A little light inflation piffle

I read this comment about inflation from a White House spokesperson while working on Stack the Week:

“The at-expectation May C.P.I. report reinforces that, despite temporary disruptions as a result of Iran’s efforts to subvert the free flow of energy, President Trump’s broader economic agenda continues to deliver meaningful results for the American people,” Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, said in a statement.

This is standard spin your eyes might just jump over. It is also piffle, which is worth a minute.

Why? “The at-expectation May C.P.I. report” means the numbers matched what economists had expected. What they expected was 4.2 percent — the fastest annual inflation in three years. When a tornado wipes out a town as the weatherman predicted, noting that the disaster arrived on schedule does not rebuild the town, or tell anyone anything much. The White House is trying to make surprise the measure of the economy, not the prices people pay, which at the moment are driving the president’s approval rating to the lowest level ever.

“...despite temporary disruptions as a result of Iran’s efforts to subvert the free flow of energy.” It’s not our war, it’s Iran’s war. The construction launders the choice to strike.

“...President Trump’s broader economic agenda continues to deliver meaningful results for the American people.”

Inflation, at 4.2 percent, is higher than the 3 percent when President Trump took office, and for the second month in a row, wage gains are not keeping up with prices — real hourly earnings fell 0.7 percent over the year. So, by the figures in this report, this is not true. Earlier in the week, the New York Fed put out its survey of family finances. One in eight households say their personal finances are much worse than they were a year ago, the largest share since the summer of 2022, when inflation hit a four-decade high. Nearly half say they are worse off to some degree.