BEAUMONT, Texas — Experts said an inflation surge is raising costs for businesses, which is, in turn, hurting consumers' wallets.
Inflation is at the highest it has been in 40 years, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
“This is all peaking at the same time, just, I’ve never seen anything like this before,” John McCollough, Lamar University professor, said.
McCollough said not only is inflation the highest he has seen since he was in college, but as of now, it’s even worse. He said there are various factors that can be blamed for the surge.
“The lockdown, the supply chain bottleneck that resulted from the pandemic, and then, on top of that, Russia invading Ukraine which drove up the price of gasoline,” McCollough said.
In addition to all those factors, McCollough believes baby boomers retiring and the labor shortage have added salt to the wound.
"All these things are hitting the firms' bottom line," he said. "Energy prices, the supply chain bottleneck, and the labor shortages. And this is driving up the costs for the businesses, and they have to pass on these costs to the consumer."
Gas, food, flights, and rent are items most impacted by inflation, according to USA Today.
While Southeast Texans could continue to pay more for these things, McCollough believes residents may see lower prices at the pump compared to other states, thanks to our access to oil and gas.
"Plus, we don't put as much state fuel. The state doesn't put as much of a tax on fuel as other states,” McCollough said
Frankie Randazzo owns Madison's on Dowlen Road and other restaurants. He said rising fuel and food costs have forced him to make adjustments to avoid raising his prices.
"I'd rather take an item off of the menu than to charge an exurbanite amount,” Randazzo said.
Randazzo said even during COVID-19, he did not see price increases as he has seen recently. He owns a restaurant in Lake Charles and has had to adjust his employees' hours due to worker shortages.
"Five, six nights a week at this point because we don't have enough staff. We don't wanna burn them up during lunch and then not have the quality dinner,” Randazzo said.
McCollough believes there needs to be more competition in the U.S. market in order to drive down prices.