Inflation is back - First 4 months this year is a 4.4% annual rate!

[papau]

In the first four months of this year, consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 4.4 percent, compared with a 1.9 percent increase for all of last year. Core prices, meanwhile, also picked up steam. So far this year, they went up at a rate of 3 percent, outpacing the 1.1 percent rise for 2003.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x554469
http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/14/news/economy/cpi/index.htm

Overall CPI below forecast

Consumer price index up 0.2% in April, rather than 0.3% forecast; but core tops estimates

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Overall retail prices in April rose less than Wall Street expectations, although prices excluding food and energy were up a bit more than expected, in the wake of a report released Friday.

Comments: Food INCREASED - - posted a sharp 1.3 percent increase on the April producer price index,

but up only 0.2 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis on the CPI.

And of course, health cost and purchase of home costs were "deweighted" last year since we can afford less of those costs these days - unless you are rich.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

1. thank god for those fat tax cuts *sarcasm off*

n/t

[papau]

2. "trickle down" is GOPspeak for pissing on the non-rich

:-(

[klook]

3. At least they're not piling us up and making us wear dog collars

...yet.

[Salviati]

4. what a coincidence!

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2561827

"U.S. corporate profits surged 87 percent from the third quarter of 2001 to the end of 2003, according to Commerce Department figures. Wages and salaries grew 4.5 percent.

The increase in workers' pay was the smallest for the first nine quarters of any recovery since World War II, said Barry Bosworth, who directed the White House Council on Wage and Price Stability during Jimmy Carter's administration. After inflation, real wage gains were 1.1 percent, Bosworth said.

"What you have here is a dual economy," said Bosworth, now an economist at the Brookings Institution, a research group in Washington. "You can talk all you want about the benefits from the rapidly expanding economy, but the only people who have gained have been the stockholders.""




So essentially this modest 4.5% rise in workers salaries amounts to bubkis then...

[whistle]

5. I predict that the inflation will hit twice that by the end of this year..

...based on the wholesale price index going up 7/10% this past month which when annualized is 8.7% annual rise in wholesale prices. This can not be blamed on labor cost as labor has crept up by less than 1.5%. No sireeeee! This is squarely due to energy prices, the largest tax refund in history to the wealthiest segment of our society, the Great Stupid War and BushCo and the republican controlled congress's FAILED economic, fiscal, monetary and foreign policies.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

6. AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perfectly put!

[candy331]

7. I suppose the good news economics spun by the

liberal media want be able to contain this much longer.The things people need the most are sure telling right now and that is food and gas with the price of both escalating almost daily. Milk here was $2.99 then $3.59 and now $3.89 in some places.