Inflation Thread

[MelroseHawkins]

Boy, it's bad and going to get even worse. The other day, I worked in my home office in the morning and planned to go into my office at work in the afternoon. I decided that I would hit and drive thru the local Jimmy John's on the way in to save time. Holy Shit! I realize JJ's is always a little more than other places and expected that but holy crap! I was floored when the guy told me the total. I just got a regular sub and a small drink. The total came to $11.43. For me alone! Again, this was not with chips to make a combo meal.

I got thinking about it after that floored me and figured it would cost me upwards of $45-$50 to take my family of 4 to get a simple lunch, like if we needed to pick up a lunch if out of town or something.

Boy, my 2.8% raise is not doing shit offsetting the 12% inflation!

In your daily lives, what particular products have you noticed that completely shocked you?

 

[PCHawk]

Boy, it's bad and going to get even worse. The other day, I worked in my home office in the morning and planned to go into my office at work in the afternoon. I decided that I would hit and drive thru the local Jimmy John's on the way in to save time. Holy Shit! I realize JJ's is always a little more than other places and expected that but holy crap! I was floored when the guy told me the total. I just got a regular sub and a small drink. The total came to $11.43. For me alone! Again, this was not with chips to make a combo meal.

I got thinking about it after that floored me and figured it would cost me upwards of $45-$50 to take my family of 4 to get a simple lunch, like if we needed to pick up a lunch if out of town or something.

Boy, my 2.8% raise is not doing shit offsetting the 12% inflation!

In your daily lives, what particular products have you noticed that completely shocked you?

Funny timing because I just grabbed a tombstone pizza from kum and go last night and it was 8 bucks. Couldn't believe it.

 

[Dadman]

TP at Aldis went from $2.99 to 3.99 in one week

hate to pay that much for budget brand shit wipe

 

[okeefe4prez]

Funny timing because I just grabbed a tombstone pizza from kum and go last night and it was 8 bucks. Couldn't believe it.

They've had that issue for years with frozen pizzas. At some point Dominos led a race down in carryout prices that at least until 2021 had kicked off a price war with Papa Johns and Pizza Hut. There was an extended period where Dominos or Pizza Hut, if you ordered online and went and got it yourself, was easily $1 or $2 cheaper than frozen pizzas (other than the ones that have so little cheese you can count the individual pieces). These apps and online ordering allow for instantaneous price changes and all the national chains have drastically cut back on discounting or if you can get discounts it is only when you have a $40 order that is half crap that I would never buy.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Boy, it's bad and going to get even worse. The other day, I worked in my home office in the morning and planned to go into my office at work in the afternoon. I decided that I would hit and drive thru the local Jimmy John's on the way in to save time. Holy Shit! I realize JJ's is always a little more than other places and expected that but holy crap! I was floored when the guy told me the total. I just got a regular sub and a small drink. The total came to $11.43. For me alone! Again, this was not with chips to make a combo meal.

I got thinking about it after that floored me and figured it would cost me upwards of $45-$50 to take my family of 4 to get a simple lunch, like if we needed to pick up a lunch if out of town or something.

Boy, my 2.8% raise is not doing shit offsetting the 12% inflation!

In your daily lives, what particular products have you noticed that completely shocked you?

Houses. My buddy bought a house in my neighborhood in 2019 for $255k and sold it for $375k a few weeks ago. Had 7 offers within 24 hours of listing and sold for $25k over ask.

Cars. If you can get one, prices are well above MSRP. Trucks are even worse. My buddy said he heard the Ford dealer is asking $12k-$20k over MSRP for F-150s depending on trim level but they haven't had any in stock in months. He works for a town and they had ordered 5 trucks before The Germ hit and didn't get delivery until the end of 2020 and on their most recent attempt to buy totally base F-150 work trucks the dealer refused to even take an order because they didn't know when they would go back into production (sounds like Ford is focusing on the backlog in Lariats/Platinums etc. first due to much higher margins).

Gas. I bought gas for $1.39 a gallon for several weeks at this time in 2020. When I filled up Sunday it was $3.55. My nat gas bills this winter almost doubled from the year prior without any material change in weather.

