US inflation highest in 40 years, with no letup in sight

xfactor

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
US inflation highest in 40 years, with no letup in sight

Inflation soared over the past year at its highest rate in four decades, hammering America’s consumers, wiping out pay raises and reinforcing the Federal Reserve’s decision to begin raising borrowing rates across the economy
By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer
February 10, 2022, 2:35 PM

WASHINGTON -- Inflation soared over the past year at its highest rate in four decades, hammering American consumers, wiping out pay raises and reinforcing the Federal Reserve’s decision to begin raising borrowing rates across the economy.

The Labor Department said Thursday that consumer prices jumped 7.5% last month compared with a year earlier, the steepest year-over-year increase since February 1982.


When measured from December to January, inflation was 0.6%, the same as the previous month and more than economists had expected. Prices rose 0.7% from October to November and 0.9% from September to October.

Shortages of supplies and workers, heavy doses of federal aid, ultra-low interest rates and robust consumer spending combined to send inflation leaping in the past year. And there are few signs that it will slow significantly anytime soon.

Wages are rising at the fastest pace in at least 20 years, which can pressure companies to raise prices to cover higher labor costs. Ports and warehouses are overwhelmed, with hundreds of workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation’s busiest, out sick last month. Many products and parts remain in short supply as a result.

The latest inflation data suggested to some economists that the Fed could raise its key rate in March by one-half a percentage point, rather than its typical quarter-point hike.


James Bullard, the president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, told Bloomberg News that he supported a sharp increase of a full percentage point in the benchmark short-term interest rate by July.

Over time, higher rates will raise the costs for a wide range of borrowing, from mortgages and credit cards to auto and business loans. That could cool spending and inflation, but for the Fed, the decision to steadily tighten credit could also trigger another recession.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled two weeks ago that the central bank would likely raise its benchmark short-term rate multiple times this year.

Stock prices declined after the inflation report was released and fell further after Bullard’s remarks. The broad S&P 500 index fell 1.3% in afternoon trading. The yield on the 10-year bond jumped to 2.03%, a sign that investors see more Fed rate hikes ahead.


Prices for a broad range of goods and services accelerated from December to January — and not just for items directly affected by the pandemic. Apartment rental costs rose 0.5% in January, the fastest pace in 20 years. Electricity prices surged 4.2% in January alone, the sharpest rise in 15 years, and are up 10.7% from a year earlier. Last month, household furniture and supplies rose 1.6%, the largest one-month increase on records dating to 1967.

Food costs, driven by pricier eggs, cereal and dairy products, increased 0.9% in January. New car prices, which have jumped during the pandemic because of a shortage of computer chips, were unchanged last month but are up 12.2% from a year ago. The surge in new-car prices has, in turn, accelerated used-car prices; they rose 1.5% in January and are up a dizzying 41% from a year ago.

“Just as price pressures in some areas ease, inflation in other parts of the economy" is picking up, said Sarah House, an economist at Wells Fargo. “The upshot is that inflation is likely to remain uncomfortably high.”

The steady rise in prices has left many Americans less able to afford food, gas, rent, child care and other necessities. More broadly, inflation has emerged as the biggest risk factor for the economy and as a serious threat to President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats as midterm elections loom later this year.

Among the Americans who are struggling with pricier food and gas is Courtney Luckey, who has changed her shopping habits and taken on additional work shifts at a grocery store in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she lives.

Luckey, 33, used to be able to fill up a grocery cart for $100. Now, she said, $100 barely fills half the cart. Tomatoes have reached nearly $5 a pound, “which I think is ridiculous.” Luckey has switched to canned tomatoes and has begun using coupons for Family Dollar and Food Lion.

To help pay bills, she’s also picked up more hours at a Harris Teeter grocery store. But the store is 30 minutes from her house, so she's had to spend more on gas.

All her forced additional spending has caused Luckey to pull back on the family activities, such as bowling, with her daughter, her brother and his two sons. Those outings now typically happen once a month, rather than every week or two.

In the past year, sharp increases in the costs of gas, food, autos and furniture have upended many other Americans’ budgets, too. In December, economists at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School estimated that the average household had to spend $3,500 more than in 2020 to buy an identical basket of goods and services.

Small businesses have also struggled to deal with higher costs for supplies and labor.

