Iowa Economic Development Authority Director Debi Durham highlighted Iowa’s need for housing units and population growth during her speech at a luncheon hosted by the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance at the DoubleTree in downtown Cedar Rapids on Tuesday afternoon.
When measured against prices a year ago, inflation has been easing for eight months. In February, consumer prices climbed 6% from 12 months earlier, down from January’s 6.4% year-over-year increase and well below a recent peak of 9.1% in June. Yet it remains far above the Fed’s 2% annual inflation target.
Dr. Peter Orazem, economics professor at Iowa State University, speaks on the momentum behind high-profile strikes this year, trends with organized labor and what’s on the horizon for unions.
American consumers and nearly every industry will be affected if freight trains grind to a halt next month.
Higher interest rates increase the cost of doing business, which leads to a slowdown in all aspects of business, including hiring, and sometimes leading to layoffs.
Some of the longtime drivers of higher inflation — spiking gas prices, supply chain snarls, soaring used-car prices — are fading. Yet underlying measures of inflation are actually worsening.
Plenty of items are continuing to grow more expensive. Food prices kept surging in July, for example, and have risen 13% from a year ago, the largest such increase since 1979. The costs of rent, medical care and furniture also rose at elevated rates.
Erin Davis, a Cedar Rapids single parent, said most single parents who she knows work two jobs.
Inflation soared over the past year at its fastest pace in more than 40 years, with costs for food, gasoline, housing and other necessities squeezing American consumers and wiping out the pay raises that many people have received.
What used to be a bustling exit on I-80 in Iowa County now is studded with empty buildings since the Wasserbahn Waterpark Resort closed last month. County officials say new boutiques, restaurants and VRBO-style rentals in surrounding towns are picking up the slack.
In Iowa, the average gas price Thursday was $3.924, but topped $4 in many rural areas according to AAA. However, Iowa lawmakers say they’ve heard little talk of suspending state motor fuel taxes -- 30 cents a gallon state tax on gas and ethanol, and 32.5 on diesel fuel.
Americans are doing the main thing that drives the U.S. economy — spending — but accelerating inflation is casting a pall.
Millions of retirees on Social Security will get a 5.9% boost in benefits for 2022. The biggest cost-of-living adjustment in 39 years follows a burst in inflation as the economy struggles to shake off the drag of the coronavirus pandemic.
© 2023 The Gazette | All Rights Reserved.
Daily News Podcast
Daily Newsletters