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Definitely a mixed bag of news this morning. Inflation data has just been updated by the government.

If you remember last month’s report, inflation between June 2021 – June 2022 was at 9.1%. In other words, the same goods & services you purchased in June 2022 cost you 9.1% more than they did a year earlier in June 2021. Many people have been struggling under the weight of these higher prices.

Today’s report moves that window forward by one month – now we’re looking at the period between July 2021 to July 2022. Today it was reported that we’re now at 8.5%. So in a sense, year-over-year inflation has cooled just a bit, which of course is welcomed news. But as usual, there’s more to the story.

Unfortunately, “core inflation” remained unchanged in July, still at 5.9%. Core inflation excludes prices of volatile items like gas and groceries, so it can be a more steady barometer of inflation in some respects.

As you’ve probably noticed, gas prices are down a little, but still up massively over where they were 1-2 years ago. This is not an increase in supply, but instead a decrease in demand with fewer people driving as far.

Grocery prices remain very concerning. “Food at home” prices are up 13.1% year over year. Housing prices increases remain problematic. And certainly something to keep an eye on as we head into the fall and winter is the price of heating oils; year over year that’s up more than 75%.

I don’t like harping on this, but inflation should not be this bad.

And it wouldn’t be this bad if Democrats hadn’t rammed through $2 trillion in excess spending that we didn’t need and can’t afford with their so-called “American Rescue Plan.” This will only be compounded if they successfully manage to push through hundreds of billions more with their awful climate change bill this Friday, which I’ll be voting against.