Posted on 12/31/2012 9:23:35 AM PST by whitedog57
Well, The Federal Reserve has been trying to combat deflation (declining prices) by generating inflation. The Fed also hopes to reduce unemployment and increase economic output (GDP). QE3, a third round of quantitative easing, was announced on September 13, 2012.
So, what has happened to prices in the last 6 months?
Energy prices have risen around 20% (second column from the right). Gold is up 7.06% while silver is up 13.87%. Corn and wheat are both up about 6% over the last 6 months. Coffee, on the other hand, has fallen 13.22% (maybe Starbucks are use more expensive beans in their coffee since the prices have fallen!)
Live cattle prices have risen sharply, particularly since October 1st.
Milk, an important source of nutrition for children, has skyrocketed over the past six months.
And, of course, house prices rose during the six months prior to the last Case-Shiller quarterly print.
30 year fixed rate mortgage rates declined over the past six months, helping fuel a rise in house prices.
Core PCE YoY is expected to print at only 1.70%.
So, prices on a number of commodities have risen sharply over the past 6 months while core PCE has dropped.
Huh. It sure FEELS like prices are rising which is a shame given that wages and salaries are falling.
(Excerpt) Read more at confoundedinterest.wordpress.com ...
Not to worry, Dear leader is on the job to ease our pain.
What seems to have caused you to excerpt your own blog?
Sure, this is an agricultural wonderland ~ so is the Sahara desert ~ if you can get water to it.
Best news I've heard in years is some group wants to link the Missouri watershed upstream to the Colorado River watershed. Fantastic idea ~ maybe even make a deal with Canada to hook in the Great Slave area to the Missouri watershed ~
There's no technical reason we can't drought proof North America.
I know that gasoline and grocery prices are wrecking our budget.
True.....the Columbia River reclamation project in eastern Washington is a great example of turning desert into fertile farmland...
Not saying that all is well, but I’m paying about 40 cents/gallon less than I was six months ago.
Local gas prices are below $3 a gallon. Still high but quite a bit below the $3.80 we were paying a couple of months ago.
Quite true about the drought. The Missouri River is so low in places it is barely navigable. Shipwreck that sank in it during the 1800’s are now visible.
The other form of inflation that is occurring but rarely mentioned is shrinking product size.
A “half-gallon” of ice cream is 1.5 gallons. Not long ago it was 1.75 gallons.
If you try to buy a pound of kielbasa you’ll get 14 ounces.
Energy prices have risen around 20% (second column from the right)... Corn and wheat are both up about 6% over the last 6 months. Coffee, on the other hand, has fallen 13.22%Gold and silver price bubbles are not relevant.
The reason why the Fed keeps trumpeting the “no inflation” meme is that they combine housing costs into their inflation projections.
People who are in a fixed housing situation (ie, their mortgage or rent isn’t changing) don’t give a rat’s ass about the “imputed rent” portion of the Fed’s ideas on inflation and look specifically at where their money is going every month - food, fuel, taxes, medical costs, etc.
The Fed has just about spent all their credibility and conservatives would do well to start coming up with ideas on what to propose the US do without a Federal Reserve.
NPR is touting the increase in housing prices as a RECOVERY IN THE HOUSING MARKET.
NPR listeners continue to choose to remain ignorant.
Fuel and food are counted in the inflation calculations.
Most of those increases can be lain solely on energy policies which should have been made an issue by the Romney campaign but wasn’t. Which I contend was one of the reasons we lost. Because it reached into every “demographics” pocket book.
Now is the perfect time to resurrect this issue. I just hope that prospective conservative contenders for federal offices including the House and Senate ignore the phoney issues being driven by media and start challanging administration policies.
Really? The "Consumer Price Index" (Aka: Rate of inflation) used to calculate the annual Social Security "Cost Of Living" increase does not include food or fuel unless things have changed radically recently.
Calculating inflation must be like calculating unemployment, it's all about what you leave in and what you leave out! Figures don't lie, but liars sure can figure...
Regards,
GtG
I guess that, at some point in time, it may even reach 0.5 gallons.
Imagine that: A half-gallon tub containing 0.5 gallons.
Regards,
I feel smarter every time I listen to Kyle Bass:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUc8-GUC1hY&feature=youtu.be
Kyle makes a persuasive case for default. First Japan, then Europe, then the USA. War follows or happens simultaneously.
I have been thinking about what happens when Japan defaults and people lose confidence in fiat currencies:
1. PMs are everyone’s first instinct, of course.
2. People buy anything that can hold value whether its a truck, house, farmland, or firearms. We saw this in the 1970s stagflation.
3. As people buy things, the economy actually ticks up. Inflation starts a parabolic climb.
4. The Trillions of greenbacks around the world start flooding back here because the foreign holders lose confidence. In fact, every entity with cash will want to spend it on real goods ASAP as it drops in value. Inflation gets much worse.
5. Standard of living drops like a rock because people’s salaries/income cannot keep up with prices.
6. Civil unrest. SNAP cards still work, but will not buy enough to eat.
All this occurs because we have geniuses in DC who think they can tax, regulate, and spend the economy into prosperity.
Well, I do feel like I've learned something every time I listen to Kyle Bass, but I definitely feel dumber by comparison to Mr. Bass.
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