Inflation ! Biggest jump in 34 years.

[Wiregrass Willie]

It took them long enough to notice. Maybe now the idiots at the Fed will pay more attention to the problems of consumer and less to bailing out the bankers. Which means instead of lowering interest rates they will raise them.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Wholesale prices and retail sales jumped in November and jobless claims fell last week.

Wholesale prices shot up 3.2 percent, the biggest jump in 34 years, propelled by a record rise in gasoline prices. Meanwhile, consumers put aside worries about the weak economy in November to storm into the shopping malls, pushing up retail sales by the largest amount in six months.

The Labor Department reports that new claims filed for jobless benefits dropped to 333,000 last week, an encouraging sign that the job market is holding together despite problems in the economy.

The gain in wholesale prices was propelled by a record rise in wholesale gasoline prices. Excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, the Labor Department said inflation rose by 0.4 percent.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that retail sales surged by 1.2 percent last month, double the gain that economists had expected. That followed a much weaker 0.2 percent rise in retail sales in October.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071213/D8TGJM000.html

[Pale Blue Dot]

1. Everyone here needs to read "The Shock Doctrine" now.

This is going to come apart at the seams VERY soon (before the election), and we all need to be able to recognize what the Bush administration and the neocons are going to try to do to us when it does. Think Russia in the '90's, or New Orleans after Katrina.

We really don't have very much time.

[SpiralHawk]

7. Gigadittoes on the Shock Doctrine. Read it now.

I heartily recommend...The republicon homelanders know EXACTLY what they are doing to screw the American democracy and freedom they HATE so much...

http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine

Web site has info on the book, and a dy-na-mite video clip you will never forget.

"In THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, Naomi Klein explodes the myth that the global free market triumphed democratically. Exposing the thinking, the money trail and the puppet strings behind the world-changing crises and wars of the last four decades, The Shock Doctrine is the gripping story of how America’s “free market” policies have come to dominate the world-- through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries."

[hootinholler]

19. I wish she would release it paperback.

Hardbound $30 is a little salty.

-Hoot

[Pastiche423]

20. If your local library doesn't have it

ask them to order it. That's what I've done w/many books.

[Triana]

14. I've got it on CD - listened once but ...

...it warrants another listen.

HIGHLY recommended. It explains in GORY detail, what's behind all this sh*t.

[hobbit709]

2. The jobless claims is the biggest crock!

If you're not eligible for unemployment benefits or used them up, you're not counted. Way too many people are without work that aren't counted. The real unemployment figures are easily double the "official" ones.

[nightrider767]

4. Shhhh... Not So Loud

You might scare the "markets"!!!

Our "Golden Calf".

[Triana]

15. Or UNDERemployed are considered "fully employed"

and they're really NOT.

[aquart]

3. Lower the interest rates again, boys. Can you say, STAGFLATION?

[trotsky]

5. Exactly what came to my mind, too.

History repeats itself yet again.

[OzarkDem]

29. Its 1973 all over again

Remember Gerald Ford's Whip Inflation Now Campaign? No?

[Jacobin]

30. Yes, indeedy. I remember it well

And its a bitch to get rid of

[izquierdista]

6. No, the water isn't rising

The ship that the dollar is on is sinking. And fast too.

[madinmaryland]

8. I remember 34 years ago. Whip Inflation Now!!

[NashVegas]

9. Crisis = Opportunity

Isn't there an investment back that uses that adage in its tv commercials?

[lovuian]

10. They finally are coming out with the TRUTH sought of

Hyperinflation is on its way... I think of germany...

and Bernanke is going to have to stop it

which means Higher Interest rates
yikes

[kentuck]

11. That's an annual rate of over 38% !!

That would make '73 and '78 look like kid stuff..

[SpiralHawk]

12. "Smirk, smirk, smirk" - republicon homelander shock commando corporate goons

[knitter4democracy]

31. They said 40% on Marketplace tonight.

Then they went on to say how that wasn't really true and all. :eyes:

[tom_paine]

13. If the Lying Bushies' Fantasy Accounting Numbers say 3.4% then you can bet your ass

the ACTUAL number is closer to 10%.

