Quantitative Easing was initially considered inflationary but after its first usage, it didn't appear to be. Is this always the case? Is Quantitative Easing really inflationary? Will the Quantitative Easing of 2020-2021 result in more inflation? That is what we are going to look at here. ~Tim McMahon, editor At the height of the 2008 mortgage crisis the FED came up with a revolutionary idea to handle the crisis and that was called "Quantitative Easing (QE)". But before we delve into that let's look at what brought us to that point. Before Quantitative Easing Prior to the 2008 crisis, the housing market was on a tear (much like it is today). The banks were lending at a furious pace and … [Read more...]
Millennials Have Never Seen Inflation This High
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the Annual Inflation Rate rose again in November. Inflation Summary: Annual Inflation highest since May 1982. CPI Index rose from 276.589 to 277.948. Monthly Inflation for November was 0.49% Next release January 12, 2022 Inflation for the 12 months ending in November was Up again from October. October 6.22% -- November 6.81% The earliest millennials were born somewhere between 1980-1985 (depending on which definition of millennial you use), just as we were coming off one of the highest Inflation spikes the U.S. has seen since they began tracking the CPI in 1913. In March of 1980, Inflation topped at 14.76%. By May of 1982, … [Read more...]
September Inflation Rebounds
The Annual Inflation Rate rebounded in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics report. Inflation Summary: Annual inflation was 5.39% in September, 5.25% in August, 5.37% in July, and 5.39% in June. CPI Index rose from 273.567 in August to 274.310 in September. Monthly Inflation for September was 0.27%, August was 0.21%, and July was 0.48%. Next release November 10th Inflation for the 12 months ending in September was Up from August. Since the BLS rounds to 1 decimal place, they reported June and July as 5.4% and August as 5.3%. So September is once again at June levels. The last time inflation was this high was the 5.60% of July 2008. Before that, we … [Read more...]
Why is a Little Bit of Inflation Considered Good for the Economy?
The short answer is because the U.S. Federal Reserve Board, i.e., the “FED,” says it is. The longer answer is much more complicated. To determine whether 2% is really best for you, we will have to look at a variety of different factors. First of all, it might surprise you to know that it wasn’t always that way. It wasn’t until January 25th, 2012, that U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke set a 2% target inflation rate. Before that, the FED didn’t have a specific inflation target but instead regularly set a target range. This range was often between 1.7% and 2%. But even that range is relatively new, and some economists still believe that Zero percent inflation is optimal. Prior … [Read more...]
FED Issues September 2021 Statement
On September 22, 2021, the Federal Reserve reported its current policy position. Currently, the FED is creating liquidity (i.e., printing money) through its Quantitative Easing (QE) program at the rate of $120 billion per month. The market has been fearing that the FED would begin tapering, i.e., cutting back on its liquidity creation. Rumor was that the FED would start reducing their QE by $10-$15 billion per month due to inflation concerns. The last time the FED embarked on a tapering plan back in 2017, they used a two-prong approach of raising the FED Funds rate and reducing the monthly printing by $10 Billion every three months (i.e., roughly $3.3 billion per month). The result of … [Read more...]
August 2021 Inflation Down Slightly
On September 14th, 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that in August 2021, the Annual Inflation Rate was down. Inflation Summary: Annual Inflation was 5.25% in August, 5.37% in July, and 5.39% in June. CPI Index rose from 273.003 in July to 273.567 in August. Monthly Inflation for July was 0.48% and 0.21% for August. Next release October 13th Inflation for the 12 months ending in August was down 0.12% from July. Since the BLS rounds to 1 decimal place, they reported June and July as 5.4% and August as 5.3%. The last time inflation was this high was the 5.6% of July 2008. Prior to that, we have to go all the way back to the 6.29% of October 1990 to find a higher … [Read more...]
BLS says July Inflation Holds Steady at 5.4%
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released their Consumer Price Index News Release for the month of July on August 11th, 2021. Inflation Summary: Annual Inflation 5.37% virtually identical to June's 5.39% CPI Index rose from 271.696 in June to 273.003 in July. Monthly Inflation for June was 0.93% and July was 0.48%. Next release September 14th Inflation for the 12 months ending in July was 5.37% identical to August 2008, July 2008 was the previous Peak at 5.60% Last month's 5.39% was the largest increase since August 2008's 5.37%. (Since the BLS rounds to 1 decimal place they reported last month, this month, and August 2008 as 5.4%). If inflation tops the 5.6% of July … [Read more...]
May’s Annual Inflation Soars to ~5%
Inflation Summary: Annual Inflation up sharply to ~5% (actually 4.99%) CPI Index rose from 267.054 in April to 269.195 in May. Monthly Inflation for April was 0.82% and 0.80% in May. We have to go back to the Oil Peak of 2008 to see higher inflation. Next release July 13th Annual inflation for the 12 months ending in May was 4.99% Since February, we have been predicting Annual Inflation would shoot up in March and April due to negative numbers falling out of the annual calculation. Although May 2020 was not negative it was virtually zero so replacing it with a massive 0.80% monthly inflation caused the Annual inflation rate to soar once more. Since the BLS rounds … [Read more...]
April Inflation More than Double FED Target
Inflation Summary: Annual Inflation up sharply from 2.62% in March to 4.16% in April. CPI Index rose massively from 264.877 in March to 267.054 in April. Monthly Inflation for March was 0.71% and for April was 0.82%. We have to go back to the Oil Peak of 2008 to see higher inflation. Next release June 10th Annual inflation for the 12 months ending in April was 4.16% We have been predicting Annual Inflation would shoot up in March and April due to negative numbers falling out of the annual calculation. Since the BLS rounds their numbers to 1 decimal place they reported March as 2.6% and April as 4.2% taking inflation well above the FED's 2% target rate. Due to … [Read more...]
March Inflation Skyrockets
Inflation Summary: Annual Inflation up from 1.68% in February to 2.62% in March. CPI Index rose slightly from 263.014 in February to 264.877 in March. Monthly Inflation for February was 0.55% and March was 0.71%. Next release May 12th Annual inflation for the 12 months ending in March was 2.62% We have been predicting Annual Inflation would shoot up in March due to higher gas prices and negative numbers falling out of the annual calculation. Further increases to come in April and May. Since the BLS rounds their numbers to 1 decimal place they reported February as 1.7% and March as 2.6% for a monthly increase of 9/10ths of 1% taking inflation well above the FED's 2% … [Read more...]
