Consumer prices remained high in August, rising 8.3 percent from the same month a year ago, despite an organized attempt by the Federal Reserve to reign them in with aggressive interest rates. Although costs for fuel and used cars have decreased, prices for food and services like childcare are still climbing. Rent hikes, which account for nearly a third of overall inflation, are adding additional strain. The news came with shock and a shudder as markets recalculated to anticipate even more aggressive measures from the central bank.
The S&P 500 dropped 2.72 percent on Tuesday morning, with Yahoo! Finance reporting that Morgan Stanley warned its investors that the market index could drop by as much as 17 percent to 27 percent in the next four months. Core inflation, which measures long-term trends excluding food and energy, re-accelerated in August as well. The inflation rate is the highest the country has dealt with since the 1980s, reported The New York Times. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.
When asked on Tuesday how the current rise in inflation despite falling gas price prices dovetails with his previous statements that blamed “Putin’s price hike in gasoline” for most of the increase in inflation, President Biden told reporters, “It’s not just the gasoline! It’s the oil too! You can’t separate the two! Do you know how much the price of oil has gone up because of Putin? I just bought a bottle of Mazola oil. It cost me almost 7 dollars for one lousy bottle of oil, man!”
“So maybe you’re paying less to fill up your entire gas tank with gasoline,” Biden argued, “but you’re still paying 7 bucks for a bottle of oil! And THAT, in turn effects the price of food, which is made from – guess what – OIL! Putin’s oil!”