bust

Does the latest United States consumer price index (CPI) report show that Americans are paying more or less for goods? You might be seeing mixed messaging based on the politicians you listen to or what your social media algorithms surface.

Some say the numbers show President Donald Trump’s success. Others say the opposite.

Every month, the federal Bureau of Labour Statistics publishes the consumer price index, which measures price changes for goods and services, including food, apparel, gasoline and housing. The report is used to assess economic stability and inform policy decisions.

Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida celebrated the July report on the day of its release.

“Another month of inflation coming in lighter than expected. That’s GREAT NEWS for Florida families, and another reminder to trust in Pres. Trump!” Scott posted on August 12 on X, alongside a short Fox Business clip about energy and gas price decreases.

US Representative Kathy Castor, a Democrat from Florida, had a different take.

“Trump is raising your grocery bill to line the wallets of his billionaire friends. Nothing great about this for American families across the country,” Castor wrote in an August 12 X post that included a link to a CBS News story that said in its headline that the index rose in July by 2.7 percent on an annual basis.

Economists told PolitiFact this muddled framing isn’t new, and people from different political tribes use varying metrics to reinforce their views. They said the full picture on the economy’s health and trajectory needs more time to come into focus.

Overall, the report’s numbers are “another dose of modest bad news,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the centre-right policy institute American Action Forum. “It’s not dramatic yet, it’s not a crisis, but it’s not positive.”

Trump’s tariffs, widely watched to see how they affect consumer prices and inflation, are still new and some just went into effect in August.

“Since at least 2021, the CPI reports have become a partisan battleground with both sides cherry picking the data to best support their argument,” said Jason Furman, an economist and professor at Harvard University’s John F Kennedy School of Government who previously served as an economic adviser to former President Barack Obama. “And there is so much data in the CPI report that there is always some way to slice and dice it to support just about any view.”

The CPI report and its meaning

For July, CPI increased 0.2 percent compared with the previous month and 2.7 percent from a year ago. That’s slightly cooler than the 2.8 percent rise economists had forecast, thanks to declines in gasoline and energy prices.

Gary Burtless, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the 2.7 percent 12-month rise in consumer prices for all items is a “bit lower than it was at the start of 2025,” to Trump’s advantage. But the number is also a bit higher than it was from March to July, he said, an advantage for Trump’s critics.

A separate measure, core inflation – which excludes food and energy because they are considered volatile measures prone to large, rapid fluctuations – increased 0.3 percent for July and 3.1 percent from a year ago. This is the first time annual core inflation, which officials use to monitor underlying, longer-term inflation trends, has risen above 3 percent in several months. This outpaces Federal Reserve projections before the 2024 election, which projected 2.2 percent median core inflation for 2025.

“Economists tend to focus on the core because it is less erratic than food and energy prices,” said Dean Baker, cofounder of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research. “Food and energy prices are very important, but big changes in either direction tend to be reversed. Therefore, it is often more useful if we are looking for future trends to look at the core index.”

Despite the uptick, the report was mild enough for investors, as US stocks closed near a record high on August 12. The stock market appears, for now, to be focusing on the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September, given concerns about a cooling labour market. Central bank officials, to Trump’s disapproval, have held rates steady in 2025 as they wait to see tariffs’ effects on the economy.

The July data comes amid a Bureau of Labor Statistics shake-up. After the agency’s downward revision of May and June employment data, Trump fired bureau Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, accusing her of political bias. Trump nominated E J Antoni, an economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation who has criticised the bureau, as the agency’s new commissioner.

The long and winding road of Trump’s tariffs

As the Trump administration highlights the collection of nearly $130bn from the new tariffs so far, many economists expect that businesses will begin passing on the additional costs to US customers.

Goldman Sachs estimated in an analysis shared with Bloomberg that US companies have so far absorbed the bulk of tariff costs – about two-thirds of the levies – while consumers absorbed about 22 percent of the costs through June.

But Goldman Sachs said it expects the consumer share of the costs to soar to 67 percent by October if the tariffs follow previous patterns of how import levies affected prices.

Trump wrote in an August 12 Truth Social post that Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon should replace its economist. “It has been proven, that even at this late stage, Tariffs have not caused Inflation, or any other problems for America, other than massive amounts of CASH pouring into our Treasury’s coffers,” Trump wrote.

Some US companies have avoided passing along higher prices by stockpiling goods ahead of the tariffs’ implementation. Others have absorbed costs to avoid losing customers or are holding off in hopes that courts nix the tariffs.

“That’s just businesses making business decisions,” said Holtz-Eakin, from the American Action Forum. “But there will be a point if the tariffs stay in place at the current levels, where that just won’t be feasible any more.”

Many studies of past tariffs have found that they harm the economy and raise consumer prices.

For now, however, experts agreed that the US economy is in a wait-and-see moment.

Burtless, from Brookings, believes that the effects of tariffs on consumer prices are modest so far, and that price increases across different categories of goods and services appear “inconsistent with the idea that tariffs are the main driver of overall inflation”.

“That may turn out to be the case in the future,” he said, “but not yet.”

Holtz-Eakin also warned about putting too much stock in a single report.

“Never believe one month’s data,” he said. “That’s a rule of life if you’re doing policy work.”

