PeakTrader.com

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PeakTrader:

Steak and hamburger are two different items in the CPI. Do you have any proof to support your statement? Also, you seem to believe prices only go up, rather than up and down.

You may want to see this link:

http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpiqa.htm#Question_3

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Morganovich, do you have any proof, or just more conspiracy theories?

The BLS methodology looks completely unbiased to me, except the adjustments were too little and too late, which would overstate, not understate, inflation, over the past 30 years.

The inflation data are supported by income, wages, and interest rates.

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I guess, Morganovich believes the CPI failed to adjust for changes in the composition of cows, because there are now less prime cuts. So, inflation for steak is understated.

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If inflation was 10% a year after the 1970s, then real income, and real wages, would’ve been shrinking so fast, each year, your standard of living would be a fraction of what it was in the 1970s.

However, we know living standards, along with labor and environmental standards, are much higher today than in the 1970s. It’s much more likely inflation has been overstated, than understated, since the 1970s.

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PeakTrader:

“Today’s young Americans: luckiest generation in history”

No job, student loans, Obamacare. Sure, it’s an easy life depending on parents and/or government, while playing video games all day.

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And, when they finally get a job, they’ll be working (to provide goods & services) and paying taxes (for Social Security & Medicare) to support a huge retired population.

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PeakTrader:

It would’ve been better for the U.S. to continue exchanging $10 for a barrel of Saudi oil, than $100, and produce other goods than producing domestic oil up to $100 a barrel. Unfortunately, and inevitably, Americans are now working much harder for the same barrel of oil, because of Peak Oil.

Nonetheless, given the reality of Peak Oil, I agree with Dr Perry more domestic oil production (e.g. in the Gulf of Mexico, California, Alaska, etc.) would create more jobs, including through a multiplier effect, to create taxpayers, instead of people collecting government benefits, while idle capital would be put to work, and oil prices would fall somewhat.

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“In 2010 consumption exceeded production by over 5m barrels per day for the first year ever, as world oil stocks were run down.”

http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/06/oil-production-and-consumption

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