Economic Experts React to CPI

Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that headline CPI increased by 3.0% over the past year. Members of the Economic Speakers Bureau shared their reactions and are available for interviews on inflation and how the Fed might respond at its meeting next week:

Alex Jacquez, Chief of Policy & Advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative and former Special Assistant to the President fo Economic Development and Industrial Strategy:

“Prices continue to rise, and families can feel it every time they check out at the grocery store or fill up at the gas pump. Trump’s chaotic economic policies continue to drive up costs for everyday essentials as the job market weakens. Working families are being pummeled by higher prices and the Trump administration has no intention of fixing it.”

Heather Boushey, Professor of Practice at Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, Senior Research Fellow at the Reimagining the Economy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School, and former Member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers:

“While the government shutdown has left us blind to most regular data releases, today's release of new consumer price index data shows an economy where prices continue to rise faster than the Federal Reserve's preferred pace. This is an unnerving economic moment: between high tariffs and the ways that ICE is rounding up employees at workplaces across the country, there are ongoing forces pushing prices upwards, while the lack of a coherent economic agenda from the Trump administration threatens to push the economy into reverse.”

Liz Pancotti, Managing Director of Policy & Advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative:

“Grocery prices continue to rise for American families. Lunchbox staples like deli meat and peanut butter rose by 4.2% and 2.1%, respectively, in just the last month. This comes on the heels of the impending SNAP cliff as a result of the government shutdown that will leave 40 million low-income Americans without vital food assistance benefits unless the Trump administration acts.”

Indivar Dutta-Gupta, Advisor at Community Change:

"Today's inflation report confirms the continued strain on American families under this administration's radical ‘survival of the elitist’ agenda, where the president's wealthy and well-connected friends thrive and the rest of us suffer.

“Gasoline prices surged 4.1% in September, driving significant increases in energy costs that hurt working families the most, especially due to this administration's extremist pro-pollution agenda that undermines working families' wellbeing and freedom. Meanwhile, health care prices are climbing quickly — families now face annual health insurance premiums averaging nearly $27,000, with further sharp increases expected due to the administration's failure to extend health coverage subsidies.

“Instead, this administration and the Congress it controls have prioritized showering their billionaire friends with massive tax cuts while making it harder for regular people to afford basic necessities. Even this week, the administration has said that it will effectively break the law by refusing to fund vital food assistance, which tens of millions of struggling families rely on to manage the increasing cost of living imposed by the Trump Administration. Instead of addressing these economic hardships, they advance policies that enrich the wealthy and make life harder for everyday Americans."