Heavy burden for consumers as holidays near: Soaring prices

[dalton99a]

https://apnews.com/article/business-consumer-prices-inflation-economy-prices-10e00ba16f8fb94f45ced724f2ea2e45

Heavy burden for consumers as holidays near: Soaring prices
By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
Nov 10, 2021

WASHINGTON (AP) — A worsening surge of inflation for such bedrock necessities as food, rent, autos and heating oil is setting Americans up for a financially difficult Thanksgiving and holiday shopping season.

Prices for U.S. consumers jumped 6.2% in October compared with a year earlier, leaving families facing their highest inflation rate since 1990, the Labor Department said Wednesday. From September to October, prices jumped 0.9%.

Inflation is eroding the strong gains in wages and salaries that have flowed to America’s workers in recent months, creating a political threat to the Biden administration and congressional Democrats and intensifying pressure on the Federal Reserve as it considers how fast to withdraw its efforts to boost the economy.

Fueling the spike in prices has been robust consumer demand, which has run into persistent supply shortages from COVID-related factory shutdowns in China, Vietnam and other overseas manufacturers. America’s employers, facing worker shortages, have also been handing out sizable pay raises, and many of them have raised prices to offset those higher labor costs.

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. I think I will give money this year.

Avoid the angst, maximize consumer appreciation , and minimize shopping time. Thanks COVID!

[tenderfoot]

2. More of this bullshit

From AP no less.

This shit is planned.

[Skittles]

3. are you saying inflation is not real?

[tenderfoot]

4. I'm saying that these inflation stories are meant to undermine BBB

[marybourg]

5. A heavier burden is that much of this

is being caused by vaccine refusers getting sick, needing quarantine and dying.

[luv2fly]

6. And gee, who do you think will be blamed?

Skyrocketing prices are going to be a big political problem if things are not reined in pretty quickly.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

7. that and the supply shortages

A one-two punch of inflation and shortages over the holidays will piss people off and they won't care about the reasons, only that it happened.

[70sEraVet]

8. Inflation is currently a global problem, tied to the disruption in production that Covid has caused.

Governments can do things to ease the effects of inflation, but things will not go back to normal until Covid is no longer a global threat.