President Biden’s been worried about this day for a long time. Now it’s arrived.
And Joe Biden’s been delivered utterly devastating test results.
According to fresh information issued on Thursday morning, the Producer Price Index (PPI), which monitors inflation upstream from consumers, saw its key headline and core values climb at their fastest rates since June and March 2022, respectively.
According to the Department of Labor Statistics, yearly growth in the headline PPI increased to 6.0 percent in January after increasing by 0.7 percent.
PPI for final demand advances 0.7% in January; goods rise 1.2%, services increase 0.4% https://t.co/dyytPa492i #PPI #BLSdata
— BLS-Labor Statistics (@BLS_gov) February 16, 2023
The statistic issued on Thursday exceeded expectations and showed the biggest monthly gain since last June’s 0.9 percent increase, despite estimates calling for a monthly headline PPI increase of only 0.4 percent.
Biggest month-on-month increase since June. #PPI
@CNBC pic.twitter.com/ASDMJNUYqk
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) February 16, 2023
Importantly, the headline PPI gain in January more than negated any “progress” President Joe Biden may have touted in decreasing expenses last year when PPI showed drops of -0.2% in December 2022 and -0.3% in July.
Core PPI inflation, which does not include food, energy, or trade services, increased by 0.6 percent in January, the highest gain since it increased by 0.9 percent in March 2022.
The numbers released on Thursday are yet another step backward for Americans’ hopes that the country’s exorbitant prices will soon begin to decline noticeably. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which was released earlier this week, and the PPI, however, both revealed inflation to be burning hotter than anticipated.
Additionally, it fuels concerns that the Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates through 2023, as evidenced by Thursday’s decline on Wall Street in response to the most recent PPI data.
The economy has been a serious sore point for the Biden administration ever since late 2021.
According to polls, Americans have largely listed the state of the economy and inflation as their number one issue heading into the 2024 election cycle.
Polls have also shown that Americans trust Republicans way more than they trust Democrats to get America on the right track economically.
Overall, this is devastating for Joe Biden and the Democrats right now. Joe Biden is insisting on another 2024 run, and all measures indicate that the economy is going to get worse.
He said during his State of the Union address that inflation has eased, but that’s only partially true. The rate of inflation has eased from nearly 10% to now 6% or so. But the federal government’s goal has been 2% year-over-year inflation.
That 2% mark is what we got during the Trump administration’s tenure, but it looks like we’re about to get more double-digit inflation from the Biden economy.
Stay tuned to Prudent Politics.
