The inflation rate in the United States in December has increased at the fastest pace in almost four decades, as rising prices trigger anxiety among consumers and further hurt President Joe Biden's approval ratings.
The consumer price index jumped 7% in December from a year ago according to the latest Labor Department report, the quickest increase since June 1982. When the inflation rate hit 7.1%, CPI jumped 0.5% in month period from November to December, according to Fox Business.
CPI measures the average change in prices over time that consumers pay for goods and services ranging from gasoline to health care, to groceries and rents. The US saw a widespread surge in prices.
Gasoline on average costs 49.6% compared to last year. Food prices increased 6.3% over the year.
Prices of used cars and trucks are up 37.3%. While costs of shelter have jumped 0.4% for the month and 4.1% year-over-year the fastest movement since February 2007.
Inflation Is No Joke
Seema Sha, chief strategist at Principal Global Investors sees the recorded 7% inflation rate as a serious matter as it is the highest annual CPI rate since 1982 driven by "just about everything else."
Meanwhile, other experts suggested that the continued havoc of the highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19 has resulted in difficulties for the global supply chain.
Biden's Approval Ratings Steadily Drop
The soaring prices of goods and services are reportedly eroding the huge gains in the wages and salaries of American laborers in the recent months that lead to the further disappointment of the masses with President Biden's governance.
According to the political data website FiveThirtyEight, Biden's approval rating has stayed stable over the last couple of days. The website compiles the president's approval and disapproval ratings using several survey organizations Ipsos, Rasmussen Reports/Pulse Opinion Research, Morning Consult, and YouGov, as per Newsweek.
In the latest survey, conducted on January 7, Biden got an approval rating of 42.9 percent. His number was at the same rate the day before. However, it shows a drop from the recorded approval rating of the President at 43.4 percent on December 30 and 31.
Biden entered 2022 with a low approval rating, amid a myriad of challenges including its lackluster efforts in passing the ' $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act, which is the foundation of the administration's domestic agenda.
In his first few months in office, Biden has enjoyed the confidence of a majority of Americans. However, his approval rating has stayed below 50 percent since August 15, 2021, based on the data of FiveThirtyEight.
Meanwhile, Biden's disapproval numbers remained above 50% since October 15. On January 7, his disapproval rating was posted at 51.9% which was higher than 51.7 % registered on the previous day.
Experts see several challenges to the Biden Administration this 2022 that may hurt his popularity numbers, including the management dealing with the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, successfully passing his infrastructure program, rising prices of services and commodities, and preventing Russia from invading Ukraine, as per CNN.
Furthermore, Biden's ratings also influence the challenge for Democrats of keeping their majority status in Congress in the scheduled midterm elections on November 8.
