The inflation calculation doesn't include gas or food.
Both major inflation indicators, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Personal Consumption Expenditures (CPE), include energy and food in their calculations.
The the Federal Reserve (technically, the Federal Open Market Committee) uses a modified version of CPE that removes energy and food from the calculation and calls this "core inflation". This is done because food and energy are generally volatile. OPEC deciding to cut oil production or a drought in Brazil that screws up soybean harvests doesn't necessarily represent underlying economic conditions in the US. This is done for FOMC decision making.
Regardless, headline CPI and PCE numbers reported by the BLE and BEA include energy and food prices.
It’s going to take the Fed SERIOUSLY cranking up the prime rate to stop it.
The Federal Reserve controls the Federal Funds Rate, not the Prime Rate.
The Prime Rate is a benchmark indicator (generated from bank surveys) for consumer borrowing, primarily fixed rate mortgages and credit card rates.
The Federal Funds Rate is the foundation of the Prime Rate (and most all borrowing), but they are not the same thing. They generally move in the same direction, but not at the same rate.
For example: In the past 12 months, the Federal Funds Rate has increased 10x, from 25 basis points (.25%) to 250 basis points (2.5%). In the same 12 months, the Prime Rate has increased 1.69x, from 3.25% to 5.50%.
Nobody
sets the prime rate. It is an indicator, not a control.