Anxiety Spreads

1. Marsha Asbury had to raise the price of her bagels because all of the ingredients she uses in them have increased 25%-35% in the past year. Then again a few weeks ago her suppliers had ANOTHER price increase, which brought the bagels to a whopping $1.14

2. The reason the housing costs have gone up 18% is because there are a large amount of workers from out of state that are working in the oil fields, so they need housing. There are so many people looking for housing that the vacancies are rare, and demand is high.

3. A consumer price index is the total price amount of products that are used by a consumer. If there is less product, but the same amount of money is being spent, this is a sign of inflation. Core inflation includes everything that raises in price except food products and energy. I definetly think that the consumer price index is the best way to keep track of the inflation rates. Mostly because if food is extremely high in our country, our inflation rate might be extremely low on other things, but i'd say food is a little more important. Right now the US is using the core inflation method, which I think isn't very smart.