Inflation Appears to Be Slowing, so Why Does It Still Feel so Heavy?

WASHINGTON – Inflation and the economy look to be a major issue this election. Both sides are talking about it while Americans are feeling it – at grocery stores, in housing costs, electric bills, and more. And while some economic areas are improving and inflation appears to be slowing, there remains a feeling of heaviness. 

CBN News caught up with voters in one northern Virginia suburb to get a sense of how they're feeling. 

All agreed that the cost of living is too high. 

"Everything is getting expensive and income is not going higher," one woman said. "The houses, the rentals are high, the mortgages are super high." 

And she's not wrong. Rent and electricity bills are up by 10 percent or more over the past two years. Car insurance is up as much as 40 percent in some places according to the Labor Department. 

Yet as heavy as inflation may feel, the increases appear to be slowing. Big ticket items like cars, TVs, plane tickets, and even gas have dropped over the past year. The overall pace of year-over-year inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index, just dropped to three percent, much lower than the high of nine percent only two years ago. 

"Where the confusion I think comes into play is we talk about inflation coming down which is not the same as broadly speaking prices coming down," Mark Hamrick, Senior Economic Analyst with Bankrate, told CBN News.

He says the good news is prices are not increasing like they were. The kicker though is that prices have risen about 20 percent since early 2020, or the start of the pandemic, and that's why it can feel like things aren't getting better, because many prices are still at all-time highs.

"Beneath the surface, we have some prices coming down, some prices still extremely high and so many households don't feel as if we're truly ending the war against high prices, even if the Federal Reserve feels like it's winning the war against inflation," explained Hamrick. 

He says there are some things you can do, like sitting down and coming up with a budget, bargaining for a lower price when possible, and using discounts when they're available. 

"I don't like to admit it, but I was at a grocery store not that long ago and they reminded me at checkout that I could have a senior discount," said Hamrick. "Not exactly what I wanted to hear but it saved me a little bit." 

Inflation and the economy are issues voters can expect to hear a lot about between now and November. And voters in that northern Virginia suburb made it clear that it had them ready to go to the polls.  

"Hopefully after November there is a change and everything goes better," said one man. 

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