U.S. consumer prices rise 0.4% in January

Marketwatch ^ | 2.17.11 | Jeffry Bartash

[Free Vulcan]

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The prices that American consumers pay for goods and services rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in January, mainly because of higher gas and grocery expenses, according to the latest government data.

More than two-thirds of the increase in consumer prices last month stemmed from food and energy, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

Yet “core” consumer prices rose a lesser 0.2%. The core data strips out volatile food and energy costs that can make overall inflationary pressure in the economy to seem higher or lower than it actually is.

Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast the consumer price index to rise 0.3% overall, with a 0.1% increase in the core rate.

Consumer prices fell sharply in 2010, and over the last 12 months they are up just 1.6% despite recent increases in food and energy costs.

[NonValueAdded]

Cotton is the culprit. Price increases on cotton, gasoline, groceries, even ground beef are climbing. Families just getting by are screwed.

[apoliticalone]

sarge....absolutely true. The game is rigged so that the sheeple pay while the richest segment in our society (that in fact should now be bankrupt), the NY bankers and Wall Street players all get backstopped and made richer by the Federal Reserve and taxpayers. These are the people who put Obama and his czars into office.

Wall St should have been on the hook for the damage they created instead of putting taxpayers on the hook for them. They had years of illegal gains and wheeling dealing and they should have been required to payback and make amends.

[dufekin]

I dealt with these issues in 2007/2008, that terrible winter. Because of the terribly rapid rise in food prices, I searched for and found less expensive options. For example, I ceased consuming boxed breakfast cereal and instead opted for old-fashioned oats and corn tortillas. Would I prefer the prepackaged breakfast cereal? Yes, but I can’t justify paying the prices. Over the past three years, however, even the prices of those substitutes almost doubled.

I also found different, less expensive grocery stores. Here in Oklahoma City, our grocery prices already rank among the lowest in the country. For produce especially, I turned to a Mexican grocer. But even there, I take great care to choose only the least costly fruits and vegetables and strictly adhere to a price cap of 67 cents per pound.

I buy bread only at special discounters who charge $1/loaf or less. I anticipate their prices to increase. (I also walk or cycle to grocers; gasoline costs too much for my budget, and I need the exercise.)

Among the dietary changes that the inflation episode three years ago compelled me to undergo, giving up cheese entirely for several months perhaps caused me the most difficulty.

I don’t really have any answers for you, but I can recommend making careful choices, selecting less desirable substitute products (e.g., whole oats instead of breakfast cereal; cabbage instead of lettuce), and seeking less expensive grocers.

Ben Bernanke has much explaining to do.

[RipSawyer]

You need to include a decoder ring with a message like that.

[RipSawyer]

Back in the late sixties ice cream in half gallon containers (64 oz.) was available on sale for 35 cents. In ‘72 I could buy choice T-bone steak which was equal to today’s prime grade for 79 cents a pound EVERYDAY. Compare those figures to the “official” inflation adjustments from the government, you won’t know whether to laugh or cry. My income in those days was around 500 a month. Tell me I wasn’t better off than most folks are now. Oh, wait, no I wasn’t, I didn’t have a cell phone to “sext” on back then, I just had sex every night instead.

[RipSawyer]

A few years ago I was saying on FR that the government figures are rigged and we were not nearly as well off as the politicians said and I was regularly flamed for it. Now it seems that just about everyone is convinced of it.

I believe what I see, not what the government says and I know that in my lifetime we have gone from a time when a high school dropout could work hard and get married, raise a family, own a house and a small farm and have a good life and I know because my father did it with an eighth grade education to a time when college graduates are lucky if they have a real eighth grade education and many of them take jobs my father would have considered far beneath him.

[dirtboy]

The core data strips out volatile food and energy costs that can make overall inflationary pressure in the economy to seem higher or lower than it actually is be accurately represented.

[Big E]

Rip: you’re not kidding. The government inflation numbers are a joke. By that I mean, they way-y underestimate inflation. I used your ice cream example, 64 oz. for 35 cents, and compared against what Turkey Hill is charging today. Today’s ice cream is roughly 11.5 times more expensive than in 1968. Yet, the Dept. of Labor tells me prices have only gone up 6.33 times since 1968.

http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm.

Or, your steak example. $.79 per pound in 1972, compared to $8.00 per pound today, that’s 10 times as much. The DOL tells me inflation only went up 5.27 times since 1972. What do you expect from your government? Lies, lies, and more lies.