January’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) was just released.
It was expected to show year-to-year inflation at 2.5% – which would have been excellent news.
But it wasn’t at 2.5%.
It was at 2.4%. Even better news.
But how does that stack up to the previous administration?
Here’s your answer. The chart shows CPI from January 2021 (the last month of Donald Trump’s first presidential term – in rust, through the Biden years (from February, 2021 through January, 2025) – in blue, to the current Trump term – in rust again:
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Ave |
| 2026 | 2.4 | Avail. March 11 |
|||||||||||
| 2025 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 3.0 | – (*) | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.6 |
| 2024 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
| 2023 | 6.4 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 4.9 | 4.0 | 3.0 | 3.2 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 4.1 |
| 2022 | 7.5 | 7.9 | 8.5 | 8.3 | 8.6 | 9.1 | 8.5 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 7.7 | 7.1 | 6.5 | 8.0 |
| 2021 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 5.4 | 5.4 | 5.3 | 5.4 | 6.2 | 6.8 | 7.0 | 4.7 |
| 2020 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.2 |
That clear enough for you?
Now let’s see how Democrats attempt to portray this either as bad news, as good news that they, rather than Trump and Republicans, are responsible for, or both.
I suggest sitting back with a tall drink and popcorn. This should be entertaining.
