Pot activists vow protest after Biden omits thousands of prisoners from mass pardon

 Marijuana activists joined by well-known rappers plan to engage in “civil disobedience” outside the White House and Democratic National Committee offices Monday to push President Biden to honor his campaign pledge to free “everyone” in prison for marijuana after he issued limited clemency this month.

The activists say Biden’s Oct. 6 mass pardon of about 6,500 people charged federally with pot possession was “misleading” because it didn’t free any of the roughly 2,700 people in federal prison for marijuana dealing.

“There’s quite a bit of outrage, actually, in the cannabis community about what just went down,” said Adam Eidinger, one of DC’s most prominent marijuana activists and a coordinator of the protests.

“The whole country seems to think that Biden did something great,” Eidinger told The Post. “But to us, it’s a smokescreen to doing something real. And the real thing is to release people in prison.

“This doesn’t have to be a protest. This could be a celebration. But if you’re not going to release people from prison, we have a real problem with what you’re doing. It’s very misleading and confusing and doesn’t actually help the people we want to help.”

The national group Students for a Sensible Drug Policy and DC Marijuana Justice, whose members led the capital’s successful 2014 pot legalization ballot initiative, are leading the protests. Rappers M-1 of Dead Prez and Redman, along with SSDP members from across the country are expected to participate.

An advertisement says that arrests are “likely” without spelling out the exact plans. Activists will gather outside the White House at the Andrew Jackson statue in Lafayette Park around 10 a.m. and regroup outside the DNC around 4:20 p.m.

The term “civil disobedience” often is a euphemism for smoking marijuana in public, but protesters have been arrested outside the White House in the past for other offenses such as standing in areas where demonstrating isn’t allowed.

The groups organizing the events emailed copies of a letter addressing Biden to White House aides this month threatening to stage the protest.

“We would prefer not to have to escalate our protests, however your administration has thus far refused to release our incarcerated neighbors, friends, and family members and it is therefore our moral duty to mobilize sufficient public attention to your lack of action on this urgent injustice that you promised to address,” the letter said.

“Under your watch, billions of dollars are being made for wealthy corporations, while real people, disproportionately people of color, are wasting their lives in cages,” the letter said.

A White House official told The Post on Friday that Biden “announced and is doing” what he promised as a candidate. The official pointed to a narrowly worded pledge posted to Biden’s campaign website that said “no one should be in jail because of cannabis use.” That statement doesn’t address marijuana dealers, however.

Earlier this month, federal marijuana inmates told The Post they were outraged by Biden’s decision to leave them in prison, despite the president saying during a 2019 debate: “I think everyone — anyone who has a record — should be let out of jail, their records expunged.”

Philadelphia native Joseph Akers, 40, whose 16.5 year sentence for taking part in a marijuana dealing conspiracy is scheduled to end in 2031, said, “Biden fed us rancid hamburger and the media is celebrating as if he served up filet mignon.”

Donald Fugitt, 38, who has about 16 months left in prison for dealing marijuana, said that inmates in his Fort Worth, Texas, prison cheered upon hearing of Biden’s clemency — only to later read the fine print.

“The initial glee turned into yet another let-down,” he said.

Cornelius Berry, 46, said he thought Biden’s pot clemency was “good news” and a step “in the right direction,” but added that “it’s a slap in the face for those of us in prison because Biden’s words when campaigning were no one should be in prison for marijuana.” 

Berry’s 15-year sentence for pot distribution in Texas is scheduled to end in 2029.

Eidinger and local DC pot activists have for years drawn attention to their cause with theatrical stunts.

In April 2016, hundreds of people joined a smoke-in on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House asking President Barack Obama to administratively lower marijuana’s status as a Schedule I drug.

DC activists later gave away free joints to Capitol Hill staffers, for which they were arrested, and snuck marijuana into a congressional office building and rolled joints in the office of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), who was poised to become President Donald Trump’s first attorney general.

Federal marijuana legalization generally is considered inevitable due to broad public support. Since 2012, the federal government has allowed 19 states and two US territories to tax and regulate recreational pot — despite the fact that possession remains illegal under federal law.

Last year, a Gallup poll found 68% of Americans — including half of Republicans — support pot legalization.

As a senator, Biden wrote some of the nation’s harshest federal drug laws and his spokespeople say he remains opposed to legalization — even though Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sponsors a federal legalization bill.

