Category: Inflation
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
The Coming Great Inflation / Economics / Inflation
By: Michael_J_Kosares
The table displayed immediately below is likely to surprise even our most-jaded readers. It shows the astronomical increase in cash prices for well-known food commodities over the past 12 months. With inarguable exactness, it contradicts the nearly constant prattle in the mainstream press that inflation is under control, or that it is peaking and likely to come under control sometime soon. Some items on the list have doubled -- even tripled -- in price over the past year. Others have risen at mere double-digit rates.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
U.S. Consumers Continue to Struggle as Inflation Accelerates / Economics / Inflation
By: Money_Morning
Kerri Shannon writes:
The accelerating U.S. inflation rate reached its fastest pace in two and a half years last month as consumers continue dealing with higher food and energy prices.
The consumer price index (CPI) in April rose 3.2% over the last 12 months, the biggest yearly jump since October 2008. That's up from a yearly jump of 2.7% in March and 2.1% in February. The CPI in April increased 0.4% from the previous month.
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Tuesday, May 17, 2011
U.S. Inflation Data: Actual vs. Fed’s Forecast / Economics / Inflation
By: Asha_Bangalore
April inflation data point to an upward trend of both the all items Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the core CPI, which excludes food and energy (see Chart 1). The data suggest that in as much as the Fed views the recent gains in energy and other commodity prices as "transitory," the level of concern could change fast if the economy gathers steam. In the three-months ended April 2011, the core CPI has risen at an annual rate of 6.2%.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Bank of England's Phony Inflation Panic, Greece Bankrupt Again, Silver Crash 2011 / Economics / Inflation
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The week saw the Merv (Britain's version of the Bernank) step forward and utter excuses as to why he now expects UK inflation to 'temporarily' soar above 5% this year on the official CPI measure (that significantly under reports real inflation as experienced by the general population). Mervyn King in a smoke and mirrors presentation all but blamed speculators for the surge in commodity prices with expectations that UK energy prices would surge by 15% later in the year.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
U.S. Consumer Price Index, Dichotomy Between Overall and Core Price Inflation Persists / Economics / Inflation
By: Asha_Bangalore
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% in April after a 0.5% increase in March. The CPI has posted gains between 0.4% and 0.5% for five consecutive months, putting the five month annualized change in the CPI at 5.8%. Under other circumstances the Fed would view the recent readings of overall inflation as severely inflationary and engage in suitable monetary policy actions to prevent further increases in prices. The present situation is different.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Inflation Fears: Real or Hysteria? / Economics / Inflation
By: Ellen_Brown
Debate continues to rage between the inflationists who say the money supply is increasing, dangerously devaluing the currency, and the deflationists who say we need more money in the economy to stimulate productivity. The debate is not just an academic one, since the Fed’s monetary policy turns on it and so does Congressional budget policy.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Inflationary Reality Always Comes After “Recovery” / Economics / Inflation
By: Dr_Jeff_Lewis
Inflation watchers should be witnessing already the reality of the inflationary cycle; companies are cutting down their product sizes, cutting corners on packaging, and most importantly, raising prices. A few household names like Nike, McDonalds, and Walmart have indicated that it is inflation that is driving up their costs of doing business, and now they’re looking for ways to pass on the costs.
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Wednesday, May 11, 2011
U.S. Rising Inflation Pressures, as Non Oil Import Prices Also Advance / Economics / Inflation
By: Asha_Bangalore
Rhetoric from the Fed has held that recent gains of commodity prices are "transitory." Economic data have been supportive of this stance. Core consumer prices are yet to show worrisome readings and inflation expectations remain anchored. Against this backdrop, new inflation reports will be tracked closely. The Consumer Price Index will be published on May 12; import prices were published this morning.
Friday, May 06, 2011
The Great Myth of the Inflation Cure / Economics / Inflation
By: Douglas_French
Parents probably dream of sending their kid to the University of Chicago. Next to the Ivy League or Stanford, the Chicago school is near the top of the heap. Only 27 percent of applicants are admitted. To be among the roughly 15,000 means prestige and an education to build a lifetime on. The cost for tuition and fees: $39,381. Room and board is another $12,000 or so. Add books and other stuff, and the total Chicago-school experience costs $54,290 a year.
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Rising Stock Markets = Signs of Inflation / Stock-Markets / Inflation
By: Submissions
In 2007 or 2008, "While markets across the world have been crashing, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange has being seeing record gains as citizens turn to equities to protect their money from the country's hyperinflation.
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Thursday, May 05, 2011
Consumer Credit Could Launch Inflationary Spiral / Economics / Inflation
By: Dr_Jeff_Lewis
Recent comments from Walmart chief executive Mike Duke have investors on high alert. This time, though, the news spreads well beyond Walmart.
