Even as the price of gasoline declined, inflation in the United States rose at an annual rate of 8.3% last month, staying high.
The Labor Department reported that although the annual rate fell from 8.5% in July, food, housing, and healthcare prices kept rising.
For the inflationary pressures to lessen more broadly, economists had hoped.
The White House and other politicians are under pressure from Americans because inflation is still a major concern.
Chris Jackson claims that the President is to blame for the fact that Americans have been expressing their top priority as being the reduction of inflation for months. The country’s approval ratings and a number of other polls have shown that this rhetoric was accurate.
The public’s worries about the rising expense of living are reflected in the fact that US President Joe Biden’s approval ratings fell below 40% early this year.
The issue still poses “a significant challenge” for the President and the Democratic party as a whole, according to Mr. Jackson, even though they have begun to improve as gas prices have declined in recent weeks.
It will be decided who controls Congress in the upcoming round of elections, which will take place in November.
According to Mr. Jackson, it would be unprecedented for a president with Mr. Biden’s level of support to gain seats in the midterm elections.
Countless Americans, including Kenny Shorne, feel burdened by rising prices.
In an effort to reduce costs, the 23-year-old lives in New Jersey with his family and supports himself through construction and photographic work. However, he also recently interrupted his communications master’s program, fearing that he wouldn’t be able to pay it as other expenses rose.
Even though they have decreased in recent weeks, he claims that high gasoline costs are one of the things that are causing problems.
According to the most recent Labor Department report, housing costs rose 6.2%, medical expenses rose 5.6%, and grocery prices increased 11.4% in the US in the year leading up to August.
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Energy costs, one of the major factors in inflation, have fallen significantly over the last two months, decreasing more than 10% from July to August, according to the Labor Department, but they have still remained significantly higher than they were a year ago.
Analysts speak on US inflation
According to Betsey Stevenson, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan who worked in the White House under former president Barack Obama, the headline number is most important in influencing people’s perceptions. Economists are still concerned that prices outside of energy are rising.
The fact that petrol prices are declining, she continued, is very positive news because it allows people to stretch their budgets a little further and improves their mood.
The current data and reality, she said, do not necessarily suggest that all is OK because she anticipates that inflation will continue to be higher than the US central bank’s objective of 2% even at the end of the following year.
