Foreign Disasters Distract From Damaged Economy

While the press was focussed like a lazer beam on Mitt Romney's responsiblity for the Middle East blowing up like a Roman Candle, the disasterous Bureau of Labor statistics numbers released on August 14th were completely ignored. But not here.

CPI for all items rises 0.6% in August as gasoline index rises 9.0% On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 0.6 percent in August after being unchanged in July. The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.1 percent in August, the same increase as in July.

Real average hourly earnings falls 0.7 percent in August Real average hourly earnings fell 0.7 percent in August, seasonally adjusted, due to unchanged average hourly earnings combined with a 0.6 percent gain in the CPI-U. Real average weekly earnings fell 0.6 percent over the month.