U.S. Inflation Rate at ‘Zero’ — for One Month
Economy And Jobs,Inflation,Inflation Rate,Facts And Fact Checking
For the month of July, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Customers was unchanged from June. This has triggered a war of words between Democrats, who crow about “zero percent inflation” for July, and Republicans, who say the Democrats are now trying to “deny there’s inflation.”
Both have a point. Inflation did not increase in July, and that may (or may not) be a sign that inflation has peaked or is close to peaking. But inflation remained elevated. The overall inflation rate for the past 12 months is 8.5% — a point that Democrats tend to gloss over.
The war of words started on Aug. 10, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that “Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was unchanged in July on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 1.3 percent in June.” That day, President Joe Biden opened a bill-signing ceremony with the news — emphasizing the CPI-U for July, but not mentioning the 8.5% increase over the past 12 months.
