The White House, over the signature of President Biden, released a statement on October 13 2022, in conjunction with and in response to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' release of its Consumer Price Index (CPI) through September 2022. The opening paragraph: "Americans are squeezed by the cost of living: that's been true for years, and they didn't need today's report to tell them that. It's a key reason I ran for President. Working to give middle class families some breathing room in dealing with their costs is critical."
The following graph shows the path of the CPI in the current and three previous administrations. This includes the first Obama Administration, 2009-2012, the second Obama Administration, 2013-2016, and the Trump Administration 2017-2020, as well as the Biden Administration in progress (2021-present). The data is normalized so that the level of the CPI at the start of each Administration is set to 100. Also graphed is the path of the CPI if it had grown at a 2% annual rate since the beginning of the administration. (The Federal Reserve System has a 2% inflation target.)
The differences speak volumes. At the end of four years, the highest increase in the CPI over and above the graphed 2% target path for any of the prior three administrations was 1%. In the current administration, the CPI is almost 10% above that 2% target path after only 21 months.
The following graph shows the path of the CPI in the current and three previous administrations. This includes the first Obama Administration, 2009-2012, the second Obama Administration, 2013-2016, and the Trump Administration 2017-2020, as well as the Biden Administration in progress (2021-present). The data is normalized so that the level of the CPI at the start of each Administration is set to 100. Also graphed is the path of the CPI if it had grown at a 2% annual rate since the beginning of the administration. (The Federal Reserve System has a 2% inflation target.)
The differences speak volumes. At the end of four years, the highest increase in the CPI over and above the graphed 2% target path for any of the prior three administrations was 1%. In the current administration, the CPI is almost 10% above that 2% target path after only 21 months.