February 14, 2023

To no one's surprise.

But, it will put pressure on the Fed—because they do not seem to understand their own economy—to keep trying to crush the economy.

Excluding food and energy, the so-called core CPI advanced 0.4% last month and was up 5.6% from a year earlier. Economists see the gauge as a better indicator of underlying inflation than the headline measure.

The overall consumer price index climbed 0.5% in January from the prior month, bolstered by gasoline and shelter costs, according to data out Tuesday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The measure was up 6.4% from a year earlier.

Peak Fed funds rate bets by the market continue to move up above 5 in the USA. I love graphs like this as the all knowing market does not seem to know.

I guess they didn't like the numbers, so they changed the way that they measured. Seems reasonable to do on a statistical basis. Less reasonable through a setting policy lens.

2022 CPI weight update information

While the BLS calculated the CPI using a fixed market basket through 2020 and 2021, consumers changed their spending patterns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Census Bureau, the agency administering the CE survey on behalf of BLS, was able to pivot quickly to ensure continuous collection of high-quality consumer expenditure data in 2020. There are several reports published on BLS.gov examining the impact of COVID-19 protocols on CE data quality. According to data collected in the CE, consumer spending on apparel in 2020 was down over 20 percent compared with 2019 (2020 CE Annual Report). Consumers shifted their food consumption away from restaurants (spending on food away from home down over 30 percent) towards groceries (spending on food at home up over 10 percent). Spending on public transportation (which includes airfare) was down over 60 percent, but spending by homeowners on their homes, for example on home maintenance and repair, increased over 14 percent.

So, basically, you can look at the CPI number, but don't try to compare it to before the pandemic.

Workers' United (part of SEIU) is trying to organize the plant.

Workers at the plant told Bloomberg News that Tesla monitors keystrokes to track how long employees spend per task and how much of the day they spend actively working. This leads some to avoid taking bathroom breaks, six employees said.

The Buffalo plant has more than 800 Autopilot analysts in non-engineering roles that contribute to Tesla’s automated-driving development, including by identifying objects in images its vehicles capture and helping its systems recognize them on the road, according to the union. They’re hired at a starting pay of around $19 per hour.

Roses are red
violets are blue
forming a union starts with you