Obameconomy: Producer Prices Spike Up, Gen Y Loves Living With Parents

Yesterday, (NMP) Obama gave what was supposed to be an official POTUS speech on energy, and instead quickly morphed into a campaign speech where (NMP) Obama took shots at not only the GOP presidential candidates and elected Republicans, but at you and me, who think high gas prices are a Bad Idea, even going so far as to call people who want to “drill now” are “flat earthers.” Of course, he also screwed up his Rutherford B. Hayes talking points. Meanwhile, Obama seems to be missing Reality Land

(MSNBC) U.S. producer prices recorded their biggest gain in five months in February as the cost of energy spiked, a government report showed on Thursday, but underlying inflation pressures were contained.

The Labor Department said its seasonally adjusted producer price index increased 0.4 percent last month, quickening from January’s 0.1 percent gain.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected prices at farms, factories and refineries to rise 0.5 percent.

Wholesale prices excluding volatile food and energy costs rose 0.2 percent, moderating from January’s 0.4 percent increase. While that was in line with economists’ expectations, it was the third consecutive month of increases in core PPI.

The pain at the pump is only one component in rising real word producer prices, which hit most notable in the food industry. And producer prices affect consumer prices. Have you noticed prices at the supermarket going up? How about that dollar menu? Notice that many prices have bumped up to $1.29 for many fast food items? Rising producer prices means the producer has to walk a fine line between keeping the price of their products affordable and staying profitable. Sooner or later, the choices will be to either raise the prices or lay workers off as energy creeps up.

And then there’s the Gen Y “kids”

(MSNBC) You would think young adults stuck living at home with their parents would be sending texts of despair to friends about their lot in life.

Think again. Most Gen Yers think it’s gr8.

Three out of ten adults, ages 25 to 34, are living with their folks and of those 78 percent said they’re happy with it, according to a Pew Research survey released Thursday and titled “The Boomerang Generation: Feeling OK about Living with Mom and Dad.”

Strangely, 77% of these folks living with their parents have high economic expectations, which is strange because, well, they’re living at home with Mom and Dad because the economy sucks and they aren’t making the money they think they should nor working the job they deserve.

Welcome to the Obama Economy, which is only going to get worse. Once gas hits $4 a gallon on average, we’ll see things start to fall apart. Unlike the last time which was a spike, what we’re seeing now is a creep upwards to what many in the market think are permanent prices. Remember, this is what Obama wanted. But, there are no energy sources to take the place of the “old types” and bring prices back down, and won’t be for decades, at the earliest.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

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