9.1 % using the skewed measure.
It's really about 20%
Are You Concerned About Inflation?
by Simon 112 Replies latest social current
-
-
GabeAthouse
@fulltimestudent:
Inflation is definitely noticeable (some products more than others) but it doesn't feel like 20%. Not sure how they calculate 'real inflation' though. From what I read, people who are renting or need to purchase a car are getting hammered right now.
For myself, the most noticeable areas have been groceries and gasoline. The price of gas has been offset for me because my company is permanently work at home, so a full tank will last me a month now instead of a week when I was commuting.
Groceries are odd. At the big box grocery store some things have gone up alot and some only a little. For example, the coffee I used to buy there has nearly doubled in price, but if I buy it at ALDI or Trader Joe's, it's only about a dollar more than it was a year ago. Canned goods, the price difference is not noticeable. Meat prices are insane everywhere unless you catch a sale. Produce is hit or miss. Some things like melons are about the same as they are every summer, but citrus is really expensive. Tomatoes, Onions, Cabbage, Potato....may have gone up, i dont remember the exact price a year ago, but not noticeably.
Anything pre-packaged, has gone up alot. Frozen Pizza's, Microwave dinners, even cereal. But I generally avoid that stuff inflation or not. -
road to nowhere
Gabe
Even not traveling yourself your goods come by truck. Diesel is about 6 to 7 per. You admit to avoiding things that are priced too high. High beef means more demand for chicken or soy.
Fertilizer is made from natural gas, which is being exported. We will not see russian fertilizer or Ukraine wheat this year.
NG and oil are also t h e source for plastic. Our beloved aluminum bikes need lots of electricity for the aluminum. Steel needs coal.
-
fulltimestudent
Thnx for the run-down GabAhouse. I guess there are always pluses and minuses.
Some things are hard to understand, I can't figure out how anyone borrowing to buy a house and pay it off over 20-30 years, doesn't consider that the current (still) low interest rate are not permanent and could increase. But, I don't have that worry, because years ago, (after a divorce and giving everything to my former wife) I put all my efforts into buying an apartment, and paying down the loan in only a few years
I don't have, and don't want a car, so (being old) I can go anywhere, on public transport, in a roughly 100 km radius for a maximum cost of $2.50 (per day). That's just been fixed, by the government, for another year, so I don't have to worry about petrol cost.
That leaves food. So I don't buy stuff that's gone up, and like you I'm lucky enough to have an Aldi store close by. I've notice tinned food hasn't changed a lot, but here, I'm thinking that stuff is based on lasts years crops, so will likely cost much more next year. F & V (fruit and veg.) is way up, but the main growing area close to Sydney has been flooded three times recently and crops completely wiped out. The growers all over Australia have also been hit by covid. During the shut-downs, the migratory, temporary workers were not allowed to enter Australia resulting in less crops being planted.
But that's just me, for others , inflation is a problem, and if it gets out of control, it's going tl be tough.
-
-
Simon
It's really about 20%
Yes, the real rate using the original calculation method is well over 20%. In 5 years the purchasing power of your money halves, and you get to pay tax on the fake gains of the devaluation
Groceries are odd. At the big box grocery store some things have gone up alot and some only a little. For example, the coffee I used to buy there has nearly doubled in price, but if I buy it at ALDI or Trader Joe's, it's only about a dollar more than it was a year ago. Canned goods, the price difference is not noticeable. Meat prices are insane everywhere unless you catch a sale. Produce is hit or miss. Some things like melons are about the same as they are every summer, but citrus is really expensive. Tomatoes, Onions, Cabbage, Potato....may have gone up, i dont remember the exact price a year ago, but not noticeably.
There is more than one way to make you pay more. They can raise the prices or keep them the same ... and just change the packaging so the qty you get goes down for the same price, often so it's not too obvious unless you carefully compare like-for-like. Bigger stores can dictate suppliers do this.
Everything at every store got their via transportation, and with energy prices up that means prices will be higher one way or another.
-
punkofnice
simon -
Are You Concerned About Inflation?Most certainly feeling the pinch now. I am sceptical about the reasons for it on the basis that NO politicians have our best interests at heart. These are career scum only in it for themselves.
I need a rich widow to keep me. Any takers?
-
TonusOH
Food prices could be in for some steep increases due to the war in Ukraine, since a lot of the world's wheat and fertilizer are grown there and are being affected. Like fuel, those items affect a wide swath of industry. So, the pain can get a lot worse and for a longer time.
I bought my house at the end of 2013, when prices were still very low and interest rates were only beginning to nudge upwards. I was planning to sell in 2019/2020, but took the house off the market when a friend and his family needed a place after their lease ended and the owner of the house they were renting was not going to renew. Now, with inflation as it is, the house is a good investment so I moved back and we have two full incomes (and two partial, from their son and another friend's son). I moved back because they were having some trouble with expenses. We are still feeling the pinch, but we can weather it for a while longer.
The concern is more for the long term. We might be on the verge of a depression if the USA can't manage inflation before it goes out of control. I don't want to think about how things will go if that happens.
-
GabeAthouse
@fulltimestudent:
Some things are hard to understand, I can't figure out how anyone borrowing to buy a house and pay it off over 20-30 years, doesn't consider that the current (still) low interest rate are not permanent and could increase.
There are both fixed rate and variable rate mortgages. Sometimes a variable rate is a bit lower. If interest rates increase, your payment increases, if they decrease, your payment decreases.
Fixed rate stays the same over life of the loan.
Sometimes variable rates are easier to get for a first time buyer but most people I know who have gone that route refinance at some point and lock in to a fixed rate to eliminate that stress of rising interest rates.
Someone who took out a loan in 2000 on a variable rate would have done pretty well over the past 20 years since rates have gone down on average, but too much of a gamble for me. If you bought your house in 2020 on a variable rate.....Yikes!. -
GabeAthouse
"Everything at every store got their via transportation, and with energy prices up that means prices will be higher one way or another."
True. But the cynical side of me says that if/when fuel prices go down again, current prices will remain the new normal even if the retailers start getting their inventory cheaper. Execs will just get bigger bonuses that year.