Chicken wings have probably doubled.

Ribs doubled, but have come down a bit.

The Mexican restaurant by my office went up 30-50% and changed taco tuesday prices from $1.50 per to $2.50 per.

Airplane tickets. They want $850 to fly to Des Moines from South Carolina. My wife bought two tickets to Japan for her and the buy and it was a hair under $5k. Last time we went in 2019 it was $800 per ticket. When I lived in Chicago you could fly to Japan in premium economy (major upgrade but not biz class) for $1400.

 

[uihawk82]

Boy, it's bad and going to get even worse. The other day, I worked in my home office in the morning and planned to go into my office at work in the afternoon. I decided that I would hit and drive thru the local Jimmy John's on the way in to save time. Holy Shit! I realize JJ's is always a little more than other places and expected that but holy crap! I was floored when the guy told me the total. I just got a regular sub and a small drink. The total came to $11.43. For me alone! Again, this was not with chips to make a combo meal.

I got thinking about it after that floored me and figured it would cost me upwards of $45-$50 to take my family of 4 to get a simple lunch, like if we needed to pick up a lunch if out of town or something.

Boy, my 2.8% raise is not doing shit offsetting the 12% inflation!

In your daily lives, what particular products have you noticed that completely shocked you?

Now how much of these price increases are fully due to inflation and how much is due to companies using some inflation to charge more.

Think about it, as one day a couple of months ago people were frightened and the global price of crude oil went up. The same day the corner gas station raised the price at the pump by 7% or maybe more but what they hell the gas they were selling is the same gas in the underground tank that was there a week earlier. That gas station didnt really need to raise their prices at that time. They just gouged your ass.

Beef prices go up like crazy but is there really a shortage of beef or a huge increase in demand for beef. We should all know that prices should only go up, giving the real or illusion of inflation, if there is a shortage of product or too much demand chasing available products at retail sites.

I have never heard there was a big drop in the availability of beef although there could be some production and supply chain cost increases. And I sure havent heard of any increase in demand for beef. So guess what, I bet if economists or other researchers really looked into it there could be an unneeded/artificial rise in beef prices and other prices of goods which is basically price gouging.

Of course, like usual the researchers will not find this out for a year but the gougers will get their extra money without any negative consequences.

Oh yes, the petroleum companies are doing just great, better than every so they must not be having their margins hurt.

 

[uihawk82]

Gas. I bought gas for $1.39 a gallon for several weeks at this time in 2020. When I filled up Sunday it was $3.55. My nat gas bills this winter almost doubled from the year prior without any material change in weather.

Chicken wings have probably doubled.

Ribs doubled, but have come down a bit.

The Mexican restaurant by my office went up 30-50% and changed taco tuesday prices from $1.50 per to $2.50 per.

Airplane tickets. They want $850 to fly to Des Moines from South Carolina. My wife bought two tickets to Japan for her and the buy and it was a hair under $5k. Last time we went in 2019 it was $800 per ticket. When I lived in Chicago you could fly to Japan in premium economy (major upgrade but not biz class) for $1400.

So OK4P, tell me why chicken wing prices should increase by 100%? Why should ribs cost 100% more?

The price of gas, haha, that is a global commodity with price swings that are triggered by dumber bullshit and big money players than the stock market. Crude oil prices going up this much are a joke. Big Oil is just taking advantage of a situation to jack up their prices.

I could see a restaurant raising their prices by 25% as they need to mark up their products a lot at all times. Hell a fountain drink costs Mcdonald a dime to pour and they charge $1 for it and the people think they are getting a great deal.

With 2021 having an annual US inflation rate of 7% (which was not that bad in reality because prices dropped and there was deflation during 2020 covid) and so far 2022 US inflation is about 8.4%. There is no reason to jack up prices by 100%.

But I will wait to hear your answers to my questions.

 

[PCHawk]

They've had that issue for years with frozen pizzas. At some point Dominos led a race down in carryout prices that at least until 2021 had kicked off a price war with Papa Johns and Pizza Hut. There was an extended period where Dominos or Pizza Hut, if you ordered online and went and got it yourself, was easily $1 or $2 cheaper than frozen pizzas (other than the ones that have so little cheese you can count the individual pieces). These apps and online ordering allow for instantaneous price changes and all the national chains have drastically cut back on discounting or if you can get discounts it is only when you have a $40 order that is half crap that I would never buy.

