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Inflation so high, millions of Americans struggle to pay for food

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A new government report showed millions of Americans are struggling to pay for food, fuel, and rent as US inflation in August remained at 40-year highs, USA Today reports.

The report showed that sharp decreases in prices for gas and cheaper used cars slowed US inflation in August for a second straight month, but grocery prices soared.

Published by the Labor Department Tuesday, the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report showed a predicted reduction in inflation from last year did not materialize but, rather, the month-over-month change in prices and a measure of inflation that excludes volatile food and energy costs actually rose, USA Today reports.

Overall prices increased 8.3% from a year earlier, down from an 8.5% rise in July and a 40-year high of 9.1% in June, as rising food and rent costs offset falling gasoline prices,” USA Today quoted the CPI report.

Notably, grocery prices rose by 0.7% from July and have increased by 13.5% over the last year. While prices for wheat and corn decreased in recent months, they remain unstable.

The report sent shock waves through Wall Street, causing stock and bond prices to fall sharply and raising concerns that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates so high that, despite a strong job market and falling gas prices, the US economy will go into recession, USA Today said.

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