|
|
In May, the Core Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, which the U.S. Federal Reserve views as the most reliable gauge of inflation, shot up 3.4 percent compared to a year earlier, the U.S. commerce department reported. This represents the biggest 12-month increase since April 1992, according to CNBC.
Separately, the department reported that also in May, consumer spending was flat and the personal savings rate declined to 12.4 percent from April’s 14.5 percent.
Personal incomes declined 2 percent, less than the 2.7 percent predicted by economists, CNBC said.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: We not only predicted today’s inflation in the “Market Overview” section of our 4 August, 2020 issue, but also highlighted the trend toward “dragflation” – prices rising while national economies and income levels spiral downward.
In fact, we have continually monitored and forecast inflation – in our “Trends in the News” broadcast and Trends Journal since the COVID War broke out in the winter of 2020… and have continued to do so weekly in this and scores of other Trends Journals. And unlike the mainstream message, our forecast is “inflation is not temporary.”
For example, yes, lumber prices have come down some 40 percent from their May high… but they are still up 60 percent. Thus, some prices will come down but overall, they will remain much higher than they were before the 2020 COVID War.