Headline Roundup • January 12th, 2022
What Caused 2021's Record-Setting Inflation?
Economy And Jobs,Inflation,Economic Policy,Supply Chains,Federal Reserve,Business,Labor,Jerome Powell
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday that consumer prices rose 7% in 2021, the highest inflation rate since 1982. Writers across the spectrum sought to explain the historic price increases.
While monthly inflation decreased from 0.8% in November to 0.5% in December, the 7% annual inflation rate once again brought inflation back into the news media’s spotlight. Renewed supply chain disruptions also drove headlines on Wednesday, and rising housing prices made it to the top of the New York Times (Lean Left) homepage. Inflation disrupted economies around the world as well; Wednesday saw headlines about slowing inflation in China and political turmoil in Turkey, where inflation hit 36% in December.
The Wall Street Journal (Opinion rated Lean Right) and the Washington Post (Lean Left) each published several more perspectives on inflation than other outlets. Voices from the right tended to place more blame on government spending. Some voices across the spectrum analyzed Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s role in creating and managing a high-inflation economy. Some voices from the left warned of a possible “nightmare scenario,” while others said the solution involved “waiting for things to work themselves out.”
Featured Coverage of this Story
AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
At first, it didn’t even register as a threat. Then it seemed like a temporary annoyance.
Now, inflation is flashing red for the Federal Reserve’s policymakers — and delivering sticker shock to Americans at the used car lot, the supermarket, the gas station, the rental office.
On Wednesday, the Labor Department reported that consumer prices jumped 7% in December compared with 12 months earlier — the hottest year-over-year inflation since June 1982. Excluding volatile energy and food prices, what is called “core” inflation rose 5.5% over the past year, the...
Washington Post
The bumpy economic recovery has had policymakers, economists and Americans households grappling with greater price hikes for groceries, cars, rent and other essentials.
The latest inflation data, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed prices in December rose to a 40-year high, climbing 7.0 percent compared with the year before.
For months, officials at the Federal Reserve and White House argued that pandemic-era inflation will be temporary. But they’ve had to back away from that message, which was increasingly hard to square with what was happening in the economy — and the...
Images: Getty Images Composite: Mark Kelly
Despite Wednesday’s inflation report indicating that consumer prices have risen by 7% over the past 12 months and accelerated to 9.1% over the past three months, the president and Democrats other than Sen. Joe Manchin remain firmly entrenched in a state of denial. In their telling, this inflation has nothing to do with their spending policy. This is the same argument we heard in the mid-1970s.
When we both began our careers in public service, the U.S. was suffering from the high inflation of the late 1970s. The federal government...
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