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Posts Tagged ‘Inflation’

Chain, Chain, Chain, Chain CPI

Posted in Budget, Macroeconomics, tagged , , , , , , on May 12, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Over at the Moment of Truth project (a continuation of the president’s fiscal commission), Adam Rosenberg and Marc Goldwein make a compelling case that the government should use a different inflation measure when calculating cost of living increases and indexing the tax code: Maintaining purchasing power in spending programs and indexing various parts of the tax code [...]

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How is Housing Affecting Inflation? An Update

Posted in Economy, Macroeconomics, tagged , , , on February 20, 2011 | 3 Comments »

A few months ago, I argued that housing was messing up inflation measures, in particular the core CPI. With last week’s release of fresh CPI data, I decided to check in to see if that’s still true. Answer: Yes, but less so. The cost of housing is still rising slower than for other core goods [...]

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Is Housing Messing Up Inflation Measures? Yes, But …

Posted in Economy, Macroeconomics, tagged , , , , , on November 28, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Here’s the simplest argument in favor of the Fed’s decision to restart quantitative easing: The economy remains very weak. Unemployment, for example, is still almost 10%, and the underemployment rate is close to 17%. Key inflation measures are exceptionally low. The core consumer price index (CPI), for example, is up only 0.6% over the past [...]

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Another Year Without a Social Security COLA

Posted in Budget, Politics, tagged , , on September 17, 2010 | 37 Comments »

It looks like 2011 will be another year without a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security recipients. Why? Because consumer prices haven’t yet returned to the peak they reached in the third quarter of 2008, when the 2009 COLA was set. Beneficiaries received a healthy 5.8% boost in their payments in 2009, which made sense [...]

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Merle Hazard Goes to the Parthenon

Posted in Finance, Macroeconomics, tagged , , , on July 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

… in Tennessee, that is. But he’s singing about Greek debt: Given all the recent discussion about inflation and deflation, let me also recommend Merle’s earlier hit, which includes my favorite lyric: “… will we be Zimbabwe or will we be Japan?” (So far, I think Japan is much more likely.)

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Treasury is Issuing More TIPS

Posted in Budget, Finance, tagged , , , on January 11, 2010 | 1 Comment »

As noted by the Wall Street Journal this morning (“U.S., in Nod to Creditors, Is Adding TIPS Issues“), Treasury is issuing more Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS). Today’s auction involves $10 billion 10-year notes; one estimate suggest that total TIPS issuance this year will be $80-85 billion. Still small compared to our nation’s overall borrowing needs [...]

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More TIPS to Finance Our Growing Debt?

Posted in Budget, Finance, tagged , , , , on September 29, 2009 | 13 Comments »

As you may noticed, the U.S. needs to borrow vast amounts of money. Which raises an interesting question: how should we finance that debt? The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has taken note of this question and has begun a series of reports on debt management. In its first report, released today, the GAO provides a [...]

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