Posted on 02/24/2008 7:23:42 AM PST by Christopher Lincoln
On this Valentine's day, let us remember and pay a tribute to all people who love the Government, and while we are at it, let's pay tribute to the Government itself by buying a T-Bill !
Thank goodness most of America and the rest of the world still loves the Federal Government of the United States and the Federal Reserve enough to continue to hold about $30 trillion worth of bonds that are paying, on average, about 5% while inflation is about 17%.
Such Fed-loving bond holders clearly approve of all the spending habits of the United States government, by their actions of holding bonds, and willingness to lose 12% of their capital per year, and must fully approve of the institution known as the Federal Reserve.
(Excerpt) Read more at gold-eagle.com ...
4 years ago the cheapest pants I could buy at Kohls was $25 on a normal sale. Today I can get them for $20. I don’t know what Jack’s frozen pizzas are but I’ve paid on average $3.99 to $4.99 for tombstone/digorno for about 5 years straight unless it was BOGO. Anectdotal evidence doesn’t work really well for inflation.
No idea about whether computers are considered durable goods or not. If you aren’t seeing clothing discounts, you aren’t looking at a lot of clothing merchants. Maybe they are just way down on the east coast, but I doubt it. True, housing is higher than 5 years ago but CPI is calculated based on the last year, not on the last 3, 5 or 10 years.
You cannot escape the fact that M3 is no longer reported. Sure, you can still calculate it, but they stopped reporting it. BTW, you ducked my question. How much has M3 increased, year over year, this past year?
How does this fact prove that inflation is 17%? Do you think the fed is stupid and thought all they had to do was stop publishing M3 and all of a sudden the markets wouldn't notice that inflation was really 17% and not what they were reporting?
BTW, you ducked my question. How much has M3 increased, year over year, this past year?
If you understood how M3 was calculated you'd understand why most people use M2 to measure money supply growth.
For the third time, could you please give the M3 YOY money growth? Thanks in advance.
If you don't factor in those volatile food and energy prices...
Dude: they're taxing us through food and energy. Don't you get it?
For the last time, why would you even want this information in the first place and, more importantly, do you even know the components of M3? If so, perhaps you could explain to all of us why they're relevant. After all, you're the one who originally suggested that it's an important number and that by no longer publishing the number, the government is somehow conspiring against us.
I'll be happy to post a chart of M3 if you'll tell us why it matters that it is no longer reported. You're seeing conspiracies that don't exist.
M3 increase is about 15% with M2 being about 6%. Inflation is not even close to M3 rate although it is near M2. If you factor in productivity gains, 4.5-5% inflation is probably correct, although oil is the latest bubble. When oil drops back down to 50/barrel (or less) which it will at some point most likely, are you going to cry deflation as loud as you do now with inflation?
Food and energy have always been erradic. Look at the huge declines in energy from the mid 80s to around 2000. Food prices usually follow energy and other commodities. Energy prices are in a bubble right now. Food prices are going up for 2 reasons #1 is higher energy costs and #2 is corn/commodity prices in a bubble. It can’t last forever like that at which point will probably cause headline inflation to look very low but core to still remain 2-2.5%
August 2004: K-1 Kerosene for home heating - $1.75/gallon
December 2007: K-1 Kerosene for home heating - $6.00/gallon.
Just about 350% inflation more than 100% inflation per year. But, it's fuel, so it don't count...
It's not "erratic" - the Greens are pushing the cost of energy through the roof, and it ain't coming down. My cost per Kwh for electricity doubled - so I'm paying MORE even though I more than halved my consumption.
Yup and I venture to say during the Winter this year that has been number on or two on many people’s top expenditure list.
It's not "erratic" - the Greens are pushing the cost of energy through the roof, and it ain't coming down. My cost per Kwh for electricity doubled - so I'm paying MORE even though I more than halved my consumption.
Bulls!ht that's it's gone up double per KWH int he last 3 years. Show me some images of it and maybe I'll believe you. Also, the greens are pushing up the cost but so is speculation, commodity bubble in general and heavily increased demand from China & India.
Actually, I was giving you the date when I last could buy K-1 @ $1.75/gallon. After August 2004, I could never get K-1 for less than $1.95/gallon. Ever. Actually, it's kind of funny, because I was able to buy it cheaper than market for about a year and a half because I knew a place where the pump didn't have a "3" in the dollars slot for the higher prices - so it hung at $2.99 till it spiked WAY over that.
If you'd like, I could fish out my natural gas pricing (I supplement with K-1 for comfort) for the last 4 years. It HAS gone down from about 1.07 per unit to .71 per unit (average 10-14 units per day) over the last year, but it was above or close to 1.00 per unit for most of that time period.
Fourth, we're currently in a commodity pricing bubble that will not last. I hope to see you cry deflation when it goes down but I doubt you'll say anything.
Old-time Freepers believe in full disclosure. We've seen too many "omissions" in the MSM over the years, and know it for the hypocrisy that it is.
Still doesn't dispute my point about summer vs winter. Yes, oil and commodity prices in general have been almost straight up since Katrina happened. Commodities are going up but nearly everything else is flat or dropping or just slightly increasing. That's not to say that you can ignore headline inflation but you have to realize it will drop at some point and cause headline inflation to look near 0. If oil doesn't drop back to $50-60 a barrel or less, I'd be shocked. If we really do have a recession, I think oil may drop back down to $35-40/barrel.
I had a dip in costs for a time as I anticipated the surge in prices by instituting conservation measures, but now we're paying more for MUCH less usage.
I can't imagine what the oldsters in our town are doing...
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