More Than...Less Than...

"U.S. consumer prices rise more than forecasted."

Inflation continues to rear its ugly head. There was a .4% increase in the CPI putting overall prices 2.7% higher than they were at the same time last year. The article on Bloomberg regarding this statistic is really focused on what Chairman Bernanke is going to do. It sounds like they were looking for an interest rate cut, but these statistics that are coming out continue to make justification for an interest rate cut harder and harder. I hate to beat this to death but we are sprinting towards stagflation here. Inflation continues to rise faster and faster, while growth and consumer confidence continues to decline.

On an interesting side note. Last month we saw a near 40% jump in the minimum wage. At the same time we saw a 6.6% rise in labor costs. Now we see a .4% jump in the CPI. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the only things that a minimum wage law does is cause inflation and unemployment. We continue to see politicians make poor economic decisions to appeal to the ignorance of the American voter (see post on ethanol as well).