Little Cesar's recently sold already made pizzas for 5 bucks. Made me wonder how they even made a profit.

 

[PCHawk]

Now how much of these price increases are fully due to inflation and how much is due to companies using some inflation to charge more.

Think about it, as one day a couple of months ago people were frightened and the global price of crude oil went up. The same day the corner gas station raised the price at the pump by 7% or maybe more but what they hell the gas they were selling is the same gas in the underground tank that was there a week earlier. That gas station didnt really need to raise their prices at that time. They just gouged your ass.

Beef prices go up like crazy but is there really a shortage of beef or a huge increase in demand for beef. We should all know that prices should only go up, giving the real or illusion of inflation, if there is a shortage of product or too much demand chasing available products at retail sites.

I have never heard there was a big drop in the availability of beef although there could be some production and supply chain cost increases. And I sure havent heard of any increase in demand for beef. So guess what, I bet if economists or other researchers really looked into it there could be an unneeded/artificial rise in beef prices and other prices of goods which is basically price gouging.

Of course, like usual the researchers will not find this out for a year but the gougers will get their extra money without any negative consequences.

Oh yes, the petroleum companies are doing just great, better than every so they must not be having their margins hurt.

I'm sure there is some sort of price markup. But a lot of it probably goes to excess shipping costs and extra costs to run the stores they are sold in. You also have to factor in that if the owners of the stores only raise their price enough to cover new costs, they would essentially be making less money because money is worth less now.

 

[okeefe4prez]

So OK4P, tell me why chicken wing prices should increase by 100%? Why should ribs cost 100% more?

The price of gas, haha, that is a global commodity with price swings that are triggered by dumber bullshit and big money players than the stock market. Crude oil prices going up this much are a joke. Big Oil is just taking advantage of a situation to jack up their prices.

I could see a restaurant raising their prices by 25% as they need to mark up their products a lot at all times. Hell a fountain drink costs Mcdonald a dime to pour and they charge $1 for it and the people think they are getting a great deal.

With 2021 having an annual US inflation rate of 7% (which was not that bad in reality because prices dropped and there was deflation during 2020 covid) and so far 2022 US inflation is about 8.4%. There is no reason to jack up prices by 100%.

But I will wait to hear your answers to my questions.

Food prices have gone up due to a litany of factors. One big one for a product like chicken wings or ribs is that they are more labor intensive cuts and packing houses are having a helluva time finding labor. Price increases on whole chickens have been far more muted than chicken wing prices because there is far less labor involved. But they also have gone up because input prices have gone up. Corn and gas are two big inputs in meat. Corn recently broke $8 a bushel. I believe localized bird flu issues have also wreaked havoc on chicken production.

It's interesting, I explained the oil market just about a year ago on this board. Here is the post: Vaccine rollout | Page 7 | HawkeyeNation.com Forum

Here is what I said, in part, on May 17, 2021:

I went heavily long on oil stocks back in October and November when the pundits called oil uninvestable and another group of pundits claimed a Biden win would kill the oil industry. Why did I go long oil? Because I fully expect the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department to engage in completely reckless monetary printing that will cause an oil spike similar to what we saw in 2007 on the heels of 5 years of massive "stimulus" implemented after 9/11 that saw oil hit $140 a barrel and housing prices to go through the roof. I'm not going to blame the President for it, but when gas hits $4 a gallon this summer and the Left Wing Party of Big Government pisses and moans about "gas company price gouging" I'm going to laugh my ass off. "WE'RE HERE TO HELP THE LITTLE GUY." Yeah right. My Valero stock just crossed a 100% gain and my Exxon position is close to 100% gain so I hope they keep that money printer going until 2023 like the Fed has promised.

