From chicken wings to used cars, inflation begins to ease its grip
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/04/inflation-prices-going-down/
The price of gasoline is dropping like a rock. Chicken wings are suddenly a bargain. And retailers drowning in excess inventory are looking to make a deal.
After more than a year of high inflation, many consumers are finally starting to catch a break. Even apartment rents and car prices, two items that hammered millions of household budgets this year, are no longer spiraling out of control.
Global supply chains are finally operating normally, as more consumers spend more on in-person services like restaurant meals and less on goods like furniture and computers that come from an ocean away. The cost of sending a standard 40-foot container from China to the U.S. West Coast is $1,935 down more than 90 percent from its September 2021 peak of $20,586, according to the online freight marketplace Freightos.
The moderation in inflation is just beginning to appear in government statistics. In October, the Federal Reserves preferred price gauge, the personal consumption expenditures index, posted its smallest monthly increase since September of last year, and is up 6 percent over the past 12 months. The better-known consumer price index is rising at an annual rate of 7.7 percent, down from 9.1 percent in June.
The worst of the inflation is behind us, said Steven Blitz, chief U.S. economist for TS Lombard in New York. The question is where does inflation settle?
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If it comes down to 2% by 2024, GOP will have to find something else to hit us with. Maybe Hunter's laptop or build the wall.