Honestly, I wasn't alive in the 1970s, but studying American history and hearing from those that are older than me I got a good grasp on what inflation can do to a society. Of course the Weimar Republic was much, much worse, but that is a whole nother' story. President Bush has been talking up our terrible economy by spraying cheap perfume on it with the help of the Fed lowering interest rates these past few years. Now all the tweaking is coming to crash upon us. Unemployment is up, the housing bubble is slowly deflating and now, inflation is skyrocketing.
From RawStory:
The Labor Department reported that wholesale inflation was up 6.3 percent for all of 2007, reflecting a huge increase for the year in various types of energy costs ranging from gasoline to home heating oil.The year ended on a more positive note, with wholesale prices falling by 0.1 percent in December. That reflected decreasing costs at the time for gasoline and other energy products. It was a significant slowdown after prices had soared by 3.2 percent in November, which had been the biggest one-month increase in 34 years.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported that retail sales fell by 0.4 percent in December. It was a worse-than-expected decline and increased worries that the country could topple into a recession.
Just another reason to deem President Bush the worst in our nation's history. And of course the Fed is a large participant in the failure of the economy....along with the credit card industry....and the sub-prime lenders....and mass consumerism....you get the picture.
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