American consumers are right to feel like they can’t catch a break right now. Just as people were eagerly starting to put a trying pandemic behind them, another formidable beast entered the room: inflation. U.S. inflation shot up to a 40-year high of 7% before showing signs of slowing down in April.
While it’s possible that price pressures have peaked, that will be of little comfort to American consumers as they head into a third straight summer defined by financial hazards and uncertainty. Choose your poison: oil prices impacted by Russia’s war in Ukraine, endless supply chain issues complicated by on-again off-again lockdowns across the globe, the list goes on. A recent interest rate hike by the Fed should help, but recovery takes time.
