Iowans feeling pain from record past-year inflation

Iowans are experiencing record past-year inflation and, as a result, are faced with tough decisions. Nationally, prices industry-wide have experienced the largest past-year increase, 6.2%, since November 1990 (before seasonal adjustment), the U.S. Department of Labor reported Wednesday .

Removing food and energy from the equation, the consumer price index (CPI) has risen 4.6%, which is the largest past-year increase since August 1991. Energy costs rose 30% and food rose 5.3% this year. The unadjusted Chained CPI for All Urban Consumers last experienced a decrease in November 2020 (-0.1). March, April and May of 2020 each experienced decreases (-0.2, -0.5, -0.1). The Consumer Price Index is based on retail prices urban consumers and urban wage earners and clerical workers pay for goods and services. It does not include spending patterns of people living in rural areas, farming families, people in the Armed Forces and those who live in institutions, like prisons and mental hospitals, the report said. Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation Policy Director John Hendrickson told The Center Square Friday that inflation is a “hidden tax” that is impacting all Iowans….(Excerpts from the Washington Examiner)