Julio Ortiz, the owner of Gaspachos, which sells fruit cups, smoothies and coffee in Sacramento, said he had to raise prices by about 6%, on average, in November. For some items, prices rose 10%.

“We've seen a spike in pricing for fruits, vegetables, cups, and plates," he said. His company uses compostable packaging, but much of it comes from overseas and has been stuck on ships that haven't been unloaded.

Even excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core inflation jumped 0.6% from December to January and 6% from a year ago.

Many large corporations, in conference calls with investors, have said they expect supply shortages to persist until at least the second half of this year.

Chipotle said it’s increased menu prices 10% to offset the rising costs of beef and transportation as well as higher employee wages. And the restaurant chain said it will consider further price increases if inflation keeps rising.

“We keep thinking that beef is going to level up and then go down, and it just hasn’t happened yet,” said John Hartung, the company’s chief financial officer.

Executives at Chipotle, as well as at Starbucks and some other consumer-facing companies, have said their customers so far don’t seem fazed by the higher prices.

Levi Strauss & Co. raised prices last year by roughly 7% above 2019 levels because of rising costs, including labor, and plans to do so again this year. Even so, the San Francisco-based company has upgraded its sales forecasts for 2022.

“Right now, every signal we’re seeing is positive,” CEO Chip Bergh told analysts.

———

AP business writers Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit and Anne D’Innocenzio in New York contributed to this report.
 

lightbright

Master Pussy Poster
BGOL Investor
Aaaaaand so is your cooning.... coon

ZIb4.gif

.
 

COINTELPRO

Transnational Member
Registered
Hiking the interest rate and deficit reduction is a poor counter measure. People need to moderate their behavior instead of the government.

1. Take cars for example, after watching Youtube videos, do you really need a fourth Tesla or Rivian car? I know you are flush with cash, but is it necessary for your survival. If you don't have a car and need one for work, they should have been bumped up.
2. Work with businesses where you can come in on the slow periods to get your food or other services.
3. Do you need to live downtown as a retiree, where people need to live close to their employer?
4. Refinancing and buying a new house when labor supply is constrained. Your old house will probably have to be renovated for their liking.
5. You go to a drive thru after work, I see the feeble minded cramming into the drive thru when they can get an alternative or come at a different time.
6. Not upgrading every month, using products for longer time period.
7. Wearing your clothes for a longer time period than normal, not buying new every chance you get.

Your 4K TV should be acceptable for awhile. Do you need an 8K OLED display?
 

COINTELPRO

Transnational Member
Registered
I was watching some Youtuber that had an 'old' Model X and sold it for car 'equity'. Some poor soul will buy the car all marked up, overpaying contributing to inflation instead of buying new. She could have reduced her Tesla car count from two to one since she was unable to buy the new Model X showing she really did not need it. Dealerships calling customers asking them to sell their car is contributing to this phenomena. It is better they keep their old car that is only one year old and let the other person get new where the ability to markup/price gouge is limited.

used-cars.jpg


When the delivery dates drop to a week that is when you come into the market for a new car. Instead the Federal Reserve is having to do this for you because of your feeble mindedness clogging up drive through for an hour .

Same thing with housing, if your house looks vintage, you are used to it and don't have to do a gut job up to modern standards. Unless you are moving to a housing market where there is over supply or a labor surplus, than selling makes sense. A new housing builder can hire these people to construct new and increase supply, but they are competing with the renovation project houses.

attachment-Missoula-Home-Renovation.jpg
 

COINTELPRO

Transnational Member
Registered
I never got raising interest rates which causing a huge differential in borrowing for housing. Pumping liquidity into a company where the market has panic and is acting irrational.

They need to spread this out over a bigger base. I think Congress is passing some legislation that will curb inflation while keeping interest rates steady and fair. This is the wrong time to raise interest rates on borrowing costs for suppliers. We need money going in to build factories, reducing interest rates is tamping down on demand.

However, the labor market is the limiting factor. There is a huge labor boom from UBER/LYFT, food delivery drivers, UBER eats, Doordash, from people too lazy to shop or cook.
 

gene cisco

Not A BGOL Eunuch
BGOL Investor

Americans don't want to hear that to successfully fight inflation unemployment has to go up. Most don't even know how this shit works. What politician on EITHER side is going to be honest? It's political suicide to be honest about how inflation is SUCCESSFULLY fought.

