The cost of health care in the U.S. is rising at the slowest pace in four decades, helping curb inflation. The consumer-price index dropped 0.4 percent in April from the prior month, a second consecutive decrease and the biggest since...
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Photograph by Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg
Dental work performed at a free health clinic for the uninsured and underinsured at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.
Health Care Costs Slow: Inflation Curb
Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
An employee grabs sheets of five dollar to be loaded into a machine at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, D.C., on April 23, 2013.
Inflation Concern Misplaced, Prices Cool
Arguably, the most important news from today’s Commerce Department report on consumer spending and incomes had little to do with either. The data also showed inflation is getting uncomfortably low. Prices tied to consumer spending patterns, or the unfortunately named...
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Photograph by Scott Eells/Bloomberg
Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, speaks to the Economic Club of New York on Nov. 20, 2012.
Bernanke’s Green Light for Easing
The latest inflation reports tied to consumer spending give Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke a green light to consider stepping up asset purchases, or quantitative easing. Today’s Commerce Department report showed that a measure of prices tied to spending advanced 1.7...
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Photograph by Dennis Brack/Bloomberg
Social Security checks are printed at the U.S. Treasury Philadelphia Finance Center in Pennsylvania.
Social Security Checks: 1.7% Bump — Critics: Seniors Falling Behind
Updated at 10 am EDT More than 55 million Social Security beneficiaries will receive a 1.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment next year, the government said today. The increase will be less than half of the 3.6 percent boost recipients received this...
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Photograph by Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post via Getty Images
President Barack Obama at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, on October 11, 2012.
Obama Shouldn’t Despair Over ‘Misery Index’
The “Misery Index” shouldn’t give President Barack Obama reason to despair. Economic misery, measured as a combination of unemployment and inflation, is lower now than before the Democrat won the race for the presidency in 2008. Such a decline suggests a “narrow re-election”...
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Photograph by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Residents help clean up in front of a foreclosed home in Miami.
`Misery:’ Miami Worse than Cleveland — Bloomberg Index in Swing States
The “Misery Rate” — a Bloomberg index of government data combining consumer prices and the jobless rate — is over 10 percent in President Barack Obama’s home town, and under 7 percent in Republican Mitt Romney’s home town. The rate...
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Photograph by AP Photo
Meeting with President-elect Richard Nixon are from left standing: Bryce Harlow, assistant to the president; Paul McCracken, Chairman of Economics Advisors, Alan Greenspan, advisor to Nixon, Dr. Arthur Burns, seated left, Nixon, and Rep. Wilbur Mills, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in New York City on Dec. 4, 1968.
The Fed and the Election Cycle
The Fed is meant to be independent and free from political pressures emanating from Congress or the White House. That hasn’t always been the case. For instance, back in the early 70s, Fed Chairman Arthur Burns was pressured by Richard...
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Photograph by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Seed corn in Sheffield, Illinois.
Small Crops + Big Inflation = Another Obama Headache?
Food-price inflation may accelerate later this year because of low corn and soybean stockpiles, adding another economic concern for consumers and candidates. U.S. corn stockpiles are poised to be the smallest in 16 years by August and soybean reserves will be lower than...
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Contributors
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Al Hunt
is a columnist for Bloomberg View and host of the weekly show "Political Capital with Al Hunt" on Bloomberg TV. -
Mark Silva
is deputy managing editor for government news in Washington and editor of Political Capital. He has covered the White House and national politics. -
Emma Fidel
is political editor for Bloomberg.com in Washington. She previously covered financial regulation as a Bloomberg intern. -
Don Frederick
edits political and government coverage for Bloomberg News. He previously worked for more than a decade at the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau. -
Gregory Giroux
analyzes elections, financing of congressional and presidential elections, political advertising and demographics in Bloomberg's Washington Bureau. -
Julie Bykowicz
covers the influence of money and lobbying in Washington, and covered the state legislature and city crime for the Baltimore Sun for 10 years. -
Jonathan Salant
covers campaign finance and lobbying in Washington. He was president of the National Press Club and started in Washington in 1987. -
Richard Rubin
covers federal tax policy. He worked at Congressional Quarterly and The Charlotte Observer before joining Bloomberg News in 2010. -
Julie Hirschfeld Davis
is a senior political reporter for the Washington Bureau. She covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News and previously covered the White House for the Baltimore Sun. -
Lisa Lerer
covers the White House and covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News. She covered Congress, lobbying and the 2008 campaign for Politico. -
John McCormick
is a national political reporter looking forward to the 2016 presidential campaign, which will be the fifth he's covered. He's also reported for The Des Moines Register and Chicago Tribune. -
Julianna Goldman
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Hans Nichols
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Margaret Talev
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and covered the White House for McClatchy Newspapers. She has covered California and Florida politics. -
Cary O'Reilly
is Editor at Large at Bloomberg First Word and is Washington Daybook columnist for Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg News.
