+ FrankR Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 26 minutes ago, BSR said: Blaming inflation all on Covid is a lie of omission. We also printed $trillions out of thin air, which for obvious reasons causes inflation. Just look at the inflation rate of Switzerland, which maintained fiscal discipline. That is fair - we did lose fiscal discipline; but that has been the case for many years (starting in 2001, to be honest.) So what changed in the past 3 to 4 years to spark inflation? The short answer is Covid and various conflicts. EZEtoGRU, TonyDown and marylander1940 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSR Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 2 minutes ago, FrankR said: That is fair - we did lose fiscal discipline; but that has been the case for many years (starting in 2001, to be honest.) So what changed in the past 3 to 4 years to spark inflation? The short answer is Covid and various conflicts. But did we ever print so much money so quickly? Every stimulus was hundreds and hundreds of $billions printed overnight, and the cumulative series printed $trillions out of thin air in just a couple of years. To me, money-printing in the past was a steady leak whereas the stimulus printing was more like a dam burst. + augustus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ FrankR Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 31 minutes ago, BSR said: But did we ever print so much money so quickly? Every stimulus was hundreds and hundreds of $billions printed overnight, and the cumulative series printed $trillions out of thin air in just a couple of years. To me, money-printing in the past was a steady leak whereas the stimulus printing was more like a dam burst. I’ll add some perspective. Yes, we added more debt over the past four years, during and post Covid than we did in the previous 10 years (roughly). But why? Its not just the spending, keep in mind we have an interest problem. Interest rates on debt were in a downward cycle until 2020 and have been rising since. so we are now paying quite a bit more in interest than we did before which means we need to borrow more to cover the interest too. So it is compounding the problem…literally. It is very concerning and will come back to haunt us… 😐 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeepItReal Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 6 hours ago, augustus said: Then the media and government reports that "Core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy items, logged their lowest increase since April 2021".... So the measure of inflation excludes food and energy (and a lot of other things) The two items that impact consumers most. Any wonder why the public says "BS". Okay. Stop. Now you are just confusing everybody with jibber jabber. In the USA we use Consumer Price Index (primary) and Personal Consumption Expenditure (secondary) to measure inflation. We do NOT use core price indexing to measure inflation...at all. marylander1940, + augustus and EZEtoGRU 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ augustus Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 (edited) 41 minutes ago, KeepItReal said: Okay. Stop. Now you are just confusing everybody with jibber jabber. In the USA we use Consumer Price Index (primary) and Personal Consumption Expenditure (secondary) to measure inflation. We do NOT use core price indexing to measure inflation...at all. You have no "Master's of Economics". The "core" numbers are always cited by the Fed, among others, in their decision making. There are several measures of the inflation rate and some don't include food and energy. Don't argue with me. The gibberish is yours. Edited May 16 by augustus KeepItReal 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ augustus Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 Malinformation and complete false info is being peddled. Inflation boosts the fortunes of the top quintile of US earners and kills the living standards of the other 80%. The notion no one would ever want prices to go back down (the new talking point), is so insulting to those of lesser means, it is shocking anyone, would actually be so tone death, as to voice it. Never, in the history of the US, have the powers that be been so solely focused on aid to the well-educated and well heeled, at the expense of all other Americans. + FrankR and KeepItReal 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Slater Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 Moderator's note: Let's address the issue, not other members. mike carey and matthatter 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthatter Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 On 4/30/2024 at 11:07 AM, Kevin Slater said: No, the reports showed GDP growth decreasing. GDP is still increasing, albeit at a slower rate. Kevin Slater Correct. + stevenkesslar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EZEtoGRU Posted Wednesday at 09:59 PM