RickRussellTX

Inflation: CPI vs The Market

I'm not sure I understand the complaint -- wouldn't we normally expect consumer price inflation to lag changes in commodities? In general, vendors are going to hold off increasing prices until it is absolutely necessary, for fear that they will not be in lock-step with their competitors and end up taking the brunt of lost sales and lost customers. Higher consumer prices come when manufacturers pass costs on to distributors and price gets increased down the line until it hits consumers. That's not expected to be an instantaneous process.