US Inflation Highest In Nearly 40 Years

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

(Worthy News) – Under U.S. President Joe Biden’s watch, prices spiked a whopping 6.8 percent in November, compared with the same time last year, the fastest increase of inflation this nation saw in 39 years, the Federal Reserve revealed.

Friday’s announcement showed the most dramatic inflation figure since 1982, when the U.S. year-over-year inflation was as high as more than 14 percent.

The Fed cited the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index, which measures a basket of goods and services as well as energy and food costs.

Some analysts suggested that the inflation was made worse by measures related to the COVID pandemic that roiled the global economy.

The pandemic also upset the workforce and supply chains, along with stimulus measures that helped unleash high demand for goods.

Republican critics have also linked the inflation to “the printing of money” required to fund the trillions of dollars infrastructure and recovery bills backed by the Biden administration.

The latest inflation figures came as an investigation by the House Oversight Committee of the U.S. Congress showed pharmaceutical companies raised prices of common brand-name drugs during the past five years by nearly four times the inflation rate.

An industry trade group said the congressional investigation ignored the “real affordability problems” consumers face, including rising deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs.

The prices were due to rise further as high inflation kicked in.

Latest Worthy News