Powered by spikes in energy prices, inflation surges to 3.7%

Filed 1h ago · Via Stateline · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Plaint

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Didier Descouens · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Inflation rose to a 3.7% annual rate in September, up from 3.4% in August, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the highest reading since May.

Energy costs drove most of the increase: gasoline is up 34% for the year and fuel oil up 72% amid the ongoing Iran war, with New York reporting home heating oil at $6.21 a gallon.

Several states, including Georgia, Kentucky, and North Carolina, have responded with gas tax holidays; North Carolina expects to forgo more than $362 million in revenue this fiscal year.

Core inflation, excluding food and energy, came in at a milder 2.6%, while an economist noted inflation has now outpaced wage growth for six straight months.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

When a state has to give up $362 million in tax money just so people can afford to get to work, that is not a minor line item, that is a state admitting the math at the pump has gone sideways. Everybody in Washington loves to talk about the economy in the abstract while the guy filling his tank does the actual arithmetic twice a week. Six months of wages losing the race to prices is the kind of thing voters tend to remember right around when they are handed a ballot.

Source: Read the original at Stateline → Scored: Plaint · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0