the buzz log

Inflation is a lot like a mob of angry mosquitoes—it's relentless, scary, and really, really annoying. Even worse, unlike mosquitoes, no spray can can keep inflation from biting you in the keister. Knowledge is humankind's only defense. We're seeing a growing number of searches from frustrated folks who, we can only assume, are tired of getting less for their money.

News of inflation in the United States has been well publicized. Lookups on the term are up 20% this week. According to Yahoo! Finance, "inflation accelerated in June to its fastest rate since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005." The Huffington Post breaks down the price increases. A few examples: Food costs are up 0.7 percent, gasoline jumped 10.1 percent, and airline fares surged 4.5 percent.

All this sounds like bad news, but it could be worse. Consider the current rate of inflation in Zimbabwe. According to Salon.com, the country's official rate of inflation is (wait for it) 2.2 million percent. The country's central bank revealed that the cost of laundry soap is up 70 million percent. Meanwhile, sugar jumped a comparatively modest 36 million percent. Heck, sounds downright reasonable to us.

We have noticed a lot of lookups from folks eager to better understand how this economical force works. Here's a selection of popular queries from searchers...

• inflation calculator
• what is inflation
• current inflation rate
• how does inflation work
• why is inflation feared
• how to beat inflation
• effects of inflation
• food inflation
• inflation converter

Filed under: Money

Usually a missive with an Internal Revenue Service return address is about as welcome as a dusting of poison ivy.

Offer a little stimulus, however, and taxpayers can't wait. So, understandably, initial reports that 15,000 taxpayers would not be getting an IRS love letter sent the Buzz into a tizzy. Fortunately, that number turned out to be much smaller: Only 1,500 checks have been inadvertently wired to the wrong accounts. (Don't even think of keeping it!) Out of 30 million bits of ... um ... stimuli, that's an error rate of just .005%, give or take a decimal point. At least the IRS didn't toy with taxpayer affections like the agency did back in 2001.

Except there's another small snafu: The IRS also 'fessed up to forgetting to send out 300-dollar child refunds to as many as 350,000 households. Before you ask: The IRS will mail another letter copping to the error, and the checks will follow in July. The upside: The U.S. Post Office must be raking it in from its repeat customer.

By the way, if you did get a check but not your full share, SavvySugar points out that the IRS has kindly deducted back taxes or other debts in advance. 

Despite all this, the government agency should feel swamped with affection. How have people loved the IRS in the past month? Let us count a few of the searches: "2008 tax rebate checks tax return" (+14,579%), "government rebate checks 2008" (+13,085%), "tax stimulus checks" (+5,798%), "federal tax rebate" (+652%), "600 dollar tax refund 2008" (+566%), "bush tax refund 2008" (+300%), and "2008 federal kicker checks rebate checks" (off the charts). The most frequent query? "When will I get my tax rebate check."

The lovefest may not stop. SavvySugar notes that a rebate repeat may be possible next year, in this IRS article found under the section "Not eligible at the current time?" Who says you can't buy love?

Filed under: Taxes, Money, Government

The money experts didn't need to tell ordinary no-longer-working joes that the economy isn't good, but who doesn't appreciate a little validation? In the past several days, the most popular news stories (other than primary coverage) have been about some unwelcome all-time highs: auto repossessions (highest since 1998), job cuts (deepest since 2003), oil prices (highest ever), and foreclosures (highest ever).

The news got so bad that the president comped to a "clear" slowdown while reminding people about the "booster shot" coming their way. The reminder put aside searches for "surviving a recession" long enough to revive impatient queries into "economic stimulus package" and "rebate checks." Indeed, even the term "irs spokesman john" came under Search fire, after one John Lipold confirmed in an AP story that IRS letters were coming—at a $42 mil cost—to explain how the checks were coming.

Search signs of a sick market have risen as well: "Stagflation" queries have more than doubled since January, and "recession" searches continue to rise unabated. It takes two negative quarters to have a recession, which the economy hasn't suffered, but the lookups speak to the perception. Questions about "what is inflation" rose +102% in the past 30 days, and people have been estimating the "inflation rate" on their own by checking an online "inflation calculator." Opportunists who scoured "foreclosure listings" and "government tax foreclosures" have dropped off, and "real estate investments" searches have declined.

Despite cold hard economic numbers, people have been been making do: figuring out whether to "rent or buy a house" (+235%), using a "cheap gas price finder" (+137%) to save at the pump, seeking "credit card debt relief" (+37%), and finding a way to support themselves, as the below list of employment and unemployment shows.

1. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (+209%)
2. California Department of Unemployment (+201%)
3. Walmart Employment Applications (+189%)
4. Indiana Unemployment Uplink (+129%)
5. Wisconsin Unemployment Weekly Claim (+115%)
6. City of Houston Employment (+61%)
7. Temporary Employment Agencies (+24%)
8. USPS.com/employment (+10%)
9. City of Chicago Employment City Jobs (+9%)
10. Target Stores Employment (+8%)

Interestingly, number one is a federal agency which recently released a report denoting another misbegotten high: a rise in job discrimination complaints. And according to one source, a worsening economy likely begets more complaints. Forget booster shots—maybe radiation therapy's in order here.

Filed under: Finances, Employment, Jobs, Money, Housing, Economics