Inflation in the US is at the top
of the last 39 years, Biden's challenge
Americans have continued to pay more for everything over the past month: food and clothing, cars, gasoline, electronics, airline tickets and restaurants. The Biden administration and the US central bank have admitted that inflation has been longer than expected
Consumer prices in the US rose in November at an unprecedented pace in nearly 40 years, a further complication for Joe Biden who has vowed to reverse the trend and is struggling to push through his social and environmental spending plan.
"It's an obstacle on the way" to recovery, the US president admitted while trying to downplay the news.
The price increase was 6.8% last month compared to November 2020, after + 6.2% in October, according to the consumer price index (CPI) released by the Department of Labor. This is the largest increase since June 1982.
Americans have continued to pay more for everything over the past month: food and clothing, cars, gasoline, electronics, airline tickets and restaurants.
"Today's data confirms what every American family already knows: inflation is out of control under the leadership of the Democrats," powerful Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell reacted in a statement. The head of the White House preferred to highlight the current price trend rather than last month's.
"Developments in the weeks following last month's data collection show that rising prices and costs are slowing down," Biden said, while acknowledging they are not slowing "as fast as we would like."
A global problem
Like last month, strong consumer demand again collided with supply problems linked to the pandemic and it is the prices of the energy sector that have risen the most in a year (+ 33.3%). Joe Biden did not fail to point out that countries around the world are facing an inflationary surge linked to the Covid pandemic.
Excluding the volatility of the energy and food sectors, inflation also remained strong (+ 4.9%). To prepare minds for today's data, Biden yesterday published a note announcing prices still high in November. But he was quick to point out that the report "did not reflect the reality of the moment". And today the president stressed once again the recent drop in the prices of energy, gasoline, natural gas, used cars.
Last month, the prices of new cars rose 11.1%, those of used cars by 31.4%. Which arouses discontent among Americans who are particularly fond of this means of transport.
Compared to the previous month, the increase in monthly prices slowed slightly: + 0.8% against + 0.9% in October. But it is higher than analysts' projections (+ 0.6%), a sign that inflation is persistent. Additionally, the investigation was conducted prior to the emergence of the Omicron variant, which poses a new threat to the United States and the global economy.
Some economists foresee a worsening of the logistical problems linked to new sources of contamination in the world, which could accentuate the inflationary surge.
After arguing that inflation was "temporary" and linked to the economic recovery from the historic 2020 recession caused by the Covid pandemic, the Biden administration and the US central bank have come to admit that inflation has been longer than expected. .
For the Republican opposition, Joe Biden's economic policy of injecting trillions of dollars into the economy has contributed to the inflationary surge, which his administration denies. Republicans warn of the "Build Back Better" plan, which they believe could fuel inflation even more. Biden, who faces criticism on this point even among the Dems, challenged this approach again today.
