WASHINGTON, D.C. — Inflation hit 8.5% last month compared to a year prior, the largest 12-month increase since 1981, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Food, shelter, and gas were biggest drivers of price increases, but, excluding these items, inflation still rose 6.5% – the largest 12-month change since 1982. Independent Women’s Forum’s Center for Economic Opportunity Inflation Tracker has analyzed price increases on common household items in recent months and has found that prices on goods such as milk, bread, shelter, school costs, gas, and kids’ shoes are up significantly nearly across the board.
Patrice Onwuka, director of IWF’s Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO), issued the following statement:
“Inflation is devastating household budgets and conditioning consumers’ psyche to be pessimistic about the future. Inflation rose to a 40-year high while consumer sentiment plunged to an 11-year low. Americans are shocked each time they go to the grocery store as their paychecks fall farther behind price increases. They can absorb sustained price hikes for only so long before a consumer pullback rocks the economy.
“President Biden promised not to raise taxes on households earning less than $400,000, but each day this promise is broken by accelerating prices. Inflation started to accelerate mid-2021 after the American Rescue Plan injected $2 trillion of so-called “aid” to the economy and has not slowed since then. It’s disingenuous to place all of the blame on Putin and his invasion of Ukraine. Inflation is a tax that poor, working-class, and elderly households on a fixed income can least afford. Americans need relief, and these numbers signal that price relief is nowhere in sight.”
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