Biden announced his mass pardon earlier this month after Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democratic Senate candidate, urged him to embrace pot reform ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections — even though Biden fired at least five White House staffers last year for past marijuana use.

When he announced the mass-pardon, Biden also encouraged governors to pardon people convicted under state laws for pot possession and extended his own mass pardon to unknown thousands of people convicted locally in DC. He additionally ordered a federal review of whether to reduce marijuana’s schedule within the Controlled Substances Act, which could allow for interstate commerce and easier research of the drug’s medical properties.

Eidinger said that Biden has a chance to head off the planned civil disobedience on Monday.

“If the White House sends out a representative to talk to us or brings in representatives to talk we’ll cancel the civil disobedience,” he said.

“People are sitting in prison for years for selling less cannabis than a dispensary sells in one day” and federally tolerated state-legal business are “cultivating thousands of times as much cannabis as someone who has been given 20-year sentence,” Eidinger added. “We need to empty the jails of all cannabis prisoners. And that’s what this demand is and it has always been.”

Cannabis reform isn’t partisan in Washington. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) is leading legislation that would release the roughly 2,700 federal marijuana inmates and on his last day in office, Trump last year released seven people serving life terms for marijuana — including two men who were given life without parole under the three-strikes provision of Biden’s 1994 crime law.

https://nypost.com/2022/10/21/pot-activists-vow-protest-after-biden-omits-prisoners-from-mass-pardon/

FDA’s vaccines chief sees possibility of more Covid boosters — sooner than he’d like

 Peter Marks, who leads the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccines operation, is still losing sleep over Covid.

Yes, vaccines for all age groups have been authorized or approved. Yes, an updated vaccine is now available. And, yes, multiple products are in use and hundreds of millions of doses have been given in this country.

But Marks said there are other issues that weigh on him.

Chief among them is the fact that, given the rate at which SARS-CoV-2 viruses mutate, Marks thinks it’s conceivable that the booster shot people are getting now may not be the last some will need for the coming year.

“I would be lying to you if [I said] it doesn’t keep me up at night worrying that there is a certain chance that we may have to deploy another booster — at least for a portion of the population, perhaps older individuals — before next September, October,” Marks told STAT

“I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen, but it’s what keeps me up at night, because we see how fast this virus is evolving.”

The messenger RNA vaccines most commonly used in the United States — the products made by Moderna and the Pfizer-BioNTech partnership — can easily be tweaked to update the strains of the virus they target. The speed with which these vaccines can be adapted and produced has revolutionized pandemic response.

But the vaccines as currently designed do not offer long-term protection against infection. Severe disease, hospitalization, and death, yes. But the duration of protection against contracting Covid is short-lived — which could lead to a vaccination cadence that is impractical to try to maintain.

Marks acknowledged this worries him.

“It does,” he said, noting this problem is leading to pressure on the mRNA manufacturers to see if they can improve the durability of their vaccines. “Because there are probably things that can be done to optimize sequences and optimize constructs that would hopefully lead to better mRNA vaccines.”

But the long-term answer, Marks said, doesn’t just rest with vaccines made using mRNA.

“We need to look at other other types of vaccines. And there are those out there that might provide more durable immunity,” he said.

“I would love to see us have a very ecumenical look over all of the available vaccines and all of the vaccines in development to try to see what’s best moving forward,” Marks said. “Not to diss the current mRNA vaccines, but because we owe it to the population to see what might provide the greatest breadth, depth, and duration of immunity against Covid-19.”

Some of this work will take time, especially if federal government funding for next-generation vaccines does not come through. (And there’s currently no indication it will.)

With each successive booster that has been approved, the percentage of people who’ve gotten one has dropped. A bivalent booster, which targets both the original strain of SARS-2 and an Omicron variant, has been available since early September. To date only 19.4 million doses have been administered. The public’s Covid fatigue could disincentivize vaccine manufacturers from trying to produce better, longer-lasting vaccines, Marks suggested.

In the near term, he said he’d be happy if we could get to the point where an annual shot would suffice. “I would consider it a success at this point,” he said.

For the time being, Marks believes Covid vaccines are going to need to be updated on a regular basis, along the lines of what is done with flu vaccines.

Twice a year the World Health Organization convenes influenza experts to study the flu viruses that are circulating and choose strains for the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. The goal is to tweak the vaccine formulas so they target the strains that will be causing the most disease several months later. It is a hit-and-miss — more miss — endeavor.

