Inflation continues to soar, reaching 39-year-high

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Inflation reached a 39-year high on Wednesday, Jan 12. Reports from the U.S. Department of Labor show it’s up 7% — the steepest climb in prices since June 1984. Unlike anything we’ve seen in decades, prices across the board continue to rise.

“It doesn’t take a lot of math to get to the point where we realize we’re in trouble, like this is critical,” said economic expert Carissa Reiniger with Small Biz Silver Lining.

Reiniger said inflation has reached a point where small businesses are hurting the most, and she encourages consumers to spend their money locally to help.

“If we don’t get revenue higher, I think we’re going to see a significant number of small businesses fail in 12 to 24 months,” explained Reiniger.

Many in Washington argue the lockdowns, along with the billions of dollars printed recently by the federal government, have expedited inflation. However, Carissa said she does not believe the economic effect of COVID has revealed itself.

“Multiple small businesses are not going to make it through, PPP funding which was issued on mass as we know and the restaurant relief fund and all these programs, like those funds are drying up. And so, I actually think we haven’t seen the COVID effect yet,” continued Reiniger.

While inflation may be affecting small businesses, it’s also having effects on other things like a person’s average grocery bill.

“I went from maybe $400 a month budgeting for groceries to about $600 which has impacted other things as well,” said local shopper Jaime Triplett.

“There is an increase, but then I’m more conscious of what I’m going to cook and stuff like that,” said Donna Bass, another shopper.

A couple of things you can do to help drive inflation down are going out and buying from local stores and vendors rather than going the convenient route and ordering off Amazon, and adjusting your budget to live more within your financial means.

“I think you have to; you have to adjust...if not then...you’re just gonna be digging yourself a financial hole that you can’t get out of,” said Triplett.

The Federal Reserve has said they are considering raising interest rates over time to bring inflation down.

The White House said they are optimistic inflation will come down in the second half of the year.

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