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Inflation Higher? Count Your Blessings, Mr. Bernanke
By Greg Ip -- WSJ; 17 OCT 2007

Consumer prices rose 0.27% in September from August, an annual rate of 3.2% - after an annualized drop of 1.7% in August, the Labor Department reported. Stripping out energy and food, core inflation rose to an annualized 2.7% from 1.8%. “Consumer inflation is not yet rolling over and playing dead,” warned Wells Fargo in a research note.

Still, a glance at figures released the same day for Zimbabwe offer some perspective. Inflation there hit an annualized 7,982.1% in September, up from 6,592.8% in August, Reuters reports, quoting the government’s Central Statistical Office. Despite the admirable precision of that inflation rate, “Experts estimate it is actually much higher,” the news agency says.

How did local traders react to the news? “The [inflation] figures don’t matter, what matters is to stay alive and that’s what we are trying to do here,” one foreign currency trader told the agency. Police have been trying to drive black-market currency traders off the streets.

<blockquote data-quote="drillinto" data-source="post: 213490" data-attributes="member: 7267">Inflation Higher? Count Your Blessings, Mr. BernankeBy Greg Ip -- WSJ; 17 OCT 2007Consumer prices rose 0.27% in September from August, an annual rate of 3.2% - after an annualized drop of 1.7% in August, the Labor Department reported. Stripping out energy and food, core inflation rose to an annualized 2.7% from 1.8%. “Consumer inflation is not yet rolling over and playing dead,” warned Wells Fargo in a research note. Still, a glance at figures released the same day for Zimbabwe offer some perspective. Inflation there hit an annualized 7,982.1% in September, up from 6,592.8% in August, Reuters reports, quoting the government’s Central Statistical Office. Despite the admirable precision of that inflation rate, “Experts estimate it is actually much higher,” the news agency says. How did local traders react to the news? “The [inflation] figures don’t matter, what matters is to stay alive and that’s what we are trying to do here,” one foreign currency trader told the agency. Police have been trying to drive black-market currency traders off the streets.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="drillinto, post: 213490, member: 7267"] Inflation Higher? Count Your Blessings, Mr. Bernanke By Greg Ip -- WSJ; 17 OCT 2007 Consumer prices rose 0.27% in September from August, an annual rate of 3.2% - after an annualized drop of 1.7% in August, the Labor Department reported. Stripping out energy and food, core inflation rose to an annualized 2.7% from 1.8%. “Consumer inflation is not yet rolling over and playing dead,” warned Wells Fargo in a research note. Still, a glance at figures released the same day for Zimbabwe offer some perspective. Inflation there hit an annualized 7,982.1% in September, up from 6,592.8% in August, Reuters reports, quoting the government’s Central Statistical Office. Despite the admirable precision of that inflation rate, “Experts estimate it is actually much higher,” the news agency says. How did local traders react to the news? “The [inflation] figures don’t matter, what matters is to stay alive and that’s what we are trying to do here,” one foreign currency trader told the agency. Police have been trying to drive black-market currency traders off the streets. [/QUOTE]

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