US inflation skyrockets to 8.6% as ExxonMobil ‘makes more money than god’
Inflation in the United States is rising sharply, heaping pressure on President Joe Biden to keep prices under control.
Economy
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“Ugly” inflation is rising faster than expected in the United States with experts warning the Federal Reserve should be “worried.”
Inflation surged to a new four-decade high in May. Government data released on Friday revealed an annual increase of 8.6 per cent. Economists had predicted 8.3 per cent.
Consumer prices jumped 1 per cent in May, compared to just 0.3 per cent the month before.
US President Joe Biden blamed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and supply chain challenges related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He also accused oil companies of taking advantage of eye-watering petrol prices and slammed ExxonMobil for making “more money than god.”
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“I’m doing everything in my power to blunt Putin’s price hike and bring down the price of gas and food,” he said Friday while speaking at the Port of Los Angeles.
“We’re better positioned [than] just about any country in the world to overcome the global inflation we’re seeing and to take the next step towards forming a historic recovery.”
The Liberal Economic Policy Institute wrote on Twitter the inflation figures were “pretty ugly” and causing pain for workers and families. The think tank expects inflation to start to decelerate later this year.
Analysts at TD Securities said in a report there was no way to sugar-coat the rise.
“The 1970s called and it wants its inflation back. The [inflation] report should be of great concern for the Fed,” the analysts wrote, according to the New York Times.
Prices jumped for goods including housing, groceries, airline fares and used and new vehicles, setting new records in multiple categories, the Labor Department revealed.
Biden took aim at oil companies, singling out ExxonMobil for not producing more oil.
“Exxon made more money than God this year,” he said, advocating increasing taxes on oil companies.
ExxonMobil reported massive profits in the first three months of the year despite lower oil and natural gas volumes, as crude prices rose after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden noted oil companies have 9000 permits to drill but were “not drilling”.
“Why aren’t they drilling? Because they make more money not producing more oil,” Biden said in comments at the Port of Los Angeles hours after the government released a devastating inflation report reflecting soaring energy prices.
And with the higher profits, “they’re buying back their own stock, which should be taxed quite frankly,” he added.
“Buying back their own stock and making no new investments.”
After a dreadful 2020 amid Covid-19 lockdowns that devastated petroleum demand, oil companies returned to profitability in 2021 and have continued to see earnings skyrocket this year.
Biden said the government had released 30 million barrels of reserve oil and repeated his call to approve legislation to go after firms such as shipping companies that are taking advantage of limited competition to impose steep price hikes.
But he acknowledged the rising inflation was a severe problem, saying in an earlier statement the United States “must do more — and quickly — to get prices down.”
– with AFP
Originally published as US inflation skyrockets to 8.6% as ExxonMobil ‘makes more money than god’
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