Unusual worry: Is inflation too low?

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

It might seem like prices are rising wherever you look, from medical care to college tuition. Yet to the Federal Reserve, they might not be going up fast enough.

The Fed says a little more inflation might be just the thing to start a chain reaction that ultimately would create jobs — and avoid a spiral of falling prices that could damage the economy.

In a statement Tuesday, the Fed avoided directly mentioning the dreaded word “deflation.” But it signaled its concern that today’s very low inflation might lead to actual price drops.

The Fed, meeting for the last time before the midterm elections, said its measures show inflation is “somewhat below” desirable levels for the economy. That may sound strange, because inflation often is made out to be an economic evil.

And it can be, when it gets out of control. But its opposite can be even worse.

Once deflation takes hold, it can wreck an economy. Workers suffer pay cuts. Corporate profits shrivel. Stock values fall. People, businesses and the government find it costlier to pare debt. Foreclosures and bankruptcies rise.

And people spend less, convinced that prices will fall even further if they just wait. That trend already has emerged in the housing market.

Spending by shoppers accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity in the United States. A further drop in their spending potentially could throw the economy back into recession.

It’s true that the costs of items such as health care, education and transportation have surged. But the Fed studies a wide range of prices across the economy. Overall consumer prices — excluding food and energy prices, which are volatile — inched up just 0.9 percent for the 12 months that ended in August. That matched a 44-year low, according to the government.

And it’s well below the Fed’s comfort zone for inflation, which ranges between 1.5 percent and 2 percent over a year. The Fed would like to see inflation at least that high because it would show the economy is making a solid recovery. It would mean shoppers are confident enough to spend and businesses confident enough in customer demand to raise prices. Confident employers are more likely to create jobs.