"printing money and racking up debt"
Well stated. Those are probably the biggest factors that apply to all sectors of our economy. Fuel and food are treated as commodities and their prices are affected by the value of money which is weakened by our debt and the money supply managed by the fed. The more we print beyond existing money supply, the less our money is worth. Unfortunately we simply print more money to service our debt and it only makes the debt more difficult to pay in the future. Conventional measurements of the change in the value of our money are no longer effective because they exclude too many of the major factors in normal budgets. As Andy points out precious metals are a constant. But there are more effective measures than CPI.
Originally Posted by thestumper:
Originally Posted by shawn:
There is one major factor being left out of this conversation. Exporting inflation by Manufactucturing in places where prices are reduced. China, Korea and a list of others.
Therefore, it may be true that some prices have been contained over the years. Unfortunately, cheap China is almost done. Massive increase on the way...
Your point is will taken, but there are a couple of points to consider:
Another contributing factor: we can't just keep printing money and racking up debt and expecting our currency to retain value. Other countries need to WANT US dollars.
