Generated Title: Inflation's "Cooling"? Yeah, Right. Wake Me Up When It's Over.
So, the government finally coughs up the retail sales and PPI numbers for September 2025. Big whoop. Delayed because of a shutdown? Give me a break. That's like your landlord saying the rent's late because his yacht needed new sails. Excuses, excuses.
The K-Shaped Recovery: Still Screwing Us Over
This "K-shaped recovery" garbage is still the name of the game, apparently. One of those economist types, Lauren Saidel-Baker, says the lower end is getting squeezed while the upper crust is "comfortable." Comfortable? They're probably bathing in caviar while the rest of us are debating whether to buy generic mac and cheese or just eat ramen again.
Retail sales up 0.2%. Woo-freaking-hoo. As Saidel-Baker points out, a lot of that "growth" is just inflated prices. We're spending more, but we ain't getting more. It's like paying $10 for a gallon of gas and celebrating because you "contributed to the economy."
And then there's the Producer Price Index, supposedly a crystal ball for consumer prices. Up 0.3% overall, 0.1% if you ignore food and energy. Which, offcourse, we can totally ignore, right? Because everyone lives on sunshine and air. Inflation's "sticky and persistent," they say. I say it's a freakin' parasite that's slowly sucking the life out of our wallets.
Transportation Costs: The Silent Killer
But let's dig into this PPI report a bit more, shall we? Transportation costs are up. Freight and equipment? Up 1.9%. Air travel? Up 2%. Trucking? A whopping 2.6%. Only water transport saw a decrease, down 1.2%. Guess we should all just take a slow boat to China, then. For a detailed breakdown, see the Transportation Producer Price Index – September 2025.
Transportation contributed almost 15% to the overall increase in costs for producers. Which means what, exactly? It means everything we buy is gonna cost more because it costs more to get it here. It's a vicious cycle, a snake eating its own tail, and we're all stuck in the middle watching it happen.
And here's a question nobody seems to be asking: if these costs are rising for producers, how much of that are they not passing on to consumers yet? Are they eating some of the loss for now, knowing they'll have to jack up prices later? It's like a slow burn, designed to lull us into a false sense of security before hitting us with another round of price hikes.
Then again, maybe I'm being too cynical. Maybe all these economists and government agencies have our best interests at heart. Maybe they're working tirelessly to solve these problems, and I'm just a grumpy old man yelling at clouds. Nah. I don't buy it.
