A customer asked to pay more deserves an explanation that names the cost being discussed. January’s BLS import figures show why a broad appeal to inflation can be incomplete: fuel import prices rose 5.8 percent while nonfuel import prices fell 0.2 percent. These monthly, unadjusted changes were published on February 10. Neither figure alone describes a particular seller’s circumstances. [ximpim_02102017]

The domestic report adds a different distinction. On February 14, BLS reported a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent January rise in final-demand services prices. Trade-service margin changes accounted for over 80 percent of that rise. The trade indexes measure margins received by wholesalers and retailers, not total retail prices or profits after expenses. An increase in that index is not, by itself, evidence of either higher input costs or wrongdoing. [ppi_02142017]

Our ethical reading is that stewardship includes taking responsibility for the explanation, not merely selecting a convenient statistic. A seller could distinguish documented input changes from decisions about its own pricing and distribution. If citing imported fuel, it should identify the connection; if discussing margins, it should call them margins. The national reports provide context, while the seller’s records must support claims about its business. [ppi_02142017][ximpim_02102017]

Customers’ need for clarity and a business’s need to remain viable can both be taken seriously. Faith-based and secular readers need not agree on a single fair price to ask whether an explanation is candid. The practical standard proposed here is modest: state the relevant evidence, acknowledge what it does not measure and leave room for questions. That is an ethical judgment about accountability, not a moral finding by BLS. [ppi_02142017][ximpim_02102017]

Source documents

  1. Producer Price Indexes – January 2017https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ppi_02142017.htm
  2. U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes – January 2017https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ximpim_02102017.htm