“Inflation rose again in April, continuing a climb that has pushed consumers to the brink and is threatening the economic expansion,“ CNBC reports.

“The consumer price index, a broad-based measure of prices for goods and services, increased 8.3% from a year ago, higher than the Dow Jones estimate for an 8.1% gain.”

“President Biden on Tuesday sought to reassure Americans the administration has a viable plan to fight inflation as gas prices Tuesday surged to a new high despite White House efforts to stabilize them,” the Washington Post reports.

Said Biden: “I know families all across America are hurting because of inflation. I want every American to know that I am taking inflation very seriously.”

New York Times: “For the 158 million who are employed, prospects haven’t been this bright since men landed on the moon. As many as half of those workers have retirement accounts that were fattened by a prolonged bull market in stocks. There are 83 million owner-occupied homes in the United States. At the rate they have been increasing in value, a lot of them are in effect a giant piggy bank that families live inside.”

“This boom does not get celebrated much. It was a slow-build phenomenon in a country where news is stale within hours. It has happened during a time of fascination with the schemes of the truly wealthy (see: Musk, Elon) and against a backdrop of increased inequality. If you were unable to buy a house because of spiraling prices, the soaring amount of homeowners’ equity is not a comfort.”

Jonathan Chait: “Inflation is, by far, President Biden’s gravest problem. It is eating up the wage gains thrown off by the hot labor market and forcing the Federal Reserve to risk triggering a recession by raising interest rates. It is the main cause of his anemic approval ratings and the terrifyingly high probability that a dangerously authoritarian Republican Party will win the 2024 election.”

“There isn’t a button Biden can push to make the whole problem go away. But there is a button he can push to make some of the problem go away. The mystery is why he hasn’t pushed it.”

“That button is to rescind the tariffs imposed by his predecessor, which were created by executive order, and could be reversed the same way.”

Nearly 40% of popular baby formula brands were sold out at retailers across the U.S. during the week starting April 24, USA Today reports.

President Biden is preparing a major speech Tuesday to address inflation, and will contrast his plans to lower costs for American families with those offered by congressional Republicans, Axios reports.

Associated Press: “The economy now has, on average, two available jobs for every unemployed person. That’s the highest such proportion on record.”

As a point of confirmation, there are many new job listings on Political Job Hunt.

“The U.S. economy added slightly more jobs than expected in April amid an increasingly tight labor market and despite surging inflation and fears of a growth slowdown,” CNBC reports.

“The unemployment rate was 3.6%, slightly higher than the estimate for 3.5%.”

“More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week but the total number of people collecting jobless aid is at its lowest level in more than 50 years,” the AP reports.

A new CNN poll finds only 23% of Americans rate economic conditions as even somewhat good, down from 37% in December and 54% last April.

“In early 2020, many companies said the pandemic would change everything for consumers. And it did—for a while,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Now many Americans are resuming their prepandemic habits: rocking out at crowded concerts, doing deadlifts next to strangers at the gym and stocking a standard supply of toilet paper. Airlines, restaurants and child-care centers, which relied on government loans to stay afloat during Covid-19’s peak, can now hardly keep up with demand.”

“The resiliency of the American consumer has been a hallmark of modern history. After events such as Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans or the attacks of 9/11, people have shown they will snap back to doing many of their favorite things, given time. Rarely has it happened so broadly and rapidly as now, two years after a devastating global pandemic began.”

“Job openings and the number of times workers quit reached the highest levels on record in March, as a shortage of available workers continued to pressure the U.S. labor market,” the Wall Street Journal reports.