上涨的汽油和柴油价格推动了9月份的通胀上升。劳工部周三的一份报告显示，生活成本指数上涨了3.7%。
Rising gasoline and diesel prices pushed inflation higher in September. The cost of living index was up 3.7%, according to a report Wednesday from the Labor Department.
Isabelle Souriment/Hans Lucas/AFP 夜晚变得更冷，但通胀在升温。
Isabelle Souriment/Hans Lucas/AFP Nights are getting colder, but inflation is heating up.
劳工部周三的报告显示，9月份的消费者价格较去年同期上涨了3.7%。这一年度涨幅高于上个月。
eport from the Labor Department Wednesday showed consumer prices in September were up 3.7% from a year ago. That's a larger annual increase than the previous month.
与美国与伊朗战争相关的能源价格飙升推高了生活成本。8月到9月之间的价格上涨了0.6%。
A spike in energy prices tied to the U.S. war with Iran drove the cost of living higher. Prices jumped 0.6% between August and September.
“情况不容乐观，” 波士顿学院经济学家布赖恩·贝瑟恩说。“众所周知的主要问题当然是汽油价格。但还有取暖油。” 取暖油是柴油燃料的近亲。去年以来，燃油成本上涨了74%，这对依赖取暖油保暖的新英格兰家庭来说是个沉重负担。
"It's not looking good," said economist Brian Bethune of Boston College. "The main problem, of course, that everybody knows is gasoline prices. But also heating oil." Heating oil is a close cousin of diesel fuel. The cost of the fuel oil has jumped 74% in the last year, which is hard on families in New England who rely on heating oil to stay warm.
剔除波动较大的能源和食品价格后，即所谓的“核心通胀”在9月份为2.6%。这一年度涨幅也高于8月份的数据。
Stripping out volatile energy and food prices, what's known as "core inflation" was 2.6% in September. That's also a bigger annual increase than was tallied in August.
人工智能热潮推高了内存芯片的成本，影响了各种消费电子产品。例如，苹果公司上个月将旧型号iPhone的价格每台上调了100美元。
The artificial intelligence boom has raised the cost of memory chips, affecting all sorts of consumer electronics. Apple, for example, raised the price of older model iPhones last month by $100 apiece.
社会保障受领者将获得涨工资 就在通胀报告发布不久后，社会保障局宣布，明年福利将增加3.6%。年度生活成本调整基于7月、8月和9月的价格。福利的增加意味着平均每位社会保障受领者每月将多得75美元。老年倡导团体欢迎这一涨幅。
Social Security recipients will get a raise Shortly after the inflation report was released, the Social Security Administration announced that benefits will increase by 3.6% next year The annual cost of living adjustment is based on prices in July, August and September. The jump in benefits amounts to an extra $75 a month for the average Social Security recipient. Advocates for seniors welcomed the increase.
“这有助于数百万美国人应对杂货、日常账单、医疗保健和其他日常开支的上涨成本，” AARP首席执行官Myechia Minter-Jordan说。
"It helps millions of Americans keep up with rising costs for groceries, routine bills, health care and other everyday expenses," said AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan.
但批评者抱怨，生活成本调整并未反映老年人的实际开支，而这些开支通常包括更高的医疗费用。
But critics complain that the cost-of-living adjustment doesn't reflect seniors' actual expenses, which often include higher costs for health care.
“这对大多数老年人来说甚至不足以维持财政收支平衡，”全国保障社会安全和医疗保险委员会主席马克斯·里希特曼说。
"It won't be enough for most seniors to even tread water financially," said Max Richtman, president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.
对大多数工人来说，能够维持财政收支平衡已经是一种改善，因为他们的工资收入跟不上当前价格的上涨。
Treading water would be an improvement for most workers, whose paychecks are not keeping pace with today's rising prices.
价格上涨速度快于工资增长 9月份平均工资仅上涨3%，因此普通工人的购买力在过去一年里一直在被削弱。
Prices are climbing faster than paychecks Average wages in September rose just 3%, so the typical worker's buying power has eroded over the last year.
“人们有点在说，‘这里有点不对劲，’”贝瑟恩说。“我在更努力地工作。我的生产力更高了。但这并不是一笔公平的交易。”通胀并未达到2002年俄罗斯入侵乌克兰之后的水平。但每当价格开始趋于稳定时，经济就会因新的供给冲击而受到冲击，比如特朗普总统的双位数关税或伊朗战争。
"People are kind of saying, 'Something isn't right with that,'" Bethune said. "I'm working harder. I'm more productive. And this is not a square deal." Inflation is not nearly as high as it was in 2002, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But every time prices start to level off, the economy is rattled by a new supply shock, such as President Trump's double-digit tariffs or the war with Iran.
克利夫兰联邦储备银行行长贝思·汉马克担心，这些冲击的累积效应可能导致通胀更加根深蒂固。汉马克本周向一群经济学家透露，她曾听说过一位克利夫兰地区的零售商，该零售商不仅为了覆盖当前成本而提价，还为了应对未来可能出现的更高成本。
Beth Hammack, who heads the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank, worries the cumulative effect of these shocks could make inflation more entrenched. Hammack told a group of economists this week about a Cleveland-area retailer she'd heard from who is raising prices not just to cover today's costs but the higher costs that may come in the future.
“这可能是一个迹象，表明通胀预期正在形成，”汉马克说。“当人们预期价格会上涨时，他们会基于这种预期做出决策。这可能会成为一种自我实现的预言，使得货币政策更难将通胀拉回下来。”美联储政策制定者将在两周后的会议上权衡新的通胀数据，以讨论利率。目前投资者认为，美联储在10月份上调基准利率的概率约为50-50，以此来对抗通胀。
"This could be a sign that an inflationary mindset is taking hold," Hammack said. "When people expect higher prices, they make decisions with this in mind. It can become a self-fulfilling prophesy that makes it harder for monetary policy to bring inflation back down." Policymakers at the Federal Reserve will weigh the new inflation data when they meet in two weeks to discuss interest rates. Investors now see about a 50-50 chance the Fed will raise its benchmark rate in October in an effort to combat inflation.