Housing market won't cool down in a meaningful way until that high unemployment starts kicking people in the nuts.

Meanwhile, it behooves the white house to lie. And it's nothing against Biden, any president would be lying his ass off right now. Shit is that bad and the solution is PAIN.
 

COINTELPRO

Transnational Member
Registered
gig.jpg


What do they call it the GIG economy which is inefficiently using labor. Imagine we all used fractionalized housekeepers to do our chores, it would create 20 million jobs, and reduce the unemployment rate to nothing. Meanwhile we will have nobody to build housing, cars, agriculture, or work in an oil field.

The pandemic economy has made permanent changes to our use of labor which is not good. Some guy was telling me it is like 20 million jobs from that garbage. I had the feeble minded drop some McDonalds that was delivered incorrectly - it was DoorDash, now we will all suffer when the interest rates are raised. You can't walk to pick up your fucking Happy Meal, you weak piece of shit!

UBER/LYFT is worse, you have fractionalized the cost of a personal chauffeur to drive you around. Pretty soon it will be housekeeping, you use an app and a maid shows up, there will be 10 million people doing this when your lazy ass can just vacuum and sweep your own shit!

Meanwhile the FED is not differentiating interest rates between mortgages and business loans, or doing QE with companies whose products are adversely affected by inflation.
 
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Mrfreddygoodbud

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
US inflation highest in 40 years, with no letup in sight

Inflation soared over the past year at its highest rate in four decades, hammering America’s consumers, wiping out pay raises and reinforcing the Federal Reserve’s decision to begin raising borrowing rates across the economy
By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer
February 10, 2022, 2:35 PM

WASHINGTON -- Inflation soared over the past year at its highest rate in four decades, hammering American consumers, wiping out pay raises and reinforcing the Federal Reserve’s decision to begin raising borrowing rates across the economy.

The Labor Department said Thursday that consumer prices jumped 7.5% last month compared with a year earlier, the steepest year-over-year increase since February 1982.


When measured from December to January, inflation was 0.6%, the same as the previous month and more than economists had expected. Prices rose 0.7% from October to November and 0.9% from September to October.

Shortages of supplies and workers, heavy doses of federal aid, ultra-low interest rates and robust consumer spending combined to send inflation leaping in the past year. And there are few signs that it will slow significantly anytime soon.

Wages are rising at the fastest pace in at least 20 years, which can pressure companies to raise prices to cover higher labor costs. Ports and warehouses are overwhelmed, with hundreds of workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation’s busiest, out sick last month. Many products and parts remain in short supply as a result.

The latest inflation data suggested to some economists that the Fed could raise its key rate in March by one-half a percentage point, rather than its typical quarter-point hike.


James Bullard, the president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, told Bloomberg News that he supported a sharp increase of a full percentage point in the benchmark short-term interest rate by July.

Over time, higher rates will raise the costs for a wide range of borrowing, from mortgages and credit cards to auto and business loans. That could cool spending and inflation, but for the Fed, the decision to steadily tighten credit could also trigger another recession.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled two weeks ago that the central bank would likely raise its benchmark short-term rate multiple times this year.

Stock prices declined after the inflation report was released and fell further after Bullard’s remarks. The broad S&P 500 index fell 1.3% in afternoon trading. The yield on the 10-year bond jumped to 2.03%, a sign that investors see more Fed rate hikes ahead.


Prices for a broad range of goods and services accelerated from December to January — and not just for items directly affected by the pandemic. Apartment rental costs rose 0.5% in January, the fastest pace in 20 years. Electricity prices surged 4.2% in January alone, the sharpest rise in 15 years, and are up 10.7% from a year earlier. Last month, household furniture and supplies rose 1.6%, the largest one-month increase on records dating to 1967.

Food costs, driven by pricier eggs, cereal and dairy products, increased 0.9% in January. New car prices, which have jumped during the pandemic because of a shortage of computer chips, were unchanged last month but are up 12.2% from a year ago. The surge in new-car prices has, in turn, accelerated used-car prices; they rose 1.5% in January and are up a dizzying 41% from a year ago.

“Just as price pressures in some areas ease, inflation in other parts of the economy" is picking up, said Sarah House, an economist at Wells Fargo. “The upshot is that inflation is likely to remain uncomfortably high.”

