Cumulative inflation under President Joe Biden has raised prices for Americans by 16.9%, notes Bob Sellers, host of Newsmax’s “American Agenda.”

While it’s true that the Federal Reserve has succeeded in tamping down the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from a high of 9.1% in June 2022 to 3.2% this past July, inflation in the three years since Biden took office has been nearly 17%, rivaling the 18% inflation during the four-year presidency of Jimmy Carter, Sellers says.

“The Biden administration wants to talk about the current inflation rate having come down to 3.2% — but that’s not what we experience at the grocery store,” Sellers says. “If you add up all the inflation since Biden took office, it’s risen at an alarming rate.”

Rather than concentrating on the CPI itself, the more important figure for American consumers to understand is the CPI-U, or CPI unadjusted rate, one of the most widely used measures of inflation in the United States — including by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Emmy Award-winning anchor explains.

The CPI-U in January 2021 when Biden took office was 261.582, and the July CPI-U figure, the most recent, was 305.691. Calculating the percentage increase between those two figures is how to determine the actual inflation in that time frame.

“That means you and I are paying almost 17% more for goods and services due to inflation,” Sellers says.

“Clearly, the administration doesn’t want to talk about this number, and many of the mainstream media outlets don’t want to talk about it either, possibly because the rate of inflation has gone down, so it’s not as alarming as it was.”

But there may be a more devious reason.

“A lot of them may or may not admit it but are probably rooting for the Biden administration to succeed, especially when they consider the alternative is someone like Trump,” he says.

Looking at the Presidential Inflation Rate (PIR) (see chart), which The Winston Group has calculated using the CPI-U, it’s easier to appreciate why inflation at the checkout doesn’t feel like it’s a mere 3.2% — or abating.

This is undoubtedly why only 36% of U.S. adults approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, which is slightly lower than the 42% who approve of his overall performance, according to the latest poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

“Biden is not rating well on the economy, even though we are not in a recession and people have jobs,” Sellers says. “People still feel like something is wrong with the economy due to their personal experience at the store, traveling, dining, paying their mortgages or rent, or trying to buy a car.

“In all of those areas, people know that the prices they’re paying are way more expensive,” he adds.

Furthermore, food prices under Biden have risen by 18.3%; energy, 37.2%; and rent, 13.5% (see chart).

Economic adviser Stephen Moore, who served in the Trump administration, noted in a recent appearance on “American Agenda” how harmful inflation is to Americans. “Bidenomics is just crushing and squeezing middle-class folks,” he explained.

“And the irony is, Biden said he wanted to get rid of trickle-down economics. You want to know what is trickling down under Biden? Economic misery,” Moore said.

Should the U.S. enter a recession and people lose jobs, inflation will hit Americans even harder, according to economists.

In the past two years, trillions in pandemic-era spending and pent-up consumer demand have propped up the economy, they say.

Some economists, including those at the Capital Group and Oxford Economics, believe the U.S. has already experienced rolling recessions in interest-rate sensitive sectors such as housing, retail, manufacturing, and construction.

While U.S. job growth has continued to defy interest rate increases by the Fed, economists warn that the economy cannot remain resilient forever, and that COVID-19-era buffers will eventually erode.

Moore says small businesses are already hurting under “Bidenflation.”

For now, federal dollars continue to flow from Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure package of 2021, the Inflation Reduction Act; as well as two other pieces of legislation, one providing billions for renewable energy and the second, the CHIPS Act, earmarking $53 billion to boost semiconductor manufacturing.

All told, the federal debt has increased more than $5 trillion under Biden’s administration, U.S. Treasury data shows.

The Fed’s 11 interest rate hikes since 2022 have not “completely taken away what’s principally been fueling the inflation — which is too much spending,” Sellers says. “The Biden administration wanted bigger numbers, and they were willing to take the risk of spending a lot of money.”

The nearly 17% inflation rate under Biden hasn’t been seen since the Carter administration, Sellers says.

For those Americans who wonder why they are still feeling the pinch of higher costs while the White House touts inflation coming down, the TV veteran with more than two decades of experience says it’s simple:

“It’s not your imagination.”

• Stephen Moore to Newsmax: Bidenomics Is Trickle Down 'Misery'
• Stephen Moore to Newsmax: Americans $4K Poorer With 'Bidenomics'
• Fed: Inflation Still a Threat, Could Require Higher Rates
• Inflation, Markets Take a Bite Out of Retirement
• Steve Forbes to Newsmax: Biden Economy Is 'Hitting Headwinds'