Inflation in the United States accelerated in September, with the cost of housing and other necessities intensifying pressure on households, wiping out pay gains that many have received and ensuring that the Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates aggressively.
On a month-to-month basis, prices reportedly increased 0.4% from August to September after having ticked up 0.1% from July to August.
Yet during a recent speaking engagement in Los Angeles, Biden claimed that the GOP would only make things worse by getting rid of the Inflation Reduction Act and all the "savings" it means for Americans.
"If Republicans win, inflation is going to get worse," he said. "It's that simple."
Lee Schalk, vice president of policy at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) says this is consistent with the president's mistaken view of inflation.
"The last report that came out, the president was on tv saying that inflation had just grown by an inch, just by a hair, when in reality, the rates of over 8% were at near-record highs, really historic levels," Schalk recalls.
Thursday's report provided the final U.S. inflation figures before the November 8 midterm elections. So while Schalk acknowledges that "there is always going to be a political element to this," he asserts that the president is wrong about this.
"I think he knows that," Schalk tells AFN. "I think he knows that this is going to have ramifications for the midterm elections, because at the end of the day, it's the American people that are struggling under the weight of his policies and the big government policies of Washington that have created this crisis."
The jump in the so-called core inflation is said to be a sign that the Fed's five rate hikes this year have done little to cool inflation pressures. Core inflation climbed 0.6% from August to September and 6.6% over the past 12 months. The yearly core figure is the biggest increase in 40 years.