I will admit I was wrong on the timing, as it took 6 months longer than I expected for gas to breach $4 a gallon nationally, but here we are. You simply cannot print trillions of dollars without consequence. And now you are seeing the consequence. Big oil has no control over oil prices and OPEC actually wants to reduce them due to their fear of copious amounts of US and Canadian shale coming back online. The United States has a massive shortage of refining capacity (notice how I note I own Valero, which is a massive refiner) and every company slammed the brakes on capital expenditures in 2020 when The Germ hit. When you have structural issues like refining capacity shortages, diminished capex that hurts upstream production down the road, and trillions of dollars printed out of thin air, you have an absolute powderkeg brewing. And then Russia getting their ass sanctioned is just the cherry on top. What amazes me is how I saw this coming in late 2020 and the chucklefucks in our government are apparently completely shocked by it. But like I said last year, I don't blame Quid Pro Joe because I'm not some braindead partisan hack.

 

[thedukeofearl]

Boy, it's bad and going to get even worse. The other day, I worked in my home office in the morning and planned to go into my office at work in the afternoon. I decided that I would hit and drive thru the local Jimmy John's on the way in to save time. Holy Shit! I realize JJ's is always a little more than other places and expected that but holy crap! I was floored when the guy told me the total. I just got a regular sub and a small drink. The total came to $11.43. For me alone! Again, this was not with chips to make a combo meal.

I got thinking about it after that floored me and figured it would cost me upwards of $45-$50 to take my family of 4 to get a simple lunch, like if we needed to pick up a lunch if out of town or something.

Boy, my 2.8% raise is not doing shit offsetting the 12% inflation!

In your daily lives, what particular products have you noticed that completely shocked you?

I really like Jersey Mikes

The one on Merle Hay makes a very nice Philly Cheesesteak
Extra peppers and onions for free

$8.75 per sandwich

 

[okeefe4prez]

I'm sure there is some sort of price markup. But a lot of it probably goes to excess shipping costs and extra costs to run the stores they are sold in. You also have to factor in that if the owners of the stores only raise their price enough to cover new costs, they would essentially be making less money because money is worth less now.

I think there are a lot of issues with the US that are somewhat non-partisan that have been intentionally removed from public discourse or intentionally polarized to keep the proles fighting themselves rather than seeking actual change. There is a thread in the regular OT board about shipping costs where Fry was pointing out a 500% increase in getting a container from China to the US.

I believe we are all old enough to remember the '80's and '90's. Back then, packing house jobs in Iowa at a place like Monfort in Des Moines or Hormel in Fort Dodge were union jobs that paid great wages. There were places like Maytag making appliances in Newton or Ertl making toys in Dyersville. If we start partisan bickering leftists may say "RAYGUN DESTROYED THE UNIONS" or "CLINTON SIGNED NAFTA AND CONSIGNED ALL THE JOBS TO MEXICO." I really don't think it's partisan. It's more a class issue.

What I think actually happened is the Carter-era inflation never really stopped. Sure, we got it under control, but the '80's and '90's saw a quantum leap of input cost cutting that absolutely gutted Middle America and that is a much bigger driver in "curbing inflation" than anything the Fed or government did. Entire industries moved to China or Mexico. Labor intensive low-skilled or semi-skilled industries had wages crushed by imported labor. You can only break a union if you have slack labor capacity to do it. The slack labor capacity came from a willing uniparty that every single election cycle until very recently insisted "I WILL SLOW DOWN IMMIGRATION." I think producers have cut every labor input cost as far as possible and now with dislocations from COVID we are seeing the cost of what was done. Basically everyone from Mexico who wanted to come to the US already did and now they have to get people from Guatemala and Honduras to try to keep the domestic wage scale low. Low end manufacturing is all in China and with supply chain issues from the closure of their factories and ports we are absolutely giga-fucked as a society.

 

[uihawk82]

Food prices have gone up due to a litany of factors. One big one for a product like chicken wings or ribs is that they are more labor intensive cuts and packing houses are having a helluva time finding labor. Price increases on whole chickens have been far more muted than chicken wing prices because there is far less labor involved. But they also have gone up because input prices have gone up. Corn and gas are two big inputs in meat. Corn recently broke $8 a bushel. I believe localized bird flu issues have also wreaked havoc on chicken production.

