Inflation could be lurking in your valentine tomorrow
Marketplace All-in-One
Marketplace
4.5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 13 February 2025
⏱️ 6 minutes
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Summary
Wholesale inflation ticked up in January, as did consumer price inflation. Valentine’s Day is not immune from these inflationary pressures. The National Retail Federation expects record spending of nearly $28 billion for the holiday — meaning that heart-shaped box of chocolates is going to cost ya. Plus, the Trump administration is moving on to plans for possible layoffs of federal workers and is taking aim at energy efficiency standards for home appliances.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Here, honey, for Valentine's Day, I got you the Consumer Price Index. |
| 0:06.0 | I'm David Brancaccio. First, the Trump administration has closed the window on its buyout offer for federal workers and is moving on to plans for layoffs. |
| 0:15.0 | This after a federal judge lifted a pause on the buyout program, Marketplaces Nancy Marshall-Genser has the latest. |
| 0:21.3 | The White House hasn't officially said how many federal workers accepted the buyout. Reuters is |
| 0:26.5 | reporting about 75,000 signed up for it, about 3% of the federal civilian workforce. The buyout |
| 0:33.2 | offer promised full pay and benefits through September. Federal employee unions who sued to stop it |
| 0:39.0 | point out the judge only said they lacked legal standing and didn't rule on whether the buyout |
| 0:44.3 | offer itself was legal. They say they're assessing next steps and did not say if they would appeal. |
| 0:49.7 | The White House's next steps are outlined in an executive order issued earlier this week to, quote, significantly reduce the size of government. |
| 0:58.2 | The order says federal agencies can hire no more than one employee for every four who leave. |
| 1:03.8 | There are exemptions for workers critical to national security, public safety, law, and immigration enforcement. |
| 1:10.2 | Five unions filed a lawsuit yesterday asking |
| 1:12.7 | a judge to declare the mass firing of probationary and other employees illegal. I'm Nancy Marshall |
| 1:19.3 | Genser for Marketplace. A key priority for the Trump administration and Republican-led Congress is |
| 1:26.1 | reducing the number of federal |
| 1:27.6 | rules and regulations, just one target area. Home appliances, Marketplace's senior Washington |
| 1:33.9 | correspondent Kimberly Adams explains. In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, President Trump |
| 1:39.6 | said he plans to roll back energy efficiency standards for a variety of things we use in our homes every |
| 1:45.5 | day. Sopna Gwala Daula is with the Policy Advocacy Group Alliance to Save Energy. |
| 1:51.5 | There's a wide range of appliance standards and products, and so it includes light bulbs, |
| 1:56.2 | dishwashers, furnaces, showerheads, HVAC and things like that. |
| 2:00.8 | Energy efficiency standards for household appliances and even the smaller items like |
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