US inflation up 8.5% in July year-over-year, yet Biden claims it’s at 0%

From the article: "The CPI measures a range of prices for a typical basket of goods, excluding food and energy because those prices are more unstable."

They exclude food and fuel because they're too unstable? We have to eat every day. People need fuel to go to work and businesses need fuel to transport goods and services. Gas is twice is currently almost twice as much as what it was when Biden first took office. The high prices drive all other prices higher. I think they leave these two out to make inflation look lower.
 
From the article: "The CPI measures a range of prices for a typical basket of goods, excluding food and energy because those prices are more unstable."

They exclude food and fuel because they're too unstable? We have to eat every day. People need fuel to go to work and businesses need fuel to transport goods and services. Gas is twice is currently almost twice as much as what it was when Biden first took office. The high prices drive all other prices higher. I think they leave these two out to make inflation look lower.

Well, to give the devil their due, food and energy costs DO swing a lot because of situations that have nothing to with the value of money. So using those prices to gauge how money value is changing and how interest rates should be set would not be in our best interest.

That said, those two items *are* in the base costs of just about anything else made, people gotta eat, people gotta heat. So a sustained move of those prices *will* show up in the prices of other items, it just takes time.

Now it's obvious to anyone with brain that prices of just about everything have gone up. However, after two years of pandemic and other interruptions to the supply chain *and* the government handing out money left and right, its' very difficult to determine just WHY those prices are going up.

Are goods prices going up due to Supply and Demand due to shortages due to supply chain issues or because more people bought stuff with their free govt money?

Are energy prices going up because of Global demand or because the US policies are artificially reducing the amount of oil we pump or because of new taxes on the oil we are already pumping? Are the govt requirements for "Green" power resulting in high cost projects that the costs are getting passed on to the users?

Are food prices going up because of animals being killed due to sickness, or lack of food due to drought, or reduction in fertilizer? Or Europe having a shortage of grain due to Ukraine not being able to export due to the blockade? Is it regulations or oil issues that are preventing fertilizer from being available or being very expensive? Are people eating more food like wings because they are "fun" and they are depressed and wanting to feel good?

The question is if the problem is with the supply side or the demand side, and if it's the demand side, is it because the Govt is gave away free money it didn't need to and people spent the heck out of it, causing an artificial shortage.

If they raise the interest rates when it's really other factors causing the price rise, we could have a real mess. But I'm sure the Fed feels it has to be seen "doing something" so they raise the rates.
 
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