Government Inflation Data Does Not Match Reality
Bob Brock
In an age where governments of every political stripe distort economic
data to promote their own self-interests, it's hardly surprising that
they present inflation statistics that are wildly at odds with the
reality faced by consumers and businesses, and regarded with utter
disbelief. In the latest US government report on inflation for
instance, there was a glaring “seasonal adjustment,” for energy prices
that cast great doubt as to the accuracy of the findings.
US Labor Dept apparatchniks said consumer prices rose a smaller than
expected 0.2% in April, tamed by energy prices, which were unchanged
last month. Utilizing an obscure “seasonal adjustment,” Labor figured
that gasoline prices actually fell 2% in April, which doesn't reflect
the reality of what consumers were paying at the pump. Furthermore,
the IMF's global food price index rose 43% over the last 12-months,
but the US consumer price index for food is only 5.1% higher.
Wall Street cheered the tame inflation rate, reckoning it gives the
Federal Reserve more time to peg the fed funds rate at 2%, to jig-up
the stock market with massive money injections. But the folks who
aren't fooled by the government's propaganda on inflation are the
American people, whose dollars buy less with each passing month. The
inflation tax is the great thief of the middle class.
For the 12-months through April, prices for US imports were 15.4%
higher. Yet Wall Street economists massaged the data, and explained
that wholesalers and retailers are absorbing the higher costs out of
reluctance to increasing prices and driving away customers. Should we
trust the inflation statistics conjured-up by government
apparatchniks, or rather, place greater faith in the depreciating
dollars and cents that flow through the commodity markets each
business-day?
(...)