Prices surged again in January as the inflation rate accelerated at its fastest pace since 1982.
Summary
Consumer prices surged 7.5 percent in January 2022 compared with January 2021 – the highest jump in prices year-over-year since February 1982. Prices in January rose 0.6 percent from December 2021.
- This marks the fourth consecutive month of annual rate increases above 6 percent. The January inflation rate was higher than economists predicted.
- According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the high inflation rate was mainly due to higher food, energy, and housing costs.
- Gasoline costs on average 40 percent more than it did in 2021. Food prices are up 7 percent and used car and truck prices are up 40.5 percent. Housing costs are up 4 percent year-over-year.
- This inflation wave stems from several factors – including “higher wages, parts shortages, rent increases, robust consumer spending” – and this makes it difficult to predict when inflation will start to abate.
- CNN covered inflation’s effects on mortgage raises, which have risen to a level not seen since January 2020, before the pandemic.
- Axios broke down the inflation data by consumer good and assessed inflation’s impact on wages.
- The Washington Post analyzed four reasons Americans’ rents are increasing.
- The Wall Street Journal estimates higher inflation probably costs average Americans an extra $250 a month.
- Also from The Wall Street Journal, a useful primer on what inflation is and what causes it.
- National Review covered Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s statement on the high inflation numbers. Manchin reiterated his opposition to President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, reminding his fellow senators that “it is not our money, it’s the American people’s money.”
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© Dominic Moore, 2022
