Well, that was quite a shock.  We just got confirmation that inflation is starting to accelerate once again.  That is really bad news, because the cost of living has already been stressing people out all over the country.  In fact, one recent survey found that 86 percent of Americans are stressed out about grocery prices.  But it isn't just the cost of food that has been going up.  We have been getting slammed by double-digit price increases in every direction, and that is having enormous consequences.  Our standard of living is eroding with each passing month, and as a result the middle class is steadily shrinking.

On Thursday, we learned that the producer price index increased by 0.9 percent last month.

That was the largest increase that we have seen since June 2022…

The producer price index, which measures final demand goods and services prices, jumped 0.9% on the month, compared with the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.2% gain. It was the biggest monthly increase since June 2022.

Excluding food and energy prices, core PPI rose 0.9% against the forecast for 0.3%. Excluding food, energy and trade services, the index was up 0.6%, the biggest gain since March 2022.

Such a large change in one month was very unexpected.

When Rick Santelli of CNBC heard the news, he totally flipped out…

Headline number is– WHOPPINGLY big! Oh my goodness!

Up 9 tenths of a percent. Up 9 tenths. And if you strip out food and energy, guess what? It's still up 9/10ths. Boy, that equals June of 22!

You're at the March of 22 on the headline to find a bigger number. On the core number, that would come to March of 22 since we've had a number of that magnitude when it was 1.2%. These are kind of COVID distorted numbers.

So what would happen if the producer price index rises by 0.9 percent every month for the next 12 months?