It's interesting, I explained the oil market just about a year ago on this board. Here is the post: Vaccine rollout | Page 7 | HawkeyeNation.com Forum

Here is what I said, in part, on May 17, 2021:



I will admit I was wrong on the timing, as it took 6 months longer than I expected for gas to breach $4 a gallon nationally, but here we are. You simply cannot print trillions of dollars without consequence. And now you are seeing the consequence. Big oil has no control over oil prices and OPEC actually wants to reduce them due to their fear of copious amounts of US and Canadian shale coming back online. The United States has a massive shortage of refining capacity (notice how I note I own Valero, which is a massive refiner) and every company slammed the brakes on capital expenditures in 2020 when The Germ hit. When you have structural issues like refining capacity shortages, diminished capex that hurts upstream production down the road, and trillions of dollars printed out of thin air, you have an absolute powderkeg brewing. And then Russia getting their ass sanctioned is just the cherry on top. What amazes me is how I saw this coming in late 2020 and the chucklefucks in our government are apparently completely shocked by it. But like I said last year, I don't blame Quid Pro Joe because I'm not some braindead partisan hack.

You make good points as putting chicken in the meat dept does take a lot of different costs. But all these cost inputs should add up fractionally at a rate perhaps just a little over the inflation levels. So we should expect chicken to go up by maybe 10% rather than 100%. Much of what is happening is the human nature of greed.

You are right that all the various extra monies given to the citizenry whether direct monies, tax credits, freezing rental payments, etc etc added a ton of extra purchasing power. And people spent a year in 2020 hunkered down and not spending as much. So 2021 exploded in purchasing.

But then businesses see the higher spending power along with the "threat of inflation" and jack up prices way more than they should be. We have seen price gouging in these inflationary periods and shortage periods in the past.

I do not see cars in gas lines or reported across the country and even the world. I will have to check but I think the price of gas has gone up more than 100% when inflation is only 7-8%. There have been large kill offs of birds. But I still see tons of chicken in the stores and there is this shortage.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

TP at Aldis went from $2.99 to 3.99 in one week

hate to pay that much for budget brand shit wipe

Ain't that the shits!

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Houses. My buddy bought a house in my neighborhood in 2019 for $255k and sold it for $375k a few weeks ago. Had 7 offers within 24 hours of listing and sold for $25k over ask.

Cars. If you can get one, prices are well above MSRP. Trucks are even worse. My buddy said he heard the Ford dealer is asking $12k-$20k over MSRP for F-150s depending on trim level but they haven't had any in stock in months. He works for a town and they had ordered 5 trucks before The Germ hit and didn't get delivery until the end of 2020 and on their most recent attempt to buy totally base F-150 work trucks the dealer refused to even take an order because they didn't know when they would go back into production (sounds like Ford is focusing on the backlog in Lariats/Platinums etc. first due to much higher margins).

Gas. I bought gas for $1.39 a gallon for several weeks at this time in 2020. When I filled up Sunday it was $3.55. My nat gas bills this winter almost doubled from the year prior without any material change in weather.

Chicken wings have probably doubled.

Ribs doubled, but have come down a bit.

The Mexican restaurant by my office went up 30-50% and changed taco tuesday prices from $1.50 per to $2.50 per.

Airplane tickets. They want $850 to fly to Des Moines from South Carolina. My wife bought two tickets to Japan for her and the buy and it was a hair under $5k. Last time we went in 2019 it was $800 per ticket. When I lived in Chicago you could fly to Japan in premium economy (major upgrade but not biz class) for $1400.

I haven't even entertained buying a decent ribeye or T-bone for several weeks now. I don't want to be depressed seeing the price in the store. Our gas around the Iowa City area is around $3.85. I remember several years now when I was in my mid 20's when gas jumped up substantially and everybody was freaking out when it got to that $1.39 mark. This after it was around $1.10 for a long time. People freaked and thought the world was coming to an end. Boy, how I wouldn't invite that now!

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Now how much of these price increases are fully due to inflation and how much is due to companies using some inflation to charge more.

Think about it, as one day a couple of months ago people were frightened and the global price of crude oil went up. The same day the corner gas station raised the price at the pump by 7% or maybe more but what they hell the gas they were selling is the same gas in the underground tank that was there a week earlier. That gas station didnt really need to raise their prices at that time. They just gouged your ass.

