Inflation is making it harder to feed and clothe a young family
Though recent inflation is impacting and hindering Americans of all walks of life, resulting price increases are having a more "emotionally powerful" effect on people's ability to feed and clothe their family, Bloomberg reports.
In other words, there are some specific categories on October's CPI that "look even more dramatic" when considering their relevance to growing families.
"Keeping your kids well-fed and clothed is getting more expensive," Omair Sharif of Inflation Insights LLC told Bloomberg. "Baby food prices are up 7.9% year-on-year, the fastest rate of growth since mid-2008, and seem poised to post their largest ever annual growth rate soon."
Meanwhile, infant and toddler clothing increased by 7.6 percent year-on-year, "the second-fastest growth rate in the last three decades," per Bloomberg. With food prices increasing simultaneously, households are likely to lose "disposable incomes available for the purchase of other goods and services," explained Nomura economists in research published Wednesday, adding such an outcome could, however, put "downward" pressure on medium-term inflation.
"Food has something in common with energy – the demand for both is relatively inelastic," the economists wrote.
However, as noted by MSNBC's Chris Hayes, the same families experiencing the effects of rising prices are likely the "very same families" to benefit from President Biden's expanded child tax credit.
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