Inflation has risen to a 39-year high, according to the U.S. Labor Department which released its monthly report on Friday, December 10th, 2021.
In November, inflation rose to 6.8% - even higher in the Midwest, to 7.3%. GMQC Financial Expert, Mark Grywacheski with the Quad Cities Investment Group, says that is way above the ideal rate of 2%.
"If there's anything that stands out, it's the speed with which we're seeing inflation rise. In October, consumer prices rose 0.9%. In November, consumer prices rose 0.8%. That's almost a full 1.0% that prices have risen in each of the past two months."
Unfortunately, Grywacheski says there's not much we do to avoid these higher prices:
"Over the last 12 months, food prices have risen 6.1%. But beef prices are up 25% and pork is up 17%. We continue to see a big surge in energy prices, including gasoline and natural gas. And the big concern this winter is that natural gas prices are expected to rise even higher. Natural gas is used to heat about 50% of all US homes and natural gas is expected to rise as much as 50% above last year's prices."
Grywacheski forecasts that inflation will stay high in 2022 and into 2023, staying "I think it will get much worse before it starts to get better."
Click the video above to see our entire conversation on Good Morning Quad Cities on Monday, December 13th, 2021.