What, no left thinkers to come complain?

I'm starting to see a pattern here.

Marcus Aurelius: If only gas prices were counted. That's not part of "core inflation", subby.

/get with the program pal

From the Consumer Price Index Summary:

The CPIs are based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, and fuels, transportation fares, charges for doctors' and dentists' services, drugs, and other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living... Prices of fuels and a few other items are obtained every month in all 87 locations.

I blame the joos

1) there is low inflation during a recession, doesn't make it a good thing
2) you don't get points for comparing yourself against yourself - look at the time period.
3)herring, your name is red

Imagine if Marty coached the war.

I blame the Canadians

Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food costs, rose by 2.6 percent in 2006, up from gains of 2.2 percent in both 2004 and 2005. That was the fastest increase since a 2.7 percent rise in 2001.

Hmmm - is subby cherrypicking his facts?

I blame Marty McFly and his damned Delorean

Inflation affects everyone differently.

As someone who attends a private college, buys a new car every year, eats out every day, just bought a house, and pays real estate taxes, I can tell you that inflation affects me differently than my 80 year old grandmother.

/Just kidding about my lifestyle, but am serious about it affecting everyone differently.
//Did attend college and I can tell you that college has far exceeded inflation for a long long time. Don't I need that to get a job now-a-days? A job that pays the bills?
///Did buy a house, and we all know the story there.

Yeah low inflation.

Thats what you get when nobody has any money to spend.

Yeah the economy is just booming.

Yeah, bullshiat. Independent Source. So unless the final months of 2006 had roughly -2.5% inflation each, I'd say that the Labor Department has some checking to do.

The lowest is 3 years isnt that much of an accomplishment. Think of how high its been?

Maybe we, insted of blaming bush, we could say "Dispite Bushs best efforts, gas prices couldnt stop inflation in 2006 from being at the lowest in three years"

If the Bush Administration is calculating the number, chances are it's laughably inaccurate.

/Same with unemployment numbers.
//Fiddle with the formula enough and you can get any number you want.

Someone more ambitious and less likely to go to bed in the next half hour could probably come up with a more meaningful chart based on the Consumer Price Index data.

/ Yes, I realize that using facts is frowned upon on Fark.
// Going to bed.

So 2006 managed to beat 2004 and 2005 and thats somehow a great victory?

Changing how inflation is measured, then comparing your munged figure against your own term, isn't a cause for celebration. It's no different than the munging done with unemployment figures to "reassure" us that everything is just fine, even as homeless shelters fill up & banks panic on the idea of increased debt defaulting rates.

If you believes the government inflation rates you are crazy. The inflation rate is something like 4-5% PER YEAR. Personal income while increasing in dollar amounts is actually less than 30 years ago. Just type in true inflation rate in google and read.

twilson2

Yeah low inflation.

Thats what you get when nobody has any money to spend.

Yeah the economy is just booming.


Pretty much sums it up. Besides, Bush was still president three years ago. Even if things *seem* better, he has and continues to fark us up pretty good.

/yup, still blaming bush

Now we're cookin'.

PolarDog
Imagine if Marty coached the war.

We'd get the Sunnis and Shi'ites(sp?) to sign a peace agreement, we'd see the first Sunni/Shi'ite wedding, peace would reign across the land as a formerly oppressed people elected their own leaders while the first inter-belief baby is born. Nothing would stop us from attaining true peace in the Middle East!

Then we'd try to hang Saddam to put the final nail in the war coffin and the rope would snap and his flailing limbs would hit the button to launch nukes at all of the world's economic hubs. Then the survivors would huddle together to stave off the cold from nuclear winter and they would keep saying "Just wait until the next war. He can't keep blowing it at the end, right?"

What's the point of congratulating one another on keeping inflation low when the prices of EVERYTHING has gone up...

Soda Machines sell soda's for 1.25 now. I remember when the price of soda's went up a nickel a year. This and extra value meals at Burger king were 3-4 dollars.

This must be another of those Bush zombie statements like - No attacks on US soil since 9/11! Which is completely false if you've forgotten that anthrax thing and always sounds to me like "No Bush screwups since the big one" - its just not much of a rallying cry. . .

i love submitting these threads. it's like an internet two minutes hate

CheezeAnvil: A Winner Is You!

First of all, core inflation rose 2.6%, and that does not include gas or food prices. You can, however, see that higher fuel costs play out in terms of higher costs for other goods - an effect that can take a good number of months to occur.

Mr. Xhin: If the Bush Administration is calculating the number, chances are it's laughably inaccurate.

Oh, no. The CPI number is being calculated the same way it always was, and its nonsense to say the Bush administration is messing with those. Sorry.

The CPI itself, however, is a woefully inaccurate number that is believed to overstate inflation by between .5% and 1%.

/Economics grad

Low fuel prices helped hold the inflation rate down this year. Look at the core inflation rate - inflation on everything except fuel and food. That's a frightening number, and while TheConvincingSavant's wife will of course blow smoke, he cannot deny that core inflation of 2.6 percent is a very worrying number. It's a sign that something is going wrong in the American economy, on whose entire existence is predicated the idea that if we keep inflation low, our currency will be more stable and will thus attract investors.

