FLASH: Inflation up most in 26 years

America make sure you send a big thank you to Ben Bernanke and his banker buddies.

Your currency has been debased, and it's only going to get worse. And oh, these "official" government numbers as you should know by now are a crock of sh*t. True inflation is much, much worse.

Yes, inflation is roaring, and Bennie and the Inkjets could care less.

And all of it without a vote. Unelected leaders destroying America.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Double-digit increases in gasoline prices helped push up the consumer price index by 1.1%, in June, the biggest increase in 26 years, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

The unexpectedly large increase in CPI was led by a 6.6% increase in energy prices and a 0.8% increase in food prices.

Excluding food and energy prices, the core CPI rose 0.3%, the biggest increase since January.

The figures were worse than expected. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were forecasting a 0.8% rise in the CPI and a 0.2% gain in the core CPI.

Ben Bernanke and the Fed deviously stopped publishing M3 (money supply) on March 23, 2006. And now you know why.

HousingPANIC made a stink about this when it happened back in March 2006. But barely a news story was written, and not a peep from Congress was heard.

I think it's pretty obvious to most now that your government lies to you. Your government, burdened by a $53 trillion IOU, is in a position where it has to deceive you. And if you believe the government's inflation data, or social benefit promises, you are a fool.

But I think it's getting tougher and tougher to hide the truth. Now it's out there for everyone to see.

You can see it at the grocery store. You can see it at the gas station. You can see it with the sea of "foreclosure" and "for sale" signs up and down your street.

You can fool some of the people some of the time... And thanks to shadowstats for showing everyone the ugly truth, even if we're no longer supposed to see it...

So have you figured out yet that you're getting destroyed by inflation, and that your government is lying to you?

Ben Bernanke hates you.

I mean he really, really hates you.

And to make matters worse, your incompetent, ignorant and corrupt political leaders are failing you.

You're on your own.

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

With gas prices soaring, the dollar in free-fall, inflation roaring, and an epic Fed-caused housing crash and debt crisis underway, why aren't there protests outside of the US Federal Reserve headquarters yet?

So now we have the Art Bubble. When is ArtPANIC? And is EVERYTHING going to bubble now?

Man, these bubbles are EVERYWHERE.

Bubble in rice
Bubble in oil
Bubble in houses
Bubble in gold
Bubble in Euros
Bubble in art

I could go on and on...

These past few years have seen so many mis-allocations of resources, so many bubbles, and now such a massive wall of money worldwide chasing too few goods, combined with a collapse in the US dollar that makes dollar-denominated things skyrocket in price.

So when will it end? Or will it end? The housing bubble is over, but the other ones go on and on and on.

These past few days saw Roman Abramovich, one of the Russian oil guys (who also owns last night's loser Chelsea), drop $120 million on a couple of paintings, even though he's never been a collector in the past. Hmmm... And we also saw the Rothko painting above go for... wait for it... $50 million. Not bad for a few minutes of work I'd say.

Inflation folks is gonna get so out of control now that it'll make your head spin. It's not just rice, it's not just oil, it's not just art, it's... EVERYTHING. You've got a couple billion people in China and India who want basic things like cars and TV's and meat, and that changes everything. You've got countries and people printing money now with $135/bbl oil. And you've got a world who can't produce enough goods (or food) to meet demand.

So everything bubbles. Well, almost everything. Everything except for houses of course.

Get some popcorn and sit back. But you might want to stock up before the price goes up again.

What will Americans cut back on the most as the housing crash continues, the Housing ATM remains closed, incomes remain flat, and inflation roars?

1) Eating out at restaurants

2) Taking nice vacations

3) Entertainment (bowling, movies, clubs, etc)

4) Shopping (clothing, cars, electronics, etc)

5) Vices (strippers, gambling, drugs and hookers)

6) Other (_______)

Just wondering.. Does anyone seriously believe the hilarious US government inflation report out today - which showed nearly 0% inflation?

I do believe the US government has lost all credibility as of today. Not that they had much anyway, but now it's just laughable.

Inflation pressures eased a bit in April despite the biggest jump in food prices in 18 years.

The Labor Department reported Wednesday that consumer prices edged up 0.2 percent last month, compared to a 0.3 percent rise in March.

The unchanged reading for energy reflected a big 4.8 percent jump in natural gas prices, offset by a 2 percent decline in gasoline costs.

