Inflation is putting tremendous stress on the pocketbooks of Americans and is becoming a political headache for President Biden. Now top economists see no end in sight.
As millions of Americans prepare to host Thanksgiving dinner, it’s not just the cost of turkey and pie putting a strain on family budgets. This week the Consumer Index which keeps track of what people are paying jumped 6.2-percent, recording the highest level since 1990.
“It’s a ripple effect and puts a challenge on us as we go into the holiday season,” says Aaron Johnson who owns Oasis Fresh Market in Oklahoma. A CNBC survey shows inflation now ties with coronavirus as the biggest concern facing Americans and it’s punching the president politically.
Republicans were hitting the president hard even before the consumer index quantified Americans’ financial pain. “We have a raging inflation as bad, some would argue as back in the late 70s, early 80s,” says Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). It’s a direct result, he says, of flooding the country with money through President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan earlier this year.
The president says the infrastructure plan passed this week will help alleviate bottlenecks in the supply chain. “And thanks to those steps we’re taking, very soon we’re going to see the supply chains start catching up with demand,” Biden said. However, critics say his policies are the problem, like cutting back on the U.S. fuel supply. READ MORE
