News

The Graphic Truth: 50 years of US inflation vs interest rates

The Graphic Truth: 50 years of US inflation vs interest rates
Ari Winkleman

Inflation in the US remains at its highest monthly level since the 2008 financial crisis. Right now most economists agree that rising prices are being driven by pandemic-related supply chain disruptions, which the government can do little about. This has given some oxygen to supporters of the Biden administration's big-spending agenda, who now insist that inflation will ease up once supply chain disruptions resolve. Deficit hawks, for their part, still say that the Federal Reserve is overheating the US economy by keeping interest rates low because it hopes inflation will be short-lived. We compare US inflation and interest rates over the past half century, a period in which America has suffered double-digit inflation figures more than once.

More For You

US President Donald Trump speaks about election security during an address to the nation from the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., US, July 16, 2026
SAUL LOEB/Pool via REUTERS

The US president used a primetime address last night to argue America’s election system is broken and vulnerable to “rigging.” He pointed to documents he says show Chinese interference in the 2020 vote. But the evidence Trump offered, along with past assessments from the intelligence community, doesn’t support his broadest claims.