Consumer price index summary:
The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.8 percent during
2009, the same increase as in 2008. This identical increase was the
result of offsetting factors. Pushing the index higher were vehicle
prices, which rose in 2009 after declining in 2008. The indexes for
new vehicles rose 4.9 percent in 2009 and the index for used cars and
trucks increased 9.2 percent. Additionally, the apparel index turned
up in 2009, rising 1.9 percent after declining in each of the
previous two years. The medical care index rose more rapidly in 2009,
increasing 3.4 percent after a 2.6 percent increase the previous
year, and the tobacco index increased 30.1 percent in 2009 after
rising 6.3 percent in 2008. Largely offsetting these accelerations
was the shelter index, which posted its smallest annual increase
since its inception in 1953. It increased only 0.3 percent after
increasing 1.9 percent in 2008, with the indexes for both rent and
owners' equivalent rent increasing 0.7 percent. Also, the indexes for
recreation and for household furnishings and operations both declined
in 2009 after rising in 2008.
__________________
"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." John Adams
|