Wait, didn’t Sarah Palin warn this was going to happen? HOPE AND CHANGE! AP:
Gas prices jumped 4.7 percent in February, above January’s increase but below December’s rise. Oil and gas prices have risen sharply since the beginning of the year due to political turmoil in the Middle East.
Food costs increased 0.6 percent, the most since September 2008. Food costs rose for almost all major grocery store groups, including meat and eggs, dairy, and fruits and vegetables. The cost of cereals and baked goods was flat, the only group that didn’t increase.
Bigger food and gas bills may limit Americans’ ability to buy discretionary goods, and that could hamper economic growth. Rising raw material costs are also reducing profit margins at some companies.
There are also concerns that inflation could spread. New car prices also jumped 1 percent, and airline fares and medical care costs rose. Clothing costs dropped 0.9 percent, after a sharp rise in January.
Cool. We can all hurry out and buy our sack cloths while they’re on a down tick.
Progress!*
Did you read/hear what happened to the NY Fed Chairman when he tried to explain that food & gas prices don’t really reflect “core inflation”?
“But I can’t eat an iPad” might be my favorite retort to a “smart” person, ever.
Hmm. locally gas is down $0.20/gal. since the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear ARMEGGEDON! (or not).
THERE YOU GO AGAIN! PASSING ON INCORRECT AND MISLEADING INFORMATION!
I DEMAND A CORRECTION!
AND A REFUND OF MY SUBSCRIPTION TO YOUR SO-CALLED “NEWSLETTER”!
And the fact that your (implied) larger point about increasing signs of economic stagflation is right on the money?
IRRELEVANT!
Man I sure hope the US doesn’t start drilling (again). I mean, they won’t get oil tomorrow, so why bother.
She’s so STUPID! She doesn’t know anything about anything. She’s the biggest idiot there has ever been in the history of idiots.
This story cannot, therefore, be true.
I think Palin was warning that it was already happening, which of course it wasn’t, because everything was ticking along just fine when she said that. Or something.
Me? I think she can see into the future. SHE’S A WITCH! BURN HER!
A Fine Scotch,
Those are the kind of quotes that tend to renew my faith in my fellow Americans.
Gas prices haven’t dropped but by a few cents by me.
Sarah Palin needs to cease and desist…….from being awesome!
But seriously, I would like to thank San Fran Nan and Barry-the-Waffle-Hut-night-manager-who-somehow-got-elected-president for making my food and energy costs artificially sky-rocket for my own good.
Don’t go changin you crazy kids!
If there’s one good way to get people to eat less and drive less, it’s to jack up the cost of each. Not that Democrats would ever acknowledge that incentives matter.
I could be off by as much as 15 cents, Carin.
My information is second-hand, but believed then and I still believe it to be true.
I’d reveal my source but my wife doesn’t want to held responsible for anything she either misstated over the cornflakes this AM or I miscomprehended while waiting for the coffee to finish brewing.
Wait, did I just reveal my source?
Squid, it irritates me to no end that Dems claim that incentives (taxes) don’t matter but ALWAYS want to jack up taxes on things they don’t want people to have (soda, sweets, etc.).
Seriously, how dumb do they have to be not to see/acknowledge the contradiction?
Jeff, your astericks alone are worth the price of admission…
Blake, I want an “But I can’t eat an iPad” t-shirt.
I don’t know about you guys, but I support the green shades in private offices doing 100x more to jack my life up than the guys in DC.
Wait…
The mo’money mo’money mo’money wing of the Democrat party and the Socialist wing of the Democrat party always manage to find a common ground in the end, somehow.
The means to their separate ends are basically the same.
And anyway, if you’re an actor or a tenured professor or a fake documentarian what the fuck do you care about what shit costs?
You can just say “hey you fucked up, you trusted us,”
Jon Stewart style.
Except, of course, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, stuff like that.
Also something that needs to be explained; yes, wages in the private sector have been stagnant for the past decade, even as the minimum wage has gone up, but wages in the public sector have skyrocketed. You have to look at the wages of all.
If only we could lean on oil-producing countries to up oil exports. If only there was an oil-rich country begging to US Assistance against a thuggish dictator… hmmmm
Trick question? Because many of them are ridiculously dumb.
Along with the market, oil is up again today. Those drops in gas prices will only be a fond memory in a few days or weeks.
Glenn Beck started advising us to stock up on food while we can still afford it back on ought six.
Because a high-level financial dewd clued him in on the shenanigans going on in the world marketsBECAUSE OF TEH CRAZY CONSPIRACY THEORY!Food? Gas?
Luxury.