New numbers released by the federal government showcase inflation rates skyrocketing at a pace not seen in decades, with prices rising across the board for goods and services.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis's personal consumption expenditure inflation measure climbed 3.6 percent in April from the prior year, the strongest reading in 13 years and more than the 3.5 percent increase that Bloomberg survey economists had expected, The New York Times reported. "The core price index, which strip out volatile food and fuel prices, rose 3.1 percent in the year through April — the fastest pace since 1992. Prices rose 0.7 percent compared with the prior month, the biggest increase in two decades," the outlet cited.
Former Clinton and Obama administration official Larry Summers warned on Thursday that the Biden administration was "overdoing it."
"The sense of serenity and complacency being projected by the economic policymakers, that this is all something that can easily be managed, is misplaced," Summers said. "We're taking very substantial risks on the inflation side."
"We are printing money, we are creating government bonds, we are borrowing on unprecedented scales," Summers continued. "Those are things that surely create more of a risk of a sharp dollar decline than we had before. And sharp dollar declines are much more likely to translate themselves into inflation than they were historically."
"The reported increase in personal consumption expenditures "came with a sharp deceleration in personal income, which declined 13.1%. But that actually was less than the 14% estimate," wrote CNBC. "Even with the $3.2 trillion decline in personal income, the savings rate remained elevated at 14.9%. Consumer spending rose 0.5%, in line with estimates. Disposable personal income, after taxes and other withholdings, tumbled 14.6%."
These new numbers come as Biden's $6 trillion federal budget is set to be unveiled on Friday. Lawmakers have warned about the effects of Biden's spending bill, with Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton writing on Twitter: "If you think inflation is bad now, wait until Biden spends $6 trillion that we don’t have."
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said that Biden's budget proposal was "too extreme and too expensive" in an interview Thursday.
"Think about what we’re saying right here — this is what everyone has ever warned us about," McCarthy continued. "That your debt becomes so large, it's more than a hundred percent of your GDP. There's no coming back from that. This sounds like Venezuela or Cuba. Even Obama's economists tell you this is wrong. And when he's doing it is wrong. He's doing it with an economy that's come booming back. So, what's he doing? Creating inflation. He’s rewarding people not to work."
"In a short five months, he's put us in a place we haven't seen since Jimmy Carter,” McCarthy added.
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