Gas prices have been steadily increasing in recent days, having reached an average of $4.19 a gallon in North Carolina. | Wikimedia Commons/Airman 1st Class Andrew Lee
Gas prices have been steadily increasing in recent days, having reached an average of $4.19 a gallon in North Carolina. | Wikimedia Commons/Airman 1st Class Andrew Lee
The latest consumer price index (CPI) data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on March 10 shows a 7.9% annual increase, another 40-year high.
"CPI rose 0.8% last month, much as expected,” Justin Wolfers, an economics professor at the University of Michigan, tweeted yesterday. “Over the year, inflation was 7.9%. Big contributions from gas, shelter and food. Core CPI rose a calmer 0.5% (again as expected) and is up 6.4% over the year. There will be lots of headlines, but this is the number everyone expected.”
As gas prices continue to climb, contributing to the economic pressures Americans are feeling, the Biden administration has coined the phrase "Putin Price Hike" as they place blame for high U.S. energy costs on Russia.
CPI data reflects that the increases in the indexes for gasoline, shelter and food were the largest contributors to the seasonally adjusted overall jump. The gasoline index rose a sharp 6.6% in February and accounted for almost one-third of the CPI increase. In January, the gas index fell 0.8%.
The consumer price index is a measure of inflation, which takes into account the cost of dozens of common consumer goods. For the 12 months ending in February, grocery prices jumped 8.6%, the biggest year-over-year increase since 1981, according to ABC News. The index for fruits and vegetables had the largest increase, rising 2.3%, representing its largest monthly increase since March 2010.
As of March 11, the national gas price average was $4.33, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). The average in the state of North Carolina is now $4.19 per gallon.
"For months, Putin has been saber-rattling, and for months gas prices have been going up -- up 75 cents since he began his military build-up,” White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield tweeted March 9. “This is the Putin Price Hike in action, and President Joe Biden is going to use every tool at his disposal to shield Americans from pain at the pump.”
U.S. inflation has been steadily increasing since Biden took office in January 2021, according to a February report from Statista, and the CPI confirms that. Over the 12 months from January 2021 to January 2022, gasoline prices have risen 40%. Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24.
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