That '70s Show

"Even though we have not seen the volatility of the 70's we are certainly traveling in the same direction." -Tim McMahon April 21, 2006

If in April we were traveling on the same path, today I think we have arrived.

WASHINGTON - Retail prices are expected to be up 0.2 percent when the Labor Department releases its consumer price index for June today at 8:30 a.m. EDT.

Surging gasoline prices helped trigger another big increase in consumer inflation in May, with the CPI up 0.4 percent, which was in line with expectations. [...]

Wholesale prices rose by 0.5 percent in June, spurred by a big jump in food prices and continuing increases in energy costs.

I know we are not there yet, and I was too young in the '70s to have felt the economic pain -- I do vaguely remember long lines for gas, but with Israel and her neighbors fighting, with gas prices soaring, with a hapless president in charge (as the GOP painted Carter), and now with inflation on the rise, it sure is starting to look a lot like the late '70s all over again.