The wholesale inflation figure released by the Department of Labor on Friday showed its highest annualized increase since March 2023, contradicting Labor data from a day earlier indicating that consumer prices are on a downward trend.
Some business media picked up on the oddity, which showed that the Core Producer Price Index had increased 0.2 percent in June – above the forecasted 0.1 percent, or 2.6 percent on an annualized basis, citing finicky food and energy prices, which increased 0.4 percent in June – double the 0.2 percent expected.
“Just this morning, we had a great economic report showing inflation is down,” President Biden said in a rare press conference with reporters on Thursday.
“Overall, prices fell last month. Core inflation is the lowest it’s been in three years. Prices are falling for cars, appliances, and airfares. Grocery prices have fallen since the start of the year. We’re going to keep working to take down corporate greed to bring those prices down further,” he said.
Biden went on to attack his 2024 rival, Donald Trump, over his proposed 10 percent tariff on imports, saying “economists tell us that that would cost the average American working family another $2,500 a year.”
The current administration’s detractors have spent years criticizing Biden’s economic and foreign policy and their role in ramping up inflation, with some alleging that the official data “significantly understate” actual price increases.
Food and housing costs remain significantly higher now than they were when Biden took office, with rent and home prices jumping 21.9 and 29.3 percent, respectively, and food costs up 21.5-22.7 percent, according to Bureau of Labor data. Individual staple items have jumped even higher, with egg prices increasing by 85 percent between January 2021 and today.
“He’s done a poor job and inflation is killing our country. It is absolutely killing us,” Trump said during last month’s presidential debate with Biden, claiming that during his term “everything was rocking good.”
Over the years, Biden has blamed the inflation situation on Trump, coronavirus, Vladimir Putin and corporate greed.
Inflation has steadily remained above five percent for over half of Joe Biden’s term, and above three percent for all but the first three months of his presidency. Under Trump, the maximum inflation rate never surpassed the two percent threshold.
High US inflation has been attributed to an array of factors, including the pumping of trillions of dollars into the economy during Covid under the pretext of economic stimulus, and the Biden administration’s massive spending program, like the $1 trillion infrastructure spending package. Other factors, including Western powers to rapidly halt the purchase of Russian energy in 2022 amid the Ukrainian crisis, have also played a role, causing energy costs to surge, and gas prices to temporarily hit a historic high of over $5 a gallon.