Double Digit Inflation
Randall from Credit Withdrawal just got done poking fun at me for not having something up on this morning’s inflation numbers, and I might as well admit to being sort of lazy lately where the blog is concerned.
For those who missed the news, the official CPI numbers for the month of June came in at a scorching 1.1% … WITH seasonal adjustment still in effect. I didn’t comment about last month’s 0.6% because that shocked me coming in that high. Some “fun” and simple math:
- 0.6% x 12 months = 7.2% annualized inflation based on the May numbers
- 1.1% x 12 months = 13.2% annualized on the numbers for June!!!
Break out the disco now, the BLS can no longer hide the doo-doo we are standing in, inflation-wise! Not even with seasonal adjustments, not with hedonics, not with substitution bias. I could have lots of fun raking Ben Bernake and 8 others from the FOMC over the coals here, but that’s pretty much like shooting fish in a barrel. Oh yeah, the “good” news: those rate cuts that went on from fall until April still haven’t worked into the economy completely … which means inflation will keep going up for a while.
Thankfully for me, the state board limited my college to “only” (?) a 6% tuition increase, but I am pretty sure they will hike the unregulated fees to cover that and the budget cuts the state is handing them. Eh, I’ll tackle tuition next post. It’s going to be on my mind constantly for the next month until I get both mine and the Teenager’s tuitions paid up.