Prices Rise, but Inflation Fears Ease
“This is a fine inflation report if you don’t need to eat, drive or depend on your paycheck,” said Jared Bernstein, senior economist at the labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute in Washington and author of the recently released book, “Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed?”
the quote above is the only piece of the entire article that makes any sense. The point of the article is that CPI rose less than expected in April, but then goes on to show how all of those statistics aren’t really telling the story about inflation. Food prices are up the largest interval since 1990 (almost a percent!). Gas prices are up a lot, but not when adjusted for seasonal demand shifts.
Furthermore, the point of the article, that the Fed is encouraged by the low core inflation number, and that that somehow justifies the dangerously low fed funds rate. The problem with the low fed funds rate is that it is not going to grease the segments of the credit market that need the grease.
Now I see why Dean Baker has that enormous chip on his shoulder.
I’ve been kind of neglecting this whole “financial crisis” thing but now that I’m back in North America, it’s everywhere. This post is bringing me to reality and making me scurred. We’re heading nowhere good… as is evidenced by the author of said article whose clearly going nuts thus the stupid headline.
ahhhh
maybe i should not be spending all my money and look for a job instead. Yipes.