I'm reading this article in the New York Times about various economic pressures such as the continued housing slump and concerns over inflation when I came to this paragraph:

The latest inflation report appears to corroborate a broader trend of higher prices across the economy. Last week, the Labor Department reported elevated readings for consumer prices. The consumer price index was up 4.3 percent last month from a year ago, up from a 4.1 percent increase in December.

To be certain, the core rate of inflation — which excludes food and energy — remains closer to the Fed’s target of 1 percent to 2 percent. Core consumer prices were up about 2.5 percent in January, up from 2.4 percent in December.

I'm not sure about you, but I actually buy food. Food purchases are part of my budget and I may be going out on a limb here but I'm guessing most people spend money on food.

When is the last time you checked out the price of a gallon of milk? Or a carton of eggs? It doesn't take a PHd in Economics to see that prices on food have gone up a lot more than single digit increases over the past couple of years.

What good are measures of inflation if they exclude the two items that everyone single person in this country spends money on?

If you do believe these government figures on inflation, shoot me an email sometime. I have some swamp-land to show you.

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