PCE vs CPI
- PCE stands for Personal Consumption Expenditures. Those numbers come from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
- CPI stands for Consumer Price Index. Those numbers come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
The key difference is the PCE includes prices paid on behalf of consumers (e.g. Medicare and Medicaid), whereas the CPI only contains prices directly paid by consumers.
The PCE tends to overweight medical expenses while the CPI tends to overweight rent.
The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation is PCE.
CPI and PCE Both Seriously Flawed
Neither measure directly incorporates home prices. Economists explain this away by stating homes are a capital expense.
OK, so what? The fact is, rising home prices (asset prices in general), are a direct reflection of inflation.
By ignoring asset prices, the Fed helped blow the biggest economic bubble yet. Now the Fed struggles to contain the serious inflation it helped create.
Congress and the President did their part too. One can easily see it in the lead chart. With the economy already goosed, Congress passed the biggest stimulus measure in history.
At the same time the Fed kept it’s inane QE policy going all the way to March 2022.
Biden to Meet Powell
Americans Enraged
Manchin tears into Biden and the Fed
On April 12, Business Insider reported Manchin Tears into Biden and the Fed.
Scroll to Continue
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia tore into President Joe Biden’s administration on Tuesday for failing “to act fast enough” to stop rising inflation.
The scorching statement comes as the White House tries to quietly woo Manchin back to the table for talks on Biden’s agenda.
“When will this end? It is a disservice to the American people to act as if inflation is a new phenomenon,” Manchin said in a statement. “The Federal Reserve and the administration failed to act fast enough, and today’s data is a snapshot in time of the consequences being felt across the country.”
Guilty Meets Guilty
Americans are enraged, and rightfully so.
Senator Joe Manchin accurately pinned the dual reason, an extremely rare triumph in politics.
Senator Joe Manchin, and to a lesser extent Senator Krysten Sinema, deserve a huge round of applause for saving the country from a further raging inflation inferno from Biden’s Build Back Better plan.
Thank you Senators!
Oil Looking Bullish, President Biden, PM Boris Johnson, and EU Looking Foolish
Meanwhile, inept US, UK, and EU policies are fueling further inflation at the pump.
For discussion, please see Oil Looking Bullish, President Biden, PM Boris Johnson, and EU Looking Foolish
The supply chain disruptions over sanctions are massive and further contributing to inflation.
Also, note the End of the 40-Year Bull in Debt and a “Global Depression” Threat
This post originated at MishTalk.Com.
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