This paragraph from an Associated Press report by Christopher Rugaber on today's economic news should at a minimum strike readers as odd:
A third report noted that prices at the wholesale level remained tame outside a sharp rise in food and energy costs. Excluding those two volatile categories, core wholesale prices rose just 0.1 percent, the Labor Department said.
So we're left hanging. Gee Chris, what was the overall change in the Producer Price Index? He never says, at least not in the 11:44 a.m. version of his report.
For the record, overall wholesales prices in September increased by 0.4% for the second month in a row. Since September 2009, the overall indices for finished goods and intermediate materials have increased by 5.6% and 4.0%, respectively.
Why is Chris Rugaber hiding the overall rise in prices, particularly in the past month? Could it be that he doesn't want the world to hear the larger number, lest people start thinking that in addition to economic malaise and unemployment, we now need to start being concerned about inflation?
If that's his concern, based on the radio news I'm hearing, Rugaber's gambit is working. Radio news readers, who largely rely on AP reports for the business news they relay to their audiences, are telling us that ex-food and energy, wholesale prices barely budged. Nice job, Chris. Way to under-inform. You get your "I Protected Barack Today" sticker.
Finally, does anyone think that Rugaber would have held back on reporting the final number if it had been 0.1% or negative?
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
