WHY HAS THE MARKET IGNORED MONTHLY INCREASES IN FOOD AND ENERGY COSTS

WHY HAS THE MARKET IGNORED MONTHLY INCREASES IN FOOD AND ENERGY COSTS The upward path of food and energy prices has been well-documented by the U S Department of Labor and other governmental bodies The yearly changes in the Consumer Price Index for all items since 2000 The CPI for food and energy And it is apparent that the inflation rate for food and energy has been accelerating since 2005 The CPI It includes price increases for foods such as bread, milk, eggs, meats, fish and vegetables It also includes price increases for energy items such as gasoline, heating oil, natural gas and electricity The drawbacks of this methodology are that it doesn't include the often-larger price increases for grocery items such as frozen foods and packaged foods, and it doesn't include the price increases for energy services such as electricity and heating oil The CPI methodology significantly understates the total cost of food and energy items, particularly for low- and middle-income consumers the annual change in the CPI for food and energy from 2000 to 2008 The orange line shows the annual change in the CPI for energy, and the blue line shows the annual change in the CPI for food the prices for energy and food have increased at a much faster pace than the total CPI CPI for food and energy accelerated from 2005 to 2008 The year-to-year percentage change in the CPI for food and energy from 2005 to 2008 The orange line shows the rate of change in the CPI for energy, and the blue line shows the rate of change in the CPI for food the annual cost of a grocery cart increased by 13 percent from 2005 to 2008, and the cost of a gallon of gasoline increased by 26 percent during the same time period