Walmart Survey: Inflation already here

[Dittohead not!]

he's talking about (among other things) the speed that money shuttles around the economy. how fast does someone who get's paid 5$ spend that 5$ on a happy meal, and how fast does that restaraunt then pay it to an employee who then uses it to purchase a watermelon, and so on and so forth; the more the same money get's spent within a given time period (the equation goes) the higher the inflation. think of it as a helocopter (an apt analogy, hah); the more you shoot gas into the engine, the faster the rotor spins, and the higher the helocopter goes. the problem, of course, is that just as gas is not the only factor in how fast a helocopter goes up (air pressure, temperature, etc), that formula might not capture the full story of inflation

what's happening now is that the people looking out the windows are saying "hey, the helocopter is flying much higher much faster" and people like Goldenboy are saying "no no no, despite the fact that we're pouring on the gas; the rotor isn't spinning any faster", and the people looking out the window are saying "but we're still going higher", and the deflation hawks are saying "no, the rotor still isn't spinning faster".

so who are you going to believe; the perfect all-things-being-equal world of the formula? or your lying eyes?

I'll go with my lying eyes. I looked at the link to scientific looking formulas used in economics. They looked to me as if someone were trying to make economics out to be hard science, like physics or chemistry, when it is in fact more akin to meteorology.

 

[Diogenes]

I'll go with my lying eyes. I looked at the link to scientific looking formulas used in economics. They looked to me as if someone were trying to make economics out to be hard science, like physics or chemistry, when it is in fact more akin to meteorology.

Very well put! The actions of individuals are motivated by their expectations, and that's closer to chaos theory than any kind of science.

 

[phattonez]

Regardless, what i am getting at is: Hyperinflaiton is being used as rhetoric by those who have political ambitions to capitalize on the lack of public knowledge.

See, inflation isn't a problem.

 

[Kushinator]

See, inflation isn't a problem.

Care to use data that contains recent asset price volatility? I wonder why you omit data from 2008+.

 

[Dittohead not!]

Food prices are up 75%? I wonder where that figure came from. That would mean that the $2.50 loaf of bread would now cost $4.37, A $1.75 dozen eggs would cost $3.06, Deli meat that cost $6 a pound would now be $10.50.

I'm not sure just where you buy your groceries, but in our stores, prices haven't gone up anywhere close to 75%

 

[cpwill]

Consumer price inflation rose to 4.4 per cent in October, well above the government’s 3 per cent target, after food prices increased at an annualised rate of 10.1 per cent over the month.

The surge in inflation has spooked domestic financial markets, with the Shanghai Composite index falling 5 per cent on Friday and a further 4 per cent on Tuesday on rumours about imminent interest rate rises and reports about price controls.

High inflation is potentially very damaging in China because as well as being a possible spark for political unrest, it could also encourage speculative investments by Chinese depositors who are currently receiving negative real returns on savings in the banking system.

In the face of mounting inflationary pressures, Beijing has already increased interest rates once and raised reserve requirements for banks on several occasions. Fuzhou city on the southeast coast announced price caps last week on four types of vegetables, while Kunming in the southwest has also announced price controls on vegetables.

The average price of 18 staple vegetables was 62.4 per cent higher in the first 10 days of November than over the same period the year before, according to a report by the Xinhua news agency on Monday.

The average price of the group of vegetables, which includes cabbage, cucumbers and potatoes, increased to Rmb3.9 ($0.59) per kilogramme. Garlic, which has been the subject of some speculative buying according to analysts, was up 95.8 per cent over the year before, while the price of ginger was 89.5 per cent higher, the report said, citing the Ministry of Commerce.

 

[Kushinator]

Consumer price inflation rose to 4.4 per cent in October, well above the government’s 3 per cent target, after food prices increased at an annualised rate of 10.1 per cent over the month.

The surge in inflation has spooked domestic financial markets, with the Shanghai Composite index falling 5 per cent on Friday and a further 4 per cent on Tuesday on rumours about imminent interest rate rises and reports about price controls.

High inflation is potentially very damaging in China because as well as being a possible spark for political unrest, it could also encourage speculative investments by Chinese depositors who are currently receiving negative real returns on savings in the banking system.

In the face of mounting inflationary pressures, Beijing has already increased interest rates once and raised reserve requirements for banks on several occasions. Fuzhou city on the southeast coast announced price caps last week on four types of vegetables, while Kunming in the southwest has also announced price controls on vegetables.

The average price of 18 staple vegetables was 62.4 per cent higher in the first 10 days of November than over the same period the year before, according to a report by the Xinhua news agency on Monday.

The average price of the group of vegetables, which includes cabbage, cucumbers and potatoes, increased to Rmb3.9 ($0.59) per kilogramme. Garlic, which has been the subject of some speculative buying according to analysts, was up 95.8 per cent over the year before, while the price of ginger was 89.5 per cent higher, the report said, citing the Ministry of Commerce.

Inflation in a nation with somewhere around 10% output growth. How can this happen? :roll:

 

[phattonez]

Care to use data that contains recent asset price volatility? I wonder why you omit data from 2008+.

Mostly becuase that's what was available. Here's something to chew on, alternate CPI data.

Alternate Inflation Charts