Chart of the Week: Inflation in the Real World

ttown

Buckle up we're going to 2% annual rate

Chart of the Week: Inflation in the Real World

ebaytrader

PAY NO ATTENTION TO THOSE NUMBERS BEHIND THE CURTAIN!

secondrepublic

House prices in my area are soaring, so are rents....

mhammerman

I don't agree with the part in the article that said new cars were cheap. Have you priced a new car? They have gone through the roof and the incentives as in cash discounts are quite thin because they all want you to take the 0 finance rate for 5 years and a juiced up sticker price. Doubtful that they can keep the lid on the gov cpi much longer as people are going to call BS on their lack of COLA's.

CaptHenway

<< <i>House prices in my area are soaring, so are rents.... >>



Really? Where do you live?

I was talking with my brother in a Detroit suburb the other night. He bought his condo eight years ago for $130,000, and still owes about $50,000 on it. He says that similar units are now selling for about $50,000. He has also been out of work for a year and a half. I told him that if can get a job offer in a better area to just walk away from it and eat the $80,000 loss, because the money is already gone.
TD

roadrunner

House prices in my area are soaring, so are rents....

Liquidity is being utilized by investors and speculators into areas that in a growth phase or will continue to be under demand by consumers/investors. Let's face it, the housing market has a ways to go to shake out all the bad loans, institute better regulations, root out the lending fraud, and a host of other issues. It's going to take time. Liquidity will only find its way to areas where housing has bottomed. Who wants to buy a home or sell one if no one is really sure who even technically owns it? For now, money seems to be happy heading into commodities and those stocks that have some underlying growth or profit potential. Just because housing prices or wages are not rising doesn't mean that money won't flow into commodities and raise their prices. It did it in the 1970's....it's doing it now. Don't judge inflation by today's CPI which just happens to have imputed rents as >40% of its input. And when you factor in durable goods and autos, that percentage jumps to over 50%. It's hard to move an index when it's carrying an 800 lb. anchor. Fwiw, if we use the 1980 CPI, today's number would be around 8.5%.

roadrunner

secondrepublic

<< <i>

<< <i>House prices in my area are soaring, so are rents.... >>



Really? Where do you live?

I was talking with my brother in a Detroit suburb the other night. He bought his condo eight years ago for $130,000, and still owes about $50,000 on it. He says that similar units are now selling for about $50,000. He has also been out of work for a year and a half. I told him that if can get a job offer in a better area to just walk away from it and eat the $80,000 loss, because the money is already gone.
TD >>



Chicago.... the wink means just kidding.

yellowkid

On an impulse I bought a Tootsie Roll Pop today, hadn't had one in years, I almost fell over when they told me it was 30 cents.