Abraham Thomas and the rest of the Quandl.com team gave us permission to publish the following presentation.
The Fed has been trying to boost employment by keeping interest rates way low.
The theory is, companies will be more willing to borrow and invest in their businesses if banks are giving them good opportunities to do so.
The Fed has acknowledged its easing policy has not come without costs, especially for savers.
But on the surface, inflation has remained stable.
It's not quite so simple, however.
In many key areas middle class folks count on, prices have gone up severely.
The following charts demonstrate the extent of the problem.
Let’s look at inflation since the start of the decade. Most economists take “stable prices” to mean “inflation between 0% and 2% every year”, and the Fed seems to have hit this target with admirable accuracy.
But wait. Let’s dig a little deeper into the numbers. What are the things people spend money on? Consider the essentials first. Food prices are rising faster than inflation:
So are energy prices:
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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