from Hacker News

Inflation surges to its highest since 1990

by kull on 11/11/21, 5:16 AM with 51 comments

  • by merricksb on 11/11/21, 10:16 AM

  • by jstx1 on 11/11/21, 9:25 AM

    It's helpful to have a look at the graph in the article and to remind yourself that the numbers are reported year-on-year. Inflation spiked up in the first half of 2021 and the comparison is between the current month and the same month last year so prices could stay the same and you would still report high inflation for a while (until the back end of the comparison window catches up to the moment in time when inflation went up).

    I think it's important to clear this up because people say things like "high inflation of over 5-6% for months now" which is kind of misleading. Prices can go up 6% just once and then stay the same and you'll still report 6% inflation every month throughout the following year.

    This isn't to say that things are great and high inflation isn't happening. The month-to-month increase is 0.9% which is very high (see the graph).

  • by foota on 11/11/21, 9:44 AM

    Were bad things happening in 1990? Iirc it was the start of one of the most prosperous periods in recent American history.

  • by vbg on 11/11/21, 9:26 AM

    Inflation is complete bullshit because it’s careful to measure a subset of prices and exclude a large range of other prices.

    Meaningless crap, designed to support government narrative that everything is great, nothing to see here.

    To have any credibility at all, inflation MUST include rent/mortgage payments and house prices.

  • by ur-whale on 11/11/21, 9:27 AM

    Inflation is boiled frog style taxation.

    Unfortunately, it's taxation that makes the weakest suffer the most.

    Oh, and the govt would like you to believe they have a way to control it.

    Yeah sure, I'm going to turn that knob that is one input of a perfectly chaotic system, and I know what is going to happen.

    Let's see how that empty promise actually turns out.