Here's quote from a story today about the impact of falling gasoline--i. e.--energy prices. The real important part of this quote is it shows how much energy prices affect consumer purchasing power, yet energy is not a part of the Consumer Price Index's gauge of inflation.
If you're starting to feel officially BS-ed to, you're on to something.
Gasoline is no minor expense for U.S. households. Indeed, it accounts for around 11% of discretionary U.S. household spending (that’s money spent outside of essentials like food, housing and health care) annually, said Thomas Lee, the former J.P. Morgan chief equity strategist who co-founded independent research firm Fundstrat Global Advisors this year.
Note that gas is listed as discretionary household spending. So here's a question: How discretionary is getting to work every day? Like it's not essential to get to work daily. This is just one of many reasons to view these economic numbers with, shall we say, for want of a better term, discretion.
t.man hatter
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-market-bulls-are-celebrating-oil-price-crash-2014-10-13
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