Small decline in US inflation amid skyrocketing cost of services
Ramin Mazaheri
Press TV, Chicago
The United States’ inflation rate has become the world’s most important economic data point and will probably remain so until American inflation falls below 3 percent.
That seems far away, as new data showed inflation is more than double - at 6.5 percent - with the price of services increasing by the greatest rate in 40 years, and the price of shelter increasing the fastest in nearly 30 years.
The data means that American bankers - and their banker allies in the European Union, the British Commonwealth, and various client regimes - will continue with their unprecedented hikes in interest rates.
The goals of the hikes, led by the nation’s top banker Jerome Powell, all seem to increase the burden on the average worker. Difficulty in borrowing means reduced business, and that means mass layoffs, which have already started in the tech and high finance sectors.
Another aim is to wilfully create a recession, which is the primary means of taming inflation in Western capitalism. Expectations are that the US growth rate could drop to as low as 0 percent, which would essentially be a double-dip return to recession, and especially if the price of oil increases.
Another - unstated - goal appears to be wage reduction, despite the obviously harmful effects that would have on the average worker. This month's data showed that wage growth has slowed to its lowest level in a year and a half.
While sanctions against Russia have backfired tremendously across the West, corporate price-gouging is perhaps the biggest culprit behind inflation. In the last quarter, US corporations posted over $2 trillion in profits, a $1 trillion increase from 2020. Many argue that the enormous profit margins are the result of exploiting consumer expectations of high prices to keep prices elevated.
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