Inflation is going to be a bigger concern than it already is for the U.S. economy. And I am sure you have already experienced it—when it comes to food products, for example, the size of the container has decreased, while the price hasn’t changed. The official government numbers tell us that inflation is not a concern; that we are not experiencing any inflation and it’s all under control. As a matter of fact, the Consumer Price Index ( CPI ), issued by the U.S. Bureau of Labor, shows that there was actually a decline in inflation in May, no change in June and July, and an increase of 0.6% in August. (Source: Bureau of Labor, October 5, 2012.) We all know the CPI doesn’t reflect real inflation or prices that really matter to the consumers. Food prices and gas prices are increasing rapidly and they are not properly reflected in the CPI numbers. I drive a sports car that really doesn’t have a big gas tank. Earlier this week, when I filled up my car, I bought two car washes with my fill-up (because I get a discount when I buy the car washes with gas). My final bill was over $170.00! And the cars washes were not expensive, about $12.00 each. If this isn’t inflation, I don’t know what is. I’m not the only one complaining about gas prices. Gas stations in California are shutting down on record-high gas prices. In San Francisco, gas prices are at the highest level since 2007. (Source: Businessweek, October 4, 2012). These gas stations are shutting down, because their profitability is decreasing—the gas is available, but not for cheap. For gas stations in San Francisco, it’s costing them $4.90 per gallon just to buy gas and they then need to mark up that price to actually make a profit. It wasn’t too long ago when you could get a gallon of gas for fewer than $2.00. The underlying issue is inflation—the prices of goods are increasing, because our dollar is depreciating faster than ever before. When we import oil from foreign countries—and we still do a lot of that every day—it is taking more U.S. dollars to buy a barrel of oil. This is because the greenback has depreciated so much against other world currencies (except for the euro ). While the CPI doesn’t really show the entire inflation picture, we know that the purchasing power of $1.00 in 1980 equates to $2.80 in 2012. What does this mean? It means that inflation has deteriorated the value of the greenback. Now, with multiple rounds of quantitative easing, inflation is going to be a bigger problem. It will affect consumer ... Read More