The nation’s struggle to prevent deflation is apparently only just beginning. The 12-month core rate (excluding food and energy prices) fell to a record low 0.6% from 0.8% in September. Clearly, the Fed has more work to do.
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Besides the unemployed, nobody is getting hurt worse in this economy than seniors. Prices on many commodities are skyrocketing, but the Consumer Price Index, which is the yardstick used to adjust Social Security for inflation,…
Even as overall costs for consumer goods rose 0.1% in September, prices for used cars fell 0.7%. It was the first such drop since just before the federal government’s “cash for clunkers” rebate program began in July 2009.
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The current flatness in prices isn’t what the Federal Reserve wants. It would much rather see a little more inflation in the economy. Says Great Depression scholar Ben Bernanke: “Further disinflation would be unwelcome.” The Fe…
The search giant may use its vast database of Web-shopping data to construct a daily measure of inflation called the Google Price Index, or GPI. It can be calculated much quicker than the official CPI, but it covers only what c…