Inflation eases for second month in a row but remains high at 8.3%

‘Overall, prices have been essentially flat in our country these last two months,’ Joe Biden says

Inflation only increased by 0.1 per cent in August, but it still climbed upward by 8.3 per cent in the past 12 months, according to the latest Consumer Price Index report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

President Joe Biden hailed the news in a statement on Tuesday and said that prices will go down further once the Inflation Reduction Act that he signed last month goes into effect.

“Overall, prices have been essentially flat in our country these last two months: that is welcome news for American families, with more work to do,” he said. “And real wages went up again for a second month in a row, giving hard-working families a little breathing room.”

The food index jumped 0.8 per cent in August, jumping 11.4 per cent in the last 12 months, while the food at home index increased 0.7 per cent in the past month and rose 13.5 per cent in the last 12 months. Meanwhile, the meat, poultry, fish and eggs index increased by 0.5 per cent in the past month, as did the index for fruits and vegetables and the index for nonalcoholic beverages.

The meat, poultry, fish and eggs index also jumped 10.6 per cent in the past 12 months, while the fruits and vegetables index increased 9.4 per cent in the last 12 months and the nonalcoholic beverages index increased 13.4 per cent.

At the same time, the index for gasoline dropped precipitously, falling 10.6 per cent, while the index for energy overall fell five per cent in the past month. But the gasoline index still increased 25.6 per cent in the last 12 months.

Republicans hope to make inflation a major issue during the 2022 midterm election as they hope to ease fears about the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v Jackson decision overturning the right to seek an abortion.

“Families simply can't afford Biden and the Democrats. Voters know that Democrats' reckless spending put us in this mess and the only way to clean it up is to vote those politicians out. While Biden and Democrats take an out-of-touch victory lap today, Americans struggle to fill their grocery carts,” Republican National Committe Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said.