inflation

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tulip_IHB

tulip_IHB

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Hello,



Is there a website where I can check what is our inflation rate currently in the US? I was wonder how do they measure inflation...since some of these news article stated SE Asia has inflation rate of 25%.



Here is goes...this is a stupid questions, but I want to ask anyway....if the inflation is so high in SE Asia and the US dollar have great exchange rate, but since the cost of foods is going up too...the great exchange rate make no difference when you travel right? :shut:
 
You have just stumbled over one of the great debates of the day: how to measure inflation. You can pick any one of <a href="http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Inflation+-ex-inflation&btnG=Search+Big+Picture&domains=http://bigpicture.typepad.com/&sitesearch=http://bigpicture.typepad.com/">these links</a> for more. I believe that the estimate is anywhere between 2 and 10 percent, depending on who you read and how they measure.
 
If you remove food and energy the current inflation is at 2%. Add back the food and energy everyone needs on a day to day basis...and it's at 10%.



BOTH Dubya and Congress can and must knock these down. They are just too slow/unwilling to do anything about it. When was the last time Bush pumped his own gas? Yeah back, in the 70's. Same goes for every f-er in washington.
 
We were in Argentina in Jan and Feb of this year. Everything I read indicated that their government was fudging their inflation numbers, meaning that it was running much higher than they were admitting. If I recall, they sacked the finance minister. Anyway, the peso was devalued back in 2001 and earlier this year the exchange rate was 3:1. We felt like kings. Out in Mendoza we splurged on a really nice restaurant, salads, appetizers, great entrees and a good bottle of wine... $50! Taxis were dirt cheap too and hotels were affordable (about half of what they are here). Salads were the only thing that were pricey.... on the menu they were nearly as much as entrees. One of the things that people had been complaining about was the high cost of tomatoes. Anyway, my point is that their inflation didn't seem to take away from the relative bargain.



On another note, we realized how far the dollar had plunged when a taxi driver in Santiago, Chile preferred pesos to greenbacks!
 
[quote author="awgee" date=1213787370]And you think that inflation is caused by what?


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25209456/</blockquote>


If it's popular news, give it a user-friendly name (ex. Hope Now Aliiance, Project Lifeline)

It's it's unpopular news, give it some nice geeky cryptic Fedspeak that almost no one can figure out what it means...
 
[quote author="awgee" date=1213787370]And you think that inflation is caused by what?


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25209456/</blockquote>


Are the banks still hoarding all nearly free money?
 
We are planning our trip to Vietnam. I am trying to figure out their inflation rate...but at the same time this is a third world country, so we expect cheap travel, cheap foods and cheap cheap cheap. It turn out...some of the hotels going rate is $ 200-500 a night. Whereas a typical Vietnamese only make $ 500 a month.



I email the hotel with questions, and one of the marketing director give me the reason of high demand. Are you kidding me? High demand? Ticket to Asia is not cheap, travel have decrease and yet he came up with high demand.
 
I think supply and demand are still at play tulip. Perhaps Vietnam is like India and other quickly growing economies where there aren't enough 'international quality level' (for lack of a better term) hotels available for tourist and increasing business travellers. Hotel rates in many Indian cities are higher than in the US despite much lower wages there and high air fares from the US.
 
Budget places in the U.S. like Motel 6 and Best Western are plentiful but the equivalent of such places in places like say the Far East are almost non-existent because such places are likely to not pass muster with Western travelers. Also most "local" motels don't have Western toilets although that will probably start changing as more tourists visit. Even in Taipei which is a very modern Far East city I tried looking for "local" places to stay but they were all smoky and dingy and I ended up in a typical 5 star hotel with a no smoking room and comfy toilets at around $200/night. So it is likely there is a lot of demand for a more limited supply of Western-friendly accommodations in developing Far East countries like Vietnam.
 
NewtoOC,



Demand from where???? Tourism in Vietnam are being compete with Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and other nearby countries. There are many great 3* hotels in VN...I honestly think it pure greed.



Currently the hotel I want to stay is $ 180 a night 4 stars....I will see if it drop in a couple of months.
 
In response to the original post, the CPI is 100% fraudulent, as are our unemployment statistics. The US has degraded the quality of both to total meaninglessness in the past 20 years thanks to a combination of politically-motivated redefinitions and general intellectual laziness.



Not incidentally, this is a big part of why everyone is selling the dollar and dollar assets: because our national culture of self-delusion starts at the very top with the surreal propaganda that is the CPI.
 
Tulip, have you been to VN before?



First, you are being offered the highest rate because you are foreigner and distant. You can negotiate it down 50% or so just by being there in front of the person. and if you are VN-american, probably more. Second, there are a number of quite OK hotels that are 3 stars that will be significantly less.



Food is more expensive relitavily, though



happy travels
 
Freedom CM,



I haven't been back for 10 years...last time I was there someone else took care of all the accomadation. I am trying to negotiate a rate with this hotel since it is 2 weeks stay.
 
two weeks in the same place? you should get a *very* good deal.



you can always go find a travel website discussion board to get numbers of nice 3 star places in the city.
 
[quote author="Hormiguero" date=1213848921]In response to the original post, the CPI is 100% fraudulent, as are our unemployment statistics. The US has degraded the quality of both to total meaninglessness in the past 20 years thanks to a combination of politically-motivated redefinitions and general intellectual laziness.



Not incidentally, this is a big part of why everyone is selling the dollar and dollar assets: because our national culture of self-delusion starts at the very top with the surreal propaganda that is the CPI.</blockquote>


Yup
 
[quote author="CapitalismWorks" date=1213914783]Assuming CPI is fraudulent, what would be a better methods of measuring the cost of inflation?</blockquote>


With volatile food and energy prices consistently rising across all products, they have got to consider these as part of the number that they see/compare with their target. This isn't just a one time weather related shortage of some commodity or a temporary rise in energy. These have been going up and up and up for several years now. Sure, I can buy a Tshirt at target for $5, but I need to fill my gas tank and put food on the table. The cheap T shirt isn't offsetting what takes most of our income outside of housing month in and month out.
 
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