mcdonaldland

The August Consumer Price Index (CPI) data is out and this is my monthly update to the projected annual inflation.

If you want more explanation of how I arrive at these numbers visit the May 2008 post. For information on why I am including the December 2007 numbers in these calculations see the June 2008 post.

The inflation so far for 2008:

Southeast = [ ( 212.387 - 203.457 ) / 203.457 ] * 100 = 4.39%
National = [ ( 219.086 - 210.036) / 210.036 ] * 100 = 4.31%

Average month to month change in 2008:

	National CPI	Southeast CPI	National ?	Southeast ?
12/2007	210.036	203.457
01/2008	211.080	204.510	1.044	1.053
02/2008	211.693	205.060	0.613	0.550
03/2008	213.528	206.676	1.835	1.616
04/2008	214.823	208.085	1.295	1.409
05/2008	216.632	210.006	1.809	1.921
06/2008	218.815	212.324	2.183	2.318
07/2008	219.964	213.304	1.114	0.980
08/2008	219.086	212.387	(0.878)	(0.917)
Average			1.127	1.116

Estimated CPI when average change is applied to the rest of the year:

Est. Southeast CPI = 212.387 + ( 4 * 1.116 ) = 216.851
Est. National CPI = 219.086 + ( 4 * 1.127 ) = 223.594

Estimated inflation for 2008:

Southeast = [ ( 216.851 - 203.457 ) / 203.457 ] * 100 = 6.58%
National = [ ( 223.594 - 210.036 ) / 210.036 ] * 100 = 6.46%

Getting better - significantly better than last month even. Still a ways to go back to "normal" though.