The reported drop in gasoline prices reflected the government's accounting process, which discounts expected seasonal price changes.

Got Inflation?

If REAL inflation is running at 7% to 11%, doesn't that mean that the US economy growing at only 0.6% really signals a pretty massive recession? And that "flat" US average incomes are actually plummeting? And doesn't that mean that the 12.7% reported fall in home prices is more like 20%?

One more time - if you believe the government's inflation number, you are a fool. But it's really not a question of whether you believe it or not, just go to the grocery store and gas station. The real inflation report can be found there.

Peter Schiff on Fox News says the US government is lying about the inflation numbers. Surprisingly, he isn't immediately assassinated

UK report: Grocery prices up 15% in the past year. Yet the UK government, like their lying peers in the US, reports inflation is under control

If you believe the government inflation data in the US or UK, you are a fool.

I repeat, you are a fool.

How the government can report 2% to 3% inflation with a straight face is beyond me. Just go to the grocery store. Just try to fill up your gas tank. Just try to send a kid to college, or buy healthcare. Just go to the dentist (oops, sorry, scratch that one). Just try to get by.

2% to 3%. Who are they kidding?

Families' annual grocery bill rises by £800

Families are having to spend almost £800 more on their annual grocery bills as the highest rate of food inflation for a generation drives up supermarket prices, research suggested yesterday.

A kilo of Tesco garden peas has increased from £1.10 to £1.79; a dozen medium free-range eggs from Sainsbury's has climbed from £1.75 to £2.58; and a bag of fusilli pasta from Asda has almost doubled, from 37p to 67p.

The increases suggest that supermarket food inflation is more than seven times the official rate of inflation.

Bernanke's plan: Stopping massive deflation with massive inflation and hope it all comes out in the wash

Grocery prices are soaring. Gas prices are soaring. Hell, most prices are soaring. Thank you Helicopter Ben.

But about the only thing that ISN'T soaring is the price of homes. In the middle of this rampant (consumables) inflation and dollar destruction, you have historic (asset price) deflation. Just as most HP'ers have predicted.

Eventually though, home prices will stop falling. Probably quite some time from now, when the historic housing P/E ratio is restored, confidence is somewhat restored, pre-bubble prices are back, and it's cheaper to 'own' than rent.

And when that happens, and home prices stop falling or god forbid start going up, the NAR and the few realtors who are left will start saying "home prices stable!". But when you factor in the wild inflation underway (the real inflation, not the government-reported inflation), real home prices will still be in freefall, and the crash will have been much worse than people think, and the combination of flat incomes, job losses and rising consumable and service prices will be devastating.

Here's a new editorial on the inflation solution, which is well underway I believe. Meanwhile, got gold? Got food?

The Inflation Solution to the Housing Mess

The policy alternatives in the post-housing-bubble world are painfully unpleasant. In my view, the least bad option is for the Federal Reserve to print money to help stabilize housing prices and financial markets.

Yes, use reflation to soften the pain for Main Street and Wall Street. If instead we let housing prices fall another 25%-30% – as predicted by the Case-Shiller Home Price Index – it's almost certain that Washington will end up nationalizing the mortgage business.

While there is a substantial risk that inflation may rise for a time – this would be the policy goal – monetization is more easily reversible than nationalization of the mortgage market.

Your government is lying to you about inflation. Any questions?

Thanks to shadowstats, here's a look at the inflation roaring in the United States, using 1980 inflation measurment methodology.

When the government doesn't like the results, what does it do? It changes the rules of course. And the MSM and the sheeple just go along with it. "Oh, that's what the government says, so it MUST be true!"

So the government says inflation is hovering around 3%. Anyone believe that? What's your own personal CPI? When you get back from filling up your tank and buying milk, let us know.

Meanwhile, the big question remains - after this period of wild consumable goods inflation and asset price deflation, after it all falls apart, will we see consumable goods AND asset price deflation?

Inflation. Deflation. Printing Presses. Oh my.

The general consensus on this board was for a period of wild inflation, followed by the unavoidable deflation as The Great Unwinding takes hold.

Helicopter Ben, being the brilliant economist he is (and in control of the printing press), told us in 2002 that under no circumstances would there be deflation.

So now you have the market selling off anything connected with protecting yourself from inflation, and a rush toward US t-bills paying 0.47%, which if that's not deflation I don't know what is.

