Prices spiked a whopping 6.8 percent in November, compared with the same time last year — the fastest acceleration of inflation the country has seen in 39 years, the feds announced Friday.
It’s the highest year-over-year reading of the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index, which measures a basket of goods and services as well as energy and food costs, since 1982, when the country saw surging inflation that sparked year-over-year spikes as high as more than 14 percent.
That means inflation is now accelerating at the highest pace many Americans have ever seen in their lifetimes.
November’s 6.8 percent spike from the same time last year is up from October’s hotter-than-expected 6.2 percent jump.
The index rose 0.8 percent from October to November, the feds added.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected a 6.7 percent year-over-year spike in November and a monthly increase of 0.7 percent.
Biden, for his part, has consistently sought to downplay the significance of surging inflation, saying at times that it’s not creating a substantial burden on most Americans and also arguing cost increases were inevitable as the country emerged from the pandemic and demand for goods soared back to pre-pandemic levels or even higher.
The White House’s response to cost increases have cost Biden — as well as Democrats more broadly.
Recent polling has shown that many, if not most, Americans are being financially squeezed by rising gas, food and housing costs and those voters lay the blame on Biden.