TFA: The Labor Department reported Thursday that consumer prices rose by 2.5 percent in 2006, the best showing since prices had increased by just 1.9 percent in 2003. The improvement came in spite of the fact that consumer prices jumped 0.5 percent in December, as gasoline prices staged a momentary rebound.

The slowdown in inflation translated into more spending power for Americans. The government said average weekly earnings for non-supervisory workers rose by 2.1 percent last year, after adjusting for inflation. That was the biggest gain in nine years.

hmmm...so, the cost of things went up by 2.5% while wages went up 2.1%, netting us -.4%?

Ummm...woo...hoo?

captainktainer: Low fuel prices helped hold the inflation rate down this year.

Are you forgetting the oil price spike up to $78 this summer? We're now holding in the low $50s. In fact, that's likely why Core CPI was so high - pull through effect from June and July. When do you think goods sold over the Christmas season are produced by the companies? When their oil costs shot up over the summer, they had to raise retail prices in the fall and winter to compensate.

Sorry, no dice.

I'll hasten to point out that a twenty dollar bag of pot costs the same now as it did ten years ago.

The Homer Tax: hmmm...so, the cost of things went up by 2.5% while wages went up 2.1%, netting us -.4%?

Ummm...woo...hoo?

If you look at the stat you yourself posted, it says "after adjusting for inflation." So there was a real increase of 2.1%.

If you think this is bad just wait until the democrats get thier way.

vinndave: If you look at the stat you yourself posted, it says "after adjusting for inflation." So there was a real increase of 2.1%.

Which inflation? Core? or CPI? It was my understanding that CPI was merely a reflection of how much things cost, and only an indicator of inflation rather than a measure of it (ref: Jappy Above).

That said, "lowest inflation in 3 years" when you have a sitting president for 6 going on 7 isn't really something to crow about, is it?

Tyee: If you think this is bad just wait until the democrats get thier way.


Meh, according to This site, D and R numbers are pretty similar (don't have time to do real math just a cursory glance). Looking back further, noticable outliers occur during Early Regan and Ford (I think), however.

Choco rations are now 20 grams...doubleplus good!

/look at the dollar compared to Euro or Gold
// http://www.kitco.com/ (pops)

I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that the Federal Funds interest rate that drives everything from home mortgages to big business leverage went up 500% in the 2005-2006 time frame. Inflation was the #1 reason why the Feds cranked the interest rate at every farking meeting. If you want to thank anyone for low inflation, thank Greenspan and Bernanke.

/'pedia-source-o-rama
// I love inflation. Makes my fixed mortgage and business loans cheaper.

Marty "Farking" Shiattenheimer!

/DO NOT WANT!

So 1.2 trillion dollars of corporate welfare has an effect on inflation?

Unpossible!

I'm ignorant on this subject, so this is just a question:

If the winter is ridiculously warm (as December was) compared to previous years and less fuel is purchased (heat is expensive!), wouldn't that help negate the effect of more expensive fuel?

The economy is doing just fine in a number of sectors. Now having said that there are a number of problems coming up in this first quarter where I live.

Our Utilities are raising rates between 8% and 50% depending on which monopoly serves you. The legislature are just enablers and the Governor signed off on the rate hike. So businesses, especially heavy commercial and industrial who use loads of electricity for lighting and machining will be forced to leave the state.

Bayer is leaving for New Jersey from CT and CA. this is a direct result of anti-business policies that were not thought through. Demand for energy has gone up, but all we are doing is buying power from generators who can't build enough power plants to satisfy current or future demand.

Economics are always local even if the country as a whole is doing fine (which it is).

So some parts of Michigan or NY might have a recession...but Bismark ND is booming. Follow the jobs my friends.

suck it lefties!

Anectdotally speaking, it seems as if prices on the menus at major chain restaurants have gone up. Most places it's hard to find a lot of dishes under $10 a plate for dinner.

Anyways, I could easily sit here and point out some really good and some really bad things in the economy. That's not going to make any difference. What is going to be bad is if the Dems come in and kick major companies in the pants while the economy is 'iffy' as it is. That's not to say that these corporations should be getting the massive handouts they get now... whatever, I'll just ride the ride like everyone else.

Yes, but the Fed's tinkering with the interest rate suppresses inflation by depressing wages.

When the vast majority of spenders have almost nothing left to spend (little-to-no buying power beyond what it takes to just pay the bills), inflation cannot happen as much.

Also, those inflation numbers may count health care charges, but do NOT count insurance. Since Health Insurance alone is the single biggest factor in a number of personal finance issues in America (#1 contributor to bankruptcy, #1 cost after Housing, etc.), if you counted it I bet the inflation numbers would not look so pretty.

Now throw in homeowners insurance (which you soon will just not be able to get within 400 miles of a coast), auto, etc., and I bet you all this concentration of wealth in the name of lower inflation isn't doing as much good as the Fed thinks it is...

If I might threadjack for a moment, thinking about that homeowner's insurance thing, I wonder if that means that nobody but dirt-poor renters and uber-rich megamillionaires will live in coastal cities anymore?

Yes, national inflation COUNTING EXPORTS

shrubs approval on the economy in specific is back down in the 30's (Clintons was often in the 70's).

Yep that economy is going gang busters