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« Weighing the Week Ahead: Some Worries Resolved | Main | Money Supply Data and Inflation »

February 16, 2011

Comments

Paul Nunes

thanks for posting this proteus; i think this suports the idea that currently supply demand issues are more important variable than easy money dollar policy

wsm

JM -

I agree with most of the commenters that you are right on with this post!

I tend to disagree with you most of the time. (I often come to different conclusions than you do from the data that you present to make your arguments. But I keep coming back to the blog because you always stick to the data!)

Anyhow, in this case, I completely agree with your rational thoughts on how to properly frame one's thinking on inflation. Not that I shouldn't have seen it coming, but I am astounded by the popularity that the money supply misinformation has gained!

exMBB

I think another point is that inflation is not necessarily bad. It's all about trade-offs. Which scenario could you prefer?

6% inflation but 5% unemployment? Or
1% inflation but 9% unemployment?


If I were unemployed, I would definitely prefer the former scenario.

Proteus

Over the past several years, my garbage collection and water costs have risen, but sewer costs are flat. Prices of TVs, refrigerators, hotel rooms, books, and DVDs have dropped. 1.75 liters of brandy increased $0.05 over 18 months. Yes, gasoline has definitely gone up.
We shopped at Super Fresh last weekend. Bananas had gone up to $0.69/lb, so we skipped them ($0.49 at the Korean store). We did score 20 jars of spaghetti sauce for $1 a jar, on sale, regularly $1.89, and 10 lbs of ground beef, reduced by $1/lb. Rice at the Chinese store has come down from $20/25 lbs to $17.
I can't even say what my cost of living is doing, let alone general inflation.

bluebare

Meanwhile in the land of Oz, the dollar sank below 78 while corn was up 4%, silver topped 31 and Brent crude hovered over 100. Did you see the price of cotton today?

No evidence of inflation here. Carry on.

Greg Feirman

This post was awesome!

Ken

You are dead-on about this one.

skasturi

Wish more ordinary folks who listen to those spreading misinformation would read this.

Paul in KC

well said!

John the Cheap

Thanks for the calm words on this subject. Krugman has also been quite good on this lately in his blog, but of course he excites more emotional responses from the other camp.

The comments to this entry are closed.