1-17-23 inflation continues to ease

Rising consumer prices in the United States moderated again last month, bolstering hopes that inflation’s grip on the economy will continue to ease this year and possibly require less drastic action by the Federal Reserve to control it.  Inflation eased to 6.5 percent in December compared with 12 months earlier.   Retired Ripon College economist Paul Schoofs says it was the sixth straight year over year slowdown.  On a monthly basis, prices actually slipped 0.1 percent from November to December, the first such drop since May 2020.  Schoofs says while an economic downtown this year is still possible a recession isn’t inevitable.