Keep Free Republic Alive with YOUR Donations!
Make a difference.
PLEASE Contribute Today!
Woo hoo!! Less than $13k to go!! Thank you all very much!! We can do this.
Posted on 02/20/2014 8:11:42 AM PST by xzins
U.S. consumer prices barely rose last month as a sharp increase in energy costs was offset by cheaper clothing, cars and air fares. The figures indicate inflation remains mild.
The Labor Department said Thursday that the consumer price index rose just 0.1 percent in January, down from a 0.2 percent gain in December. Prices have risen 1.6 percent in the past 12 months. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices also rose just 0.1 percent last month and 1.6 percent in the past year.
The year-over-year increase in core prices was the smallest in seven months.
The "mild uptick ... confirms the fact that inflationary pressures remain well contained," Martin Schwerdtfeger, an economist at TD Bank, said in a note to clients.
(Excerpt) Read more at newser.com ...
FYI the concept of beef vs chicken came from the government’s Boskin Commission Report which was created by
The Advisory Commission To Study The Consumer Price Index (aka The Boskin Commission) was appointed by the Senate Finance Committee to study the role of the CPI in government benefit programs and to make recommendations for any needed changes in the CPI.
http://www.ssa.gov/history/reports/boskinrpt.html
Beef vs chicken was used as an example of ‘substitution’.
You have always made me smile.
Well, my wife has been saving and preparing and tax refund check coming, now allows her to replace the stove, over stove microwave, and dishwasher, and later the frig. So big ticket items will move into our kitchen in the next week or so. But these, hopefully, will last till the kids drop us off at the old folks home.
Don’t fall for the beef vs. chicken substitution BS. Read my comment #34, again.
I remember being a young private and donating monthly to the “Old Soldiers Home”
You remember that?
Read my #38 first.
Again, “chained” CPI vs. CPI. Please try to understand the difference.
You really need to read Khelus’ #62 again.
Anything to sell subscriptions I suppose.
Seriously, I posted a link to the BLS itself that discusses substitution.
Because his POINT had to do with substitution.
And, substitution is part of the calculation of the current CPI.
Not as much as the chained cpi, that democrats are begging Obama not to use, but the current cpi formula includes the concept of substitution.
It results in a lower cost than the older method.
Inflation, as calculated by the Fed, uses core inflation numbers, and it does exclude food and energy.
So, whichever way you turn, I get to smile.
“help the price of chuck roast that’s gone from 2.89 a pound to 4.89 a pound in 2 years. I saw it at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago at 6.39 a pound. Chuck roast....ALWAYS considered a low cost, undesirable cut.”
Laughable how high all meat prices are today. The cheapest, crap cuts at Walmart are priced like good steak. Ticked me off so much that I broke down and bought a 1/2 beef from a buddy last month. No more “market priced” junk meat.
I get a kick how many people take the Jon Stewart approach when it comes to higher consumer prices for necessities = mock and snicker.
For the purpose of calculating the CPI, the BLS:
1. Includes food and energy,
2. Accounts for shrinking packaging sizes, and
3. Does not substitute chicken for beef.
Can you point one out to me when you run across one next? They need correcting, too.
The Fed doesn't calculate inflation and I think they prefer PCE.
That’s not a surprise. He’s gotta pay the bills somehow.
“Are you saying that chuck roast wasn’t 2.89 and now is 4.89 2 short years later? Are you saying that the 5 pound bag wasn’t smaller?”
xzins, some people need the Govt to tell them what food inflation really means.
Listen, there are people in this world who actually try to convince skeptics about how the government cooks the numbers. And they get annoyed when people who are ignorant about how it is done get in the way.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.