Posted on 01/17/2013 10:06:53 AM PST by 1rudeboy
The author takes care of that canard by including both figures (included and not included).
I’m sorry, I must of missed it... because it’s a load of crap! According the article, when food and gas are included the figure changes .13 percent (that’s right, 1/10th of a apercentage point)? Do you eat every day? Do you drive every day? Do an overwhelming percentage of americans buy food every day? Have you been to te grocery store lately? Meat is becoming a luxury item. Yet somehow, when including things all Americans buy daily like food(sometimes several times per day)it only changes the rate by .13, there is something seriously wrong with the numbers.
Who cares what the government says about inflation? I’m the one who shops and I know how prices have changed.
Obama also says unemployment has shrunk, too. Ya stupid enough to also believe that lie?
Anyone going to buy groceries knows food has gone up significantly. Clothings has, cars have, medical has, most things have. Allowing Obama and the federal government to make claims otherwise takes a feeble minded gullible idiot to believe it. Who ya going to believe, their numbers or your wallet?
“I’m simply wondering why I’m missing your 10-25% inflation.”
Maybe you should start paying attention. If you missed it then you simply were not paying attention.
“that my energy prices are up, when they are down”
You wouldn’t have posted this 1 month ago when gas prices were $3.89. They held there for about three years, and they are still higher than when Obama took office.
Just in a space of a few weeks last summer I saw boxes of fried chicken nearly double in price at my local store.
And that’s just one example of how bogus this 2% inflation figure is.
Just as all politics is local, so is inflation. Which is the problem with an artificial (concocted) metric like CPI.
Spending and prices vary widely from one location to the next, and from one household to another. Which is why we should pick a basket of commodities or PM’s to index to and stick with that, IMO. Less fudge-factor.
Frequent purchase items are definitely up. I remember prices from 1997 pretty well, so I use that as a baseline for my personal inflation index.
1 lb handcut sirloin steak
Then: $1.99
Now: $11.99
16 yr increase: 600%
1 US gallon unleaded gasoline
Then: $1.19
Now: $2.95
Increase: 148%
25 oz. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Then: $1.99
Now: $5.99
Increase: 196%
Rent, 2 BR 800 SF apt
Then: $475
Now: $750
Increase: 58%
Nothing specific, but I did go shopping for an automobile recently, and prices seemed to be roughly double what they were in the mid/late 90’s.
Prices for manufactured items (once or twice a decade purchases) are relatively unchanged. Everything else is up big. I worked for a medical device manufacturer before doing my own thing now back around 2002, and prices for things like coiled-steel and plastic feed stock were going up by double-digits YOY.
Overall, I’d peg actual inflation somewhere in the 7-8% annual range since the Fed went full retard back in 2001. So, by design I think, CPI is underestimating inflation by a factor of at least two. The cognitive dissonance for people on fixed incomes looking at their COLA adjustments must be astounding at this point. People in lower income brackets whose spending is mostly groceries, fuel, and energy bills, have to be seeing real-world inflation close to 10% since 2005.
I just find it odd that, for example, people on the internet try to convince me that my energy prices are up, when they are down .
So your gas prices have not gone up? In December 2008 the price of gas was 1.65? Have gas prices doubled? Yes. At time have I paid triple that amount? Yes. We’re looking at 100-200% difference in cost. Are you trying to tell me this was factored in? (even where you live)
Here is a small sample by no means exhaustive: [round numbers for discussion purposes.]
toilet paper from big box stores: was 36 rolls for $17, now 30 rolls for $17
Tuna 6 7oz cans for around $10 now 6 5oz cans for around $10
Coffee went from $7 to $9; pasta same price but a 12 oz or 14oz[depending on the brand] box not 16oz
Starbucks went from $14 to $21 in 2 yrs[ large bag]
Peanut butter? huge increases, blamed on a poor harvest in 2011 I think...quick to go up but it never comes down...not much....example: Jiff double jars went from $9-$12 and just recent slid to $11 [tho Sam’s has it less]
Now I admit I do a lot of shopping at Costco but I do comparison shop...Sam’s does the same thing.
My observation is that items in any sort of demand have dramatically increased in price...items with not so much demand have not. Items imported have gone up even tho the dollar competes well with currencies like the euro...imported brews have gone from $7.5 to $9/6pk. Thats steep.
Yes, you can shop and find cheaper items[do I NEED starbucks? No...just a preference] but the point here is that these particular brands have really increased in price for what may be a variety of reasons but much higher they indeed are.
In the past 6 months in my area:
1lb salt, $0.69 to $0.79.
30 package toilet paper: $13 to $19.
Coffee: $11.99 to $12.99.
Hamburger: $3.99 to $4.99.
Chicken: $4.99 to $8.50, half sized packages are now $4.00
Deoderant: $3.50 to $4.95.
All kinds of things have gone up, yet, feeble minded idiots let Obama’s administration play loose with the rules and believe them when they say, “Honest, we are fair!”
One of the things the fed does is use store brands as substitutes without telling you that. They use phrases like “similar product” to make the switch. They also shop the sales, so if a sale item is half off they count that as deflation.
Indeed you have. 50+ response, (and it's still early), and all of them are challenging the author's take on the issue. Even so, I've yet to see one reply explain, if the real rate of inflation is 7%, 8%, 10%, or more, why the 10-year treasury is still yielding less than 2%, and has been for a long time now.
Housing/Owner's Equivalent Rent comprises a large portion of the CPI, and I don't know how that has impacted others on the forum. For me, I recently refinanced my home from 5.5% to 3.5%, which is saving me more $500 a month. So, thanks to the bond yields being driven lower by low inflation, my housing costs have dropped significantly.
Gas prices have gone from 2.75 to 3.29 in 3 years (gasbuddy.com). About 2 bucks a gallon in 2009, now 3.23 and up. Real world data, not Govt. cooked numbers.
Yet, gas prices are almost double what they were 10 years ago. House prices, even post-2008, are far above what they were 10 years ago. Everything we buy is more expensive, but wages are stagnant. The price index also plays a million wretched games, such as replacing the price of steak for the price ground beef, and saying all is fine.
And our government has printed untold trillions of meaningless money.
But keep telling yourself there’s no inflation.
They have a vested interest in proclaiming no inflation, or accurately reporting unemployment. Social Security is tied to inflation.
“Excluding food and energy, it rose 1.58%”
Except for chasing younger women and drinkin’ too much,,, im a awesome husband. lol
Yeah,, both ways. We need to take into account the numerous people who do not use food and energy so we can get to some truly useful numbers./
“Even so, I’ve yet to see one reply explain, if the real rate of inflation is 7%, 8%, 10%, or more, why the 10-year treasury is still yielding less than 2%”
Because we are borrowing a trillion and a half a year, and the fed buys the overwhelming majority of the magic money.
Without the constant QE, the government would need to raise that money from investors, and rates would skyrocket.
With enough fans on the ground, you could make a 747 appear to float like a Harrier. But it isnt “flying”. When the fans of QE stop as they eventually must, the 747 will smash down hard.
Already our currency is funny money. The Russians, Indians and Chinese are already talking about only accepting payment in a gold backed trade currency. You want oil, gas, products? Convert your dollars into their gold and pay. The Arabs want to, but are holding a ton of Dollars and are riding the tiger for now.
But when the world has largely decided we are untrustworthy, and soon, reserve status of the Dollar will be gone.
BTW,,the Germans just announced they are removing all the gold they had stored in New York.
bttt
bttt
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