According to international investor Jim Rodgers, high fuel prices are pushing up overall prices despite what Fed officials say. Food prices are also increasing and core inflation, the number used by the Fed for inflation calculations, does not include the cost of food or energy.
Thursday, 08 Mar 2012 02:26 PM
By Forrest Jones
Money News
High fuel prices are pushing up overall prices despite what officials at the Federal Reserve say, according to international investor Jim Rogers.
The Federal Reserve often focuses on core inflation, which is stripped of volatile food and energy items, when setting monetary policy, pointing out that headline inflation remains within comfort zones.
Increases in wages are more likely to spark a response from the Federal Reserve, although Rogers points out rising gasoline prices will bring all other prices up with them.
"Everybody is paying higher prices for oil and that obviously impacts consumption everywhere and it's not just oil, its food and everything else that’s going up," Rogers tells Business Insider.
"The U.S. government lies about inflation but there’s inflation everywhere. I mean, I don’t know if you go shopping, but if you do, you know prices are up."
The Federal Reserve has kept interest rates near zero and has flooded the financial system with liquidity to steer the country away from a deflationary cycle and towards growth and hiring.
Commodity prices often rise amid such conditions, while tensions with Iran are also pumping up crude prices.
Eventually, the U.S. economy will suffer.
"We are going to have a slowdown. Such is the staggering debt that America has, it has caused more and more of a drag on our economy," Rogers says, adding the country is due for a cyclical downturn next year anyway.
"We are well overdue for an economic slowdown for whatever reason. Whether it’s caused by high oil or what, we’re going to have a slowdown in the foreseeable future."
Republicans are pointing out President Barack Obama hasn't done enough to foster drilling in the U.S. to boost supply and lower prices.
"The president's policies have not only not helped the economy, they've made it worse. And when it comes to gas prices, the president says he's for an 'all of the above' energy strategy, but his rhetoric does not match his actions," House Speaker John Boehner tells Fox News.
"The facts are that they've closed down most of the gulf. They've closed down all the public lands in the inter-mountain West. And if we're going to bring gas prices down, we need to have all of the above."
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