Free Republic

To paraphrase noted economic expert Obi-Wan Kenobi, many of the truths we cling to about currencies really do depend greatly on our own point-of-view. Take Venezuela. The good news is that, if you look at it over a long enough timeline, its currency hasn't changed much the past month. The bad news, though, is that's because it's gone from being almost worthless to almost entirely worthless. And the worse news is that it's actually lost over a third of its value during this stretch.

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If you’ve noticed the prices of of everyday goods are on the rise, you’re not alone. On Friday the Labor Department announced that the core consumer price index (CPI)—which strips out volatile food and energy costs—rose 2.3% over the past 12 months, up from 1.8% one year ago. “The data help the case for Fed tightening,” writes Jim O’Sullivan, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics. The futures market concurs. It is indicating that the chance of a rate high at or before the Fed’s December meeting is above 50% for the first time in months. But some analysts are...

Prices for medicine, doctor appointments and health insurance rose the most last month since 1984. The price increases come amid a broader debate about climbing health care costs and high premiums for Obamacare coverage. [Snip] Medical care costs altogether rose 1% just in August from July, according to the Consumer Price Index, a report on price inflation from the U.S. Labor Department.

Darryl R Schoon August 8, 2016 If the thunder don’t get you, then the lightning will… The Grateful Dead, The Wheel(lyrics) In the world of phenomena, everything has a beginning and an end; and today, the bankers’ endgame is moving closer to its inevitable resolution and demise. The question is no longer if, it is when and how. The relationship between paper money and gold is causal in central banking’s collapse. When paper money was backed by gold, it (1) gave the bankers’ paper money its value and (2) constrained the ability of governments to print limitless amounts of money,...

Oil prices officially charged into a bull market Thursday as the prospect of an output freeze by major producers, data showing the first weekly fall in U.S. crude supplies in a month, and a decline in the dollar boosted prices. Crude-oil prices have advanced more than 20% from their Aug. 2 low over the past several sessions...September West Texas Intermediate crude CLU6, +0.23% climbed by $1.43, or 3.1%, to settle at $48.22 a barrel

The Federal Reserve is raising expectations for an interest rate rise this year, even as early as next month, after two policymakers on Tuesday said the economic stars now appear to be aligning despite weak U.S. economic growth in the first half of 2016. New York Fed President William Dudley said "it's possible" to raise rates at the Sept. 20-21 policy meeting given evidence of wage gains and a tighter labor market that could boost inflation, while Dennis Lockhart of the Atlanta Fed said a hike next month is in play. The comments, which prompted investors to boost bets on...

The month of July saw a high number of bitcoin transactions in Venezuela with August achieving a new record high as more people turn to the digital currency as the country continues to tackle the inflation of Bolivar. Venezuela is a country that is blighted by hyperinflation. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Venezuela is projected to remain in a deep recession in 2016. Compared to contraction rate of 5.7 percent in 2015, 2016 saw a rise of 8 percent. Political uncertainty and the decline in the price of oil are factors affecting macroeconomic imbalances and pressures. The IMF...

The Burrito Index: Consumer Prices Have Soared 160% Since 2001 by Tyler Durden Aug 1, 2016 11:31 AM 0 SHARES Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith via PeakProsperity.com, In our household, we measure inflation with the "Burrito Index": How much has the cost of a regular burrito at our favorite taco truck gone up?Since we keep detailed records of expenses (a necessity if you’re a self-employed free-lance writer), I can track the real-world inflation of the Burrito Index with great accuracy: the cost of a regular burrito from our local taco truck has gone up from $2.50 in 2001 to $5 in...

Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar has thrown his political weight behind indexing welfare payments to inflation. Speaking at MacGill Summer School in Donegal, the Dublin TD struck a socially aware tone throughout his speech — referring to the period of economic downturn as “Ireland’s lost decade” and bemoaning a stalling in living standards. “Were it not for social welfare payments over half of the country would be at risk of poverty,” he said, before he emphasized the need to “protect the value of these payments now and into the future”. “I believe this can best be done by indexing...

While most advanced economies struggle to lift inflation, none would want Venezuela‘s situation: Consumer-price inflation is forecast to hit 480% this year and top 1,640% in 2017, according to the International Monetary Fund. A shortage of medical supplies means infants and other sick patients are dying of treatable illnesses. Soldiers guard empty grocery store shelves. Inflation is so bad, the government has had to order bolivars by the planeload.

One of the biggest threats to our economic outlook.” Endless discussions of how important inflation is to the US economy, and how there hasn’t been enough of it in recent years, and how more inflation would be a godsend, has become the standard. The threat of lethal deflation is being brandished to rationalize all kinds of absurd monetary policies. And we know why: inflation is good only for debtors, in an over-indebted country. But that’s not true either. Because a lot of debtors, particularly those who funded their education with loans, are being strangled by … inflation. “College Tuition and...

“Don’t be afraid to say to anything because no matter what you say, no matter how idiotic it is, it has already been said by some eminent economist.” – Ludwig von Mises... ...the first laser printer (Xerox Star 8010) set consumers back $17,000 in 1981... ...the norm in a free economy... ...the very rich serve as “venture buyers” since only they have the means to purchase what is both expensive and unproven... ...luxury items down to prices that we can all afford. The first ball-point pen cost over $12, the first mobile phone nearly $4,000, while the first... ...logical and...

Millennials, who first arrived in 1980, are the largest generational group in American history. As such, they tend to have a deep-seated, some would say exaggerated, sense of their own importance. Now that the last of the millennials, those born in the late 1990s, have reached voting age, the millennial generation is exerting ever greater influence on presidential politics. The campaign of Bernie Sanders, one of the most radical leftists ever to run for the presidency, is almost their exclusive preserve. Sanders's platform is well targeted to the idealism of most millennials. It offers free universal health care ("Medicare for...

A U.S. Federal Reserve Bank president said Monday the global markets seem to be poised for an interest rate hike this summer. James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis, said his outlook was not "too surprising" since signs are pointing to a second quarter rebound in the U.S. gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in the U.S. Bullard's remarks, made at an international conference in Seoul, South Korea, follow revised data Friday from the U.S. Commerce Department that the economy expanded faster than previously thought in the first three months of...

<p>It's official: years of warnings that Obamacare will lead to dramatic increases in healthcare premiums are about to be validated.</p> <p>As the WSJ writes, big health plans stung by losses in the first few years of the U.S. health law’s implementation are seeking hefty premium increases for individual plans sold through insurance exchanges in more than a dozen states.</p>

Venezuelans on Tuesday woke up to discover that the government-controlled price of corn flour -- used to make corn patty arepas, a staple of local cuisine -- has risen 900 percent. The socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro had kept the price of corn flour frozen for 15 months at 19 bolivares a kilogram (two pounds).

May 23 (Reuters) - The Venezuelan bottler of Coca-Cola has halted production of sugar-sweetened beverage due to a lack of sugar, a Coca-Cola Co spokeswoman said on Monday. Venezuela is in the midst of a deep recession, and spontaneous demonstrations and looting have become more common amid worsening food shortages, frequent power cuts and the world's highest inflation.

As for March, there was an increase in yearly prices due to inflation — a 582.9 percent increase for food,

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