Inflation Threat?? Should FED raise rates more than 0.25% if they really believe the GDP growth numbers, the job creation numbers, and the current inflation rate. Shouldn't they go up 0.50% if they believe the numbers?? Or are all Greenspan/Bush numbers bullshit?
Should we worry about Greenspan/Bush credibility?
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/business/US/inflation_threat_CSM_040617.htmlConsumer Prices Rose at a 5.5 Percent Annual Pace the Past Three Months By Ron Scherer The Christian Science Monitor
N E W Y O R K, June 17, 2004 — Consumer prices have risen at a 5.5 percent annual pace for the past three months, rippling from plywood to dairy section. <snip>
Since January, buying a $10,000 used car has cost about $320 more. Don't even mention the price of anything sold by the gallon.
If you think things are getting more expensive, you're right. While two months ago jobs were the biggest worry, inflation is now emerging as one of the main threats to the US economy.
This was reaffirmed Tuesday when the US Labor Department reported consumer prices rose 0.6 percent in May — the largest increase since January 2001. Over the past three months, consumers have seen prices rise 5.5 percent on an annualized basis — the highest inflation rate since the late 1990s.<snip>
"The longer the (food/energy) price stays up, the greater the impact on the whole economy," says Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo Banks in Minneapolis. "Maybe we're at a point where the Fed starts to look at the overall inflation rate."<snip>