US Inflation Climbs thru the Roof…..Wage Stagnation and a War Nobody Wants….

The increase was driven largely by energy prices, up 3.8 percent since the previous month. But the “core” index, stripping out volatile food and energy prices, also rose 2.8 percent over the year in April, up from 2.6 percent in March.

Here’s what else to know about the report:

• Fuel costs: Higher energy costs are bleeding into prices for transportation including airline fares, which rose 2.8 percent in April, as well as goods that get to market in a truck or on a boat. Follow oil prices here.

• Food prices: Grocery costs rose 2.9 percent since last April, driven largely by the price of beef, which has been rising because of smaller cattle herds. Tomatoes have risen nearly 40 percentsince a year ago because of a combination of tariffs, severe weather and higher fuel costs. And steel tariffs are raising the prices of canned foods.

• Political fallout: The report spells bad political news for President Trump, who has struggled recently to sell his economic agenda to voters, with majorities saying in poll after poll that they are frustrated with the rising cost of living. A White House statement acknowledged the consequences of the war with Iran, but pointed to actions in areas like drug pricing, arguing that those costs have fallen and saying the president’s agenda “continues to deliver.”

• Fed outlook: Although the Federal Reserve has said it looks past swings in energy costs, as they are generally expected to recede before translating into underlying inflation, the hotter-than-expected measure will weaken the case for cutting interest rates this year. With the strong jobs report last week, many analysts had already moved back their forecasts for cuts into 2027.

• Statistical quirks: Unable to collect housing data on its normal schedule because of the government shutdown last fall, the Bureau of Labor Statistics had to wait until April, masking what might have been a swifter deceleration given cooling rents and home prices. Rents and the measure of costs for people who own their home both rose 3.3 percent over the year, up from an annual increase of 3 percent for the previous three months…..

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Inflation Summer Peak rate….

The economics team at RSM, a consulting firm that specializes in forecasting, projects that as the supply shock from the war in the Middle East works its way through the U.S. economy, inflation will peak “at or above” 4.5% on annual basis sometime this summer….

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People ain’t getting paid enough to get ahead….

The jump in prices means that workers’ wages are, once again, failing to keep up with inflation. The cooling labor market means that average hourly earnings have been rising more slowly, up 3.6 percent over the past year, and 0.2 percent over the past month. That slowdown, combined with the spike in energy prices, means that hourly earnings, adjusted for inflation, fell 0.5 percent in April, the second straight monthly decline. Real wages fell sharply during the peak of the post-pandemic inflation surge, but had been rising steadily in recent years.

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Rising Gas prices ARE on Americans minds….

According to today’s report, gas prices rose 5.4 percent from March to April. If you’ve been watching prices at the pump, you might have thought they rose more than that — and you’d be right. The inflation data is “seasonally adjusted,” meaning it accounts for regular seasonal patterns in the data. On an unadjusted basis, gas prices rose 11 percent in April, but because pump prices typically rise in the spring, the reported figure is lower.

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Yes…This Inflation Report IS Bad News for Donald Trump AND Republicans…..Trump’s War seems to be place people do NOT want to be in and blame a Trump that seems to be stuck in….

Today’s inflation report spells bad political news for President Trump, who has struggled recently to sell his economic agenda to voters. In poll after poll, majorities say they are frustrated with the rising cost of living, yet as the latest data show, those costs under Mr. Trump continue to rise, most recently as a result of his war with Iran.

Since that conflict began in late February, the president has downplayed its costs while insisting the fallout would be temporary and short lived. Nevertheless, gas prices are much higher than they were a year ago. By Tuesday morning, the average gallon topped $4.50 nationally, per AAA, more than a dollar higher than this same time in 2025.