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Inflation his home for consumers
Consumer prices jumped more than 8% in the past year. Everything is getting more expensive. Hal Eisner spoke to local consumers and businesses on how they're dealing with the price surge.
LOS ANGELES - Jeff Muchamel is the manager of Village Market, and since last March he’s seen his prices go up and up.
"Soda, groceries, beer, you name it, everything is going up," he said. His customers have felt it too.
John Hinton says, "Grocery prices and everything else are going dramatically higher."
Economist Steve Reed with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the numbers are proving it. The Department put out its inflation report, saying the 12-month change in the Consumer Product Index is 8.5%. Adding, "for food it’s even higher than that. It’s in the double digits." Reed says it’s the highest we’ve seen since 1981. And, what Reed finds eye-opening is that everything across the board is up including:
- Food
- Gasoline
- Clothing
- Furniture
- Airfare
- Medical care
- Cars
- Car insurance
Why? Let’s start with the pandemic supply chain issues causing producers to pay higher costs. Now, add to it what’s going on in Ukraine, the high cost of gasoline that has resulted, and now you have what’s created the worst inflation rate in four decades.
RELATED: US inflation report: Consumer prices jumped 8.5% in past year, highest since 1981
"If you look back historically, every time we’ve had inflation a big part of that has been energy prices," Reed said.
And, its not just us getting to the store, but the trucks that bring food and other goods there. They have to pay high prices for gas and that cost gets passed on to shoppers, according to Muchamel.
Reed adds, "beef prices over the last year are up 16%. And some individual cuts of beef are up more than that."
Shopper Leon Coleman says, "What most people do is what they’ve always done. If you spend more for one thing you look to spend less somewhere else."
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More increases. Reed says, "milk is up over 13%. Fresh fruits are up over 10%."
"You gotta cut down any way you can right," shopper john Hinton said. "You’ve got to drive less, you’ve gotta save your money on food, eating out, additional expenses, so really anywhere you can save you gotta save right now."
This, as he holds lottery tickets hoping to win $306 million.
How long will this inflation last? No one can really predict.
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