The price inflation camp can add one more piece of evidence to its argument today, as the release of the Producer Price Index for November was much worse than expected by mainstream economists. However, it is worth noting that numerous people were expecting this sort of jump, see here, here, and here. The first link essentially sums up what I was saying in the last two links in a more concise and easy to understand way.

Concerning the actual numbers:

• The month over month change from October to November jumped to 1.8% from .3% the month before, and was led by increases in the price of energy and food of 5.9% and .5%, respectively.

• The year over year change from last November to this November jumped to 2.7% from -1.9% the month before, and was led by an increase in the price of gasoline of 14.2%.

The fact that prices have risen so rapidly in the past year while economic conditions have continued to deteriorate is a direct result of the disastrous policies pursued by the Federal Reserve and the Bush and Obama administrations. While these policies may have succeeded in bailing out Wall Street, average Americans are still suffering. It is high time we audit the Federal Reserve and expose their failures and double-dealing nature.

Members of YAL at Ohio State took to the streets to protest rising government debt and runaway inflation. For most of the afternoon, YAL blanketed campus with their giant debt poster. Despite the rain and the cold, many students stopped by to get more information on the national debt, inflation, and the Federal Reserve. 

Later in the evening, YAL moved downtown to the steps of the Statehouse to let people know that we will not let our generation be destroyed by current , reckless government policy. 

I would like to focus on three price indexes that were released in the last week: the 'Import and Export Prices', the 'Producer Price Index', and the 'Consumer Price Index'. These particular indexes are for October of 2009. The vast majority of analysts believe that the year over year and month over month percentage changes in these price indexes are too low to warrant any concerns for coming price inflation, but I disagree.

First, the year over year rate is flawed in a sense. When the stock market crashes and prices for commodities plummet, the year over year rate is going to be low (i.e., pre-crash prices to post-crash prices). In the past one and a half years, oil had skyrocketed to $150 in July of 2008 and fell to a low of $30 in February of 2009. In October of 2008, the average oil price (computed from here by averaging all of the oil prices for October of 2008) was nearly $74. Fastforwarding to October of 2009, the average oil price was nearly $76. So yes, year over year the price change for oil appears to be subdued; however, if oil remains at its current price of around $80 for the next several months, we will see a year over year percentage increase in price of nearly 267%. That is hardly subdued!

• Harry Reid is working hard to muscle ObamaCare through the Senate.
• The AP reports on Rand Paul's early promise in the KY senate race. 
• However, a weakening dollar and rising oil prices point to additional current inflation-related problems.
• Walter Block is fighting diverso-fascism, and in style.
• Good for Michele Bachmann for "moving around" the spineless GOP leadership in her political activity.
• She'd better continue this streak of independence, as an anti-establishment movement is swelling in American politics.