President Biden praised Wednesday’s report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that inflation continued to fall in July, but acknowledged that “prices are still too high” as millions of Americans struggle with living costs that remain higher than before Biden took office.

The Labor Department said Wednesday that the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a broad measure of the cost of everyday goods such as gasoline, groceries and rent, rose 0.2% in July from the previous month, in line with expectations. Prices rose 2.9% from the same period last year, the lowest inflation rate since March 2021.

“We still have more to do to reduce costs for hardworking Americans, but we are making real progress: wages have risen faster than prices for 17 consecutive months,” Biden said in a White House statement.

Data from the Labor Department shows that the costs of housing, electricity, car insurance and meals away from home have all increased by double digits since January 2021.

Inflation rises by 2.9% in July, less than expected

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics indices, housing costs rose 22.1 percent in July. Rental costs rose 0.3 percent during the same period and are up 5.1 percent from the same period last year.

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Food costs 1.1 percent more than last year, and compared to January 2021 – before the inflation crisis began – prices have risen by more than 21 percent.

Food costs rose 0.2 percent last month, up 2.2 percent from a year earlier. The out-of-home consumption index rose 0.2 percent, while food costs rose 0.1 percent.

While energy prices remained unchanged in July after falling in the previous two months, electricity costs are now 28.5 percent higher than before Biden took office.

While prices for new and used cars fell in July, car owners are faced with exploding insurance costs. Car insurance premiums rose by 1.2 percent in July; prices have risen by an astonishing 18.6 percent compared to the same period last year.

The cost of auto insurance has risen a whopping 54.7% since Biden took office.

US real estate prices have just reached a new historic high

Biden acknowledged that for many American families, “prices are still too high.”

“Big corporations are sitting on record profits and not doing enough to lower prices,” Biden said. “That’s why we’re cracking down on the pharmaceutical industry to lower prescription drug prices. We’re cutting red tape to build more housing, while also cracking down on corporate landlords who are unfairly raising rents.”

“And we are cracking down on price gouging and junk tariffs to lower everyday costs from grocery shopping to air travel,” the President continued.

Biden also attacked Republicans, saying they would “raise prices for middle-class families while cutting taxes for billionaires and big corporations.”

However, Trump delivered a speech in Asheville, North Carolina, on Wednesday in which he sharply criticized both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, for mishandling the “booming economy with no inflation” he left them in January 2021.

“I gave Harris and Biden an economic miracle, and they quickly turned it into an economic nightmare with a nation-destroying agenda straight out of Kamala’s liberal San Francisco playbook,” Trump said.

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“You are paying the price for Kamala’s liberal extremism at the gas pump, at the supermarket checkout, and on your mortgage bill,” the former president added.

Fox Business’ Megan Henney and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.

Source of the original article: How it began … What’s next: The cost of accommodation and car insurance is still higher than when Biden took office