As was the case in all western economies, inflation surged in the US...The US was less exposed than Europe to higher gas prices and the peak in inflation was lower at 9.1% than in the eurozone (10.6%) and the UK (11.1%) and has subsequently declined to 2.4%...But prices in the US are markedly higher than they were when Biden entered the White House as president and it is this, rather than the current inflation rate, that appears to have affected the public mood.
That's the thing. Economists only focus on the rate of inflation, as if people will be indifferent to inflation so long as the year-over-year rate of increase is low enough. But even at a relatively low annual inflation rate of between 2% and 3%, consumers are going to realize after only a few years that things have gotten noticably more expensive, especially if the price increases effect big monthly necessities, like rent, food, and energy. A lower inflation rate doesn't mean prices are going down, it just means prices aren't going up as quickly. Things are still getting more expensive, and they're going to continue to get more expensive, forever. That's the plan, that's how our monetary system works. It's not a bug, it's a feature.