Posted on 10/25/2025 12:33:53 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
The White House says the shutdown could halt next month’s inflation report for the first time in 70+ years, leaving the Fed without crucial price data.
The government shutdown now in its fourth week likely means there won't be an inflation report next month for the first time in more than seven decades, the White House said Friday, leaving Wall Street and the Federal Reserve without crucial information about consumer prices.
“Because surveyors cannot deploy to the field, the White House has learned there will likely NOT be an inflation release next month for the first time in history,” the Trump administration said in an email.
Some of the inflation data is collected electronically, but most is gathered in person by government employees who visit stores across the country. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which prepares the inflation report, has already reduced the data collected each month because the Trump administration's hiring freeze left some cities without surveyors.
The announcement follows Friday’s release of September inflation data, which showed prices ticked higher but remained lower than many economists had expected. That report, which was delayed by nine days from its originally-scheduled release, was based on data that was collected before the shutdown began Oct. 1.
In past shutdowns the consumer price index — the government's principal inflation measure — was compiled based on partial data. But it may be too late to gather even that level of information, the Labor Department said.
The disruption comes at a particularly challenging time for the Federal Reserve, the government agency tasked with keeping prices in check. It sharply raised its key short-term interest rate in 2022 and 2023 to combat the worst inflation spike in four decades.
Now Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues on the Fed's interest-rate setting committee are slowly reducing...
(Excerpt) Read more at scrippsnews.com ...
Thanks Schumer.
Come on down President Trump I will show you the inflation and devaluation of the Dollar as your people are not showing you...
This FED’s problem is its failure to look forward, this delay will change nothing.
“ Because SURVEYORS cannot deploy to the field, the White House has learned there will likely NOT be an inflation release next month for the first time in history,” the Trump administration said in an email.” So what stores make up each subset or category of merchandise that are compared to evaluate the rate of inflation? How are they chosen? Do they compare how prices have changed at the DollarTree or at Neiman Marcus, or at Mc Donald’s or at Ruth Chris steakhouse, or at the discount gas at Costco vs. the cost of gas in the closest Exxon in California or the BrandX in Texas, or in the 93 octane gas vs the 87 octane gasoline???
The details of how the CPI is computed are on the website.
Of all government stats, its methodology is maybe the most challenged over time, by both parties.
Synopsis:
Families are surveyed to determine what % of their total monthly budget each category spending represents. This creates the weighting numbers.
Then those categories are surveyed at stores. Which stores? Varies. It is more important that they be consistent month to month among the stores than that a store matches anyone’s personal spending.
And . . . the real bugaboo is that CPI emphasis is on Urban consumers. Versus the Fed’s preferred measure PCE which has no such focus.
Let me guess. Inflation will not be down for the month, year, century that we have been using fake money.
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