On today’s show we will look at the US inflation rate going back up to 3.2%, what does this mean for persons living in America? Also the US House has just passed a bill that could force TikTok to sell the company or be banned for good from the nation. The US inflation rate has risen again to 3.2% this time as President Joe Biden puts the American economy at heart of his re-election. Many analysts had expected the inflation rate to remain at the 3.1% it was a month prior. Policymakers on the other hand are believed to be trying their best to get inflation down to 2%. The interest rate cuts that should have occurred in March 2024 have now been pushed back to June or even later due to the economy currently in a stalled stage. The economy has performed much better than expected to the inflation and high interest rates, but is believed to have dampened President Biden’s policies and how he sells them to voting Americans and so this poses great risk for the US Economy. The CPI grew by 0.4% over it’s January 2024 rate to end February at 3.2%. The sector that saw the largest increase in the CPI was Transportation Services which was 9.9% and grew by 1.4% over its previous month. Airline fares increased by 3.6% over the month. This is the largest indicator within the transportation sector and suggested that as the time gets warmer, more people will be seeking to explore within the country and also abroad, so the demand for airline tickets will increase. The US House of representatives has just passed a bill that could either force TikTok to sell their business or be banned from the United States. TikTok owners ByteDance has been given 6 months by the house of representatives to either sell a controlling ownership of their company, or be banned from the USA altogether. President Joe Biden has stated that if the bill does make it through the Senate, he will be signing it as soon as it reaches his desk. This could stir up even more diplomatic tensions between the already very fragile two nations. ByteDance, the Beijing based company is actually registered in the Cayman Islands and has offices all across Europe and the United States of America. Bytdance was founded in 2012, has over 110,000 employees globally with offices spanning across 30 countries and they serve over 2.5 billion persons globally. ByteDance has generated US$82.5 Billion Dollars in revenue for 2022 and the company has made over US$6 Billion Dollars net profits. ByteDance originally founded Musical.ly, but had shut it down after a few years and merged the app with their very popular Chinese one, TikTok, upon which they were now able to penetrate other markets and expand outside of China. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who is currently visiting Washington, had said in a video that if TikTok is banned in the US, it would ultimately lead to billions of dollars taken away from content creators and small businesses. The company will have up to 165 days after the bill is signed by President Joe Biden to file a legal challenger. Have a question or just want to share your feedback Get in touch with us at: [email protected]