South Africa November Inflation Slows More Than Expected to 5.3%

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-11/south-africa-november-inflation-slows-more-than-expected-to-5-3-.html

South Africa's inflation rate fell more than was expected during the last month.   Their inflation rate is still somewhat high because they have been fighting the recessions affects since 2009.  They are still struggling and because of the issues they are very limited in what they can do.  They have been locked into the same interest rates since 2012 because of the weak rand compared to other currencies as well.

South Africa has many other problems.  They need to find a way to fix this soon or they will be in even more trouble.

Russian Inflation Jump to a Three Month High

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-05/russian-inflation-accelerates-more-than-forecast-to-3-month-high.html

Russia is having problems with inflation.  They have a target set of 5% a year but they will surpass that for the third straight month and all those have been in the 6% range.  This is causing their central bank to cancel some of their plans to try and help the economy by easing interest rates because that would make the inflation worse.  It is also throwing off their plans to attempt too help the economy with lower interest rates.

This is just another economic problem in post Soviet Russia.  They never really have recovered from the Soviets and are still struggling.  Much of that inflation is lead by food prices rising.  That makes it even worse of a problem.  That means that it is important daily goods that are leading the rise not other goods.

U.S. retail sales signal rise in demand; inflation tame

Retail sales are showing very positive growth.  They are signaling a continuing strength of growth in the economy at this time.  They are taking over for the housing market which is slacking off.  Another positive for growth is that inflation is remaining low enough that the U.S. Treasury can continue its bond buying stimulus.  That is good for the economy because that allows them to keep interest rates and other monetary controls at low levels to continue to assist growth.

It is a very good thing that the U.S. Treasury is able to keep assisting the economy.  The U.S. economy needs to get back on track so that it becomes less of an issue for everyone.  Having the U.S. economy back to normal would really help to get the rest of the world on track.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/20/us-retail-sales-idUSBRE9AJ0NX20131120

U.K. Disinflation No Risk as Swap Gap Widens to Record

The U.K. is once again benefitting form the fact that they decided not to begin to use the Euro.  It would appear that they will not be hurt by the fact that disinflation is harming the Euro Zone.  The Euro is still falling, however, the economy in the U.K. is going strong.  The inflation rate is rising at a little above their targeted 2%.  This has been the case since 2009. 

This is why the U.K. is so smart for deciding not to join the economic EU and not use the Euro.  They were the smartest country in Europe for avoiding that.  The Euro Zone is a bad idea because there is no central control that can make them do things that are necessary. 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-19/disinflation-no-risk-as-swap-gap-widens-to-record-u-k-credit.html

Canada Dollar Declines on Concern U.S. Adds to Economic Slowing

Canada's inflation rate is still low because of worry over the conditions of the U.S. government shutdown. The value of the Canadian dollar rose compared to the American dollar because of worry over the Federal Reserve's reaction.  They were worried that they would roll back the tapering of the bond buying program.  It also declined against most of the 16 other countries it is compared to.  The Canadian Central bank also was forced to maintain most of its policies because its inflation is too low for them to try and get things back to normal.

It think that Canada is alternately lucky and unlucky to be the U.S.'s northern neighbor.  They often have the bad luck of being hurt by economic downturn in the U.S.  They get the positives as well but they are very much tied to how well the U.S. is doing because the U.S. is their largest trading partner.
 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-19/canada-dollar-declines-on-concern-u-s-adds-to-economic-slowing.html

Falling inflation another headache for ECB

Inflation falling is causing many problems in the Euro Zone.  Due to the falling inflation rate many people are holding on to their money as opposed to investing.  They are doing this because they want to be able to buy goods at lower prices.  they are also waiting for their money to be worth more so that they get more money "for free."  The European Central bank is trying to hold off these problems with various tools but they are failing to make a true difference. 

This is why the Euro Zone is a major failure.  It is a nice idea to have the various countries attempt to create one economic zone that is more powerful like the U.S.  However it does not work when there is no central power that can force the other countries to do what they need to do.  Because of that one countries failings bring down the others and hurt countries that have been fiscally responsible. 

http://news.yahoo.com/falling-inflation-another-headache-ecb-142804299--finance.html

Japan’s Coming Inflation

http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/10/08/japans-coming-inflation/


Japan has some major economic problems.  Many of them stem from a country that as a population is getting old.  Another however is inflation. 

If inflation were to rise drastically, Japan would have many problems with its currency.  Japan already owes a huge amount of money on bonds.  All of that debt will increase in how much needs to be paid out.  Once that happens and they are incapable of paying it off, investors will end up creating a run on the yen.  That would create a serious problem for Japan. A run on the yen would add to their debt even further which would just go in circles and keep causing problems.

These problems represent somewhat of a miss judged plan by the Japanese banks.  The have failed to plan properly for an aging population.  Now they are trying to force a misguided plan out there that will only make things worse because the idea that inflation is a good thing falls a little flat when you have so much debt.

Federal Reserve considers explicit pledge: Low rates if inflation stays down

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/federal-reserve-considers-explicit-pledge-low-rates-if-inflation-stays-down/2013/09/23/9207e1a6-220e-11e3-966c-9c4293c47ebe_story.html

The Federal Reserve is pledging to keep interest rates low as long as the economy and inflation rates don't go up.  They do not want to stop a recovery early.  They want to give it a chance.  The magic number for them is 2.5%.  That is what they believe will signal a robust and improving economy. 

I think that it is a very good thing that they are trying to make sure that they wont stop the economic recovery.  They messed up a couple of times with their attempts to fix problems.  However, I don't think that they should publicly be making promises.  They did that once already during this recovery and it caused a downturn because the failed to come through with what they said they would do.  Another downturn is exactly what the economy does not need. 
The fed needs to stop attempting to control the economy.  It is something that cannot really be controlled.  By that same token, people need to stop reacting to Federal Reserve decisions.  Due to the fact that they themselves have control over the economy, they need to stop freaking out over little things.  The federal reserves actions have in reality very little to do with actual concrete business. 

Some Good and Bad News About Your Paycheck

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/05/16/some-good-and-bad-news-about-your-paycheck



Paychecks are getting larger and larger in the sectors that require skilled labor.  However, due to inflation, the adjusted rates are still lower than they were in 2008.  Originally in 2008 deflation pushed the "real dollar" value of peoples money down. 

While it is nice to see that people are starting to make more money than they were a few years ago, once again is upsetting to realize that they still are not making as much as they could be because of inflation.  This is a problem because people are having to stretch their money farther and farther to pay for the same things.  It means that they have to work much harder. 

India's Rupee Keeps Falling and the Trade Deficit Keeps Widening from Bloomsburg Newsweek

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-08-27/indias-rupee-keeps-falling-and-the-trade-deficit-keeps-widening

At first the idea of what is happening to India seems counterintuitive, however after reading into it more it makes a bit more sense.  The weak currency coupled with inflation is a recipe for disaster.  India needs to help themselves essentially.  The lack of good infrastructure is greatly hindering them.  Without having the proper infrastructure, it is almost impossible for them to improve some of the other parts of their economy because the resources needed are hard to move to and from the locations where they are needed.   

The other problem facing them is the slow growth market.  Without people greatly increasing their buying, it is hard to take part of any given market share.  That is because so many of those people are very brand loyal. Hence to increase their market share they need a bunch of new people without those loyalties that would be willing to buy from them. 

The fact that inflation is driving up prices so much within their country is really hindering their exports.  Because they cannot produce goods that cost less than their competitors their export business is hurting really badly.  That coupled with their reputation for lackluster quality is really damaging.  Each of these issues is causing their trade deficit to become bigger and bigger.