Beyond the financial strain for households, inflation is posing a serious political problem for President Joe Biden.
WASHINGTON -- Inflation slowed in April after seven months of relentless gains, a tentative sign that price increases may be peaking while still imposing a financial strain on American households.
Beyond the financial strain for households, inflation is posing a serious political problem for President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats in the midterm election season, with Republicans arguing that Biden's $1.9 trillion financial support package last March overheated the economy by flooding it with stimulus checks, enhanced unemployment aid and child tax credit payments.
"It's too early to declare victory," said Jose Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers."It's not going to get any worse, but it's still at an uncomfortably high level." Still, new disruptions overseas or other unforeseen problems could always send U.S. inflation back up to new highs. If the European Union decides, for example, to cut off Russian oil, gas prices in the United States would likely accelerate. China's COVID lockdowns are worsening supply problems and hurting growth in the world's second-biggest economy.
Furniture costs, for example, had jumped 1.8% just in March 2021 and 2.1% the next month. Yet this March, furniture rose only 0.6%, potentially lowering year-over-year inflation.