The steady rise in prices has left many Americans less able to afford food, gas, rent, child care and other necessities. More broadly, inflation has emerged as the biggest risk factor for the economy and as a serious threat to President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats as midterm elections loom later this year.

Among the Americans who are struggling with pricier food and gas is Courtney Luckey, who has changed her shopping habits and taken on additional work shifts at a grocery store in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she lives.

Luckey, 33, used to be able to fill up a grocery cart for $100. Now, she said, $100 barely fills half the cart. Tomatoes have reached nearly $5 a pound, “which I think is ridiculous.” Luckey has switched to canned tomatoes and has begun using coupons for Family Dollar and Food Lion.

To help pay bills, she’s also picked up more hours at a Harris Teeter grocery store. But the store is 30 minutes from her house, so she's had to spend more on gas.

All her forced additional spending has caused Luckey to pull back on the family activities, such as bowling, with her daughter, her brother and his two sons. Those outings now typically happen once a month, rather than every week or two.

In the past year, sharp increases in the costs of gas, food, autos and furniture have upended many other Americans’ budgets, too. In December, economists at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School estimated that the average household had to spend $3,500 more than in 2020 to buy an identical basket of goods and services.

Small businesses have also struggled to deal with higher costs for supplies and labor.

Julio Ortiz, the owner of Gaspachos, which sells fruit cups, smoothies and coffee in Sacramento, said he had to raise prices by about 6%, on average, in November. For some items, prices rose 10%.

“We've seen a spike in pricing for fruits, vegetables, cups, and plates," he said. His company uses compostable packaging, but much of it comes from overseas and has been stuck on ships that haven't been unloaded.

Even excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core inflation jumped 0.6% from December to January and 6% from a year ago.

Many large corporations, in conference calls with investors, have said they expect supply shortages to persist until at least the second half of this year.

Chipotle said it’s increased menu prices 10% to offset the rising costs of beef and transportation as well as higher employee wages. And the restaurant chain said it will consider further price increases if inflation keeps rising.

“We keep thinking that beef is going to level up and then go down, and it just hasn’t happened yet,” said John Hartung, the company’s chief financial officer.

Executives at Chipotle, as well as at Starbucks and some other consumer-facing companies, have said their customers so far don’t seem fazed by the higher prices.

Levi Strauss & Co. raised prices last year by roughly 7% above 2019 levels because of rising costs, including labor, and plans to do so again this year. Even so, the San Francisco-based company has upgraded its sales forecasts for 2022.

“Right now, every signal we’re seeing is positive,” CEO Chip Bergh told analysts.

———

AP business writers Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit and Anne D’Innocenzio in New York contributed to this report.

fed cocksucker made that statement RIGHT when crypto was supposed to take off around tax return season...

Folks really think inflation is organic, and not our tax dollars being stolen through fake wars, and hard earned money,

being stolen by causing food distribution issues, and then raising prices..

all because joe biden is a weekend at bernies president and muthafuckas are having a field day, with that

fucktard at the helm..

I dont care what anybody says, the ukraine got dirt on biden, and our tax dollars he is giving away, is really extortion...

do folks even know ukraine is the human child trafficking capital of the world... now you now how these neo nazi groups

support themselves.. human trafficking and bribing usa president.. they gotta have
something on sleepy do nothing joe..

The global elite at being gluttonous are truly running wild

with that muthafucka feelin up lil girls and fallin off bikes...

he for damn sure aint leading shit, Oh yea, he is leading us UP shit,

shit fuckin RIVER.. how them gas prices doin? l had to change professions because

I aint getting the vaccine and I aint getting no fuckin fake ass vaccine card... fuck that too...

republicans are just closet faggots tryin to play holy christians, democrats are just psychotic

tranny lovers and hollywood pedos, they are truly a party ran by sick fucked up individuals!!!

they both satanic scum tho!!
 

COINTELPRO

Transnational Member
Registered
Here is how the Federal Reserve should have dealt with inflation, the interest rate for businesses should be lowered to boost supply instead of this composite fed fund rate. The interest rate for consumers/us should be increased. When there is too much supply on the market, the Federal Reserve should then step in to reduce consumer interest rate to stimulate demand. The interest rate and QE for businesses should be increased.