The expert panel that advises the WHO on Covid vaccines has suggested eschewing that approach with SARS-2. Instead, the group, known as the Technical Advisory Group on Covid-19 Vaccine Composition, recommended updating Covid vaccines with a strain that is genetically highly distinct from the original strain, to broaden the immune system’s experience with SARS-2 viruses, choosing a version of Omicron that is no longer spreading.

When the FDA told Covid vaccine manufacturers what it wanted in updated vaccines, it did not follow the WHO advice to the letter, opting for a version of Omicron that matched the dominant version of the virus at the time the decision was made. (The virus’ rapid evolution means that strain is already being superseded by others.)

Marks said he believes trying to match the virus will be important for the next couple of years.

“What I can say is in … the short term, the next year or two, we are pursuing a flu-like chase-the-variant model,” he said.

Another near-term change Marks foresees include moving to a bivalent primary vaccine, so that anyone who is being vaccinated — whether they’re getting their first shot or their fifth — will get vaccine targeting the original strain and an Omicron strain. At present only booster shots are bivalent.

The FDA is waiting for additional data before making this move, said Marks. “Once we have those data — which we expect in the next few months — we will go to a public advisory committee meeting, probably in the first part of next year to have a discussion about moving things over to the bivalent … primary series.”

In the meantime, Marks is hoping to see an improvement in the uptake of Covid vaccine — primary series and boosters — for young children, where the acceptance rates remain very low. “It is kind of disappointing that a public health measure that is so clearly beneficial has been way under-utilized,” he said.

https://www.statnews.com/2022/10/21/fdas-vaccines-chief-sees-possibility-of-more-covid-boosters-sooner-than-hed-like/

In pre-clinical trials, drug shows potential to combat exaggerated inflammation tied to COVID-19

 Experiments involving animals and human cells conducted at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil suggest that niclosamide, an anthelmintic widely used against tapeworms, effectively inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication as well as the exacerbated inflammatory response that leads to death in many patients with severe COVID-19.

More research is needed to find out whether the effects, described in an article published in Science Advances, are confirmed in patients with the disease, and according to the authors this will require the development of a novel formulation of the drug, as the one currently available from pharmacies is orally administered and would not affect the lungs.

"The commercially available niclosamide pills aren't absorbed by the stomach and therefore act against intestinal worms. They won't be any use to combat COVID-19 if taken orally. To surmount this problem, it will be necessary to develop a formulation that delivers the drug directly to the lungs," said Dario Zamboni, last author of the article.

Zamboni is a professor at the Ribeirão Preto Medical School (FMRP-USP) and affiliated with the Center for Research on Inflammatory Diseases (CRID).

According to Zamboni, the anti-inflammatory effects of niclosamide observed in the study were due to inhibition of an immune system mechanism known as the inflammasome, a protein complex present in the interior of defense cells. When this cellular machinery is activated, pro-inflammatory molecules called cytokines are produced to warn the immune system that more defense cells need to be sent to the site of the infection.

Previous research by the FMRP-USP group showed that inflammasomes in severe COVID-19 patients are typically more activated than normal and remain so even after the virus has been eliminated from the organism, causing an exaggerated systemic inflammatory response known as a cytokine storm that injures the lungs and other organs.

Zamboni stressed, however, that niclosamide should not be used prophylactically to prevent exacerbated inflammation. "A little inflammation is important to combat infection by pathogenic microorganisms," he said. "Exaggerated inflammation is the problem, as is often the case in severe COVID-19. We're not recommending prophylactic use of the drug, since this could even hinder a recovery by mild or moderate COVID-19 patients."

Niclosamide has been on the market for many years and is mainly prescribed to treat taeniasis (tapeworm infection). It has recently aroused interest among researchers due to claims of potential antiviral action.

According to the authors of the Science Advances article, niclosamide promotes autophagy, a vital process that removes and recycles unwanted or damaged molecules from the body's cells. When this process of autophagic cell cleansing is induced, old organelles are destroyed, cellular components are recycled and inflammasomes are deactivated. The process also inhibits replication of SARS-CoV-2 inside cells.

The researchers began the study by screening 2,560 compounds, many of which are already used in humans, in a search for substances capable of inflammasome modulation. This involved infecting human defense cells in vitro with Legionella, a bacterium known for inflammasome activation.

After selecting the three most promising drugs, the researchers tested them on mice infected with SARS-CoV-2 and white blood cells from COVID-19 patients. They also tested the effects of these drugs on macrophages and monocytes, front-line immune cells intensely involved in COVID-related inflammasomes. Niclosamide produced the best results.

