When an auto assembly plant shuts down for several weeks and its workers are furloughed, a whole community and its businesses feel the ripple effects of that closure. For instance, when an auto assembly plant in Ohio was closed for several weeks last summer, we heard anecdotal reports of an outsized drop in bookings at a nearby hotel chain.
In terms of the medians of the members’ forecasts for prices, the year-on-year rate of change in the CPI (all items less fresh food) is expected to register 0.7 percent for fiscal 2013. Excluding the effects of the consumption tax hikes, it is projected to reach 1.3 percent and 1.9 percent for fiscal 2014 and 2015, respectively.