 

ORIGINAL NATION

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
We should not forget that around twenty years or more ago the ev1's and ev2's were about to faze the gas cars out then all of a sudden the oil companies and their government partners in crime outlawed them. You had regular people that protested to keep their cars but could not. Either you give up you car or go to jail. Then they took all these new cars and crushed and shredded them to keep them from being duplicated. They kept 4 to put in a museum but the motor and ignition was taken out so you could not duplicate them also. Now the only people with electic cars are the privalged and amazon. The rest of us are being held hostage by the gas prices.
 

COINTELPRO

Transnational Member
Registered


It reminds me of slavery before the cotton gin was invented, needing all this labor. This inefficient fractionalized delivery of groceries, UBER eats, or Doordash is creating huge labor demands; choking off essential businesses. They should be delivering to 40 people in one big refrigerated vehicle.

You need a person shopping for your groceries in a store than another person to drive your food out to your house.

EE1dQ9YXUAA8Slg.jpeg


Wouldn't it be better to pickup your own groceries, than your Happy Meal, than driving your own self without an UBER fractionalized personal chauffer.
 

COINTELPRO

Transnational Member
Registered

I did not realize how big the industry is that just came out of nowhere, no wonder there is not enough labor. We need to bring back slavery, fuck Juneteenth until automation catches up. There are some people/groups (we have already dealt with it) I would like to auction off that could do this work, when they are done, chain them back up. Decimate their professional class and force them into doing this.

12-years-a-slave.jpg


This personal use of your car, making single trips to deliver food is not going to cut it.
 
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gene cisco

Not A BGOL Eunuch
BGOL Investor
Here is how the Federal Reserve should have dealt with inflation, the interest rate for businesses should be lowered to boost supply instead of this composite fed fund rate. The interest rate for consumers/us should be increased. When there is too much supply on the market, the Federal Reserve should then step in to reduce consumer interest rate to stimulate demand. The interest rate and QE for businesses should be increased.


Jesus fucking Christ do I hate those people. Elizabeth Warren is a fucking lawyer. Is she just playing retarded or what? Does she know the Fed had a delayed reaction to inflation and continues to play soft? Didn't an intern brief her that SADLY unemployment must rise to fight inflation?

At this point, all she can do is stfu and ride this shit out. Because just last fucking winter she was blaming corporations instead of getting on Jerome's ass about doing aggressive rate hikes.

Does this batshit bitch want Powell to stop the hikes so Joe can fix the supply chain? :lol: That's not how this shit gets fixed.
 

Entrepronegro

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
America wasn’t this fucked up when Trump was president. It baffles me how much y’all hate Trump but know damn well the country was in better shape when he was in office. This Biden guy that y’all voted for ruined a good thing that Trump had going on.
 

Mixd

Duppy Maker
BGOL Investor

Vid dropped madd bombs and is very good to educate many on how things work in finance.

The only recourse to resolve this is to reset this economy and go back to the gold standard. So these bankers can no longer print money out of thin air. And it's coming...
 

VAiz4hustlaz

Proud ADOS and not afraid to step to da mic!
BGOL Investor
Inflation rose 9.1% in June, even more than expected, as price pressures intensify
  • The consumer price index increased 9.1% from a year ago in June, above the 8.8% Dow Jones estimate.
  • Excluding food and energy, core CPI rose 5.9%, compared with the 5.7% estimate.
  • Costs surged for gasoline, groceries, rent and dental care.
  • Adjusted for inflation, workers’ hourly wages fell 1% during the month and are down 3.6% from a year ago.

Shoppers paid sharply higher prices for a variety of goods in June as inflation kept its hold on a slowing U.S. economy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.

The consumer price index, a broad measure of everyday goods and services, soared 9.1% from a year ago, above the 8.8% Dow Jones estimate. That marked another month of the fastest pace for inflation going back to December 1981.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core CPI increased 5.9%, compared with the 5.7% estimate.

On a monthly basis, headline CPI rose 1.3% and core CPI was up 0.7%, compared to respective estimates of 1.1% and 0.5%.

Taken together, the numbers seemed to counter the narrative that inflation may be peaking, as the gains were based across a variety of categories.
“CPI delivered another shock, and as painful as June’s higher number is, equally as bad is the broadening sources of inflation,” said Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “Though CPI’s spike is led by energy and food prices, which are largely global problems, prices continue to mount for domestic goods and services, from shelter to autos to apparel.”

