Record inflation in the United States puts Joe Biden under pressure
This record inflation is the number one concern of voters and four months before the election, it weighs on Joe Biden's popularity rating.
AP - Evan Vucci
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
In the United States, inflation continues to soar.
The year-on-year price increase reached 9.1%, a record since 1981. This puts even more pressure on Joe Biden, as the midterm elections approach in November.
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This is the number one concern of voters.
Four months before the election, this record inflation is weighing down Joe Biden's popularity rating.
Housing, gasoline, food, the increase mainly hits the daily expenses of American households.
The consumer price index, which had already climbed 8.6% in May year on year, jumped in June even more than analysts expected.
Over one month, the increase amounted to 1.3% in June, against 1.0% in May.
Republicans did not fail to react quickly on Twitter.
Senator Marco Rubio thus accused the Democrats of “
not caring about the things that matter to the average American
”.
“
This level of inflation is the direct result of the spending of the Democrats since they took power
” in Washington, attacked his colleague John Thune.
The American president acknowledged in a press release that these figures were "
too high
" and recalled that the fight against inflation was his "
priority
".
But, he immediately added as if to clear himself, they are "
obsolete
" because gasoline prices have fallen in recent weeks.
The average price per gallon (around 3.8 litres) in the United States has in fact fallen back to around $4.73 currently, after climbing for the first time in June above the symbolic threshold of $5.
This “
should bring some respite to American families
,” said Joe Biden.
All sectors concerned
Consumers had accumulated significant savings during the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks in particular to substantial state aid and spending limited by containment measures and activity restrictions.
But the strong recovery in demand last year, combined with problems in supply chains, fueled high inflation, which worsened with the spike in energy prices triggered by Russia's invasion of China. Ukraine at the end of February.
The rise in prices in June affected all sectors, the Labor Department said in a statement.
But the biggest contributors to this increase were housing, gasoline and food, expenses at the heart of daily life.
Energy prices rose by 41.6% over one year, recording their strongest rise since April 1980. As for food prices, they experienced their strongest rise since February 1981, increasing by 10.4% over a year.
Joe Biden questions the international context, namely
the war in Ukraine
, and goes so far as to speak of a Putin tax to explain the soaring prices of energy and cereals.
But his opposition, supported by many economists, points to the impact of his gigantic $1.9 trillion anti-Covid stimulus package.
To curb the rise, the Federal Reserve has been trying since March to curb demand.
Joe Biden
is currently on tour in the Middle East where he will seek in particular to get Saudi Arabia, the world's largest exporter of crude oil, to open the floodgates to calm the surge in oil prices and appease the inflation.
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To read also: United States: in Ohio, Biden defends his economic reforms
(
With
AFP)
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United States
Economy
finance