Inflation Is Actually a Lot Higher Than You Think
We’re all spending more on food in the Covid-19 era, but statistics bureaus haven’t updated the weightings of CPI baskets.
We’re all chefs now.
Photographer: John Dominis/The LIFE Images CollectionAfter almost a decade in hibernation, gold bugs are roaming the earth again. A fast drop in the dollar’s real yield and the uptick of a favored gauge of inflation expectations have sent the metal on a wild ride.
Skeptics might say there isn’t enough evidence of rising prices to warrant a neck-breaking run in gold, traditionally seen as a hedge against inflation. (Maybe all that lockdown isolation had bond traders imagining things.) In July, U.S. consumer prices rose 1% from a year earlier, well below the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Meanwhile, at 2.7%, the headline figure in China remained in check, even as pork and fresh vegetable prices soared.