Saturday, May 31, 2014

[Update: told you so] Not enough inflation in Europe? Are we on the same planet?

Over the last several months, economic experts in Europe have been warning about a danger of not inflation but deflation.

Consumer prices rose little, they said, and raw materials for goods were becoming cheaper, creating a danger that consumers would put off purchases in the expectation stuff would get cheaper.

Prices for food and other essentials have been going up at a brisk pace as opposed to non-food products like power drills and iron beams but that does not seem to bother the experts.

Here is how we imagine one such expert highlighting the steep decline in non-food commodity prices:

How do you get your daily RDA of iron?

Well, John, I purchased a 20 foot I-beam and every morning I use my new angle grinder (also cheaper than last year) and grind off my daily dose.

In the same vein, some German media outlets appear to have joined the cashless society bandwaggon.The idiots trains where cash is uncool, dirty, and where its mere possession indicates you do not want to give your money to investors to earn a return.

That is so seriously gross that we were mulling watching Max Keiser on RT to let off some steam.

The dying breed of folks who still have a savings account and, more importantly, do not want to enrich card companies by paying transactions fees on every carton of eggs or box of milk appear to be on their way to extinction - if the low number of tweets on the subject is any indication.

The next 12 months will show whether the deflation danger was inflated by up to no good folks or incompetent experts because wages and salaries in Germany are on the rise. Which supposedly brings us higher consumer prices and no deflation.

As we said: let's see.

On a more optimistic note: According to reports, the German foreign spy service BND is planning to monitor social media, including Twitter and the blogosphere, in real time. Welcome to our new readers.

[Update 2 July 14] The numbers are out. Told you so (article in German).

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