Inflation and its impact on consumers has been one of the most widely discussed topics throughout the 2024 campaign season. Due to high inflation in recent years, the costs of groceries, clothes, gas, housing, and other goods have sharply increased.
High inflation rates, and their causes, were recently the subject of a KSTP fact check.
Earlier this week, KSTP fact checked a political advertisement from Republican congressional candidate Joe Teirab. A U.S. Marine and former federal prosecutor, Teirab is running for a south metro area congressional seat currently held by Democrat Angie Craig.
In the advertisement, Teirab says “career politicians like Angie Craig are killing the American dream with skyrocketing inflation.” When Teirab mentions inflation, a graphic appears on the screen which says “20% inflation.”
KSTP “fact checked” that statement and said “inflation peaked at 9.1% in July of ’22, and is currently at 2.5%. Inflation spiked for a variety of reasons, including government spending, but also supply chain issues and many other factors stemming from the pandemic. To say inflation hit 20% is false.”
While the inflation rate itself did not hit 20% in the last few years, the cumulative effect of the high inflation rates that occurred during the last several years has resulted in goods costing roughly 20% more than they used to. The inflation rate reaching 9.1% in July of 2022 is just one snapshot of the snowball effect that inflation has on the American dollar.
In reality, the goods Americans purchase are approximately 20% more expensive than they were just a few short years ago. Meanwhile, an analysis by Bankrate found that wages have grown at a slower rate than inflation; roughly 17% since January of 2021.
“If you want to know what inflation is, you just calculate the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index from one point to another,” said John Phelan, an economist with the Center of the American Experiment. “Since Biden/Harris’ inauguration in January 2021, the Consumer Price Index has, indeed, risen by 19.6%. On this count, Teirab’s ad is more accurate than [KSTP’s] disappointingly sloppy ‘fact check.'”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index inflation calculator, one dollar in Jan. 2021 has the same purchasing power as $1.20 does today.
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
