Yesterday’s Consumer Price Index, the final inflation report before the election, shows year-over-year prices increased by 2.4% in September — far higher than the 1.4% inflation rate when President Trump left office and the 43rd straight month where inflation has remained above the Fed’s target rate.
Under Kamala, inflation has averaged 5.2% — almost three times the average inflation rate under President Trump.
As Robert Romano pointed out in a recent column for our friends at Americans for Limited Government, overall consumer prices since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office have increased more than 19 percent since the beginning of 2021 according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but weekly earnings never caught up, only growing 17 percent in that time.
Inflation has averaged more than 5.6 percent a year under Biden-Harris, noted Mr. Romano.
From 2017 to Jan. 2021, weekly earnings were up 16.3 percent, far outpacing four years’ worth of price increases at 7.7 percent, when inflation averaged 1.9 percent a year.
And thanks to high inflation, interest rates are up 70 percent, leading to massive increases in monthly mortgage payments, and generally higher interest rates, leading to big increases in monthly consumer credit payments as Americans became increasingly taxed in the Biden-Harris economy.
Whether academics at the Bureau for Economic Research ultimately book the current period as a recession or not, or just a slowdown, the American people felt the pain in their pocketbooks, and as such public perception over the state of the economy will matter even more on Election Day concluded Mr. Romano.
While the academics at the Bureau for Economic Research do their usual academic naval gazing, the Trump campaign was quick to seize on the latest inflation numbers to issue a blistering attack on Harris and Biden.
"Kamala Harris' terrible economic policies continue to hit the American people where it hurts. The latest inflation report came in hotter than anticipated, overall prices are still up more than 20% since Kamala took office, and real average weekly earnings are down 3.4%. Eggs, for goodness' sake, are 70% more expensive since Kamala Harris took office! Additionally, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week jumped to the highest level in a year. If Kamala is given another four years, our economy will nosedive into the worst depression this country has ever seen. Americans will continue to be robbed of their paychecks with astronomical inflation and higher taxes. There is only one solution to fix our economy: re-electing President Trump. He's a businessman with a proven track record of success and will turn Kamala's worsening economy around on day one,” said Karoline Leavitt, Trump Campaign National Press Secretary.
In the widely circulated statement, the Trump campaign pointed out that:
* Real average weekly earnings have dropped by 3.4%, leaving hardworking families struggling to keep up.
* Real average weekly earnings increased 8.2% under President Trump. Real wages remain lower than when Harris and Biden first took office.
* Core inflation rises to 3.3%, the first increase since March 2023.
* 258,000 people filed for unemployment this week—well above the expected 230,000—another sign that things are worse than anticipated. And once the September jobs report is revised sharply lower, it will expose the Fed’s worst nightmare: rising inflation paired with rising unemployment.
“It's clear that this administration's incompetent economic policies continue to FAIL the American people, as costs continue to rise while wages fall behind- we need a CEO in the White House. Enough is enough- bring back MAGANOMICS,” said the Trump campaign.
Vice President Kamala Harris said Tuesday that she could not think of a difference with President Joe Biden over the past four years, “There is not a thing that comes to mind … and I’ve been part of most of the decisions that have had impact,” Harris said.
Of course, the hosts of “The View,” the program on which Harris made the comment did not follow up or probe exactly what that means, especially on the economic front.
Kamala, whose policies sent prices soaring in the first place, will send them even higher. There's not a thing she would do differently than Biden — and it shows as she doubles down on the inflationary Harris-Biden agenda with the largest tax hike in history, a Soviet-style price control scheme, and a housing plan that will only drive home prices higher.
Harris’s embrace of all of Biden’s economic policies bodes ill for American’s hard-pressed working families whose quality of life has suffered through four years of Bidenflation. And with Kamala on board with those policies the only end in sight is through a vote for Donald Trump.
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