Beef prices go up like crazy but is there really a shortage of beef or a huge increase in demand for beef. We should all know that prices should only go up, giving the real or illusion of inflation, if there is a shortage of product or too much demand chasing available products at retail sites.

I have never heard there was a big drop in the availability of beef although there could be some production and supply chain cost increases. And I sure havent heard of any increase in demand for beef. So guess what, I bet if economists or other researchers really looked into it there could be an unneeded/artificial rise in beef prices and other prices of goods which is basically price gouging.

Of course, like usual the researchers will not find this out for a year but the gougers will get their extra money without any negative consequences.

Oh yes, the petroleum companies are doing just great, better than every so they must not be having their margins hurt.

It's due to a few factors, but to your question, it's due to the Democrats flooding the economy with trillions of dollars. Add into that the supply chain issue raising the $$ to move products. Add into that the increase in oil at the same time. And, it's a horrible time to finance a war. It's the perfect storm. Some just the effect of what is going on around the world but flooding the economy with trillions of $$$ did not help. That's my view.

Remember, this inflation started well before Putin invaded Ukraine so the ball was rolling prior to that. The Democrats want to use that as an excuse, but it was well on it's way before that point. It's just now, that has to be thrown into the situation and it's just exacerbating the situation.

 

[uihawk82]

I'm sure there is some sort of price markup. But a lot of it probably goes to excess shipping costs and extra costs to run the stores they are sold in. You also have to factor in that if the owners of the stores only raise their price enough to cover new costs, they would essentially be making less money because money is worth less now.

I mentioned the markups. There are markups in every stage that the products are sold from raw materials, to initial and then final production, then the brokers and wholesalers mark it up, then the retail outlet marks it up. My memory has gas at the pump in the Iowa area going up a lot over the past year as you can see below. At $2.81 May of last year, very low in May of 2020 as the pandemic shut down demand, and now in May 2022 at $3.90 for ethanol blend and well over $4 a gallon for unblended.

That is about 45% to well over a 50% increase in gas prices at the pump which is mostly caused by speculation and gouging rather than any actual economic forces as there doesnt seem to be shortages at the pump and there is only 7-8% inflation and price increases across the country. What huge operational price increases has big oil had? All their refineries are built, all their pipelines are built and in place, all their storage tanks are built. Demand is lower rather than higher as reports are that people are not filling up and driving as much.

So I guess we have to look at crude oil prices and futures and the opportunity for Big Oil to gouge the customer. I will have to look up crude prices the last few years.


On May 10, 2021 Iowa (KWWL) -- Iowa gas prices are 3.3 cents per gallon higher than a week ago, averaging $2.81 per gallon, according to GasBuddy.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy

Historical gasoline prices in Iowa and the national average going back ten years:
May 10, 2020: $1.69/g (U.S. Average: $1.83/g)

May 10, 2019: $2.71/g (U.S. Average: $2.86/g)

May 10, 2018: $2.74/g (U.S. Average: $2.86/g)

May 10, 2017: $2.28/g (U.S. Average: $2.33/g)


May 10, 2016: $2.15/g (U.S. Average: $2.20/g)

May 10, 2015: $2.60/g (U.S. Average: $2.66/g)

May 10, 2014: $3.53/g (U.S. Average: $3.66/g)

May 10, 2013: $3.60/g (U.S. Average: $3.56/g)

May 10, 2012: $3.55/g (U.S. Average: $3.73/g)

May 10, 2011: $3.91/g (U.S. Average: $3.95/g)

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Now how much of these price increases are fully due to inflation and how much is due to companies using some inflation to charge more.

Think about it, as one day a couple of months ago people were frightened and the global price of crude oil went up. The same day the corner gas station raised the price at the pump by 7% or maybe more but what they hell the gas they were selling is the same gas in the underground tank that was there a week earlier. That gas station didnt really need to raise their prices at that time. They just gouged your ass.

Beef prices go up like crazy but is there really a shortage of beef or a huge increase in demand for beef. We should all know that prices should only go up, giving the real or illusion of inflation, if there is a shortage of product or too much demand chasing available products at retail sites.