Up across the board

Energy prices surged 7.5% on the month and were up 41.6% on a 12-month basis. The food index increased 1%, while shelter costs, which make up about one-third of the CPI rose 0.6% for the month and were up 5.6% annually. This was the sixth straight month that food at home rose at least 1%.

Rental costs rose 0.8% in June, the largest monthly increase since April 1986, according to the BLS.

Stock market futures slumped following the data while government bond yields surged.

Much of inflation rise came from gasoline prices, which increased 11.2% on the month and just shy of 60% for the 12-month period. Electricity costs rose 1.7% and 13.7%, respectively. New and used vehicle prices posted respective gains of 0.7% and 1.6%.

Medical-care costs climbed 0.7% on the month, propelled by a 1.9% increase in dental services, the largest monthly change ever recorded for that sector in data that goes back to 1995.

Airline fares were one of the few areas seeing a decline, falling 1.8% in June though still up 34.1% from a year ago. The meat, poultry, fish and eggs category also dropped 0.4% for the month but is up 11.7% on an annual basis.

The increases marked another tough month for consumers, who have been suffering through soaring prices for everything from airline tickets to used cars to bacon and eggs.

Real incomes fall further

For workers, the numbers meant another hit to the wallet, as inflation-adjusted incomes, based on average hourly earnings, fell 1% for the month and were down 3.6% from a year ago, according to a separate BLS release.

Policymakers have struggled to come up with answer to a situation that is rooted in multiple factors, including clogged supply chains, outsized demand for goods over services, and trillions of dollars in Covid-related stimulus spending that has made consumers both flush with cash and confronted with the highest prices since the early days of the Reagan administration.

Federal Reserve officials have instituted a series of interest rate increases that have taken benchmark short-term borrowing costs up by 1.5 percentage points. The central bank is expected to continue hiking until inflation comes closer to its 2% longer-run target rate.
The inflation reading could push the Fed into an even more aggressive position.

Traders upped their bets on the pace of interest rate increases ahead. While a 0.75 percentage point hike is still considered most likely at the July 26-27 meeting, a full percentage point move now has a 37% chance of happening, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

White House officials have blamed the uptick in prices on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, though inflation was already moving aggressively higher before that attack in February. President Joe Biden has called on gas station owners to lower prices.

The administration and leading Democrats also have blamed what they call greedy corporations for using the pandemic as an excuse to raise prices. Corporate profits, however, have increased just 1.3% in aggregate since the second quarter of 2021, when inflation took hold.

However, there is some reason to think the July inflation numbers will cool.

Gasoline prices have come down from their June peak, with a gallon of regular falling to $4.64, a 4.7% drop for the month, according to Energy Information Administration data.

The S&P GSCI commodities index, a broad-based measure of prices for multiple goods, has fallen 7.3% in July, though it remains up 17.2% for the year. That has come as wheat futures have fallen 8% since July 1, while soybeans are down 6% and corn is off 6.6% during the same period.

View from the trucking industry

“I see a light at the end of the tunnel,” said Brian Antonellis, senior vice president of fleet operations for Fleet Advantage, a leasing and asset management company for the trucking industry based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Antonellis expects production capacity to ramp up gradually, helping to create a more competitive environment for an industry that has felt the strain of rising fuel prices, a historically tight labor market and the supply chain issues that have hampered the ability to get products to shelves.

“For probably 10 to 15 years before the pandemic, the industry fell into a stable routine where costs up across the board somewhere between 1 to 3 percent a year. It was easy to budget, it was easy to forecast, it was easy to build into rates,” he said. “The challenge we face today is it’s not that 1-3 percent anymore, it’s 10 to 20 percent depending on what cost bucket you’re talking about.”

Still, he said trucking companies are managing to get through with pricing power and creative financing.

“I do think people honestly are not trying to overcharge the customer,” Antonellis said. “They’re not being predatory about it. But they are trying to find that fine line. What do we pass forward? How do we look at the costs coming in?”

With the U.S. economic picture getting increasingly cloudy, he acknowledged that the industry is not “recession-proof.”

“There are going to be challenges,” Antonellis said. “I don’t think it’s all negative. I do think there will be challenges for the next six months. But I do think we’re on an upswing.”

 
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