SURPRISE! Inflation Has Come In Even Lower Than Expected!

by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton | August 11, 2017 3:59 pm

This is good news on the economic front[1] and we can use all the good news we can get these days. Inflation rose by less than economists expected in July according to the Labor Department. Now, I’m going to rain on that parade a bit because I think the math used to determine inflation is whacked in the extreme and that the numbers don’t mean much anymore. Inflation is being artificially suppressed and manipulated and one of these days, pow! Right in America’s kisser. But for now, lower inflation is something to be welcomed and embraced certainly.

Inflation still went up, just not as much as they had figured it would. You notice they did not include food and energy components, which is the biggest part in factoring in inflation aside from mortgages and car loans. I personally think the Fed will still raise interest rates. They almost have to now and we are nowhere near out of the fiscal woods here. Not with our growing debt.

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From Breitbart:

The cost of living in the United States rose by less than expected in July, a Labor Department report showed Friday.

The Labor Department’s consumer price index rose 0.1 percent compared to the previous month, less than the o.2 percent median forecast of economists. On an annual basis, prices rose 1.7 percent, below the forecast of 1.8 percent.

Core inflation, which excludes the more volatile food and energy components of the index, rose 0.1 percent. That was less than the 0.2 percent expected. Year-over-year, core prices were up 1.7 percent, in line with expectations.

The continued slowdown in inflation challenges the Fed’s view that lower-than-expected inflation would be “transitory.” It could make it harder for the Fed to continue its plan to raise interest rates later this year.

The Fed targets 2 percent inflation but does not rely on the Labor Department numbers. It used a Commerce Department price index that will be updated at the end of August.

I do wish that manufacturers would quit what I call ‘stealth inflation’. They make packages smaller, quantities smaller and the quality of goods thinner. Then they charge the same prices as if all of us are too dumb to figure out what they are doing to us. SMH. You see it in everything from food, to clothing, to even cars these days.

Regardless of the numbers, Americans are still feeling the bite of inflation. We feel it and see it in our budgets when we shop for groceries or buy clothing for the kids to go back to school. People have less money and are working harder to bridge the gap now. So, while this is good news, please don’t insult our intelligence by putting out propaganda to make it look like the economy is improving. It really isn’t yet. Thanks to Trump there are more jobs now, so that is something. But we need Obamacare repealed and we need tax cuts… badly. Do your job and get it fixed, or Americans are going to lose what is left of their patience.

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