Inflation at 38-Year Low

[Bombtrack]

http://reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=ES0HXNOWGESRQCRBAEZSFFA?type=businessNews&storyID=4002931

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer prices took a surprise tumble last month, dragging the underlying inflation rate to a nearly 38-year low, even as industrial output and groundbreaking for homes surged, reports showed on Tuesday.

A separate report showed the shortfall in the U.S. current account, the broadest measure of America's trade with the rest of the world, shrank more than expected in the third quarter.

The slew of data suggested the economy was stronger than most analysts had thought. But with signs inflation was slowing, economists said the Federal Reserve could keep interest rates at basement levels for a long stretch...
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Things like this show why being the party of taunting is the wrong idea. And also I believe enhances the fact that we shouldn't propose a middle class tax hike as Gephardt and Dean do.

[westman]

1. You're right.

We need articulate ideas, not anti-good-news screeds as our candidates have been giving us.

[buycitgo]

2. who believes that crap?

what's happened to your health insurance, even if it's company-supplied?

gasoline is 20 cents a gallon higher

don't they factor that sort of stuff OUT of inflation?

and what's happened to housing prices most places...is that bubble going to keep expanding? try to buy something in any urban area. in chicago, for example they're going beserk cause the county assessor is hiking assessed values in certain hot areas up to THIRTY NINE percent higher this year.

not an expert, but believing what happens when I write actual checks for things that cost a hell of a lot more than they did last year, like my phone/cable, for another example


any more anectodals?

I know, that's the rub.....anecdotes, but does anyone else think this is garbage?

[Deja Q]

8. Food has gone up too...

Milk and soy-based products especially, though I've seen price hikes across the board. Although a few cents seems like little on the surface, it adds up ultra-quickly when you consider the population.

It's gonna get worse.

[buycitgo]

9. was going to mention that, but it seemed too petty

eggs up to a dollar seventy NINE for large, here in Chicago

iceberg lettuce was TWO forty EIGHT a head last week!!!!!!!!

never, ever saw it above a buck fifty, and that was a month ago

other things seem about the same, but certain things are jumping fast.

and what about natural gas prices? saw in the paper the other day (and here, too) they expect another HUGE jump this winter.

speaking of which, two years ago, my condo assess me an extra SEVEN HUNDRED dollars for natgas, on top of my obscene $364/mo. fees, four fifths of which go for gas/water already.

[RebelOne]

18. Yes, I've noticed the jump in soy products.

And a lot of the items have gone up more than just a few cents. For instance, I love Morningstar products. And their prices have gone up by 30 to 40 cents.

[soupkitchen]

3. Except for necessities like housing and healthcare

[dpibel]

4. I could be wrong

I was under the impression that one way to get low inflation is to have low wages and high unemployment. That way you don't have the demand spiral that leads to inflation.

But I'm no economist, so I don't know what the official story is.

[loudnclear]

5. Only if you don't have to buy food, clothing, medicine, and insurance.

They must have averaged in the cost of diamonds and gold cause food sure is up. Giant just raised prices on over 100 items at leasst 20%

[RebelOne]

19. My car insurance has almost doubled.

And I have no violations or tickets. So I had to change deductions to bring the premiums down to where I could afford them.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

6. Maybe because we are bordering on DEFLATION?

[nn2004]

15. Exactly

It's time for tough love on tax hikes. We are going to need to raise taxes across the board except for maybe the lowest incomes. People making 40k+ are going to need to hand over at least 1k-2k more per year to get things back in balance. It's a tough call right now as to whether Dean or Kucinich should tell the American people now or after the election. They need to sell it softly and then own up to it and I think most Americans will understand it's for the better.

[indepat]

7. Yeah, inflation might not be bad if you don't have to pay medical

bills, dental bills, local taxes, hospitalization insurance, or termite insurance, don't have to buy prescription drugs, gasoline, eggs, milk, among others, or heat your home with natural gas. Yeah, outside of those and a few more, inflation isn't all that bad.

[buycitgo]

10. you are correct, sir!

I really don't understand why more people aren't saying BULL ffffffing S**T to this garbage.

just like the booming economy, these stats fly in the face of everyday reality.

where are all the JOBS JOBS JOBS JOBS if we're experiencing such miracle growth?

even the stupid so-called 'liberal' gasbaggers are giving into this propaganda ploy, taking it as a given now.

what GIVES??????????

[ComerPerro]

11. Well, its easy to control inflation

when millions are out of work and only a select few people are actually making money hand over fist.

[qanda]

12. Just bought a bottle of lotion for $6.80

The same bottle cost $5.90 last year. Yeah, I'd say inflation is at its lowest in 40 years. /sarcasm

[dusty64]

16. I've noticed NOTHING

I buy is cheaper except maybe clothing. Food, prescriptions, gas, heat, phone bill, etc are ALL higher. I really find it hard to believe economic numbers these days as they have changed how they compile them.

[MoonRiver]

13. Combined with our high unemployment, deflation is a real risk.

This is a very serious matter which our idiot administration has totally failed to address.

[stickdog]

14. Great! Man, inflation hasn't been this low this long since

the Depression!

[RebelOne]

17. Oh, really?

How come everything is costing me more than it did last year?

[CWebster]

20. This administration is in the business of propping up fairytales

and waging personal vendettas.

When their fanciful constructions, built on bravado, come tumbling down in the harsh light of day, we are in a quagmire, wrapped in a lie.

Last night Diane Sawyer, on the World News, posed the question to the smirking smacked ass, "50% of Americans don't believe you made the case to attack Iraq" and his shrill, arrogant response harked back to the threat of Saddam after 911, claiming he used the same intelligence as his predecessor. Everytime the punk gets in a jam he blames it on someone else.

This administration has been nothing but cowardly lies, sustained by a corporate media and willing handmaidens in the opposition party. If more Americans were accustumed to hearing straight talk about the real state of affairs, a real accounting of an almost incomprehensible and ongoing travesty of the truth, those numbers would be closer to 95%, with only the top 5% who benefit from all the looting and plundering and lying rallying around the arrogant punk acting like the biggest bully on the block.

I will not vote for any of the Democrats who are propping up Bush and making his job easier, while attacking our own who represent an opposition in the interests of the citizens. I will not empower what has been a betrayal in the Democratic party, a neutered party, cowering and complicit, defining themselves based on the big Republican lie. Give me those like McDermott,and those who support him, who will not be gagged and who will speak truth to power.

Otherwise, a pox on both your houses.