Ron Paul rides Bernanke's ass.... AGAIN

[SNR]

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[bango]

I was just glad that when I opened this thread that it was not homo erotica to the extreme.

[BucEyedPea]

What a buncha' non answers Bernanke gave.
Dr. Paul has got to be the only med Dr I know of that looks for causes instead of treating symptoms.
Good to hear Paul say most people don't even believe in the CPI. See that Cochise? Time to throw your beloved CPI card away and start judging prices from personal experience and observation instead of what teh govt tells you.

[oldandslow]

BEP-

You will be happy to know that I have done just that over items that my family buys or uses each month for the past year. I got into an argument with someone on another board that I frequent and just made a list of items that we always buy. Same area, same stores, etc. I kept the price of each item (including food, fuel, electricity, water, etc). The person I was disagreeing with did the same

As of last month inflation was running at between 8-9% for both our families. This did not count large purchase items or durable goods such as cars or refrigerators.

[Stewie]

What a buncha' non answers Bernanke gave.
Dr. Paul has got to be the only med Dr I know of that looks for causes instead of treating symptoms.
Good to hear Paul say most people don't even believe in the CPI. See that Cochise? Time to throw your beloved CPI card away and start judging prices from personal experience and observation instead of what teh govt tells you.

The CPI is a joke. They pick and choose what to include. If CPI was calculated today the way it was in 1980 we'd be closer to 6% inflation for the past several years. AND, as long as you don't eat, heat/cool your home, drive, or turn on any lights you're OK because those aren't included in the calculations. Don't get me started about "rent equivalents" or "hedonics."

[BucEyedPea]

As of last month inflation was running at between 8-9% for both our families. This did not count large purchase items or durable goods such as cars or refrigerators.
Good for you oldandslow! I haven't even gone that far, I can just tell from the shelf prices but most especially the fact that one dinky plastic bag of groceries is averaging $25!! Outrageous. That doesn't even count energy related items. Rents are going up too, so my chiro has raised rates twice in one year.

The CPI is a joke. They pick and choose what to include. If CPI was calculated today the way it was in 1980 we'd be closer to 6% inflation for the past several years. AND, as long as you don't eat, heat/cool your home, drive, or turn on any lights you're OK because those aren't included in the calculations. Don't get me started about "rent equivalents" or "hedonics."
That's right. It's just a mythical budget. Mises site calculates at about 6% too. I think it's higher based on o&s. Here, in FL we have the insurance crisis from the hurricanes driving those rates up. Then the state jacked up property tax because of all the RE speculation when incomes didn't keep up with it. State here also bought up a lot of land too. For the first time people are actually leaving Florida.

I'll have to look up what hedonics means??? :shrug:

[banyon]

Good for you oldandslow! I haven't even gone that far, I can just tell from the shelf prices but most especially the fact that one dinky plastic bag of groceries is averaging $25!! Outrageous. That doesn't even count energy related items. Rents are going up too, so my chiro has raised rates twice in one year.


That's right. It's just a mythical budget. Mises site calculates at about 6% too. I think it's higher based on o&s. Here, in FL we have the insurance crisis from the hurricanes driving those rates up. Then the state jacked up property tax because of all the RE speculation when incomes didn't keep up with it. State here also bought up a lot of land too. For the first time people are actually leaving Florida.

I'll have to look up what hedonics means??? :shrug:

I agree that the CPI is flawed as a useful measure of the cost of living. I think I've come around on the "hidden inflation tax" argument that has been made here. It's time to get away from having debt-based currency.

[banyon]

BTW, does this video work for anyone else?

[Taco John]

I agree that the CPI is flawed as a useful measure of the cost of living. I think I've come around on the "hidden inflation tax" argument that has been made here. It's time to get away from having debt-based currency.



Holy toledo!

[Stewie]

I'll have to look up what hedonics means??? :shrug:

I don't have much time but Hedonics in the economic world has to do with prices for goods and the goods delivered. It's kind of a "feel good" stat.

A quick example is if you buy a basic washing machine. One year ago it was $250 and now is $280. You had no choice but to pay the $280 for the basic model. Hedonics are taken into consideration because the new washing machine has an extra rinse cycle (as an example). It doesn't matter that it's wanted or needed, but hedonics says you're getting more for your money and that the extra $30 isn't really inflationary.

[Taco John]

I don't have much time but Hedonics in the economic world has to do with prices for goods and the goods delivered. It's kind of a "feel good" stat.

A quick example is if you buy a basic washing machine. One year ago it was $250 and now is $280. You had no choice but to pay the $280 for the basic model. Hedonics are taken into consideration because the new washing machine has an extra rinse cycle (as an example). It doesn't matter that it's wanted or needed, but hedonics says you're getting more for your money and that the extra $30 isn't really inflationary.



And here I was picturing some sort of Burning Man for economists...

[banyon]

Holy toledo!

BTW, this is not the same as arguing that we need to go back to a gold standard or get rid of a central bank. Just the central bank owned by private parties.

[Taco John]

BTW, this is not the same as arguing that we need to go back to a gold standard or get rid of a central bank. Just the central bank owned by private parties.


Hey, just the reasoning that we need to get away from debt based currency is enough for me to be impressed. Just a short six months ago, nobody was talking about the dollar issue, or even considering the economic system as a source of our problems.

[Taco John]

A fantastic article about today's events:

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=3839318&page=1

[BucEyedPea]

I don't have much time but Hedonics in the economic world has to do with prices for goods and the goods delivered. It's kind of a "feel good" stat.

A quick example is if you buy a basic washing machine. One year ago it was $250 and now is $280. You had no choice but to pay the $280 for the basic model. Hedonics are taken into consideration because the new washing machine has an extra rinse cycle (as an example). It doesn't matter that it's wanted or needed, but hedonics says you're getting more for your money and that the extra $30 isn't really inflationary.
LMAO! Of course the state authorities get to determine what we consumers should value. Central planning at its finest.

[Taco John]

Check out this debate on CNBC... Go to the video on the right hand column titled "Bernanke Video on Demand."

http://www.cnbc.com/id/21688194#

[Nightfyre]

Wow. "The only thing it does is increase the prices of their imports." We operated at a trade deficit of $60 Billion in August. If he thinks that those prices do not proliferate the market at a reasonable rate, he is out of his mind.

[Adam]

Wow. The first time I saw Ron Paul attack Bernanke I didn't think he dominated that much, but he pretty much destroyed him here.

[banyon]

The Smoking Gun
It is no coincidence that the M3 went up an annualized 9.4% in the last three months and an annualized 17.2% in December alone and now the FED wants to stop tracking it!

Why bother tackling a problem of this magnitude when you can just bury the evidence? Who wants to leave a "smoking gun" laying around? A 9.4% increase in money supply should translate into a 9.4% inflation rate (if GDP produces exactly enough to counteract obsolescence).

Even if there is a 1% increase in the supply of goods, that still means that we really have 8.4% inflation rather than the 3.6% the BLS is telling us.

In order for the 3.6% number to be true-- we would have to have 5.8% more stuff than last year (9.4% - 3.6% = 5.8%). Do you have 5.8% more stuff than last year? I didn't think so.

The writing is on the wall. When the Government starts hiding data the problem is big! If this trend continues, inflation is going to come roaring back big time. We will see the late 70's all over again. The war is Iraq and the Billions in Hurricane damage have to be paid for somehow and the "hidden tax" is the easy way out.

Now is the time to begin stocking up on inflation hedges.


(from March 2006) Gold has jumped from $550.00 per oz to $820.00 since the article.

http://www.inflationdata.com/inflation/Inflation_Articles/M3_Money_supply.asp