To: Jerry Olson who wrote (44476 ) 6/15/1999 8:11:00 AM From: kendall harmon Respond to
Padinha on inflation again, arguing why the fed will tighten and keep on tightening:{a quote from fed governor meyer} Important sources of restraint on inflation in the current episode have come from the decline in energy prices over 1997 and 1998; the appreciation of the dollar over the three years through mid-1998 and the resulting decline in non-oil import prices; sharper-than-previous declines in computer prices over the past three years; and a slower rate of increase in health care prices, including the cost of health care insurance. Given that all of these developments have at best a transitory effect on inflation, as the inflation benefits of the shocks dissipate or as the shocks reverse, inflation is likely to rise somewhat. Indeed, virtually every forecast projects a modest rise in broad measures of U.S. inflation this year, reflecting the dissipation or reversal of favorable supply shocks, most importantly the reversal in the path of oil prices, the stabilization of commodity prices and non-oil import prices, and some rebound in health care costs....{end Meyer, begin Padinha}