I have never heard there was a big drop in the availability of beef although there could be some production and supply chain cost increases. And I sure havent heard of any increase in demand for beef. So guess what, I bet if economists or other researchers really looked into it there could be an unneeded/artificial rise in beef prices and other prices of goods which is basically price gouging.

Of course, like usual the researchers will not find this out for a year but the gougers will get their extra money without any negative consequences.

Oh yes, the petroleum companies are doing just great, better than every so they must not be having their margins hurt.

It's all a ripple effect for products. As far as crop and food price, I understand that fertilizer and feed prices are increasing at historical rates as well, hence the reason for higher beef prices. It's all relational. I do understand there are companies that are going to maximize profits and gouge people because they can. I am not a farmer or raise stock, but I have heard and read about the increasing costs to grow crops, raise stock and to ship it all. Everything's a fucked up mess at this point.

I did not intend this thread to go down a he did it, she did it, political road, but, I presumed it would which is fine. My initial intention was just to point out people's experiences with the increase in products they use. But, we are all adults and I enjoy the banter and discussion.

 

[uihawk82]

It's due to a few factors, but to your question, it's due to the Democrats flooding the economy with trillions of dollars. Add into that the supply chain issue raising the $$ to move products. Add into that the increase in oil at the same time. And, it's a horrible time to finance a war. It's the perfect storm. Some just the effect of what is going on around the world but flooding the economy with trillions of $$$ did not help. That's my view.

Remember, this inflation started well before Putin invaded Ukraine so the ball was rolling prior to that. The Democrats want to use that as an excuse, but it was well on it's way before that point. It's just now, that has to be thrown into the situation and it's just exacerbating the situation.

You do remember that president dumpster trumpster signed the two huge covid relief packages during his term and he and the republicans did a big tax cut package. You do realize that if the Fed, both repub and dems, hadnt done those covid relief packages the economy would have TOTALLY went to shit. There were 20% of people out of work and they would not have been able to pay rent and groceries or pay their mortgages. We would have had another 2007-2008

So dont blame just the Dems as that is a very shortsighted crazy notion.

All three of those things trump and congress did dumped the first few trillions into the hands of spenders.

If you want to see something very interesting and telling look at the price of gas I posted in this thread. You will see the price go steadily down from very high to much lower as the Obama admin slowly fixed the 2007-2008 depression thru to 2016.

But wait, then the price of gas steadily went back up all through Trump's 4 years because the repubs are terrible for fiscal and economic policy.

Overall, there are too many global factors for presidents and congress to control a lot of the crude oil price system but they could do a better job of not allowing excess gas prices at the pump. There was a time back during the first huge gas shortages and gas price increases when the state and fed govts didnt allow price gouging. Dealers had to align their prices with the actual price of gas in their underground tanks and not drastically raise prices overnight for gas they bought at a much lower price.

 

[HawkGold]

There are a lot of reasons for this inflation. This isn't a Trumpster situation any more than Bush, Obama, Clinton, Reagan, and so on. Probably the President with the least culpability is Carter who inherited a situation bound to create inflation regardless.

We could go into discourse on economic theory on money supply.

Others? Not all are bad

Nixon and Brenton Woods

Off shoring and not protecting industry - Reagan

Women in the work place and their salaries counted on family mortgage applications

Roe v Wade - yes really

Obama Admin and the continuation of endless wars and the Arab Uprising

Bush beginning endless wars

Obama and allowing Biden to gain financially in a very sensitive area.

Industrial military complex

Trump being the biggest socialist ever with COVID policy and Trade War policy

Bush being the biggest socialist for the one percent

Ethanol

Education Financial Aid and the rise of Academic Oligarchy

Artificially low interest rates to keep stocks going up and paying more for houses/cars

Out of control Pension systems.

Medical Oligarchy and consolidations


Who would have thought we'd be in this situation so quickly? I did, but like O for Prez, I thought it would happen faster. People don't realize how quickly things unraveled in the early 80s with interest rates and an economy arguably the worst since the depression (not 2008).

Hummers were the sign of the times in the mid 2000s. Today it's gigantic pick up trucks.