know if Biden has removed those yet or not) and that's why lumber has gotten expensive.
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)They've done a number on prices by intentionally creating a bubble to make profits on both sides of the curve.
Funny though, how many of them are the same large financial institutions that have also cornered the market on rentals via real estate subsidiaries in many metro areas...
Chakaconcarne
(2,446 posts)ScratchCat
(1,988 posts)Given that demand for many products fell drastically during the pandemic, and I can't help but wonder if some retailers/manufacturers aren't simply jacking up the price to make back what they lost in 2020. I know this isn't the case with all things, as there are legitimate price increases due to shortages. And I get some prices increase with fuel costs. But its not like fuel costs don't fluctuate always, anyway, and prices didn't exactly drop on most things that are now rising. Food didn't go down despite all the restaurant closures, and now they are blaming some food price increases on "restaurants back open".
LT Barclay
(2,598 posts)Are still just exploiting the pandemic for profit.
George II
(67,782 posts)I wonder what this year versus 2019 is? Better yet, a three year comparison would give us a much better idea - 2019 to 2020 to 2021.
I hated year over year comparisons when I was working. We'd have our best year ever and then the next year they'd say "our sales are flat compared to last year." That's GOOD considering the last year was the best ever.
The Mouth
(3,149 posts)People (voters) ARE going to compare gas and food prices against LAST year.
It's a big, big, BIG danger for us.
Inflation got us Reagan last time.
progree
(10,904 posts)June 2019: 255.423
June 2020: 257.282
June 2021: 270.981
June 2019 to June 2020: +0.73%
June 2020 to June 2021: +5.32%
June 2019 to June 2021 (2 years): 6.09% (3.00% annualized)
February 2020 (the pre-pandemic CPI peak): 258.824
February 2020 to June 2021 (16 months) : +4.70% ( 3.50% annualized )
George II
(67,782 posts)It's best to essentially average the two years. It's still a little higher than it should be, but there are intangibles involved, too. Things like spoilage for food that didn't get delivered or used, energy to heat/cool buildings that remained empty, oil companies recouping their revenues they didn't get last year, etc.
Lots of businesses still had some overhead even though they were closed or operating with skeleton crews.
Back to the consumers, even though prices are up more than a "normal" year, many are still ahead of the game because their spending last year was WAY down because they simply didn't go anywhere.
I read somewhere that the experts aren't concerned that this is a short-lived inflation cycle.
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)Available shipping containers / slots on ships are simply not available months out due to the pandemic & the effect it had on buying habits. It's like a tidal wave that I think perhaps some politicians foresaw thanks to their biggest investor class supporters (read: owners) & that's why they tried to keep everything open even if it killed people.
Couple that with entire supply chains that are now broken.
And a full year of the USA not having functional federal government agencies, and policies that only considered opportunity for plunder.
And corporations minimizing production resiliency since the 1980's in order to maximize this quarter's profits.
We've got a lot of rebuilding to do and like the virus itself this is going to be around for another year at least. And with supply chains and products, that's before we can start building on anything like a solid baseline.
But here's my question: Why are we not seeing massive layoffs? Is it because that was already taken care of during 2020 & furlough looks better on the books & quarterly statements to investors? It's like there's a piece of the balance sheet missing.
Vinca
(50,269 posts)and ears of corn were 89 cents EACH. I paid $9 for a qt. of strawberries. Ouch!
gab13by13
(21,329 posts)jimfields33
(15,789 posts)LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)jimfields33
(15,789 posts)LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)jimfields33
(15,789 posts)George II
(67,782 posts)OneCrazyDiamond
(2,031 posts)when he said a Biden presidency would cause a depression.