mlp investor

Why Gasoline and Food Matter When Measuring Inflation

I agree with your premise that Gasoline and Food price matters. I would go on to argue they have an disproportionately large impact on consumer behavior. As thees are very tangible measures of inflation that everyone understands and is reminded of every day.

As for the cmorris01's point of they are not really inflation as they are a scarcity induced price increase. While that may true. Lets call it commodity-inflation. Commodity-inflation has the same buying power erosion effect on the consumer. In an environment where wage increase cannot keep up with commodity-inflation, the erosion in the buying power is most definitely occurring. Especially among the bottom 50% of the population.

The numbers do not reflect the grim ground realities well.