INFLATION! Anyone else feel it's a lot worse than government or the press lets on?

Question

I've been watching food prices go skyward and wonder why this isn't an issue in the press and last fall's elections. What's going on? Is it patriotic to keep it under the table as part of the war effort? Or am I imagining this?

David: Carter used “”Stagflation” in his run for office and later found it got worse during his term. Maybe politicians learned to avoid the issue. Oh, the market agrees with you on inflation.

Robot: Impassioned. You make me consider China. I doubt there’s ever been war without inflation, and yet somehow we’re doing it. Is China bankrolling it by taking our notes and freezing the exchange rate? If they let their currency float, inflation would skyrocket.

Michelle: The ratio between CEO pay and worker pay reportedly is at historically insane levels.

Not tellin’: Yes yes! But how can this house of cards stand forever? Surely it must fall. (Or do they still plan to pay for it with Iraqi oil?)

Mystique: I hate coupon clipping! But you have many good statistics:

“Federal spending […] has risen more than 40 percent since President Bush took office.”

Yeah, Republicans: The party of SMALL government???

Thank You everyone. Perhaps we’ll hear some more views.

Answer 1

Excellent question: yes, I agree with you. It's time to start clipping those coupons from Sunday's newspaper!

Here's a piece of advice for those of you fretting about the economy: enjoy the good times while they last. Growth in the U.S. has slowed, the price of oil and other commodities is yo-yoing, and scary geopolitical risks abound, from Iraq to North Korea . But, at least for the next year, global growth is sufficiently strong that it should be able to withstandmany of these challenges easily. If you insist on worrying, however, there's plenty to agonize over. A number of longterm economic and social issues could bring trouble, ranging from too much money sloshing around the world's financial systems to rising protectionist pressures in the U.S. and Europe, as the middle classes there feel squeezed by global competition.

Federal spending in fiscal year 2006 increased by a whopping 9 percent — the largest rise since 1990 — and has risen more than 40 percent since President Bush took office.

The most recent rise far outpaces inflation — the Consumer Price Index is up only 1.3 percent in the past 12 months.


Several factors behind the huge increase in spending:

In September, the Senate passed three big "emergency” spending measures, including "a giveaway to American farmers.”

Since Bush took office, legislators have passed more than 35,000 earmarks, including $223 million for the notorious "bridge to nowhere” in Alaska and $50 million for an indoor rainforest in Iowa.

Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are "on a path to bankrupt our country,” said Feulner. Medicare spending alone is projected to rise $112 billion over the next two years to nearly half a trillion dollars.

In 2003, lawmakers passed the Medicare prescription drug benefit — the largest entitlement program passed since the Great Society of the 1960s — which will lead to trillions of dollars in increased spending.

"nothing more than an attempt by lawmakers to buy senior citizens’ votes by giving them ‘inexpensive’ drugs (to be paid for by their children and grandchildren’s taxes).

"The lesson that politicians should learn from this election is that they can’t buy our support with more spending.
Instead, they should focus on creating a government that is smaller — and more responsible with our money.”
http://www.NewsTop.com

Answer 2

They want you to ignore the falling value of the dollar. Its pretty simple...the average drunk stupid voter simply doesn't acknowledge that something is true or is a problem unless a politician (the kings of lies) tells them it is.

The dollar is losing its value, while the Euro is becoming the world standard. The fact of the matter is that nobody in the government is going to do anything about this unless we tell them to. A lot of them are fine with our currency falling because it will open new "economic opportunities" such as a North American Union perhaps...?

As it is now, private banks control our currency, and the rate at which it is printed and distributed. The Federal Reserve is as much a government branch as Federal Express is. And as Thomas Jefferson said...

"If the American people ever allow the banks to control issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." -Thomas Jefferson

Answer 3

i've worried a great deal about inflation however if it were a problem at all, the party out of power in the last election would have screamed from the highest mountaintop that inflation was on the rise. i can't see professional politicians, under any circumstances, not using all ammo at their disposal. as far as food prices i haven't noticed too much of an increase and if gas continues to go down my worries over inflation are temporarily put to rest. however, i will say that our economy seems to me to be very cyclical and at some point, regardless of who is in the administration or congress inflation will rise. i realize this is a very simplistic view of the factors that cause inflation but i just don't see it being a problem right now.

Answer 4

There are several investment advisors and economists that would not only agree with you thinking that inflation is worse than the government reports, but will show that it is even worse than you think it is. Repressing indications of inflation has less to do with patriotism than to do with profit. If the mass market smells inflation, they panic and cause all sorts of economic woes for the people holding the reins (i.e. the Federal Reserve). You can read several well-qualified analyses of this. One of the easiest places to find several at once is the commentaries at kitco.com. I do not work there or for any of the analysts, but have found several of them to call it like it is. Another good one is Weiss Capital Management - they tend to be conservative, rather than reactionary.

Answer 5

I think its been getting a little worse than normal. They just raised the minimum wage here in Cali and ever since Jan 1st, all the businesses have been putting up signs that their prices are going up do to the rise in minimum wage. Which has been SOOO irritating because the raise was to compensate the cost of living since the last raise. I think politicians don't mention it because it wouldn't get enough attention in the media as say Iraq. They mentioned the raise in federal min. wage and it didnt get very much attention.