What is inflation? I believe this is the most important financial question a person can ask. I am constantly on a trek to better understand money and wealth. Here is some of what I've learned thus far: Per its original meaning: Inflation is not a rise in prices Inflation is a rise in the money … [Read more...] about The Most Important Financial Question You Must Ask
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CPI Explained – Part 2 – Substitution
This picks up where a previous post left off. You may want to read that post first in order for this one make sense. Looking at the picture above, I can only imagine that this is the way that the following idea was made into government policy. The second major way BLS's CPI calculation policies … [Read more...] about CPI Explained – Part 2 – Substitution
CPI Explained – Part 1 – Hedonics
While the measurement of inflation varies wildly depending on which economist you talk to, here we will examine the official figures published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS): CPI or Consumer Price Index. The purpose of publishing CPI is to measure inflation and/or deflation, the decreased … [Read more...] about CPI Explained – Part 1 – Hedonics
Lunch at the Fed
I recently attended a lunch discussion at the Fed building here in Denver hosted by the World Trade Center. The topic of discussion: The outlook for the U.S. Dollar. First, a Federal Reserve senior economist gave us an overview of what Fed is and how it works. Surprisingly, he was quite direct and … [Read more...] about Lunch at the Fed
What Causes Inflation? (You may be surprised) – Part 2
In Part 1 of this post, we examined the facts concluding that inflation is caused by monetary debasement. In this follow up, we'll observe the reason behind why common belief is that inflation is at 3% - 5%. First, let's recap what was already covered: What is Inflation? Inflation is the steady, … [Read more...] about What Causes Inflation? (You may be surprised) – Part 2