"Adding to the List of Worries, Signs That Inflation Is Bubbling Up" by MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
Economists and central bankers have worried for months that soaring food and energy costs could lead to higher inflation, but investors had shrugged off those concerns, preferring to focus on the slowdown in growth.
Higher prices, however, have begun to bubble up at the consumer and producer levels, government reports showed this week, complicating the policy calculus of the Federal Reserve as it tries to bolster the struggling economy. Stock markets fell yesterday as investors once again focused on inflation.
And costs may only go up. Wholesale prices, which are passed on to consumers, rose last month at their fastest rate in 34 years. Import prices recorded their biggest monthly gain since 1990.
Edward Yardeni, an investment strategist:
“This is the first time we really have seen these energy costs and food costs starting to get passed through into finished- goods pricing. It’s the first glimpse that it’s starting to spread more broadly. [A rise in inflation leaves the Federal Reserve policy makers] walking a tightrope.”
Nice economy, huh?
Like they give a shit about us. Here's who they work for:
"Report Says That the Rich Are Getting Richer Faster, Much Faster" by DAVID CAY JOHNSTON
The increase in incomes of the top 1 percent of Americans from 2003 to 2005 exceeded the total income of the poorest 20 percent of Americans, data in a new report by the Congressional Budget Office shows.
The poorest fifth of households had total income of $383.4 billion in 2005, while just the increase in income for the top 1 percent came to $524.8 billion, a figure 37 percent higher.
The total income of the top 1.1 million households was $1.8 trillion, or 18.1 percent of the total income of all Americans, up from 14.3 percent of all income in 2003. The total 2005 income of the three million individual Americans at the top was roughly equal to that of the bottom 166 million Americans, analysis of the report showed.
The report is the latest to document the growing concentration of income at the top, a trend that President Bush said last January had been under way for more than 25 years.
Earlier reports, based on tax returns, showed that in 2005 the top 10 percent, top 1 percent and fractions of the top 1 percent enjoyed their greatest share of income since 1928 and 1929.
The budget office report takes into account a broader definition of income than tax returns that is known as comprehensive income. It includes untaxed Social Security benefits, welfare, food stamps and part of the value of Medicare benefits, giving a fuller picture of incomes at the bottom than tax data.
On average, incomes for the top 1 percent of households rose by $465,700 each, or 42.6 percent after adjusting for inflation. The incomes of the poorest fifth rose by $200, or 1.3 percent, and the middle fifth increased by $2,400 or 4.3 percent."
So SCREW YOU, Amurkns, even if YOU SERVE OVERSEAS!
"Paid in Dollars, Some Americans Are Struggling in Europe" byDOREEN CARVAJAL
PARIS — Erica Nevins’s faith in the dollar was shaken the moment she pressed a crumpled $1 bill into the hand of a little girl begging for money on the streets of Marrakesh, Morocco.
Ms. Nevins, an American fashion executive, recalled the scornful reaction of the child, who demanded more:
“I don’t want this. This is nothing.”
Since then Ms. Nevins has replayed that moment over and over in her head as she confronts the harsh reality of living on a dollar income in Paris and then moving to costly London:
“The absurdity of this is that it’s so true. A dollar really means nothing. It’s scary.”
Not for the Europeans:
"Money Goes Far in New York, if You’re European" by KATE HAMMER and JULIA WERDIGIER
Margaret Dragonette arrived in New York last week — three nieces, a cousin and loads of empty luggage in tow. By the time Ms. Dragonette, an administrative assistant for a nonprofit in Liverpool, was heading home, her group had filled six large suitcases and five carry-on bags. The bags were so stuffed with Juicy Couture T-shirts, Guess watches and Croc sandals that her nieces would have to wear the Ugg boots she was giving them for Christmas on the plane.
Ms. Dragonette, awed at the buying power of her British pounds, each worth $2.03 at the time:
“Your money just keeps on going.”
Her cousin, a 27-year-old nurse, said the dollar was so weak:
“We had trouble spending all our money.”
Add a new superlative to New York’s long list: world’s most fabulous discount mall. With the dollar near its lowest rate against the pound in 26 years, and its lowest rate against the euro ever, many Europeans are looking at the United States the way some Americans have long viewed Latin America and the Caribbean."
How's it feel to be a THIRD-WORLD, SHIT-CHEWING NATION, 'Murka?
Yeah, THANKS BILL CLINTON and GEORGE W. BUSH, thanks a lot, you GLOBALIST SHITBAGS!
How far YOUR MONEY GOING this Christmas, stinkshit 'Murkn?
