NASHVILLE, TN—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, today released the following statement in response to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Real Earnings releases from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), showing that consumer prices rose and real earnings fell again in October:
“As the American people prepare for the season of Thanksgiving, they can thank President Biden and his disastrous policies for inflation, soaring prices, and falling real wages. We saw today that the Consumer Price Index for October rose another 0.9 percent from where it was just in September—which is more than 10 percent on an annualized basis—Jimmy Carter level misery. Americans’ average weekly earnings adjusted for inflation cratered by 10 percent on an annualized basis from September. This reduction in real wages, net of Biden’s inflation, is a massive broad-based tax on every hard-working American. I hear it every day from the people of Tennessee who are trying to put fuel in their vehicle, buy everyday groceries or pay rent: everything is much more expensive and personal budgets are being severely strained. I’ve said before that this isn’t a pig-in-a-python moment, and the Biden Administration’s continued out-of-touch claims that rising prices are transitory is highly offensive to working people all across the country. Tennesseans know that more of President Biden and the Democrats’ out-of-control taxing-and-spending and far-left energy-killing policies will make inflation worse, which is why I continue to stand firm in my opposition to their radical proposals.”