BREAKING: Inflation soars, hits 40 year high
Consumer prices increased by a whopping 8.5% in the year through March, the fastest inflation rate in 40 years.
According to a new report issued Tuesday morning by the Labor Departments’s Consumer Price Index soared in March, partly due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as the White House Administration prepped on Monday during a briefing.
“We expect March CPI headline inflation to be extraordinarily elevated due to Putin’s price hike, and we expect a large difference between core and headline inflation reflecting the global disruptions in energy and food markets,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said at her regular press briefing Monday.
While the White House seems to blame Putin and the war between Russia and Ukraine for the record inflation rate, inflation had already been rising before the lead-up to the war causing prices for food, gasoline, shelter, automobiles, and virtually all consumer goods to drastically increase before the war
Gas Prices accounted for roughly half of the inflation rate with rising food and rent costs also playing an important role. Wages, which have only raised 5.6% in the past year are not keeping up with inflation causing fears of a possible recession.
Heather Long, a Washington Post reporter tweeted out the jump in inflation each month since October 2021 with the comment “There’s hope that March will be the peak, esp. if gas prices don’t jump again. But services inflation is also picking up…”
Below are some of the price increases over the past year to put them into perspective.
