Saturday, October 11, 2008

Money & Business

Capital Commerce

The Inflation-Worriers Gain a Convert

February 28, 2008 12:37 PM ET | James Pethokoukis | Permanent Link | Print

Those rising inflation numbers have spooked Larry Kudlow, who now wants the Fed to take a break:

While I've been a bit dovish on inflation, data over the last 3 or 4 months are changing my mind. Inflation first peaked in July 2005, and then gradually declined through the end of 2006. But since the summer of 2007—and especially in recent months—there has been an alarming rise of inflation.... Here's another problem. The Fed is going to be easing interest rates in the teeth of $950 gold and $101 oil! This can't make any sense to the average Main Street Joe out there. At the end of the day, the job of the Fed is to stabilize the level of prices, or at least to keep the increase in the price level to less than 2 percent. But the yearly changes are way, way above 2 percent.... The Fed should stop easing right now, and it should maintain that posture until commodity prices start falling.

Tags: economy | inflation | Larry Kudlow

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Reader Comments

I tend to agree but will oil drop?

Ah global economics...it just ain't as simple as it used to be.

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About the Capital Commerce Blog

Send an E-mail to capcom@usnews.com.

James Pethokoukis is the money and politics blogger for U.S. News & World Report , where he writes the monthly Capital Commerce magazine column. Pethokoukis is also the assistant managing editor of the magazine's Money & Business section. He has written for many publications including the New York Times, the American, USA Today, Investor's Business Daily, and TCS Daily. Pethokoukis is also an official CNBC contributor and appears frequently on that network's Kudlow & Company, Power Lunch, and The Call shows. In addition, he has appeared numerous times on MSNBC, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, CNN, and Nightly Business Report on PBS. A 1989 graduate of Northwestern University where he double majored in Soviet politics and American history and a 1991 graduate of the Medill School of Journalism, Pethokoukis is a 2002 Jeopardy! champion.

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