By Trish Regan
$12.95 for an order of kids’ pancakes?!
Recently, I was out to breakfast with my family at a local diner, when I was shocked to see some of the inflated prices on the menu. This same set of silver-dollar pancakes cost $6.95 when I visited this place three months ago. This was a brand-new menu, complete with inflated prices. And this diner isn’t the only place in town raising prices... Everywhere you go now, you should expect to pay more. I’ve warned of this since last summer... And now all the data is piling up – the Federal Reserve’s measurement of inflation just posted its highest increase in 30 years. Meanwhile, according to the Consumer Price Index, prices on consumer products have risen more than 5% for the past four months straight. And I anticipate, judging by the 8.3% increase in producer prices, they’ll soon go even higher. But $12.95 for kids’ pancakes?
Inflation can really feel like a punch in the gut... especially when it was supposed to be only “transitory.” And yet, higher prices are somehow transitioning into next year . At least, that’s what the head of the Federal Reserve told a panel hosted by the European Central Bank late last month... As Jerome Powell spoke about the challenges ahead, he informed his listeners that he, too, was “frustrated”... It’s frustrating to see the bottlenecks and supply-chain problems not getting better – in fact, the margins are apparently getting a little bit worse... We see that continuing into next year probably, and holding up inflation longer than we thought. Unfortunately, Powell and his team seem to be realizing the effects of all their money printing just a bit too late... Inflation is here, and it’s not going away anytime soon . The question now is, how do we prevent it from squashing the little growth America has seen?
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American Consequences
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