From crab balls to cars, Biden's hometown feels inflation pinch, along with rest of country

Wilmington, United States

A PIZZERIA in President Joe Biden's hometown Wilmington recently took sparkling water off the menu because it got so pricey, managers figured no one would buy it.

At the car dealership that Biden's presidential motorcade occasionally passes when he comes to town, sales people have had trouble keeping new vehicles in stock, while prices for their used models have climbed ever higher in recent months.

Voters in the Mid-Atlantic city gave Biden seven times more votes than his predecessor Donald Trump in last year's election, but business owners now fret as prices rise and public approval in his administration falls.

"Here in Delaware, he's loved. But as time has gone by, we have been lacking the reciprocation," said Serena Kelley Jefferson, co-owner of Serena's Soulfood, whose mother cooked for Biden, and who recently took crab balls off her menu because they became too costly to serve profitably.

Inflation was predicted to increase as the US economy recovered in 2021, but a Wednesday report from the Labor Department showing the consumer price index last month experienced its biggest year-on-year gain in more than three decades was an unwelcome surprise.

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This year's initial price spikes were most severe for products like used cars and airplane tickets. The latest data, however, showed them extending into groceries and petrol, with ripple effects across the economy.

The US inflation rate has been muted for years, and the latest price increases are driven by a mix of factors that might not have occurred without the pandemic.

Supply chains are snarled worldwide from the disruptions caused by Covid-19, while energy costs have risen after global oil prices briefly went negative in 2020.

In the United States, American consumers are flush with cash and spending it with the help of three rounds of stimulus checks and an expanded government social safety net that both Trump and Biden approved.

But businesses haven't been able to keep up, since many people who could work have decided not to. Meanwhile, the global semiconductor shortage has slowed down production across a range of industries, including the auto sector, driving prices higher. AFP