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Business and government leaders also consider the inflation rate to be an important general indicator. Inflation is a period of increased 1 that causes rapid rises in prices. 2 your money buys fewer goods so that you get 3 for the same amount of money as before, inflation is the problem. There is a general rise 4 the price of goods and services. Your money buys less. Sometimes people describe inflation as a 5 when a dollar is not worth a dollar anymore. Inflation is a problem for all consumers. People who live on a fixed income are hurt the 6 . Retired people, for instance, cannot 7 on an increase in income as prices rise. Elderly people who do not work face serous problems in stretching their incomes to 8 their needs in time of inflation. Retirement income 9 any fixed income usually does not rise as fast as prices. Many retired people must cut their spending to 10 rising prices. In many cases they must stop 11 some necessary items, such as food and clothing. Even 12 working people whose incomes are going up, inflation can be a problem. The 13 of living goes up, too. People who work must have even more money to keep up their standard of living. Just buying the things they need costs more. When incomes do not keep 14 with rising prices, the standard of living goes down. People may be earning the same amount of money, but they are not living 15 because they are not able to buy as many goods and services. Government units gather information about prices in our economy and publish it as price indexes 16 the rate of change can be determined. A price index measures changes in prices using the price for a 17 year as the base. The base price is set 18 100, and the other prices are reported as a 19 of the base price. A price index makes 20 possible to compare current prices of typical consumer goods, for example, with prices of the same goods in previous years. | 
