The consumer price index went up by 7.5 percent over the last year, the highest annual increase since February 1982.

By CAROLINE DOWNEY – Feb 10, 2022 – for National Review

My cmnt: I’ve been doing all of the family grocery shopping for 37 years. We were married in 1976 and so lived as adults on minimum wage through the Carter years. I never thought I would see Carter type inflation again. I know it’s not that bad YET but O’Biden and the democrats are working on it.

My cmnt: Biblical Christians you are seeing the importance of voting for fiscally conservative Republicans who cherish energy independence. No one can live in LaLaLand for very long. Democrat policies (all of them – energy, illegal immigration, cancel culture, MMGW, LBGTQwerty, BLM, CRT, commie-love, etc.) are simply unsustainable in the real world.

My cmnt: Look at the mess Kennedy and Johnson made of Vietnam and then their evil party used Watergate as an excuse to throw away President Nixon’s hard won victories. Look at the mess O’Biden made of Afghanistan. Look at the outright criminality of Hillary (her illegal and unsecured server in her basement, covering up Benghazi, the Clinton Crime Family Foundation, et al.) – always unpunished.

My cmnt: Look to our God in prayer for our nation. Remember God brings the increase but the farmer must still do the work of plowing, sowing, harvesting the crop. Jesus said to Peter, ‘Cast your net on the other side’ (Jn 21:6) not ‘Sit down and watch the fish jump into your boat’. Christians – get off your duffs and vote Republican like your lives depended upon it, because they literally do.

Inflation increased at the fastest rate in 40 years over the last twelve months, outpacing projections, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Thursday.

The consumer price index (CPI) — a major measure of inflation covering a variety of consumer goods — surged 0.6 percent over the last month and 7.5 percent over the last twelve months ending in January. That represents the largest annual spike since February 1982, when inflation hit 7.62 percent.

Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, also went up by 0.6 percent in January, following another 0.6 percent increase in December. This marks the seventh time in the ten months that it has increased at least 0.5 percent. The Core CPI increased by 6.0 percent annually, the steepest 12-month jump since
the period ending August 1982.

Food, electricity, and shelter contributed the most to the seasonally adjusted all items increase. Energy prices picked up 0.9 percent for the month, with rising electricity costs being somewhat offset by declines in gasoline and natural gas costs.

The persistent inflation, exacerbated by a supply chain crisis marked by production bottlenecks and shipping delays, has prompted the Federal Reserve to switch strategy. Starting in March, Fed Chair Jerome Powell recently indicated, the central bank could start to reverse its accommodative monetary policy and hike interest rates to curb spiraling inflation. The Fed is also likely to start unloading its gigantic balance sheet and roll back the pace of its large scale asset purchases that have been injecting stimulus into the economy for years.

While pressure is piling on the Fed to slow inflationary pressures strangling many Americans at the gas pump, grocery store, and across goods and services, the stock market is expected to react poorly in the event of an interest rate increase. After Powell’s announcement of quantitative tightening, major stock indices the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite dipped 1 percent, 0.9 percent, and 0.7 percent, respectively. The tradeoff for combating inflation is often a drag in economic production, although while restoring purchasing power to consumers.

For months, the Fed maintained its monetary easing despite mounting inflation, projecting that the price hikes would temper as market imbalances rectified. However, that prediction proved wrong, as supply and demand mismatches continued and inflation has climbed each consecutive month since early 2020. Powell suggested recently that if the Fed doesn’t intervene, inflation could intensify.

“Inflation risks are still to the upside in the views of most FOMC participants, and certainly in my view as well. There’s a risk that the high inflation we are seeing will be prolonged. There’s a risk that it will move even higher. So, we don’t think that’s the base case, but, you asked what the risks are, and we have to be in a position with our monetary policy to address all of the plausible outcomes,” he said recently.