Question

Inflation in September is now at the same level as February 2021

Answer 1

After looking through the NBC article, I found that the data used to defend this statement was from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, a government site. It shows a graph of the consumer price index (variation of prices paid by consumers) from January 2019 until September 2024, and it shows that the price levels have gone down to a similar level since before inflation started rapidly increasing in 2021. However, February 2021 shows a level of about 1.5%, and September 2024 shows a level of just below 2.5%, so this statement is technically incorrect. But I think the overall trend makes the statement partially true, just exaggerated by a month, because the level for March 2021 is almost the same as February 2021.

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm

Comments

Great analysis.  Did you consider using the data tools from the same siet like the CPI calculator https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm and work with the raw data?

Answer 2

The claim listed in the title that inflation has cooled to the same level as February 2021 is false, as it was 1.7% in 2021 and as of September 2024 is 2.4%. However, when I opened the article that was not the claim being made. It stated that inflation is at its lowest level since Feb. 2021, which is correct. 

https://www.bls.gov/charts/consumer-price-index/consumer-price-index-by-category-line-chart.htm