The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin XLVIII: Grocery Inflation, Ctd

A reader writes:

Here’s an inflation chart for your fun and amusement. Nothing new to the dialog you’ve been having but it’s fun to see how pictures show the story. It shows the annual percent change for “food at home,” one of the major subindexes within the overall consumer price index.

What’s remarkable about the chart is that prices were contracting for most of the last few years. Deflation, not inflation, was the real story, at least when it comes to the cost of putting food on the table. In the latest data, food prices have since turned back up but remain well below the long-term average. Perhaps food inflation will actually surge in a replay of the mid-seventies. But that is an economic forecast and not a statement of recent fact.

Another writes:

In the debate over grocery prices, I think you've missed the bigger lie in Palin's statement:

"Now I realize I'm just a former governor and current housewife from Alaska, but even humble folks like me can read the newspaper. I'm surprised a prestigious reporter for the Wall Street Journal doesn't."

Current housewife?  Seriously?  Does she believe that?  Does anyone?  She's the de facto chairperson of the RNC.  She's one of the biggest Republican fundraisers in the country. She is also a reality television star and political pundit.  I know many housewives.  It is a full-time job.  She is not a housewife.  She's a full-time politician.

In her mind, she is what she says she is. That will change depending on the audience and time of day - like reality itself.

(Correction: for many of the more recent odd lies, I got my Roman numerals wrong, putting a C where an L should be. From now on, we'll get it right. My bad - and my old Latin teachers would be appalled. Still, I never really thought we'd be closing in on fifty of them.)