Current Inflation Situation On October 13th the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index inflation information for September. The CPI-U index was 246.819 up from 245.519 in August. This resulted in an annual inflation rate for the 12 months through September 2017 of 2.23% up from 1.94% in August, 1.63% in June and 1.73% in July. Monthly inflation was a whopping 0.53% for September primarily due to a 12% increase in gasoline prices due to refinery shutdowns in response to hurricanes. See our Annual Inflation Chart for more info. NYSE Makes New High in Inflation Adjusted Terms! To get a true picture of the state of the market it helps to look at the … [Read more...]
The Economics of Disasters Like Hurricane Sandy
Many people believe the fallacy that wars and disasters are good for the economy, perhaps because some people like defense contractors and home-builders benefit. But it is important to understand how wealth works. If you build a house from raw materials you are richer. For instance suppose you take $50,000 worth of raw materials and add $50,000 worth of labor and come out with a house worth $150,000. in that case you created $50,000 worth of wealth out of thin air. But if someone comes along and knocks your house down and you rebuild it: 1) Are you better off? 2) Worse off? 3) The Same? ~ Tim McMahon, editor In this article Kerk Phillips looks at "hurricane economics". Even Economically, … [Read more...]
