Hotter-than-expected inflation: Consumer prices jump 5% in May, fastest pace since the summer of 2008

U.S. Consumer prices for May accelerated at their fastest pace in nearly 13 years as inflation pressures continued to build in the U.S. economy, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

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The Consumer Price Index, which represents a basket including food, energy, groceries, housing costs and sales across a spectrum of goods, rose 5% from a year ago. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting a gain of 4.7%.

Jeff Cox for CNBC:

The reading represented the biggest CPI gain since the 5.3% increase in August 2008, just before the worst of the financial crisis sent the U.S. spiraling into the worst recession it had seen since the Great Depression.

Another report released Thursday showed that jobless claims for the week ended June 5 came in at 376,000. The estimate was 370,000… Investors, though, remain heavily focused on inflation, which hasn’t been a major threat to the U.S. economy since the early 1980s.

On a monthly basis, the headline CPI rose 0.8% while the core was up 0.7%. The estimate was 0.5% for both readings.

The gasoline index is up 56.2% over the past year, part of an overall 28.5% increase in energy during the period.

MacDailyNews Take: It’s best to get a handle on inflation, if you know how, while you still can.

Inflation is repudiation. — Calvin Coolidge

When a business or an individual spends more than it makes, it goes bankrupt. When government does it, it sends you the bill. And when government does it for 40 years, the bill comes in two ways: higher taxes and inflation. Make no mistake about it, inflation is a tax and not by accident. — Ronald Reagan

23 Comments

      1. Things will really get hot if she wears those black fishnets again! Oh..oops, am I allowed to refer to the fishnets with THAT adjective? So sorry! Please don’t block me.

      2. Speaking of hotter, I tell you, the greatest danger we are facing is global warming. We, the Armed Forces of the U.A.S. (or whatever the abbreviation is), are on it.

        Because our attention is elsewhere, could someone please release the new and TRUE information on what Inspector General of the Interior Department, Mark Lee Greenblatt concluded about what ACTUALLY happened at Lafayette Park last June?

        Please send the memo of these truths to the Pervert the Truth Texan on this site? Skimping on facts are him.

        Jill, please.

        1. And democrats say it’s okay JOEY voted, on record, as an elected democrat US Senator, alongside racists and segregationists to keep Blacks segregated from whites.
          And NO ONE is shocked.

        2. It’s confirmed again…the only “facts” you present, or ascribe to, are those that fit your agenda, or narrative.

          Or, I guess, Inspector General of the Interior Department, Mark Lee Greenblatt was working in self-interest and or, in support of the previous President to cover up the events? I suppose he has a lot to gain by provide the cover to the President a year after the event and 6+ months after he left office.

          https://greenwald.substack.com/p/yet-another-media-tale-trump-tear

  1. Oooohhh… just thinking about those mean tweets sends a shiver down my neck. I much prefer 5% with nice Tweets. Way better than ‘Ole Mean Tweets. If we are lucky, President Jill can get it up to double digits. That will be really be something sweet to Tweet about (if you haven’t been blocked, locked, Glocked, banned, beat or burned).

  2. Temporary uptick because of the opening of the economy and the pent up demand meeting limited supply. Biden’s fast vaccination roll out is responsible, not spending.

    1. Didn’t the vax roll out start under the previous administration? December 14, 2020, to be exact. So, I think the roll out was fast last year. Name one vaccine that has been developed and approved faster. So, yeah, it was fast… last year.

      Haven’t vaccinations slowed to a slow crawl now? Is Prezy Jill gonna meet her jab goals by July like they promised. Guess I better cancel my BBQ on the 4th.

      As for spending… Jill has spent THHAAT much in his first 100 days, has she? Uhh…

      Limited supply? Of what? Workers who wanna stay home to suck on the Dem’s “free cash” teat rather that get their asses to work?

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