Yes - it is the price of oil...
Is this an annualized number? That makes a helluva difference.
Oil
Welcome to the forum.
PLease don’t click “Exceprt” if it isn’t.
So now we are seeing a disconnect between economic growth and inflation. That should only come as a surprise to all the experts who incorrectly think that inflation is caused by economic growth.
I may sound like a conspiracy nut but is it possible that someone in Al Queada is smart enough to be trying to do to us what we did to USSR- bleed us with proolonged military build up? Is there a way to defend ourselves with large military operations for a decade (as the president has been predicted might be the case) without suffering serious financial hardship?
I don’t know why we don’t start an anti-jihad War Bond program. The enemy would realize the resolve of the populous (despite media) if they saw we raised billions out of our own pockets.
They are just picking up on this NOW?
The inflation creep has been going on all the time, mostly in fits and starts, affecting one sector while seeming not to be going on elsewhere. But now, many prices are rising in tandem, like both bread and sandwich meat, and prices that should seasonally fall, like eggs, change hardly at all. Processed and fresh foods are both steadily higher, and even durable goods, like hardware and furniture, that have been at relatively modest prices (because of massive imports) are also responding to upward pressure.
The VALUE of crude oil is not rising. There are just more dollars out there held by people who are willing to exchange more dollars to get the same quantity of oil. Too many dollars chasing too few goods.
Price is not value.
A lot of the increase were businesses increasing prices to prepare for the increase in the minimum wage expected by this congress.
People in the country are seeing some major changes coming. They are buying less because they are worried about the future. Look at shippers like UPS, they are laying off some of their employees. Many UPS trucks are running empty when they were normally full this time of year. Plus the competition is getting stronger. I honestly think that people will go into a hold and wait and see mode until they find out who the next President will be and how much their taxes will increase under the Democrats. Democrats are already stating that they want the Bush tax breaks to laps. This will increase taxes by $900 billion and the Democrats don’t care. People worry about this. They will loose everything they gained during the last six years. Only way to control Congress is cut the taxes even more and take away their power. Money is power to them.
Several questions in this thread can be answered by reading the BEA News Release, for example:
“Quarterly estimates are expressed at seasonally adjusted annual rates....”
“The price index for gross domestic purchases, which measures prices paid by U.S. residents, increased 3.6 percent in the first quarter, compared with an increase of 0.2 percent in the fourth. Excluding food and energy prices, the price index for gross domestic purchases increased 2.8 percent in the first quarter, compared with an increase of 2.4 percent in the fourth.”
In other words, declines in Q4 food/energy prices temporarily had masked an already substantial general inflation rate; the Fed is putting out too much money.