Another increase of 0.5% as we continue to Build Back Better™:
And to add insult to injury, forecasters are saying they now expect inflation rates to go up from here:
The recent improvement in US inflation likely ended in January, if economists forecasts for the consumer price index, out Tuesday morning, are accurate. The CPI is predicted to climb 0.5% from December, the most in three months, while the core rate excluding food and energy is seen at 0.4% for a second straight month after two readings of 0.3%.
Here's a chart for you nerds:
This is the 32nd straight month that core consumer prices have risen.
Of course, these numbers are based on conservative government measurements, not the actual inflation that no one wants to talk about because it would make the current political party in power look bad.
So what does this mean for the average person?
It means that prices have gone up a lot from the last year, which was up a lot from the year before, and that this increase in prices isn't likely to slow down.
Many of you have historically gotten a 2-3% raise every year from your employer to cover the increased cost of living. Say that you made $50,000 in 2022. This means you would make $51,500 in 2023 with a 3% raise.
But year-over-year inflation in January 2022 was 7.5%. In 2023, it was 6.4%. Say that you want to buy something at the store for $10. Back under Orange Man Bad, you had mean tweets, but you paid $10. In January 2022, that item would have cost $10.75. In January 2023, that item now cost $11.43.
This doesn't seem so bad until you start adding up every single item you have to buy. Once you figure that $10,000 of annual groceries now costs $11,143, the reality sets in. All of a sudden, just your family's food expenses are swallowing up your raise.
But of course we know that real inflation is much higher, making our margins thinner. When something as simple as gas goes up a dollar, it can take hundreds of dollars out of a family's budget budget every month.
Services are costing more too, and scarcity is driving up prices on everything from windows to used cars that make even simple upgrades near impossible for the average family.
In short, you might be making $1,500 extra bucks, but thanks to the politicians that used Covid as an excuse to print all that money to give to their friends, your actual spending power has decreased sharply.
