Who said Inflation is under control??????

[banana republican]

	                        JAN 1996	JAN 2000	JAN 2006
			
ELECTRICITY / 500KWH	        48.5380	       45.2070  57.2230
FUEL OIL #2 / GAL	        1.007000	1.189000	2.418000
GAS REGULAR UNLEADED / GAL	1.129000	1.301000	2.315000
WHITE BREAD / LB	        0.860000	0.907000	1.046000
GROUND CHUCK / LB	        1.799000	1.903000	2.607000
WHOLE CHICKEN / LB	        0.941000	1.059000	1.062000
EGGS A LARGE / DOZ	        1.155000	0.975000	1.449000
APPLES RED DELICIOUS / LB	0.877000	0.952000	0.963000
NAVEL ORANGES / LB	        0.560000	0.607000	0.837000
BANANAS / LB	                0.463000	0.490000	0.490000
TOMATOES / LB	                1.103000	1.443000	2.162000
FROZEN ORANGE JUICE / 12 OZ	1.577000	1.823000	1.853000
GROUND COFFEE / LB	        3.577000	3.540000	3.232000
ICEBURG LETTUCE / LB	        0.769000	0.748000	0.874000
			
TOTAL	                       64.355	       61.958	      
78.351
			
CHANGE 2000-1996 & 2006-2000		       -2.397	       16.573
			
			
% CHANGE IN COST OF SHOPPING BASKET	       -3.7%     26.7%
1.086 /  16.302 & 4.491 / 17.389			
			
http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?ap			


ON EDIT CORRECTION COST OF ELECTRICITY

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. Hey, if you take out energy, food and credit costs, everything is fine

who needs ene. . . .

never mind.

[havocmom]

2. The guys who take anything volatile off the price index, lest it raise it?

just a guess ;)

[snappyturtle]

3. I don't know about everybody else but,....

everything on this list, with the exception of eggs, is much higher here in the middle of no where!(northern MN). I assume these figures are an average of sorts which means there are higher and lower prices nationwide--I gotta move somewhere where it's lower! A lot of these costs are due to transportation costs, don't you think?

[banana republican]

7. They are national averages taken from the Dept of Labor's Web...

[snappyturtle]

12. Mean? Median? Mode?

[HockeyMom]

4. AND Housing

going through the ROOF, so to speak. Plus all these "vast numbers" of jobs being created, not to mention raises at existing ones, are not keeping pace with the increased costs of living. The middle class is rapidly being squeezed out of existence.

Maybe the ranks of millionaires has increased under Bush, but so have the ranks of the poor. Where are these new poor coming from? My guess is the middle class.

[Neil Lisst]

5. good data. Once again, they're cooking the books.

They measure inflation by measuring costs that don't properly reflect the average costs consumers are experiencing.

Energy costs are off the chart this year compared to last year. The less a person makes, the more of their income that is eaten by energy costs.

[nascar55]

6. But they will

tell you avg. pay is up 30% since 1996.. = 4% to save....I know this is wrong but that would be how they spin it.....:freak:

[gristy]

8. Is that your shopping basket? Are you just adding up those numbers?

Am I understanding this correctly? Clearly, most of the items on your list have increased, but it makes no sense to simply add up the cost of 500KWH of electricity, 1 lb of oranges, 1 dozen large eggs, 1 gallon of gas, etc. The weighting is all screwed up.

[banana republican]

9. so what about weighting?

weighting is an artificial concept it does not exist.

what would you suggest weighting electricity .01 or how about .000001 and everything else a 100???? It is purely arbitrary & set by the powers that be.

The cost increase per item is the cost increase....

[Telly Savalas]

11. Weighting doesn't exist? Huh?

You are weighting by selecting 500 KWH as a unit of electricity and this is purely arbitrary. Why does your arbitrary weighting make any more sense than that of an economist?

[Heewack]

10. It doesn't see to be all that out of line.

1.6 and 2.6 annualized. Well within acceptable levels.