Prices keep rising, but White House calls it a victory

Is “three” the new “two?” Consumer prices notched another 3% year-on-year increase in September, according to data published from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. No one in Washington seems bothered that this remains well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target.

The headline measure of consumer-price inflation rose 0.3% from August to September, with so-called core prices excluding food an energy increasing 0.2%. But core inflation also hit 3% year-on-year, a signal that households’ purchasing power continues to drop at a rapid pace. The White House press office hailed this as an anti-inflation triumph.

There’s always some excuse or explanation that politicians and Wall Street offer to say this is no big deal. One month it was health care costs, another month shelter, and so on. T