[Denny]

I place no credibility in the official CPI anymore. Let's look at today's news item, I see this today on CNN Money: "Consumer prices edge higher":

"The Consumer Price Index, the government's key inflation measure, rose 0.3%, compared to February, when prices were unchanged. The gain matched the forecasts of economists surveyed by Briefing.com."
- Just up 0.3% in a month, overall? Thus, it cost you just $100.30 for what cost you $100 in February. Does this match anybody's perceptions?

"The price of energy jumped 1.9% percent in the month." So, in other words, if a typical consumer paid $3.20 for a gallon gas in February, that same gallon would have cost about $3.26 in March, Up about 6 cents. Does this match anybody's exprience? I saw gasoline rise 6 cents a gallon in just one week in Florida in March.

But, there is more good news in this story:
"But the fact that the CPI report showed consumer inflation as roughly in line with forecasts should assure investors who are hoping for further interest rate cuts from the central bank." Well, we know that money supply expansion precedes price inflation. so, you can't gauge the proper interest rate on how prices are behaving currently. That is fuzzy headed thinking. If the federal reserve bank does that, it will overshoot the target and by the time the prices start leaping, it wil be too late to contain it by anyting short of drastic and hurtful interest rate jumps.

I think these statements in the article are some examples of fantasy over fact:

"Health care prices rose 0.1%."
Really? That is all?

Food and beverage prices gained 0.2%, as a jump in the price of fresh vegetables, baked goods, sugar and sweets were balanced by declines in prices for dairy and related products."
Dairy prices went down? And how do "dairy and related" price reductions, even if they happened, manage to balance off vegetables, baked goods, sugar and sweets? I'd guess that the latter account for 3X the value of sales of the former.

I'd like to see the "shopping basket" comparison, item by item, but cannot locate it on the BLS website. I am guessing they do not want to show the specifics becuase it would raise too many eyebrows.

[Troyboy1208]

I am not sure which planet they are referring to. This planet is seeing unprecedented increases in ...well just about everything. That report is hogwash

[Roy]

The CPI?

cough cough bullshit cough cough. The BLS says food prices have increased


Supermarket Sticker Shock, NY Post

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')verall, food prices jumped 4 percent in 2007 compared to average yearly increases of 2.5 percent for the previous 15 years, US Department of Agriculture data show.

[emersonbiggins]

The CPI is bogus; it is used to temper the COLA increases in SSI & other entitlement benefits. Can you imagine it any other way?

[vision-master]

Many food items have gone up 10% within the last two Months!

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'T')he CPI is bogus; it is used to temper the COLA increases in SSI & other entitlement benefits. Can you imagine it any other way?

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'T')he CPI is bogus; it is used to temper the COLA increases in SSI & other entitlement benefits. Can you imagine it any other way?

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'T')he CPI is bogus; it is used to temper the COLA increases in SSI & other entitlement benefits. Can you imagine it any other way?

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'T')he CPI is bogus; it is used to temper the COLA increases in SSI & other entitlement benefits. Can you imagine it any other way?

[Denny]

According to this commodity chart website Trading charts the average price for a gallon of gasoline in February was $2.43. For March, it was $2.67. That is an increase of 9.87%, month over month, not 1.8% And, that closer mirrors the complaints I heard from everybody when I visited Florida in March.

Where does BLS sample their gas prices?

If you check the website, you can click on each weekly bar on the graph and a description will show up showing the open, high, low and close price for each week. I used the weekly close prices.

[emersonbiggins]

Apparently, their sample runs mid-month to mid-month. This is why February showed a DECREASE (IIRC) in gas prices, because of the timing of the report, which just happened to end at the lowest price of the month. The actual month of February, e.g. 2/1 - 2/29, showed a marked INCREASE, though.

[Tyler_JC]

The price of ENERGY rose 1.9% last month.

They never said gasoline rose 1.9% last month.

Gasoline is not 100% of all energy consumption.

[ShaneT34]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]emersonbiggins wrote: The CPI is bogus; it is used to temper the COLA increases in SSI & other entitlement benefits. Can you imagine it any other way?

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'T')he price of ENERGY rose 1.9% last month.

They never said gasoline rose 1.9% last month.

Gasoline is not 100% of all energy consumption.

[Twilight]

It's like communism - lots of statistics every day showing everything is OK, everyone believing their eyes.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ShaneT34', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]emersonbiggins wrote: The CPI is bogus; it is used to temper the COLA increases in SSI & other entitlement benefits. Can you imagine it any other way?

[Tyler_JC]

I want to apologize for my early comment.

US Gasoline Prices Weekly Chart

The CPI is completely bogus.

According to the EIA's data, gasoline prices for the average of all grades increased by 3.9% in March.

WTF are they smoking at the CPI Calculator Headquarters????

Maybe they are attempting to factor in reductions in consumption into the calculations. But that seems a little bit like saying "food prices fell because everyone starved to death".

[heroineworshipper]

The current CPI omits substitutions. If food doubles in price & people resort to cannibalism, there is no inflation because cannibalism provides the same value as food.

[sdcoyote]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'I') want to apologize for my early comment.

US Gasoline Prices Weekly Chart

The CPI is completely bogus.

According to the EIA's data, gasoline prices for the average of all grades increased by 3.9% in March.

WTF are they smoking at the CPI Calculator Headquarters????

Maybe they are attempting to factor in reductions in consumption into the calculations. But that seems a little bit like saying "food prices fell because everyone starved to death".

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', '
')The CPI is completely bogus.