美国国家公共电台 NPR--No retreat in the summer heat. Inflation blistering at 9.1% in June

No retreat in the summer heat. Inflation blistering¹ at 9.1% in June

Transcript²

Record gasoline prices pushed inflation to a new, 40-year high last month. The Labor³ Department reported Wednesday that inflation hit 9.1% for the 12 months ending in June. Prices rose 1.3% between May and June, with energy costs accounting⁴ for nearly half the monthly increase.

Sariah Masterson had plans this summer for a camping vacation at Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah. But when gasoline prices hit $5 a gallon last month, she and her family scrapped⁵ the five-hour road trip and opted⁶ for a backyard campout at their home in Provo instead.

"I used that money to buy a couple of extra cots and we camped in the back with our kids," she says. "The youngest is two. He woke up in the middle of the night and then we all went back inside."

The high price of gasoline and other goods is interrupting the dreams of a lot of Americans this summer.

Masterson uses an online budget tool, so she's been acutely aware of rising prices this year. She says the high cost of groceries and other bills has quickly gobbled up the pay raise her husband received from his new job as a technical writer last year.

"With the inflation, that extra money is decreasing," she says. "I'm glad we have that cushion, but it's also, jeez, this isn't as comfortable as at the beginning of the year."

Average wages in June were 5.1% higher than a year ago. But prices have been climbing even faster, chipping away at workers' purchasing power.

Bethany Chambliss recently took a new job as a hospital registrar⁷ in Lexington, Ky. The 28-mile commute⁸ from her home in Frankfort was manageable until the price of gasoline took off this spring.

"At $3.50 a gallon, I can handle it," Chambliss says. "But when it shot up to almost $5 a gallon, that raise that I received was completely wiped out."

Chambliss looked at moving closer to work, but found that rents in Lexington were unaffordable. She expects her own rent to jump by 7% when she renews her lease next year.

"If gas prices don't come down or food prices don't come down, that's pinching my budget right to the very limit," she says.

Gasoline prices have dropped sharply since hitting a record high last month. AAA says the average price for regular gasoline on Wednesday was $4.63 a gallon, down about 38 cents from the peak price in June.

But "core" inflation, which excludes volatile⁹ energy and food prices, is also elevated — driven in part by the high cost of new and used cars, medical care, and rent. Core inflation accelerated in June, with prices up 0.7% from May. Annual core inflation was 5.9% in June, down only slightly from 6% the previous month.

Rents have been rising at double-digit rates, with the median monthly cost topping $2000 in May. Shelter costs are one of the biggest factors in the government's inflation measurement. At the same time, rising mortgage rates have pushed home ownership out of reach for many people.

"I've talked about buying a house with my friends and their family," Chambliss says. "It just seems so unattainable right now."

The Federal Reserve has begun to raise interest rates aggressively, in an effort to tamp¹⁰ down demand and curb¹¹ inflation. The Fed's benchmark rate has increased by 1.5 percentage points since March. Policymakers are expected to boost rates by another 0.75 percentage point later this month.

While prices continue to climb at a rapid rate, many people have managed to stay afloat with the help of additional savings¹² that they socked away during the first two years of the pandemic. Bank balances ballooned when many people were unable to spend money on travel or live entertainment. Those savings were supplemented by government relief payments, tax credits, and additional aid.

While most of that government assistance has now dried up, many people are still sitting on thousands of dollars in extra savings that can help them maintain living standards in the face of higher prices.

"Obviously, they're paying a lot more to fill their gas tank and buy groceries and pay rent," says Mark Zandi, chief economist¹³ at Moody's Analytics. "They have less to spend on everything else. But they're using that savings cushion to keep their spending up."

That's important, because consumer spending is the biggest driver of the U.S. economy. Without the extra savings, Zandi warns, shoppers might be forced to cut back, and that could tip the country into a recession.

Zandi thinks price hikes will cool off substantially over the next year. But he acknowledges, he and others have been wrong in the past about how quickly inflation would subside¹⁴.

"If it does not moderate, lower-income households, they're going to blow through this extra cash fairly quickly, and by early next year, probably run out," Zandi says. "That's when things will really get tricky¹⁵ if we don't see lower inflation by then."

1 blistering   

adj.酷热的；猛烈的；使起疱的；可恶的v.起水疱；起气泡；使受暴晒n.[涂料] 起泡

参考例句：

• The runners set off at a blistering pace. 赛跑运动员如脱缰野马般起跑了。
• This failure is known as preferential wetting and is responsible for blistering. 这种故障称为优先吸湿，是产生气泡的原因。 来自辞典例句

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

5 scrapped   

废弃(scrap的过去式与过去分词)； 打架

参考例句：

• This machine is so old that it will soon have to be scrapped. 这架机器太旧，快报废了。
• It had been thought that passport controls would be scrapped. 人们曾认为会放开护照管制。

6 opted   

v.选择，挑选( opt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was co-opted onto the board. 她获增选为董事会成员。
• After graduating she opted for a career in music. 毕业后她选择了从事音乐工作。

7 registrar   

n.记录员，登记员；(大学的)注册主任

参考例句：

• You can obtain the application from the registrar.你可以向注册人员索取申请书。
• The manager fired a young registrar.经理昨天解雇了一名年轻的记录员。

8 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

9 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

10 tamp   

v.捣实，砸实

参考例句：

• Then I tamp down the soil with the back of a rake.然后我用耙子的背将土壤拍实。
• Philpott tamped a wad of tobacco into his pipe.菲尔波特往烟斗里塞了一卷碎烟叶。

11 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

12 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

13 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

14 subside   

vi.平静，平息；下沉，塌陷，沉降

参考例句：

• The emotional reaction which results from a serious accident takes time to subside.严重事故所引起的情绪化的反应需要时间来平息。
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon.围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。

15 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。