I think we're already in stagflation but no one wants to be the person who calls it.
Most things you described is inflation, not stagflation. The point about the minimum wage is a red herring because virtually nobody gets paid the federal minimum wage. Moreover contrary to many people believe, inflation has not been outpacing wage growth in the US:
I seem to recall that there are lots of criticism around the CPI these days, in part because it does not take into account debt. I don't remember the specifics, but I remember reading that if you do take debt into account, things look much worse.
I seem to recall that there are lots of criticism around the CPI these days, in part because it does not take into account debt.
It's literally called consumer price index. Why would "debt" ever come into it? At best it's trying to move the goalposts from "prices are rising" to "consumers are worse off financially".
I mean that I've read a few articles claiming that using CPI as the metric for inflation is plainly wrong. I'm not an economist, can't comment any further.
Comments
Most things you described is inflation, not stagflation. The point about the minimum wage is a red herring because virtually nobody gets paid the federal minimum wage. Moreover contrary to many people believe, inflation has not been outpacing wage growth in the US:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q
I seem to recall that there are lots of criticism around the CPI these days, in part because it does not take into account debt. I don't remember the specifics, but I remember reading that if you do take debt into account, things look much worse.
It's literally called consumer price index. Why would "debt" ever come into it? At best it's trying to move the goalposts from "prices are rising" to "consumers are worse off financially".
I mean that I've read a few articles claiming that using CPI as the metric for inflation is plainly wrong. I'm not an economist, can't comment any further.