CNBC Anchor Confronts Trump Econ Chief Over Inflation 'Increasing for 5 Straight Months'
Source: MEDIAite
Nov 11th, 2025, 12:59 pm
CNBC anchor Carl Quintanilla confronted Trump White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett over inflation on Tuesday, noting it has been “increasing for 5 straight months” as of September.
Due to the government shutdown, there hasn’t been a Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report measuring inflation since the September Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, which showed an increase of 3 percent over the prior year and a .3 percent increase over August.
Last week, Republicans lost big on Election Day in an electoral bloodbath that President Donald Trump chalked up to factors that included “affordability” — which he then repeatedly claimed to have already solved. On Tuesday’s edition of CNBC’s Money Movers, Hassett was praising the “trajectory” of inflation when Quintanilla cut in to ask if he was taking the five months of increases into account — not counting October:
KEVIN HASSETT: And the trajectory is really, really, really good if you look at it. And inflation is one of those things that has a lot of momentum, if you look at the charts, and the momentum right now is headed really towards the Fed’s target.
CARL QUINTANILLA: Even though– so even though it’s been increasing for five straight months as of September?
Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/cnbc-anchor-confronts-trump-econ-chief-over-inflation-increasing-for-5-straight-months/
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Last edited Wed Nov 12, 2025, 08:56 AM - Edit history (1)
Comparing the CPI index in September over its June value, and annualizing it. Just like what is commonly done in the quarterly GDP reports.
CPI data series: https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUSR0000SA0
It's not comforting to me at all that the last 3 months have averaged 3.6% (annualized) for both the CPI and the core CPI. The 3 month average is my favorite gauge of RECENT inflation. The 1 month number can be dismissed as a "one off", while the 12 month average (year-over-year) has too much old data in it to be considered a good measure of RECENT inflation -- half the months are March 2025 or older (pre-Liberation Day tariffs) for example. Four of the months are Biden-era months.
Regular CPI
12 month aka year-over-year
Here's the year-over-year precentage increase numbers (probably the source of the claim that inflation has been rising over the last 5 months)
CPI data series: https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUSR0000SA0
Click on "More Formatting Options", and on the page that appears,
Check the checkbox: "12-Month Percent Change"
YEAR: Jan Feb Mar etc. etc.
2024: 3.1 3.2 3.5 3.4 3.2 3.0 2.9 2.6 2.4 2.6 2.7 2.9
2025: 3.0 2.8 2.4 2.3 2.4 2.7 2.7 2.9 3.0
The core CPI graphs, along with the ones above, are at: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3552722
News report from the source: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm
CPI data series: https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUSR0000SA0
CORE CPI data series: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUSR0000SA0L1E
