Inflation hits 3-year high, highlighting affordability challenge for Americans

[dalton99a]

https://apnews.com/article/consumer-prices-inflation-war-gas-878f6759c93fcb078aeefffe19d4dfa5

Inflation hits 3-year high, highlighting affordability challenge for Americans
By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
Updated 8:31 AM CDT, June 10, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rising gas prices pushed inflation to its highest level in three years last month, a headache for the Federal Reserve and a potential political challenge for the Trump administration as midterm elections near.

Consumer prices rose 4.2% in May from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday, up from 3.8% in April and the third straight increase. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.5% last month, after big gains of 0.6% in April and 0.9% in March.

Inflation had been cooling before President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs in April 2025, which lifted the costs of many goods. Prices have since surged after the Iran war made oil and gas more expensive, making affordability a key political issue.

More expensive diesel fuel has lifted shipping costs, with companies like UPS and FedEx adding fuel surcharges in the past couple of months. That is likely to push up grocery prices, which jumped 0.7% in April and are 2.9% higher than a year ago.

...

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. MaddowBlog-Trump professes his 'love' of inflation as consumer costs reach a 3-year high

Last edited Wed Jun 10, 2026, 03:44 PM - Edit history (1)

Inflation continues to grow faster than wages, which necessarily exacerbates the affordability crisis for American consumers.

U.S. inflation surged again in May, pushed higher by the effects of the war in Iran - MS NOW apple.news/AteXedGBsQhi...

— Ms. Kevin (@kkalmes31.bsky.social) 2026-06-10T13:04:18.267Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/u-s-inflation-surge-may-2026-war-iran

For months, Donald Trump and White House officials had a habit of insisting that the president had delivered an economy with “no inflation.” The public has heard a lot less such talk lately, and there’s no great mystery as to why. CNBC reported:

The consumer price index, a broad gauge of goods and services costs across the U.S. economy, rose at a seasonally adjusted 0.5% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 4.2%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Both numbers were in line with the Dow Jones consensus.

Inflation climbed above 4% for the first time in three years, though the increase met expectations amid concerns over how much the surge in energy prices would impact the economy. The level was the highest since April 2023 and above the 3.8% level from April.

Asked for his reaction to the developments, Trump said the latest inflation data was “great,” adding, “I love the inflation.” (He went on to claim that his love for inflation is based on a secret program that takes Iranian oil. It’s unclear whether that program exists in reality.)

Q: Are you concerned about the latest inflation numbers that came out this morning?

TRUMP: No, I love it. I love the inflation. You know why? Because as soon as this war is over -- do you know we've been taking out millions of barrels of oil? You know who doesn't know? Iran until right now.

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-06-10T16:08:03.927Z

As for what’s driving the discouraging data, it is — to the surprise of no one — energy costs that are pushing prices higher, which is the direct result of the war with Iran.

Perhaps most importantly, NBC News’ report emphasized that inflation’s rise “has surpassed wage growth,” which necessarily exacerbates the affordability crisis gripping American consumers......

And no one is buying it. The latest national CNN poll found that 77% of respondents, including a majority of Republican voters, agreed that Trump’s policies have increased the cost of living. The same poll found that just 30% of Americans approve of the president’s handling of the economy, a career low for the Republican across both terms. That mirrored the results of the latest national Associated Press poll.

[dalton99a]

4. +1

[Prairie Gates]

2. MAGA believes "affordability" is a made-up word, gas prices are "not that high" and

Americans are happy to pay "a little extra" at the supermarket if it means we can destroy the Iranian navy twice a month.

[Johonny]

3. Forever wars tend to be bad...

[Doodley]

5. Inflation around the world, caused by Trump's war, will negatively impact US exports, throwing the whole

tariffs rationale out the window.

[Johnny2X2X]

6. Inflation is just so hard to get a handle on

It's kind of an abstract group of things that cause it, some of which are hard for experts to get their arms around. It can snowball, especially in a strong economy. But I think this economy has enough weakness to control this some.

But it's an unknown. Predicting how high it goes is risky. 5%? 6%? 10%? No one really knows.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

7. These are horrible numbers with real wages actually shrank last month by 0.8%.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[MichMan]

8. That last chart shows just how high it was in 2022 & half of 2023

Not close to that yet