Sunday, April 7, 2013

Real inflation

I read an article yesterday that claims the rate of inflation in the US is 1.3 percent, and 10 year treasury yields are holding at 1.69 percent. The two are tied together, and they are both being manipulated.

The official inflation numbers are being massaged. They exclude energy and food, which is a major part of our expenses. Let's take a look at what energy and food are doing. This website began tracking the prices of 30 grocery items, plus a gallon of gasoline in 2008. What they found was the cost of these items was:

$54.11 in 2008.
$70.37 in March of 2011, an inflation rate of about 9%.
$76.86 in August of 2011, meaning an annual inflation rate of about 18%.
$79.28, in September of 2012, a 3% inflation rate.

The only thing that has slowed down inflation is the cost of housing from 2008-2009, with the crash of the housing market. That has since corrected itself. Look at the prices here.

Interestingly, average wages in the US are 20 times higher than they were in 1930.
A new house is 62 times more expensive
A new car is 47 times more expensive.
Gasoline is 21 times as much.
Bread 31 times.
Beef 33 times as much as 1930.

In terms of real purchasing power, this is the poorest generation in over 100 years.

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