So, knowing what you know and seeing what you see, are you in the Inflation camp, or the Deflation camp?

I'm still without confidence because of all the factors at play. I see wild inflation right now, I feel deflation is to come, but I see the government and the Fed pumping out dollars. So deflation with a debased US dollar which is still deflation but may look like inflation.

Someone get me some Tylenol. And here's Schiff's view on Inflation/Deflation/Fed Policy

Next Fed meeting is March 18. What's Helicopter Ben Bernanke gonna do?

* Gold at $1000 and soaring
* Oil at $104 and soaring
* Inflation roaring
* Dollar at record lows
* Home prices tanking
* Stock market crashing
* Economy going into the toilet

And to complicate matters, it's an election year, and the incumbents are screaming at Ben to make the bad thing go away.

So what's poor Ben do next?

* Raise 1/4
* No change
* Cut 1/4
* Cut 1/2
* Outright panic and cut 3/4
* End of the world and cut 1 full point
* Quit

And for the inflation / deflation discussion, it sure is looking as many have predicted here that we're seeing asset price deflation combined with commodity and consumables inflation, with a period of planned dollar destruction along the way.

It's tough to imagine it sucking more than it does right about now. But remember, we're just starting. Alt-A and Option ARM are next.

Who'd have thunk we'd have WheatPANIC?

Ah, the tangled web that Ben Bernanke and the inkjets weave....

Got Cocoa Puffs? Better stock up... And congrats to HP'ers who saw this coming and bought DBA...

Wheat prices in biggest one-day rise

Prices of top-quality wheat jumped 25 per cent to a record high on Monday in their largest one-day increase as Kazakhstan, one of the largest grain exporters, said it would impose export tariffs to curb sales.

The move, which follows similar export restrictions in Russia and Argentina, is likely to put further pressure on already tight global wheat supplies, analysts said.

HousingPANIC calls on Congress and Bush to give every single American $100,000,000

I figure if everyone got $100 million, our problems would be over.

That's $100 million for everyone. Paid on a prepaid debit card. Even the illegals should get one, and also people who've never paid taxes.

If everyone gets $100 million, then home prices will be fine. Our economy will roar. Our problems will be over.

Join me HP'ers in this plan. I even have a nice catchy name for it:

The In God We Trust America is the Greatest Country on Earth Homeowner Rescue Wal-Mart Everyday Low Prices Fiscal Stimulus Patriot Red White and Blue Freedom Act of 2008

No way any member of Congress seeking re-election votes against this plan!

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

Inflation or Deflation? Both? One and then the other?

Looks to me like Bernanke is betting in deflation, and using inflation and currency depreciation to keep it at bay. Now that's gambling.

What's it gonna be HP'ers? Inflation or Deflation?

Ben Bernanke is spooked. That's one explanation for the Federal Reserve chairman's decision to lead the Open Market Committee in yesterday's unprecedented 75-basis- point cut in the fed funds rate.

The Fed spoke of a ``weakening of the economic outlook and increasing downside risks to growth,'' a vague phrase that reminds us that what Milton Friedman said in 1965 is still true: ``We are all Keynesians now,'' monetary and fiscal fiddlers who think the government has a broad mandate to manage the economy.

But what Bernanke was also saying was that he fears a more general contraction of money and credit. If not outright deflation, then disinflation, a slowdown in price increases.

Some days I actually feel sorry for the guy. He's in way over his head.

And like I said earlier this week, I think he's going to drop a nuclear bomb (from his helicopter) in a matter of days.

The government can no longer hide the fact that inflation is roaring. And remember, Bernanke hates you.

The government admitted that inflation hit 4.1% in 2007. However the real number is likely over 10%.

Just using the government's own pre-1992 measurement criteria, and inflation is 8%. Yet nobody bothers to report that, since that would be against the government talking points of course.

Bottom line - the Fed hates you. If you earn, save or spend US dollars, you're in a heap of trouble. And Bernanke, Congress and Bush are all just gonna make it worse. They hate you too.

Inflation Rate Is Worst in 17 Years - Higher Costs for Energy and Food Push Inflation Rate Up by Largest Amount in 17 Years

Consumer prices rose by 4.1 percent for all of 2007, up sharply from a 2.5 percent increase in 2006, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Consumers felt the pain when they filled up their gas tanks or shopped for groceries. Prices for both energy and food shot up by the largest amount since 1990.

Got Unicorns? The government does.