augustus

Yeah, adjusted for inflation.  Be serious.  You claimed to have a Master's in Economics.  Not.

No, they have not! Tax brackets and  deductions are adjusted every year. Ask your CPA! 

Are you serious??  Tax rates have stayed the same the past few years.

The chart you provided is for change in personal income. That is not the same as disposable income.  Ask your CPA.

There is nothing "well" about the Fed callously printing new cash and depleting the value of everyone's savings.
The Covid emergency was four years ago. There is no reason to still be printing money.

Restaurant prices in San Francisco are absurdly high - last week lunch for two at a mid-price restaurant in Novato set me back over $70 with tip.  But restaurant prices are just a reflection of food prices in general.  I admit, I buy upscale groceries - but come on - a pound of hamburger for $12.00 - really???

You don’t think a 33% increase over the span of two years qualifies as “sky rocketing”?  How much do you think wages have gone in that same span of time?  Per the US inflation calculator, the increase from 2022 from 2024 should be 7.1%.

not anymore.  the times of year when the weather was beautiful (December - April) now routinely get storms, heat & high humidity.  It seems like July/August 
There are the occasional perfect days, but not months of beautiful weather.
plus, the traffic in S Florida is about the worst in the entire country.  the regular flooding of certain areas now makes it worse 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0u0yXNkEUg

I thought knee high socks were for old people.

People just have less disposable income to dispose of these days.  

People just have less disposable income to dispose of these days.  

I'd be so nervous about buying in Florida right now.  Even if you find a great price on a property, you never know how much your homeowners might increase in the future or if the insurance company will require you to make costly improvements (like replacing your roof).  Condo owners are doubly at risk because their individual homeowners premium might increase as well as the building's policy, which will cause the HOA to shoot up.

https://content.invisioncic.com/k323430/monthly_2024_05/small.20240507_151306.jpg.a00b0f4d3e2b3e2efe31ff61706f2a5f.jpg

Crazy to see that not a sole who volunteered their birthday information celebrates one on May 14th.

In SoCal real estate and food & beverage industry they’ve been dubbed “Dead Lobster”.

I read the list of closings.
It's interesting to note that there's a duality to the types of communities they are pulling out of.
Firstly and more obviously they are exiting a lot of struggling middle class communities..but interestingly they are also pulling out of several upper income communities. I am guessing those locations struggle because there is too much competition from ACTUAL seafood restaurants. The others are simply a victim of the collapse of the middle class in the United States.

The troubled Red Lobster restaurant chain is closing down at least 48 of its roughly 650 branches across the US, according to a restaurant liquidation company.
Neal Sherman, the chief executive of TAGeX Brands, said on LinkedIn on Monday that it was assisting with the rapid closure of Red Lobsters in 21 US states, starting today.
All of the equipment from the restaurants is now being sold off.
"TAGeX Brands is proud to launch the largest restaurant liquidation EVER really? you're PROUD of this? through its online auction marketplace," said Mr Sherman. "The furniture, fixtures, and equipment from select Red Lobster locations MUST GO ASAP!"
The closures included five branches in California and Florida, four in Colorado and Maryland, three in Georgia, New York, Texas, and Virginia, and many others across the country.
It comes after reports that the Florida-based seafood chain is considering filing for bankruptcy after years of cost-cutting by its parent company.
In 2023, the struggling company was further knocked off balance by a $20 endless shrimp offer that proved unexpectedly popular with customers, reportedly costing it millions of dollars.
The all-you-can-eat menu option was previously a time-limited promotional offer. But when Red Lobster made it permanent, patrons ended up eating far more shrimp than the restaurant could afford, while taking up tables and lengthening wait times for new arrivals.
"We were expecting an increase of 20 per cent in customer traffic, but the actual number was up to 40 per cent," said Thiraphong Chansiri, the chief executive of Red Lobster's parent company Thai Union, last November.
In January, Thai Union announced it would end its involvement with Red Lobster after eating a $530m loss on its initial investment, which it blamed on the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of interest rates around the world.
Red Lobster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Agreed, restaurant prices in NYC have skyrocketed, especially in the last couple of years.  The other day, a basic dinner for two in a casual Chinese restaurant was $80!  Two years ago, the exact same meal was less than $60.  Since food is where I spend the bulk of my income, I have been hit particularly hard.

You must never leave your apartment.
I used to take my wife and kids out to dinner for about $120 in 2019. Now the same meal at the same restaurants are closer to $200

"supermarket prices are now 25% higher than in January 2020, while inflation has increased 19% over that same time"
If food prices had increased at 2% per year from Jan 2020 to Feb 2024, that would be a total increase of 8.24%.  So yeah, 25% more at the supermarket is a heckuva jump.

No doubt.  But this is caused by excess money printing and debt that stokes demand.  All this excess liquidity is causing excess demand that pushes up prices.  You want to call it greedflation.  It's people doing things to make money, like the idiot house flippers that have brought up 30% of the nation's housing stock and caused housing and home costs to skyrocket and cause widespread misery.  The origin of all this mess is irresponsible fiscal and monetary policies. 

It is the fiscal side, the unruly spending, subsidize everything that is counterbalancing tighter money.  Powell needs to open his mouth and say so.  The politicians couldn't care less because they just blame Wall Street and greedy businessmen, etc.   And the dopey population believes it.  

It is astonishing how people believe the propaganda that inflation is the result of the greedy farmers and the greedy businessmen and supply side disruptions and whatever crap is told them.  Inflation is caused by excess money printing to finance large government deficits and it continues unabated to this day.  

And as I've been saying for months, the official numbers understate the real rate of inflation:
 
The 'supercore' inflation measure shows Fed may have a real problem on its hands (msn.com)