Double Digit Inflation has Arrived

Dees Illustration

Greg Hunter
USA Watchdog

New inflation figures were released by the government last week, and the news was not good.  The headline inflation number was 3.2% in the 12 months that ended in April.  That is more than a percent above the Federal Reserve’s “target” rate of 2% and the first time it has been more than 3% in over than 2 ½ years.  Of course, the accounting gimmicks used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) understate true inflation, so things look better than reality. Nonetheless, in the latest report from economist John Williams of Shadowstats.com, even the government’s own “official” numbers will likely show double digit inflation in the next three months or so.  The reason is continued money printing in the form of another round of Quantitative Easing (QE) by the Fed to prop up the struggling economy.  Williams said, “The underlying pace of official inflation is accelerating, and could move into double-digits in third-quarter 2011.  Preceding or coincident with that likely will have been some move to QE3 by the Fed and intense—if not panicked—selling of the U.S. dollar and dollar-denominated assets.  Such a circumstance could be a base from which a hyperinflation might begin to unfold with some rapidity.”

And get this, inflation is already in double digits, according to Williams, if it was calculated the way BLS did it more than 30 years ago.  Williams said, “. . . based on reporting of 1980, the April 2011 annual inflation rate would have been about 10.7%.” But, the double digit inflation story is not the one the mainstream media likes to tell.  Instead, it usually focuses on what the government calls “core” inflation that excludes food and energy.   The “core” inflation rate is .2%.  Who lives in a world where the core of existence is not food and energy?  A .2% core inflation rate is both preposterous and insulting to anyone living in the real world.

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