Highest Year-Over-Year Increase in Wholesale Prices Debunks Biden’s Inflation Excuses

Year-over-year increases in wholesale prices jumped the highest in the history of collecting the data, according to a new Producer Price Index (PPI) report from the Department of Labor. I issued the following statement:

"So much for President Biden’s excuses for inflation, given that wholesale prices were going up long before Russia invaded Ukraine.

"This is the highest year over year increase since we started measuring, and nearly half of the price increases in goods come from the rise in price of gasoline.

"As families watch inflation in consumer prices accelerate, it’s no wonder they expect it to last for both the short and long term."

The Labor Department's Producer Price Index (PPI) measures the average change in selling prices received by domestic producers over time.

• The price increase represented the biggest one-month jump in record in February. On a year-over-year basis, headline PPI rose 10 percent, tied for the biggest 12-month move ever.
• Final demand prices for goods increased 2.4 percent for the month, the largest move ever in data going back to December 2009.
• A New York Federal Reserve survey found that consumers’ median inflation expectation for...
  • ...one year from now increased to 6 percent in February, up from 5.8 percent in January and matching its November 2021 peak.
  • ...three years from now climbed to 3.8 percent, up 0.3 percentage points but still down from its November peak of 4.2 percent.