Daekwon the chef and Rza Shogun, Sergio Suarez, Sylvia Lin, Anne-Sophie Young
             A Treatise on the Value of Economic Indicators
             The US Economy and Economic Indicators
             The United States economy is the strongest and the most affluent in the world. Besides having the highest GDP (Gross Domestic Product), the United States has a complex system of regulating economic policy and controlling the money supply. The system also regulates banks and financial institutions, and even has a central bank (Federal Reserve Bank) that decides on significant issues, such as raising interest rates. There are many economic indicators that affect the economy such as the CPI, which is the measure of prices at the consumer level for a fixed basket of goods and services, and the unemployment rate. Other indicators include the GDP, which measures the dollar value of all the goods and services of a nation, retail sales, and the consumer confidence index (CCI).
             The CPI is the measure of inflation, and is released every month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prices are collected in 85 cities across the country on thousands of different products and services from establishments of all kinds. It reflects prices of food, clothing, shelter, fuels, transportation fares, charges for doctors' and dentists' service, drugs, and all sorts of other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living. The CPI is used by the Federal Reserve to analyze the data and act accordingly to the interpretation of it. For example, on May 19, 1999, the Federal Reserve decided to hold interest rates for now but are debating to raise interest rates in the near future because the CPI increased seven-tenths of a percent, the highest in eight and a half years. There are two types of CPI. The CPI-U relates to the urban workers, and accounts for about 80% of the civilian population. The CPI-W relates to the wage earners, and accounts for about 40% of the population. The C...