The wild ride of pandemic consumer prices
09 May 2021
Data: U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics; Chart: Michelle McGhee/Axios
Consumer prices have been more volatile over the past year than at any point in decades — for good reason.
Why it matters: Congress has tasked the Federal Reserve with ensuring price stability when it comes to consumer prices overall. But the price of a broad basket of goods and services can be pretty steady even if the various components inside that basket are gyrating wildly.
The big picture: It's impossible to have shutdowns, shortages, and a massive reconfiguration of the global economy without significant price disruption, which is exactly what we've seen over the past year.
The intrigue: Because of the complexity of the economy, some of the disruptions can be counterintuitive or unexpected.
- While the price of pork chops has risen by 11% since January, the price of ham has been flat. And while bananas have fallen in price by 1.3%, fresh fruit excluding bananas, apples and citrus has risen by over 11%.
- The price of car and truck rentals has had a particularly striking trajectory, falling by 23% between January and May of 2020, and then rising by 61% between May 2020 and March 2021 — for an overall rise of 24%.
The bottom line: There's no indication that price volatility is over. Many of the biggest price moves have taken place in the most recent months.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.