For months, the White House downplayed concerns about inflation by describing the steep rise in prices as "transitory"—just a temporary blip related to the pandemic recovery. But as Kevin Liptak writes in a CNN analysis, President Biden didn't use the term Wednesday when discussing the news that inflation had surged to a 30-year high. Biden has no choice but to shift his message—"Did you ever think you'd be paying this much for a gallon of gas?" he asked—given that Americans are facing inflation every day at the gas pump and grocery store, and there's no end in sight. Coverage:
- Context: "The metaphor of frogs in a pot of water has never been a more apt analogy," writes Mark Cudmore in an assessment of rising inflation at Bloomberg. "A year ago, if you had told any investor the inflation ... they would be seeing today, there would have been disbelief and uproar." Since last year, inflation is up a whopping 6.2%.