Holidays are all about relaxation, staying in a welcoming hotel and spending days by the pool, but for one traveller their getaway was far from what they expected

Many of us meticulously plan our summer holidays, tracking down the best flights and checking an endless list of hotel reviews to ensure we’re getting the most for our money. But sometimes, even with careful preparation, our holiday can be ruined, and we’re being told to pack our bags as staff tell us the hotel has gone bust, mid-stay!

This happened to one unlucky holidaymaker in the middle of their trip to Turkey. They were asked to relocate the hotel or pay for their stay again, but this was just the start of the bizarre ordeal.

The traveller took to Reddit to share their experience under a post asking for people’s “worst holidays”. The user shared earlier this month: “Went to Turkey years ago and bang in the middle of the holiday, our holiday company went bust.

“The hotel called a meeting and told us all to pack our bags or else pay the bill again. We paid again, thinking that anything was better than being on the streets in a strange land. Our fellow holidaymakers objected, and the staff and guests all fell out. Things were getting heated, so we decided to bail out and return later on in the evening.”

READ MORE: Dad shares eye-watering bill after taking family for Disneyland ‘Princess Breakfast’

They continued: “Fast forward four hours, we landed back to a practically deserted hotel. We were personally welcomed by the manager, who was all over us like a rash from then on. He must have thought we were millionaires, because it turned out that we were the only guests to have paid again.

“We also learned that some of the guests and staff had been arrested for throwing punches and were taken off the premises. The remaining guests were nowhere to be seen, but I read on TripAdvisor afterwards that they had left their luggage in the hotel temporarily until they managed to change their return flights.

“Apparently, when they opened their luggage back at home, they found that it was full of Mars bars, wrappers removed, that had melted in through their clothes. Fun times.”

One user commented on the post with: “That was a wild ride.” Others shared their own holiday from hell stories, including one who was accused of cheating while away with his wife.

They revealed: “Husband and myself went to an all inclusive 3 star in Majorca (this was our big mistake). The hotel was like an episode of Benidorm. On the 1st night we went to the evening entertainment and an English lady asked if she could sit beside us. The place was packed!

“Had a friendly chat for about 20 mins until her coked-up Brock Lesnar look-alike partner stormed in and accused my husband of having an affair with her. He smashed all the drinks off the table and started flipping chairs. Utter chaos! Security was called and some lad managed to calm this roided up psycho down with the offer of a joint. We avoided them like the plaque for the next 7 days although I doubt they remembered who we were!”

READ MORE: Get a ‘fabulous’ tan in minutes with this ‘fast-absorbing’ tan accelerator

If you find out a company you have booked all or part of your holiday has gone bust or is facing an uncertain future, follow this guide so you know what you should do

It’s been a turbulent year for a number of travel firms. On Monday, it was announced that Great Little Escapes, based in Sandhurst in Berkshire, has ceased as an ATOL holder. The Civil Aviation Authority predicted that 141 customers had bookings impacted as a result.

Jetline Travel, a London-based company established in 2000 and parent company of Jetline Cruise, ceased trading as an ATOL holder in March. Now it has been taken into administration.

While a few hundred customers were impacted by JetLine and Great Little Escapes’ troubles, far bigger firms have previously folded, which has had much more significant consequences.

In 2019, Thomas Cook, the world’s oldest travel firm, collapsed, stranding hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers around the globe and sparking the largest peacetime repatriation effort in British history. The firm ran hotels, resorts and airlines for 19 million people a year in 16 countries. It had 600,000 people abroad when it went under, forcing governments and insurance companies to coordinate a huge rescue operation.

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In 2010 British tour operator sun4u collapsed, leaving approximately 1,200 customers stuck abroad.

If you find out a company you have booked all or part of your holiday has gone bust or is facing an uncertain future, here is what you should do.

Get your phone out

As soon as you hear that your airline or holiday company has gone bust, you should sit down with your phone and start making calls.

If you booked with a travel agent, call them first. There’s a good chance that your trip will be protected if you did book through a travel agent, or that they can help you rearrange the impacted part of your trip.

If you can’t contact the travel company, go directly to your airline and accommodation provider to check they have your booking and that your payment has been made. If the booking is there, you should be fine to proceed with your holiday.

Check your paperwork

If you can’t find out if your booking is still in place, and you can’t contact your travel firm because they have ceases operator, then check your paperwork.

If the company you were travelling with was ABTA or ATOL-protected, then you should be okay. ABTA protection offers tavellers financial protection if a holiday company goes bust. The Association of British Travel Agents represents travel agents and tour operators that sell over £37 billion worth of holidays, so there’s a good chance that yours is among them.

The Air Travel Organiser’s Licence (ATOL) has been protecting people booking package holidays since 1973, and by law every UK travel company that sells holidays and flights is required to hold such a licence. You can apply to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for a full refund if your firm goes bust before you travel, and the CAA will arrange to get you home if you’re on holiday when it does.

Good travel insurance may be able to help you out and offer additional assistance on top of what ATOL and ABTA can, but make sure to read the small print.

If you haven’t got travel insurance in place at the point when your holiday company goes bust, your credit card company may be able to step in. If you paid more than £100 for your holiday or flights and booked directly with the holiday company or airline, and paid by credit card, you may be able to claim through the Mastercard and Visa Chargeback scheme.

Card providers may reverse a transaction on your debit card, giving you your money back, if you ask them nicely.