We are spinning out of control now. The Bushie-Nazis have to move more swiftly to ensure the nation is locked-down, enslaved and fully Nazified/Bushified (at least in law enforcement, National Security, and the friendly-facsist CitizenCorps) before the really bad times come.

[raccoon]

21. I agree with your premise, but I don't think it's just a Bushie thing.

I think no matter whether Republicans or Democrats control the WH, they're going to understate inflation figures.

[tom_paine]

28. The usual Republic vs. Democratic Party difference.

Wholesale and complete, shameless fabrication vs. a little spinning and massaging of the numbers.

Not that I condone either of them, but to pretend there is no difference is like saying there's no difference between the Colonial use of "propaganda" during the Revolutionary War (as they used the murder of one of the wives of Gen. Burgoyne's officers to rally New England militias) vs. Joseph Goebbels and his Minitsry of Propanganda.

They might have, technically both been guilty of the basic thing, but in scale compares as a kayak does to a Nuclear Aircraft Carrier.

So, I both agree and disagree with your comment.

[ProfessorGAC]

26. It's Not That High

But, my estimate of total inflation is about 20% above the reported numbers. IOW, the total number is about 4.1%. Since wages are growing by about 3.2% the typical household is losing nearly 1% of buying power per year.

That hasn't happened since before WWII.
The Professor

[smoogatz]

16. How would raising interest rates be a good thing?

It would slow an already dicey economy, and make big-ticket items like houses, cars and appliances much more expensive. It would also drive up credit card rates, forcing more people to default on home loans--not what you want, really. It would also have the effect of increasing interest rates on U.S. government debt, forcing the government to pay more in interest to its bondholders, leaving less money for discretionary spending on things like universal health care and education. Low interest rates are good; what's causing inflation is mostly the big increase in the price of oil, which drives up the price of everything else, pretty much.

[SpiralHawk]

22. It is part of putting the economy into SHOCK

When the people are in shock -- as they were after 9/11 -- if you are poised (as the republicon homelanders have been and are) you can then shove a whole lotta crap down the gullet of a country.

Just as the anti-democracy BushCo republicon homelanders did after 9/11. They were ready with a gasping, mega-HUGE "Patriot Act" within days after the towers fell. No one read it. It got passed anyway. And ever since the republicon-corporate cabal has steadily eroded the basic freedom and quality of life in America.

Crippling inflation, or Hyper-inflation -- in terms of shock doctrine -- has already proved itself powerful around the world in places like Argentina.

If hyper-inflation comes Full Bore on the USA now, as seems too damn possible, then you can bet people will be in SHOCK. Big time. Lots of castles will crumble.

At that juncture Big Brother - Big BushCo - Big Homeland -- will be able to shove all kinds of "economic reforms," "freedom adjustments" "political extensions" and "homeland protection measures" down the throat of the nation. Many people will be in SHOCK and AFRAID and they will accept what Big Daddy is doling out. Others -- fully awake -- will find creative ways to adjust and to triumph, as has always the spirit.

This, I feel, is what the cabal of homelanders appear poised to do to our beloved America.

[smoogatz]

25. I doubt it.

I think they're just looting the economy and the treasury, Republican business as usual. A major economic collapse on their watch would probably produce another generational swing to the left, a la Roosevelt and the Great Depression; not at all what they want.

Anyway, I was asking the OP why he/she thinks rising interest rates would be a good thing. I'm pretty sure they'd be a terrible thing, especially given the current weakness of the economy and the collapse of the housing market.

[hfojvt]

27. it wouldn't be, but it is the standard FED/monetarist answer to inflation

Which presumes that inflation is demand-driven = too many dollars chasing too few goods. In an expanding economy easing up on demand is pretty much a good thing. When, however, price increases come from increasing costs, like now, or like in 2000, then it is a stupid idea. It slows the economy further when the increased costs are already reducing consumer income and spending.

[book_worm]

17. But from what I'm hearing the media is focusing on the rise in retail sales rather than inflation.

[baldguy]

18. This has been going on ever since Bush took office.

They just can't hide it anymore.

[BuyingThyme]

23. No, no, I read that a rise in gasoline prices curbs inflation.

I think the article was written by a guy named Steve Exxon.

[wiggs]

24. No way I believe that inflation has been low the last couple years. nt