Democrats are predicting—although hoping and praying might be more accurate—that inflation continues to recede and the economy keeps improving, boosting both President Biden’s job approval ratings and his reelection hopes.
There is little question the economy is in better shape than many, myself included, predicted a year or even six months ago.
Unemployment decreased in July to 3.5 percent, down from 3.7 percent in May. Over the year ending in June, consumer prices increased 3.0 percent, after rising 4.0 percent over the year that ended in May. The June inflation rate was the smallest 12-month increase since March 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Looking at the Federal Reserve’s preferred measurement of inflation, Personal Consumption Expenditures, the “core rate” of inflation, which strips out the most volatile elements of energy and food, came in at 4.1 percent, down from 4.6 percent in May compared with a year earlier.
While all of these numbers are far short of the Fed’s target inflation rate of two percent, it is a move in the right direction.
But Biden and Democrats have
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