At a company event in New York, Duke reminded the crowd that retail is softening, “we’re seeing core consumers under a lot of pressure,” and later added that it was rising fuel costs, just another component of monetary inflation, that was driving the sales loss. Of particular interest to inflation watchers should be his comments that were mostly ignored.
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Saturday, April 30, 2011
U.S. Core Inflation Remains Contained, FOMC Policy Stance is Safe / Economics / Inflation
By: Asha_Bangalore
Personal consumption expenditures rose 0.2% in March after an upwardly revised 0.5% jump in February. A 0.4% increase in outlays of services and a 0.1% jump in purchases of durables lifted consumer spending, with a 0.3% drop in expenditures of non-durables were a partial offset. Real consumer spending is projected to advance by 3.0% during the second quarter after a 2.7% gain in the first quarter.
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Thursday, April 28, 2011
The Inflation Inferno / Politics / Inflation
By: MISES
George F. Smith writes: Throughout history, governments have fought against the use of sound money. In 1912, Ludwig von Mises identified the reason for this:
Read full article... Read full article...The sound-money principle has two aspects. It is affirmative in approving the market's choice of a commonly-used medium of exchange. It is negative in obstructing the government's propensity to meddle with the currency system.[1]
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Fed Wants Even Higher Inflation / Economics / Inflation
By: Axel_Merk
Today, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced it will continue to purchase government securities as previously announced ("QE2"), including reinvesting principal payments from its holdings.
The FOMC downgraded its economic growth forecast, acknowledged inflationary pressures have moved from commodity inflation to core inflation, yet insists inflation remains too low. The Fed considers inflationary pressures to be transitory, but monitors the evolution of inflation and inflation expectations.
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Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The Most Reliable Measure of Real Consumer Price Inflation? / Economics / Inflation
By: Bill_Bonner
We’ve always wondered why there is so much debate about the rate of inflation. It seems like such a simple thing to track. You go in the store. You buy a box of Wheaties. You write down the price. Next month, you do the same thing. What’s so hard about that?
But what if the box is smaller next month? What if the Wheaties are twice as good? What if you can get the same enjoyment from a box of Wheatie-Puffs at half the price?
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Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Nominal Yield (minus) TIPS = Inflation Expectations / Interest-Rates / Inflation
By: Tony_Pallotta
One way to determine inflation expectations is to take the treasury or nominal yield (not inflation adjusted) and subtract the TIPS or real yield (inflation adjusted). The difference of the two is the expected inflation.
Nominal Yield (minus) TIPS = Inflation expectation
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Monday, April 25, 2011
Inflation is No Miracle Cure, Impossible to Inflation Out of this Mess / Economics / Inflation
By: Mike_Shedlock
Inquiring minds are reading The "Miracle" of Compound Inflation by John Mauldin. Here are a few paragraphs worthy of a closer look.
Read full article... Read full article...Albert Einstein is famously quoted as saying, "Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world." And compounding is indeed the topic of this week's shorter than usual letter, but compounding not of interest but of inflation.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Deepening Economic Crisis: Inflation, Rising Interest Rates, Surge in the Price of Gold and Silver / Economics / Inflation
By: Bob_Chapman
Economic recovery does not seem to be taking effect in spite of more massive expenditures by Congress and the Fed. The IMF says financial stability has improved, but then again their vision is almost always clouded. US tax revenues are not increasing in a meaningful way, manufacturing struggles to expand and Wall Street flourishes in a cascade of mega salaries and bonuses. In another six months the US will be three years what the government, the media and Wall Street call a deep recession. We call it an inflationary depression, which has existed for 26 months. After eight years of increasing money and credit, and the creation of a real estate bubble, the Fed has been fighting off asset destruction with ever more money and credit accompanied by debt deflation. Part of the Fed’s policy has been zero interest rates, which has helped Wall Street and banking and to a limited extent real estate, but has destroyed the purchasing power of retirees and has driven funds into speculation, which in many cases has ended in ever more losses and less buying power.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
The 'Miracle' of Compound Inflation / Economics / Inflation
By: John_Mauldin
Albert Einstein is famously quoted as saying, "Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world." And compounding is indeed the topic of this week's shorter than usual letter, but compounding not of interest but of inflation. As you might expect, I am giving a great deal of thought as to how we get out of our current financial dilemma of too much debt and deficits that are far too high. While I will use US data for our illustration, the principles are the same for any country.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Inflation Destroys Real Wages / Economics / Inflation
By: Michael_Pento
In the same vein as medieval physicians believed bloodletting would cure illness, modern snake-oil economists still perilously cling to their claim that rising wages and salaries are the cause of inflation. With my recent debates with these mainstream economists, I've heard the following: "without rising wages, where does the money come from to push prices higher?" I was tempted to respond, "where do the employers get the money to pay those higher wages?" But economists tend to get a little nasty when you make them feel stupid.
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