Prices just keep going up,up,up!

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Bring it on. I don't eat that much and have seen my weekly spend at the supermarket go from maybe $60 to $70. The best part is the big bump in interest rates. 6 months ago I was getting just a few hundred bucks from my bank accounts. Now it's 4 figures.
 
Unfortunately, the inflation we're seeing this year is just a prelude of what's coming next year and in 2024. The PPI (producer price index) has been raging this year, and it tends to foretell what's going to happen with the CPI (consumer price index) in about 12-18 months. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
It’s going to take the Fed SERIOUSLY cranking up the prime rate to stop it. If anyone is old enough to remember the late 1970s-early ‘80s, when it cleared 20%!! Caused an instant recession, but it stopped inflation in its’ tracks.
 
Natural gas prices in New Jersey up 20% going into the winter. So grateful for my crossing guard gig. It’s pretty easy and provides an additional $900 a month. Just gotta make more until things settle down, if ever.
 
Here in the real world, most things seem to have gone up 30-40%. Some things seemed to have downright doubled in price - especially food items. The “official” inflation number on used cars was something like 6%. Yeah….6% times 5!
 
I hope your costs are about $30 for parts and $120 for your labor and expertise in a hose you sell for $150.
 
Or, you can just get another credit card. This “offer” from Carters, the kids clothing chain, just arrived in todays mail. Check out the interest rate, even a loan shark wouldn’t charge that much.
 

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Bring it on. I don't eat that much and have seen my weekly spend at the supermarket go from maybe $60 to $70. The best part is the big bump in interest rates. 6 months ago I was getting just a few hundred bucks from my bank accounts. Now it's 4 figures.
It would appear you have it all figured out.
I hope you are not OK with 1/2 of America, the hard working middle class getting pounded by inflation.
Perhaps eat more and pontificate less
 
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It would appear you have it all figured out.
I hope you are not OK with 1/2 of America, the hard working middle class getting pounded by inflation.
Perhaps eat more and pontificate less
I work as hard as any middle class person. Spent 6 hours of my day mowing the grass at my storage. I could have taken the easy way and paid someone to do it, but then I wouldn't have as much in savings. Talk about pontificate. Oh, and for lunch I had 2 bananas for 41 cents.
 
The inflation calculation doesn't include gas or food. 🙄

Both major inflation indicators, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Personal Consumption Expenditures (CPE), include energy and food in their calculations.

The the Federal Reserve (technically, the Federal Open Market Committee) uses a modified version of CPE that removes energy and food from the calculation and calls this "core inflation". This is done because food and energy are generally volatile. OPEC deciding to cut oil production or a drought in Brazil that screws up soybean harvests doesn't necessarily represent underlying economic conditions in the US. This is done for FOMC decision making.

Regardless, headline CPI and PCE numbers reported by the BLE and BEA include energy and food prices.

It’s going to take the Fed SERIOUSLY cranking up the prime rate to stop it.

The Federal Reserve controls the Federal Funds Rate, not the Prime Rate.

The Prime Rate is a benchmark indicator (generated from bank surveys) for consumer borrowing, primarily fixed rate mortgages and credit card rates.

The Federal Funds Rate is the foundation of the Prime Rate (and most all borrowing), but they are not the same thing. They generally move in the same direction, but not at the same rate.

For example: In the past 12 months, the Federal Funds Rate has increased 10x, from 25 basis points (.25%) to 250 basis points (2.5%). In the same 12 months, the Prime Rate has increased 1.69x, from 3.25% to 5.50%.

Nobody sets the prime rate. It is an indicator, not a control.
 
I really think a lot of it is just gouging at this point.

A can of the dog food I like to buy maybe… Seven years ago or so was like $2.79. I switched to another brand when it hit like $4 because I thought that was too much. I checked today and they’re $6.59. What in the world I can feed my dog Chunky soup for like 1/3 of that price.

Bag of Doritos was $3.49 regular price a couple years ago, now $5.79
 
Yeah, the weekly trips to the grocery store are downright laughable. I like to think I have, now had, a pretty good idea what stuff costs. I don't even know any more. I'd say the grocery bill has gone up at least 30% over the last two years. We're not buying gold plated crackers either.
 
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