SPRINGFIELD, Mo. \u2014 Inflation and tariffs still have a hold on the U.S. economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe general public is confused on which tariffs are actually in place and which are not, it\u2019s not surprising because it\u2019s not quite clear,\u201d Dr. David Mitchell, an economist, said. \u201cThe only ones that I know of that are currently in place are the ones dealing with steel and copper. Those have been in place. Those don\u2019t seem to have been removed or diminished in any sense. You have some other ones that are kind of specialized on some goods and services out of China that have been kind of reduced, but haven\u2019t been reduced back to where they were before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell says inflation is still an issue across America.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still have an inflation issue, but prices aren\u2019t going to go back down. When we have a reduction in inflation, what we actually talk about is a reduction in the rate of increase of prices. In order for prices to go back down, that would actually be deflation,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cGetting the prices that you paid five years ago for things is just not going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, on social media, touted positive economic advancements under the second Trump administration, including \u201cBiden\u2019s inflation crisis is defeated; Wages are growing; Prices are falling; Trillions in private investment; $113 billion in tariff revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitchell says that when it comes to the claims on inflation and tariffs, Leavitt\u2019s claim is partly true.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people say inflation was 10% and now it\u2019s say, 3%, what that means is that prices used to go up at 10% a year. Now they\u2019re going up at 3% a year, so you\u2019ve seen a reduction in the rate of increase. They\u2019re still going up, but they\u2019re just going up at a much slower rate,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cIn June for the first time, I think in roughly I think 20 or 25 years, they actually had more coming in than they had going out. So they actually they ran a budget surplus for the month, not for the whole year, but just for a month, and that\u2019s just true. I mean, that\u2019s you can look at the numbers and it\u2019s that\u2019s not, you know, something that\u2019s debatable or anything else to that effect. A lot of that extra did probably come from tariffs, but once again, that\u2019s the tariffs are really basically taxes on consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n
OzarksFirst spoke to people this afternoon about what they\u2019re seeing when they check out.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a matter of fact, every time I go to the store, I feel like everything is risen. It\u2019s higher all the time,\u201d Joyce G. said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not going down. It\u2019s getting worse every day. It\u2019s getting impossible, particularly for young people. They can\u2019t buy a house. I can\u2019t afford food anymore. I have to be very careful. I didn\u2019t used to have to be careful,\u201d Linda Bower said.<\/p>\n
Bower and Joyce G. are also not fans of tariffs overall.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will say that the tariffs are definitely a tax on the American people. We are paying for these prices to go up and for no good reason,\u201d Bower said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was not in favor of them at all, and I don\u2019t know that they\u2019re helping anything,\u201d Joyce G. said.<\/p>\n
Many stores may push sales before tariffs become official, but Mitchell says that\u2019s mostly marketing.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirms bought a whole bunch of inventory ahead of the tariffs to basically stock up on these lower-priced goods. Now, you know, some of the tariffs have hit it and some of them have not. They kind of don\u2019t know when they\u2019ll come in, if they\u2019re coming or how much they\u2019re going to be, and now they\u2019re stuck with a lot of inventory. Inventory is expensive to keep around. You\u2019ve got to insure it. You\u2019ve got to make sure nobody\u2019s stealing it. It\u2019s got to be stored somewhere. You\u2019ve got to transport it from the warehouse. It\u2019s a whole lot easier to sell it,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe minute you start saying inflation, the corporations start raising their prices, even though their costs didn\u2019t go up because they\u2019d already bought the stuff that they\u2019re selling us, they\u2019re price gouging,\u201d Bower said.<\/p>\n
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