Inflation is not only a major political talking point these days, it's also taking a big hit on consumers' budgets. TMJ4's Chief Political Reporter Charles Benson takes a look at this topic for this week's PolitiFact Wisconsin.
Inflation is hitting consumers at the gas pump and grocery stores, but just how fast and by how much is it going up?
"That's at the center of a recent claim from Congressman Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Green Bay. He claimed that inflation has gone up every month of the Joe Biden presidency and just hit another 40 year high," said Greg Borowski with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Let's look at both claims. Inflation is measured by comparing one month in a year to that same month last year. It was at 1.7% in February 2021, which was President Biden's first full month in office.
In March of this year, it was 8.5%
"If you look at the Biden presidency, you see a general increase since he took office with a plateau in the middle of 2021, that is inflation grew then flattened, then grew some more, " said Borowski.
PolitiFact Wisconsin says consumer prices started to slightly tick up during President Donald Trump's last year in office, but inflation has seen its sharpest increases under President Biden.
"In March of this year, prices were 8.5% higher than in March of 2021, and that was the largest monthly jump since 1981," Borowski said.
PolitiFact Wisconsin rated Congressman Gallagher's claim Mostly True.
