Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Wholesale and Core Inflation Up - Are We Looking At The Beginning of Obama's (and Our) Stagflaltion Woes?

Yahoo news reports that the November wholesale inflation up more than expected.

Greater than expected by whom? When you dump billions of dollars into the economy and deficit spend like there's no tomorrow, inflation is somewhat predictable.

Inflation at the wholesale level surged in November, reflecting price jumps in energy and other products. The bigger-than-expected increase is certain to raise the attention of Federal Reserve policymakers beginning a two-day meeting on interest rates.

The Fed has been able to keep interest rates at record-low levels to bolster the shaky recovery, but if inflation pressures begin to mount, the central bank could be forced to start raising rates sooner than expected.

The Labor Department says wholesale prices jumped 1.8 percent in November, more than double the 0.8 percent gain analysts expected. Core inflation, which excludes energy and food, rose 0.5 percent, the biggest increase in more than a year.
A core inflation rate of .5 per month if it is sustained is a rate of 6% per year which is quite high, and a wholesale rate which includes energy and food if sustained would equal an annual inflation rate of 21.6%, and even if it returns to the lower expected amount of .8% would mean inflation of 9.6% per year.

Let's see, unemployment in double digits, inflation going up in tandem with unemployment.

Can you say "Stagflation"?

The Obama administration keeps looking like Jimmy Carter 2 not just in foreign policy but now also on the domestic economic front.

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