Comments on: Inflation Continues to Cool in November

By: John P. White

John P. White — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 23:16:54 +0000

In reply to Karen Van Ness. Those in government who falsely claim that inflation is beginning to be controlled. seek to benefit politically. Have you watched any White House press conferences? Had Chairman Powell not ignored the inflation until he secured his reappointment, we would be months ahead of where we are. It appears that he feared he would not be reappointed if he tanked the only bright spot in the economy at the time, the equities markets. In the 1980’s, it took years to get inflation under control and it didn’t happen until the FED raised interest rates to the same level as the inflation rate. As Yogi said, “It’s not over ‘til it’s over.”

By: Karen Van Ness

Karen Van Ness — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 16:41:49 +0000

In reply to John White. Well said! So who benefits when the inflation is calculated without putting it into “correct” context?

By: John White

John White — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 23:38:43 +0000

Is inflation realky moderating? The inflation rate is a measure of the inxrease or decrease in inflation compared to same month of the prior year. This can cloud the issue since, if the rate in the prior year was low, the increase is likely to appear to be high and, conversely if the rate of the previous year was high, the increase is more likely to appear to be low.

In my opinion, the best way to judge what is happening to inflation is to add the rate from the prior year to the current month’s rate and compare those combined totals to previous mknths.

if you do this for October, you add the rate for that month in 2021(6.2%) to the October 2022 rate (7.7%) for a total increase of 13.9% since October 2020.

For November, you add the 2021 rate (6.9%) to the November 2022 rate (7.1%) for a total increase of 13.9% since November 2020.

In conclusion, in my opinion, inflation hasn’t really declined at all. The current rate is just being compared to a month in which inflation was high.