Last Tuesday, Laura Franks reported the Bexley Consumer Price Index for the Third Quarter, 2008. The report announced a seven percent (7%) quarter-to-quarter reduction in retail prices.
This deflationary result was attributable to steep discounting in stationery and back-to-school supplies.
Because major media have been reporting inflationary signs, listeners and also radio staff were surprised by the deflation reported by the Bexley CPI.
But facts are facts. The Bexley CPI reported what the retail prices are. And those prices demonstrate a decline in local retail prices. If WCRX-LP, 102.1 FM is out of step with other media, we accept that and report the facts as we find them.
By coincidence other media are starting to see some deflationary signs. One columnist in the Financial Times, sees more than signs of deflation.
In his Wednesday August 13, 2008 column, John Authers Financial Times columnist begins “The deflationists have it. All year long, the debate has raged over whether the world faces a greater risk from resurgent inflation or from deflation to match Japan in the 1990s. The sudden fall in commodity prices has, for now, convinced the market that we need not worry about inflation.”
Authers column is “The Short View” and he concludes yesterday’s column by observing “In the longer term, deflation is bad news for almost everyone. It implies a global slowdown rather than the vision of emerging markets growing, and pulling up prices in their wake…But the US consumer staples prosper in this scenario. They produce lots of cash in dollars and are not too vulnerable to a recession.”
Pay attention to Laura Franks and her Bexley CPI. She reports the facts as she finds them and it helps us understand what is going on in the local economy.
