Inflation rises again as America heads into final weeks of Biden-Harris regime

Inflation for Americans, which has totaled some 22% under the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris regime, rose again in October, just as the nation heads into the final few weeks of the Democrat administration.

Prices were 2.6% higher in October than a year earlier, up from 2.4% from September, according to the Consumer Price Index.

A report at USA Today explained half of the rise, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was because of a rise of 0.4% in shelter prices.

The numbers show, according to economists, that America’s inflation infection still is not over.

“Inflation had barely registered on America’s radar in recent years. But prices spiked in the pandemic, and the annual inflation rate reached a 40-year high of 9.1% in mid-2022,” the report said. “The Fed stepped in, raising interest rates dramatically in 2022 and 2023 to cool the economy. Inflation retreated below 4% in mid-2023, but it still hovers above the 2% target set by federal regulators.”

Inflation was at a 1.4% rate when President Donald Trump left his first term in the White House and Biden and Harris took over.

The problem is a top priority for American consumers, and it likely is one of the main reasons that Trump won a landslide victory in the presidential election last weekend.

USA Today explained Brian Coulton, Fitch Ratings chief economist, said, “The ‘last mile’ of progress in getting inflation back to 2% is proving to be a long and arduous one.”

The report noted that while inflation is lower now than earlier in the Biden-Harris administration, prices are “sharply higher: 21.4%” for consumers.

Prices for transportation services surged 8.2% on an annual basis, shelter was up 4.9% and electricity up 4.5%, the report said.

“The thorn in inflation’s side remains housing, and this is the primary source of the upside risk to our inflation forecast for 2025,” Ryan Sweet, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, said in the report.

Elyse Ausenbaugh, of J.P. Morgan Wealth Management, noted that the inflation is up again just as the market is assessing the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump and what his policies on immigration, debt, trade and more will mean/.

The report said “core” inflation, a measure that excludes volatile food and gas prices, rose at an annual rate of 3.3% in October, as predicted.