None of this is to say that pursuing a low inflation rate is by itself negative.
The low inflation rate makes the additional monetary stimulus in train now less risky and more likely to make its impetus felt in the real economy.
Germany's low inflation rate, its limited room to ease monetary or fiscal policy and the problems in its banking system look horribly like the early symptoms seen in Japan in the mid-1990s before it sank into deflation.
When the rate of inflation is low, the fluctuations in the rate of inflation also tend to be smaller.
On the other side, it can be argued that low Treasury yields are justified by the currently low rate of inflation.
That decision was a response to a U.S. unemployment rate stuck at 9.6 percent, a recent slowdown in already weak GDP growth, a decline in total employment in three of the past four months, a low and declining inflation rate, weak money growth, and fiscal policy off the table over deficit concerns.
There has been endless debate about whether the economy has been changed, through new technology and so forth, so that a much lower jobless rate is now compatible with a stable, low rate of inflation.
America's low rate of inflation and its weak labour market mean that policy needs to remain accommodative, but a modest rise in interest rates would still leave monetary policy extremely loose by past standards, and thus continue to stimulate demand and jobs.
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That would have been an impressive performance by any standards this is the ninth year of America's current economic expansion, remember especially when combined, as the Fund said it would be, with an unemployment rate pressed down to an extraordinary low of 4%, and an inflation rate of just 2.5%.
America's inflation rate is low, so there seems no case for higher interest rates.
Mr Issing and most of his colleagues have never seen an inflation rate that is too low and rarely miss an opportunity to point to risks that an outbreak of inflation may be around the corner.
But as anyone who pays the bills or does the household grocery shopping knows, a government-reported 3.1 percent inflation rate is laughably low.
The 1.2% inflation rate is pretty low.
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Even so, change will occur only slowly, maybe over decades and then only if borrowers and lenders come to believe that low inflation which makes fixed-rate debt less risky is permanent.
The CBO also uses a historically low rate of increase of discretionary non-defense spending equal to the rate of inflation.
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This measure is still below 2%, the Fed's preferred inflation rate, and thus too low.
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No reputable economist would have believed this growth--as well as our low unemployment rate--possible without wild inflation and rapidly rising wages.
Politicians now generally buy into the idea that sound interest-rate policies can keep inflation low, which is best for the economy in the long run.
Analysts have accused Argentina specifically of understating the rate of inflation since 2007 in order to keep interest rate payments on its debt low, and to flatter the political regime.
The rising rate of inflation comes at the same time as the Bank rate continues at a record low of 0.5%.
But the low rate of so-called "core inflation" was welcomed by Wall Street with both bonds and shares rising.
Rising rates and inflation could decimate the value of a low-rate, fixed-income portfolio.
The Federal Reserve, which uses the core inflation rate to decide its policy in creating economic conditions that will keep inflation at a low level and create jobs, may be worried now that the consumer now may now begin spending less and saving more as food and gas prices rise.
Interest rates are quite low but so is inflation: in real terms the base rate is around 3%.
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The rate is negative even in the present low inflation setting.
Researchers said the two main factors driving food price inflation were high agricultural food prices and a low sterling exchange rate.
India's inflation rate has dipped to a three-year low, giving more room to policymakers to take steps to revive its sluggish economy.
In the case of Brazil, firms appear to be confusing rising demand with rising inflation and, in the face of a record low unemployment rate, and a limited amount of qualified labor, hoard and overpay workers despite falling output.
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