US inflation reaches 40-year high as global inflation crisis grinds on

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Inflation in the US hit a 40-year high in May, as America joined the UK, the Eurozone, and countries in Africa, South America, and Asia fighting massive consumer prices against a backdrop of the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

US inflation increased 8.6% from a year earlier in May, with housing, food, and gas being the largest contributors. Fortune said. The 40-year US high was just below the UK’s own inflation at a 40-year high of 9.1% in May.

According to Fortune, the US situation will pressure the Federal Reserve to implement an “aggressive series of interest-rate hikes” – a move that will compound the Biden administration’s current political woes.

“Record gasoline prices, paired with unrelenting food and shelter costs, are exerting strong pressure on Americans’ cost of living, suggesting the Fed will have to pump the brakes on the economy even harder,” Fortune said in its report. “That raises the risk of a recession, which some economists already saw as likely next year.”

In any event, the US is not alone in suffering high inflation, Fortune reports. Turkey saw a 78% year-over-year increase in prices in June; Argentina’s inflation rose by 60.7% in May; the UK’s energy bills skyrocketed by 50% in April, and Europeans saw their energy prices rise by 39.2% from last year in May.

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