To investigate its antiviral action, the researchers tested it on monocytes infected in vitro with SARS-CoV-2. "Niclosamide's antiviral action was already known. Indeed, phase 1 clinical trials involving treatment of COVID-19 patients with the drug are under way right now. Our discovery that it induces autophagy and inhibits inflammasomes offers additional information on the immunomodulatory functions of this highly promising drug," Zamboni said.

Effects on other diseases

The discovery of an inflammasome-inhibiting drug opens up prospects of novel therapies for other conditions involving inflammation, such as autoimmune and neurodegenerative disorders, flu, some kinds of cancer, and infectious diseases such as zika, chikungunya and Mayaro fever.

"The study focused on COVID-19, but in theory niclosamide should also promote inflammasome inhibition in these other cases. Our results point to numerous other research possibilities," Zamboni said.

---

Explore further

Mechanism that triggers the inflammatory process by Mayaro virus is discovered

---

More information: Letícia de Almeida et al, Identification of immunomodulatory drugs that inhibit multiple inflammasomes and impair SARS-CoV-2 infection, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abo5400

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-10-pre-clinical-trials-drug-potential-combat.html

Different stem cells responsible for repair of different kinds of bone injuries

 New research from Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) found that different skeletal stem cell (SSC) populations contribute to repair of different kinds of bone injuries.

In the study, published in Cell Stem Cell, researchers identified distinct cell markers that allowed them to track SSCs in the bone marrow inside of bones versus SSCs in the periosteum on the outer surface of bones. They found that while bone marrow SSCs are responsible for the ongoing production of bone cells in normal bones and the repair of certain bone injuries, periosteal SSCs are primarily responsible for fracture repair.

SSCs must generate new bone cells throughout life to maintain and repair the skeleton. The skeleton is unusual in that it has multiple kinds of stem cells that reside in different regions of bone, including within the bone marrow and in the periosteum. After bone injuries, like fractures, SSCs in the bone marrow and periosteum begin to proliferate but make very different contributions to bone repair.

Researchers in the Morrison lab found that bone marrow SSCs repair smaller, stabilized bone injuries and are responsible for new bone growth under normal conditions during adulthood. In contrast, periosteal SSCs are primarily responsible for the repair of larger, unstabilized injuries like fractures. Surprisingly, researchers also found that periosteal SSCs regenerate not only bone but also cells within the bone marrow at the fracture site, giving rise to new bone marrow SSCs.

"The discovery that different bone-forming stem cells are responsible for different aspects of bone maintenance and repair will allow us to focus future bone regeneration efforts on the correct stem cell population," said Sean Morrison, Ph.D., the Director of CRI and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.

Historically, the contributions of bone marrow versus periosteal SSCs to bone repair has been debated, in part because few markers have been available to distinguish these cell populations. To overcome this roadblock, postdoctoral researcher Elise Jeffery, Ph.D., systematically compared 11 genetically engineered mouse lines that were previously used to label bone-forming cells to identify markers that could distinguish periosteal SSCs from bone marrow SSCs.

They discovered periosteal SSCs were marked by a signaling protein called Gli1, while bone marrow SSCs were marked by leptin receptor and adiponectin. These findings are consistent with previous research from the Morrison lab that found leptin receptor-positive bone marrow SSCs are a major source of new osteoblasts for bone maintenance and repair.

"The findings in this study open up several new avenues of research into the signals that activate different types of skeletal stem cells in response to bone injuries. We hope to harness this information to ultimately tailor the treatment of patients based on their type of bone injury, and to identify new therapeutic targets that promote fracture healing," said Dr. Jeffery, a Damon Runyon Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow.

---

Explore further

Avoiding hip replacement: How stem cells can treat avascular necrosis

---

More information: Elise C. Jeffery et al, Bone marrow and periosteal skeletal stem/progenitor cells make distinct contributions to bone maintenance and repair, Cell Stem Cell (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2022.10.002

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-10-stem-cells-responsible-kinds-bone.html

After 30 years -- new guidelines for weight-loss surgery

 Two of the world's leading authorities on bariatric and metabolic surgery have issued new evidence-based clinical guidelines that among a slew of recommendations expand patient eligibility for weight-loss surgery and endorse metabolic surgery for patients with type 2 diabetes beginning at a body mass index (BMI) of 30, a measure of body fat based on a person's height and weight and one of several important screening criteria for surgery.

