Traditionally many might expect inflation to rise around 2% per year, and if it goes up dramatically over that and then comes down only a little bit then we start to hear that 'inflation is getting better' or 'inflation is coming down,' which seems like a bit of a reach as far as coming back down to a range that people might be readily familiar with.
Coming down a little bit from an amount that people were already struggling with isn't really a win for them, is it?
Who are they trying to fool with talk of inflation getting better?
The people know how the cost of living has directly impacted their budgets. They go to the grocery stores regularly and continue to buy fast food, order online, and engage with various services. They know whether or not the standard of living is getting better or worse. If they start to have to make cuts on services and goods because their wages aren't rising to keep up with inflation then there doesn't seem to be enough media convincing in the world that could effectively condition them to believe that things have gotten better.
The narrative that things are getting better won't be true in their circumstances until they see an easier standard of living as far as cost goes. Surprisingly though, many might blame the cost of things like food on grocery store companies and not on those who are behind monetary policy that has brought us to this point.
How much are businesses themselves to blame and should those behind the monetary policies face any of the burden with regard to the failure around the economy as to where we see things now? If we cannot figure out how the problem got this bad in the first place then how can there be an effective strategy to make it better?
This is not financial advice, posted for information purposes only.
Sources:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-poll-inflation-impact-living-standards-opportunity-2023-12-10/
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/americans-credit-the-fed-for-inflation-cooldown-in-consumer-survey-1.1960250
https://news.yahoo.com/poll-77-percent-of-americans-now-say-inflation-is-personally-affecting-them-and-57-percent-blame-biden-210739716.html