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Inflation (CPI)
About This Indicator
What Is CPI?
The Consumer Price Index tracks the prices consumers pay, scaled so 1982 to 1984 prices equal 100: a reading of 300 means prices three times as high. Inflation is how steeply the line climbs, not how high it sits.
Why Does It Matter?
Inflation erodes what paychecks, savings, and fixed incomes buy, and a version of this index sets Social Security's cost-of-living raise. At 2% a year prices double in about 35 years; at 7%, in about ten.
Can Politics Influence It?
Mostly at one remove. The main lever is the Federal Reserve, independent of the White House since 1951, which raises interest rates when prices climb too fast. A war, an oil embargo, or a pandemic can steepen this line under any administration.
Key Idea
When inflation cools, prices still rise, only more slowly. Going back to old prices takes a falling price level, as in the Great Depression: prices fell about a quarter from 1929 to 1933, and by 1933 about a quarter of the workforce was jobless.
Scored: Closest to 2% Ranks Best
Source: BLS. CUSR0000SA0 from 1947; CUUR0000SA0 before.
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