The ASMBS/IFSO Guidelines on Indications for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery -- 2022, published online today in the journals, Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases(SOARD) and Obesity Surgery, are meant to replace a consensus statement developed by National Institutes of Health (NIH) more than 30 years ago that set standards most insurers and doctors still rely upon to make decisions about who should get weight-loss surgery, what kind they should get, and when they should get it.

The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) is the largest group of bariatric surgeons and integrated health professionals in the United States and the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO) represents 72 national associations and societies throughout the world.

"The 1991 NIH Consensus Statement on Bariatric Surgery served a valuable purpose for a time, but after more than three decades and hundreds of high-quality studies, including randomized clinical trials, it no longer reflects best practices and lacks relevance to today's modern-day procedures and population of patients," said Teresa LaMasters, MD, President, ASMBS. "It's time for a change in thinking and in practice for the sake of patients. It is long overdue."

In the 1991 consensus statement, bariatric surgery was confined to patients with a BMI of at least 40 or a BMI of 35 or more and at least one obesity-related condition such as hypertension or heart disease. There were no references to metabolic surgery for diabetes or references to the emerging laparoscopic techniques and procedures that would become mainstay and make weight-loss surgery as safe or safer than common operations including gallbladder surgery, appendectomy, and knee replacement. The statement also recommended against surgery in children and adolescents even with BMIs over 40 because it had not been sufficiently studied.

New Patient Selection Standards -- Times Have Changed

The ASMBS/IFSO Guidelinesnow recommend metabolic and bariatric surgery for individuals with a BMI of 35 or more "regardless of presence, absence, or severity of obesity-related conditions" and that it be considered for people with a BMI 30-34.9 and metabolic disease and in "appropriately selected children and adolescents."

But even without metabolic disease, the guidelines say weight-loss surgery should be considered starting at BMI 30 for people who do not achieve substantial or durable weight loss or obesity disease-related improvement using nonsurgical methods. It was also recommended that obesity definitions using standard BMI thresholds be adjusted by population and that Asian individuals consider weight-loss surgery beginning at BMI 27.5.

Higher Levels of Safety and Effectiveness for Modern-Day Weight-Loss Surgery

The new guidelines further state "metabolic and bariatric surgery is currently the most effective evidence-based treatment for obesity across all BMI classes" and that "studies with long-term follow up, published in the decades following the 1991 NIH Consensus Statement, have consistently demonstrated that metabolic and bariatric surgery produces superior weight loss outcomes compared with non-operative treatments."

It is also noted that multiple studies have shown significant improvement of metabolic disease and a decrease in overall mortality after surgery and that "older surgical operations have been replaced with safer and more effective operations." Two laparoscopic procedures, sleeve gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB), now account for about 90% of all operations performed worldwide.

Roughly 1 to 2% of the world's eligible patient population get weight-loss surgery in any given year. Experts say the overly restrictive consensus statement from 1991 has contributed to the limited use of such a proven safe and effective treatment. Globally, more than 650 million adults had obesity in 2016, which is about 13% of the world's adult population. CDC reports over 42% of Americans have obesity, the highest rate ever in the U.S.

"The ASMBS/IFSO Guidelines provide an important reset when it comes to the treatment of obesity," said Scott Shikora, MD, President, IFSO. "Insurers, policy makers, healthcare providers, and patients should pay close attention and work to remove the barriers and outdated thinking that prevent access to one of the safest, effective and most studied operations in medicine."

The ASMBS/IFSO Guidelines are just the latest in a series of new recommendations from medical groups calling for expanded use of metabolic surgery. In 2016, 45 professional societies, including the American Diabetes Association (ADA), issued a joint statement that metabolic surgery should be considered for patients with type 2 diabetes and a BMI 30.0-34.9 if hyperglycemia is inadequately controlled despite optimal treatment with either oral or injectable medications. This recommendation is also included in the ADA's "Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes -- 2022."

