Silver State Times

Nevada is experiencing the highest inflation in decades, according to various reports that show some areas like fuel prices skyrocketing. That has, in turn, led to a high misery index.

"We expected inflation would get worse before it got better, but not this much worse,” Robert Frick, corporate economist with Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote in a research note, Axios reported Nov. 10. “Particularly painful is the increase in food prices as we approach the holidays, and the rise in energy prices as we plan to travel more to family get-togethers.”

Prices rose overall 6.2% from a year ago, which is reportedly the largest increase in 30 years, according to Axios. Fuel oil prices increased 12.3% last month, which is much higher than the 3.9% increase in September. The most glaring number is that the fuel prices have gone up 59.1% over the past year. The core consumer price index, which includes the price of goods and services like food and energy, increased 0.6% in October. The headline consumer price index includes all items and increased 0.9%, which is higher than the expected amount of 0.5%.

President Joe Biden said that it is a goal to reverse the inflation trend, saying his recently signed Infrastructure bill is aimed at bringing down costs, reducing bottlenecks and making goods readily available and more cost effective. 

“Inflation hurts American pocketbooks and reversing this trend is a top priority for me,” Biden said, Axios reported.

Fox Business reported that former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin recently said government spending needs to be put on hold to get inflation under control, and that now is not the time to raise taxes, which the infrastructure bill will do.

Former Attorney General Adam Laxalt criticized the role of Democrats in the growing issue of inflation.

“Nevadans are getting crushed by rising prices,” Laxalt tweeted. “What’s Senator @CortezMasto doing about it? Nothing. She’s too busy helping socialist Bernie Sanders pass his progressive wishlist.”

Economist Preston Byrne also tweeted that money is actually losing 1% of its value every 30 days. 

Real average weekly earnings have gone down 1.6% over a year, according to Bureau of Labor Statics release, showing that American spending power has weakened.

If the outlook appears bleak, some might refer to what some economists call the "misery index,” which Zero Hedge says is the sum of the inflation rate and unemployment. It is at 10.5%, which aligns with what the country saw during the Great Recession years. Zero Hedge did have some good news, however, saying that the misery index should decline as supply constraints decrease, leading to lower unemployment and inflation.