Author Share Posted Wednesday at 09:59 PM Turns out multiple retailers are actively lowering prices currently. Think Walgreens, Walmart, Ikea, Amazon, Aldi, and others. MSN WWW.MSN.COM + Travis69 and + stevenkesslar 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ augustus Posted Wednesday at 11:23 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 11:23 PM 6 hours ago, EZEtoGRU said: Turns out multiple retailers are actively lowering prices currently. Think Walgreens, Walmart, Ikea, Amazon, Aldi, and others. MSN WWW.MSN.COM They should! How much of a decline in prices is the question. Just look at this article. As I've been saying inflation is far worse than the official numbers. They have to lower prices because people ain't got the money anymore. McDonald's exec says average menu item costs 40% more than in 2019 WWW.CNBC.COM The president of McDonald's USA clarified its price inflation in a press release in response to 100% price increase claims by House Republicans, among others. + Travis69 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudynate Posted Thursday at 02:33 PM Share Posted Thursday at 02:33 PM 15 hours ago, augustus said: They should! How much of a decline in prices is the question. Just look at this article. As I've been saying inflation is far worse than the official numbers. They have to lower prices because people ain't got the money anymore. McDonald's exec says average menu item costs 40% more than in 2019 WWW.CNBC.COM The president of McDonald's USA clarified its price inflation in a press release in response to 100% price increase claims by House Republicans, among others. It's easy to say that inflation is easing because the consumer price index doesn't include two major sources of inflation—energy and food. It's a good thing nobody uses cash anymore—grocery price inflation is so bad that, if we were using cash, we might soon have to take wheelbarrows of cash with us to pay our grocery bill. + FrankR, EZEtoGRU and + augustus 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ FrankR Posted Thursday at 05:53 PM Share Posted Thursday at 05:53 PM 3 hours ago, Rudynate said: It's easy to say that inflation is easing because the consumer price index doesn't include two major sources of inflation—energy and food. It's a good thing nobody uses cash anymore—grocery price inflation is so bad that, if we were using cash, we might soon have to take wheelbarrows of cash with us to pay our grocery bill. That is not correct - when calculating CPI, both fuel and food ARE included. EZEtoGRU 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudynate Posted Thursday at 07:09 PM Share Posted Thursday at 07:09 PM 1 hour ago, FrankR said: That is not correct - when calculating CPI, both fuel and food ARE included. My mistake. The core inflation index calculation excludes food and energy. Kevin Slater, + FrankR and + augustus 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim_n_NYC Posted Thursday at 07:28 PM Share Posted Thursday at 07:28 PM I bought groceries yesterday for last night's dinner and the whole rotisserie chicken, organic asparagus, and can of black beans cost me $17 (this is in NYC). If I had bought skinless chicken breasts and cooked them myself that would have shaved off $4 to $5 dollars off the price. Hardly breaking the bank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ augustus Posted Thursday at 07:30 PM Share Posted Thursday at 07:30 PM 1 hour ago, FrankR said: That is not correct - when calculating CPI, both fuel and food ARE included. And when the politicians and the Fed talk about inflation, they just so happen to use the core index which excludes food and energy. EZEtoGRU 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ FrankR Posted Thursday at 08:38 PM Share Posted Thursday at 08:38 PM 1 hour ago, augustus said: And when the politicians and the Fed talk about inflation, they just so happen to use the core index which excludes food and energy. Why are you listening to politicians and the Fed when it comes to inflation? Go to the source: the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The news release for inflation in April (dated May 15) under “Latest Releases” did not mention “core” once. 🤓 EZEtoGRU 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ augustus Posted yesterday at 12:13 AM Share Posted yesterday at 12:13 AM 3 hours ago, FrankR said: Why are you listening to politicians and the Fed when it comes to inflation? Go to the source: the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The news release for inflation in April (dated May 15) under “Latest Releases” did not mention “core” once. I do. There are some people here who cite the core and claim that inflation isn't bad, which is a blatant lie. Inflation is worse than any official numbers. Bloomberg had an article on it. We have had more than 14% inflation in the last 3 years. It's at least double that. EZEtoGRU 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now