Story Source:

Materials provided by American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Dan Eisenberg, Scott A. Shikora, Edo Aarts, Ali Aminian, Luigi Angrisani, Ricardo V. Cohen, Maurizio De Luca, Silvia L. Faria, Kasey P.S. Goodpaster, Ashraf Haddad, Jacques M. Himpens, Lilian Kow, Marina Kurian, Ken Loi, Kamal Mahawar, Abdelrahman Nimeri, Mary O’Kane, Pavlos K. Papasavas, Jaime Ponce, Janey S.A. Pratt, Ann M. Rogers, Kimberley E. Steele, Michel Suter, Shanu N. Kothari. 2022 American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) and International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO): Indications for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, 2022; DOI: 10.1016/j.soard.2022.08.013

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/10/221021093735.htm

Fed appeals court temporarily blocks Biden student loan forgiveness program

 A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked President Biden’s student loan forgiveness program from continuing following an appeal from six GOP-led states, multiple outlets reported.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit ruled Friday the the policy to cancel thousands of dollars in student loan debt should be put on hold while challenges play out.

The Biden administration must respond to the case before the appeals court by Monday evening.

Biden’s plan would cancel up to $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 per year. Those who received Pell Grants could receive up to $20,000 in relief.

The ruling comes after a federal district judge dismissed the states’ lawsuit on Thursday, ruling that they did not have standing to sue.

The president announced earlier on Friday that over 22 million people applied for student loan debt forgiveness following the application’s release earlier this week.

The attorneys general originally filed the lawsuit in September, arguing that the Biden administration does not have the authority to cancel the debt because Congress did not authorize it.

But U.S. District Judge Henry Autry ruled that they did not demonstrate they are directly harmed by the relief, which is needed to meet the standard of having standing. He did note that they presented “important and significant” challenges to Biden’s plan.

Multiple legal challenges have been filed to the loan forgiveness plan. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected an emergency bid from a group of Wisconsin taxpayers to block the plan on Thursday.

The Biden administration has argued that it is authorized to cancel debt through the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003. The legislation allows the secretary of education to cancel debt to student loan borrowers in times of “national emergency.”

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/3699170-federal-appeals-court-temporarily-blocks-biden-student-loan-forgiveness-program/

Inflation forces more Americans to consider getting a second job

 More than half of working Americans are considering working a second job as painfully high inflation rapidly erodes their purchasing power. 

That's according to a new survey from Qualtrics International, which showed that 38% of workers have looked for a second job. Another 14% are considering searching for another job, according to the survey of 1,000 full-time U.S. employees. 

At the same time, 18% of workers said they have relocated to an area that has a lower cost of living to reduce expenses. An additional 13% had a plan to do so. 

The Labor Department reported last week that average hourly earnings for all employees declined 3% in September from the same month a year ago when factoring in the impact of rising consumer prices. On a monthly basis, average hourly earnings dropped 0.1% last month when accounting for the inflation spike. 

By that measure, the typical U.S. worker is actually worse off today than a year ago, even though nominal wages are rising at the fastest pace in years. 

That's because consumers are confronting scorching-hot inflation, which has quickly diminished their purchasing power. 

The government said last Thursday that the consumer price index, a broad measure of the price for everyday goods, including gasoline, groceries and rents, rose 0.4% in September from the previous month. Prices climbed 8.2% on an annual basis. 

Those figures were both higher than the 8.1% headline figure and 0.2% monthly increase forecast by Refinitiv economists, a worrisome sign for the Federal Reserve as it seeks to cool price gains and tame consumer demand with an aggressive interest rate hike campaign. 

In an even more concerning development that suggests underlying inflationary pressures in the economy remain strong, core prices, which strip out the more volatile measurements of food and energy, climbed 0.6% in September from the previous month. From the same time last year, core prices jumped 6.6%, the fastest since 1982. 

Inflation has created severe financial pressures for most U.S. households, which are forced to pay more for everyday necessities like food and rent. 

The burden is disproportionately borne by low-income Americans, whose already-stretched paychecks are heavily impacted by price fluctuations. 

Although households continued to see some reprieve last month in the form of lower gas prices, which fell 4.9% in September from the previous month, other price gains proved persistent and stubbornly high. 

The cost of groceries climbed 0.7%, putting the 12-month increase at 13%. Consumers paid more for items like cereal, chicken, milk and fresh vegetables.

Shelter costs, which account for about 40% of the core inflation increase, climbed 6.6% over the past year, the fastest since February 1991. 

Rent costs jumped 0.8% over the month and 6.7% on an annual basis. Rising rents are a concerning development because higher housing costs most directly and acutely affect household budgets. Another data point that measures how much homeowners would pay in equivalent rent if they had not bought their home climbed 0.8% in September from the previous month. 

https://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/unrelenting-inflation-forces-more-americans-consider-getting-second-job