"Consumer prices hold the line; Cheaper clothing, gas offset costlier food in September" by Associated Press | October 17, 2008
WASHINGTON - Consumer prices were flat in September as retreating costs for gasoline, clothes, and new cars helped to offset rising prices for food, medical care, and other things.
The latest reading on the Consumer Price Index, the government's most closely watched inflation barometer, came after prices actually slid 0.1 percent in August, the Labor Department reported yesterday.
Government said, huh? (Where's that salt shaker?)
Those two months, however, offered Americans a rare reprieve. Consumer prices have marched upward most of the year, spiking 1.1 percent in June. And that means paychecks aren't stretching as far, straining consumers. Recent readings on retail sales were grim. The prospects that consumers will retrench further would spell more trouble for the already ailing economy.
Other economic reports showed filings for unemployment benefits remained elevated and big industry production plunged by the most since late 1974. Weekly wages dropped 2.5 percent in September compared to a year ago, the 12th straight period in which wages have been down.
So far this year, consumer prices have risen at an annualized pace of 4.5 percent, faster than the 4.1 percent increase for all of 2007. Core prices in the first nine months of this year have increased at a pace of 2.4 percent, matching the rise for all of last year.
Vanishing jobs, dwindling nest eggs, and shrinking paychecks are straining millions of ordinary Americans. --more--"
That's YOU, America!! How is that bank rip-off bill gonna help, huh?
