Inflation Rose 8.6% in May, The Highest Rate of Inflation In... Forty-One Years

Heather Long @byHeatherLong

JUST IN: US inflation jumped to 8.6% (y/y) in May, the highest since 1981 and a new post-pandemic record.

Rising gas prices, food prices and shelter costs drove much of the May increase.

There's little sign of a slowdown. In May alone, inflation rose 1%

Not forty years now. Now it's forty one.

Pop-Pop's tearing up the old record book.

This is another "unexpectedly," which raises the question: Can we trust economic analysts during Democrat administrations?

The consumer price index rose 8.6% in May from a year ago, the highest increase since December 1981. Core inflation excluding food and energy rose 6%. Both were higher than expected.

Surging food, gas and energy prices all contributed to the gain, with fuel oil up 106.7% over the past year.

That's a big bite.

Shelter costs, which comprise about one-third of the CPI, rose at the fastest 12-month pace in 31 years.

The rise in inflation meant workers lost more ground in May, with real wages declining 0.6% from April and 3% on a 12-month basis.

Oh, and wages declined.

Those escalating prices meant workers took another pay cut during the month. Real wages when accounting for inflation fell 0.6% in April, even though average hourly earnings rose 0.3%, according to a separate BLS release. On a 12-month basis, real average hourly earnings were down 3%.

Finally, food costs climbed another 1.2% in May, bringing the year-over-year gain to 10.1%.

Didn't Pop-Pop claim this was the greatest economy since 1976 or something?

The markets are down as the endlessly-optimistic and monolithically Democrat morons of Wall Street begin to realize: Gee, this inflation isn't transitory like Janet Yellen said it would be.

Friday's numbers dented hopes that inflation may have peaked and adds to fears that the U.S. economy is nearing a recession.

The inflation report comes with the Federal Reserve in the early stages of a rate-hiking campaign to slow growth and bring down prices. May's report likely solidifies the likelihood of multiple 50 basis point interest rate increases ahead.

"Obviously, nothing is good in this report," said Julian Brigden, president of MI2 Partners, a global macroeconomic research firm. "There is nothing in there that's going to give the Fed any cheer.... I struggle to see how the Fed can back off."

The problem with you Filthy Populists is that you are insufficiently deferentially to "The Elite," who went to Good Colleges and therefore are Very Smart.

Inflation isn't just still present, and it's not just still rising -- it's accelerating.

The rate of inflation jumped 1% in May.

Unexpectedly!!!

Shadowstats uses the 1980 (I think) method of calculating inflation, you know, before it was changed to take our food and fuel, and inflation is at 17% under that rubric.

Posted by: alexthechick

According to shadowstats, using the 1980 inflation methodology of the US gubmint, consumer inflation is currently running about 17%.

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

(second chart)
Posted by: GnuBreed

Meanwhile, gas prices have hit an all-time high, and have crossed the $5 per gallon (nationally) barrier.

From WPTV:

GasBuddy announced Thursday morning that the national average price for one gallon of gas has reached $5, setting a new record in the U.S.

Meanwhile, AAA reports that the national average price sits at $4.97.

Another eerie Biden/Carter parallel -- Carter was also terrified by a bunny!

The Jimmy Carter rabbit incident, sensationalized as a "killer rabbit attack" by the press, also known as the "1979 Jimmy Carter rabbit incident", involved a swamp rabbit (Sylvilagus aquaticus) that swam toward then-U.S. President Jimmy Carter's fishing boat on April 20, 1979. The incident caught the imagination of the media after Carter's press secretary, Jody Powell, mentioned the event to a correspondent months later.

posted by Ace at 01:00 PM

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