On the program today, producers, their prices, and the index thereof, bonds because bonds,

and the double tax of race and gender in this economy.

From American public media, this is Marketplace.

In Los Angeles, I'm Kyle. It is Wednesday, today the 10th of September.

Good as always to have you along, everybody.

To include food and energy in your

inflation calculation or not to include food and energy in your inflation calculation. That is

the question. Whether it is nobler to have the headline August producer price index with

food and fuel included move down to 10% or to use

the core number, food and energy excluded, which moves the monthly wholesale inflation index

up 310%.

We have talked many a time, you and I, about how both food and energy are critical for producers

and consumers, but also how notoriously volatile they are.

So today, Marketplace is Elizabeth Troval, makes some sense of what's happening in those noisiest of categories.

Inflation really should be looked at with and without food and energy, says economist Aaron McLaughlin with the conference board.

I think one thing that's interesting about sort of this moment is that energy prices have

been decreasing. It sort of has offset some of those overall numbers. So we could see increases

in other sort of durable goods or food.

Decreasing crude oil prices have been pulling down headline inflation numbers.

But Mark Finley with Rice University isn't sure how long that can last unless oil prices drop even further.

It's going to be difficult for gasoline to continue to be a drag on, you know, the headline inflation numbers.

And not all energy prices are decreasing.

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