Is the CPI about to show a big increase?
Posted: June 25, 2010 Filed under: CPI Leave a commentGoing against the grain, John Crudele at the New York Post foresees an unexpected jump in the Consumer Price Index in coming months (link):
The Federal Reserve has another problem — it just doesn’t know it yet.
The Fed didn’t make any change to the interest rates it controls at the policy-making Open Market Committee meeting yesterday and said “inflation is likely to be subdued for some time.”
Well, maybe not for long — at least as far as the government’s statistics are concerned.
Is he right? I don’t know, but I do know that most people (especially bond traders) seem awfully complacent about inflation these days. It would be interesting to see how the markets react to a larger-than-expected increase in CPI.
Tuition continues to rise faster than CPI
Posted: June 20, 2010 Filed under: Higher ed Leave a commentInflation Watch readers who worry about deflation will be reassured to learn that the cost of a college education continues to rise rapidly:
- California State University trustees raise tuition by 5%.
- Oklahoma State to raise tuition by 4%.
- University of South Carolina to raise tuition by 6.9%.
- University of Alabama at Huntsville to raise tuition by 15%.
- Temple University to raise tuition by 5.9%.
- University of Wisconsin to raise tuition by 5.5%.
- 8.5% tuition rise at University of Tennessee at Knoxville likely.
Glenn Reynolds writes: “With only a few exceptions (like being admitted to Yale Law School or CalTech) I strongly recommend avoiding student loans. And I wonder — when you’ve got an industry whose prices have skyrocketed on a combination of consumer ignorance and cheap credit, what happens when consumers wise up, and credit gets harder to come by?”
A double dip in real estate?
Posted: June 17, 2010 Filed under: Housing Leave a commentMr. Market doesn’t think so:
Does this look like a double dip?
Steel companies worried about increasing input prices
Posted: June 5, 2010 Filed under: commodities, iron ore, Steel | Tags: Steel Leave a commentIn early May, the World Steel Association (worldsteel) repeated its worries about “the recent unprecedented rises in the price of iron ore and metallurgical coal.” The industry warned that these prices are pressuring margins and are threatening to increase inflation pressures in various countries. The industry also worries that price volatility will increase with the change from annual to three-month spot pricing.
See “The steel industry repeats alarm over recent developments in raw materials markets” for more details.
