Consumer Price Index Gives Fed the Green Light!
Typically, there are two types of people in the inflation camp.
You have the people who follow the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which has come to represent inflation itself. But this metric has been so heavily manipulated over the years… it’s biased at best.
Then you have everyone else who has seen the cost of goods mostly rise, for whom deflation just seems a bad joke.
Personally, I don’t think I’m your typical “Joe Six-pack,” but the drop in commodity prices sure hasn’t helped my standard of living. And it’s not like I have a lot of extra cash lying around just because gas prices have fallen about 50% in the last couple years (I must not drive that much).
Wherever you stand on the matter, the fact remains that the Consumer Price Index is the most widely followed inflation tracker, and one that matters a great deal to the Fed.
