like i did with preservision dire new numbers this morning, showing inflation costs soaring to new heights. it rose to the highest level in four decades, since ronald reagan was president. gas prices dropped from last month, which is good news. joining me now is president biden s senior advisor and top economic advisor to president obama and clinton.
struggling right now with skyrocketing inflation costs, including record high gas prices. on that subject, president biden today sent a new letter to major oil companies urging them to ramp up supply in hopes of lowering prices for drivers. and as cnn s kaitlan collins reports, he warned he s looking at using his emergency powers if the companies do not act. they need to increase supply. with no relief in sight for higher gas prices, the biden administration is ramping up the pressure on big oil. we re asking them to be in this era where we re on a war footing to consider increasing supply. in a new letter, president biden is demanding to know why refineries aren t putting more oil on the market and warning he s prepared to use his emergency authorities to increase output. biden accusing companies of taking advantage of the crisis, writing that in a time of war, refinery profit margins well above normal being passed directly on to american families
raising of the interest rates is not going to help things like fuel prices largely which are imported from abroad. directly, anyway. that is a reality and we have to take the prices available in the global market. it does on the other hand help with a very robust and strong housing market, which is also an enormous contributor to the inflation costs. i know it is popular that we talk about oil prices and we talk about the cost of food and all of that, but actually if you look at the inflation, by far larger than oil orfood is the inflation, by far larger than oil or food is the cost of rent, and that has been going up rent, and that has been going up largely because interest rates have been very, very low for a very long time, and that has led to a huge boom in the housing market. find has led to a huge boom in the housing market. has led to a huge boom in the housing market. and when we had the dire warnings housing market. and when we had the dire warnings from housing market.
dana: diners are dishing out more money at restaurants as strapped owners get creative with new fees on top of their meal to help deal with inflation. bryan llenas is live on restaurant row in new york city. there is a kitchen fee and bar fee. what did you learn? yeah, dana, good morning. more and more restaurants are adding service fees in an effort to offset rising inflation costs as well as gas prices. in fact, the number of restaurants that added service fees has increased 36% since april of 2021 according to light speed, a restaurant software company, which also reports fee revenue has nearly doubled over the last year. some of the extra service fees are listed on checks in this way. non-cash adjustment, fuel surcharge, kitchen aappreciation, wellness fee, inflation fee, covid-19 surcharge fee. this macaroni grill, a national
hopefully this new plan will help. jamie yuccas with all the details, thank you so much. we turn now to the economy and the panic on wall street as the country s largest retailers warn of rising inflation costs and fears of a recession grow. all three major indexes posted big losses with the dow falling more than 1100 points or more than 3.5% purpose both the nasdaq and s&p 500 were off more than 4%, with the s&p having its worst day since june of 2020. cbs ed o keefe has more from the white house. reporter: it was the biggest one-day point drop in two years on wall street as the nation s top retailers warn price spikes are affecting their bottom line. target announced a 52% crop in profits last quarter, blaming the growing costs of gas and transportation. its stock lost a quarter of its value. other retailers took double-digit hits, following walmart s stock performance yesterday, the worst in more than 30 years. the global economic slowdown