We just need a free energy source - that'll take care of everything.
Prices of everything going up, uP, UP
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No, the price of everything is not going up. Houses aren't going up. Electronics aren't. Bicycles aren't. Home owners insurance isn't (at least mine didn't go up). I noticed certain foods I buy are cheaper now than before (beef, chicken, fruit juice). Fruits and vegetables are the same price. Apparel & clothing has gone down (I buy the same clothing brands and they're the same price or cheaper than a couple of years ago.)
Just another perspective
Just another perspective
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
If you knew prices were going to go up, why didn't you purchase your toilet when it was $99?
Do you stock up on toilets/keep spares around the house? I only buy a new one when the old one breaks beyond repair.
If you have a Restore around toilets are a fraction of a new one. Not many low-flows though but I was lucky enough to find one. Restore is a good way to save money on house repairs.
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
If you knew prices were going to go up, why didn't you purchase your toilet when it was $99?
Do you stock up on toilets/keep spares around the house? I only buy a new one when the old one breaks beyond repair.
If you have a Restore around toilets are a fraction of a new one. Not many low-flows though but I was lucky enough to find one. Restore is a good way to save money on house repairs.
Originally Posted By: buster
This is not even lose to being hyperinflation. An expanding money supply does not mean inflation. Inflation is too much money chasing too few of goods. Right now we have 13 million or more out of work. The dollar is not at historic lows and will rebound as the economy strengthens, assuming it will.
Speculation is part of why commodities have gone up. Emerging markets and supply/demand as well.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/27/how_goldman_sachs_created_the_food_crisis?page=0%2C0&sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4dc15456bffabe66%2C0
Inflation is a slippery thing to define and measure.
If inflation is defined as a general rise in the wage/price level, are we seeing inflation now, or merely changes in the relative prices of goods?
According to some, notably Milton Friedman, the patron saint of the monatarist school of thought, inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.
OTOH, a Keynsian would reply that as long as there is significant slack capacity in the economy, and with 9% unemployment, there certainly is, inflation is not much of a risk.
Finally, Friday's WSJ had a front page article detailing a week long decline in commodities prices, including oil, which is now back below $100.00/bbl.
To the extent that speculators have driven up commodities pricing, there is nothing better than having them lose a little money to cause them to lose their nerve.
This is not even lose to being hyperinflation. An expanding money supply does not mean inflation. Inflation is too much money chasing too few of goods. Right now we have 13 million or more out of work. The dollar is not at historic lows and will rebound as the economy strengthens, assuming it will.
Speculation is part of why commodities have gone up. Emerging markets and supply/demand as well.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/27/how_goldman_sachs_created_the_food_crisis?page=0%2C0&sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4dc15456bffabe66%2C0
Inflation is a slippery thing to define and measure.
If inflation is defined as a general rise in the wage/price level, are we seeing inflation now, or merely changes in the relative prices of goods?
According to some, notably Milton Friedman, the patron saint of the monatarist school of thought, inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.
OTOH, a Keynsian would reply that as long as there is significant slack capacity in the economy, and with 9% unemployment, there certainly is, inflation is not much of a risk.
Finally, Friday's WSJ had a front page article detailing a week long decline in commodities prices, including oil, which is now back below $100.00/bbl.
To the extent that speculators have driven up commodities pricing, there is nothing better than having them lose a little money to cause them to lose their nerve.
A local Walmart has pineapples for $1.25 each. I bought about 7 of them.
Quote:
Inflation is a slippery thing to define and measure.
If inflation is defined as a general rise in the wage/price level, are we seeing inflation now, or merely changes in the relative prices of goods?
According to some, notably Milton Friedman, the patron saint of the monatarist school of thought, inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.
OTOH, a Keynsian would reply that as long as there is significant slack capacity in the economy, and with 9% unemployment, there certainly is, inflation is not much of a risk.
Finally, Friday's WSJ had a front page article detailing a week long decline in commodities prices, including oil, which is now back below $100.00/bbl.
To the extent that speculators have driven up commodities pricing, there is nothing better than having them lose a little money to cause them to lose their nerve.
+1
Inflation is a slippery thing to define and measure.
If inflation is defined as a general rise in the wage/price level, are we seeing inflation now, or merely changes in the relative prices of goods?
According to some, notably Milton Friedman, the patron saint of the monatarist school of thought, inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.
OTOH, a Keynsian would reply that as long as there is significant slack capacity in the economy, and with 9% unemployment, there certainly is, inflation is not much of a risk.
Finally, Friday's WSJ had a front page article detailing a week long decline in commodities prices, including oil, which is now back below $100.00/bbl.
To the extent that speculators have driven up commodities pricing, there is nothing better than having them lose a little money to cause them to lose their nerve.
+1
Originally Posted By: buster
Quote:
Inflation is a slippery thing to define and measure.
If inflation is defined as a general rise in the wage/price level, are we seeing inflation now, or merely changes in the relative prices of goods?
According to some, notably Milton Friedman, the patron saint of the monatarist school of thought, inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.
OTOH, a Keynsian would reply that as long as there is significant slack capacity in the economy, and with 9% unemployment, there certainly is, inflation is not much of a risk.
Finally, Friday's WSJ had a front page article detailing a week long decline in commodities prices, including oil, which is now back below $100.00/bbl.
To the extent that speculators have driven up commodities pricing, there is nothing better than having them lose a little money to cause them to lose their nerve.
+1
+2 Catchy line, I like it. Did someone yell fire?
Originally Posted By: quote
To the extent that speculators have driven up commodities pricing, there is nothing better than having them lose a little money to cause them to lose their nerve.
Quote:
Inflation is a slippery thing to define and measure.
If inflation is defined as a general rise in the wage/price level, are we seeing inflation now, or merely changes in the relative prices of goods?
According to some, notably Milton Friedman, the patron saint of the monatarist school of thought, inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.
OTOH, a Keynsian would reply that as long as there is significant slack capacity in the economy, and with 9% unemployment, there certainly is, inflation is not much of a risk.
Finally, Friday's WSJ had a front page article detailing a week long decline in commodities prices, including oil, which is now back below $100.00/bbl.
To the extent that speculators have driven up commodities pricing, there is nothing better than having them lose a little money to cause them to lose their nerve.
+1
+2 Catchy line, I like it. Did someone yell fire?
Originally Posted By: quote
To the extent that speculators have driven up commodities pricing, there is nothing better than having them lose a little money to cause them to lose their nerve.
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When the government calculates inflation, they do so by comparing prices on an arbitrary "basket of goods." From time to time they also tinker with what goes in and out of that basket. For those reasons, I'm skeptical of government published inflationary figures and much more inclined to believe what I see with my own eyes, in the form of the increases on the cost of goods and services I purchase. By that measure, we are seeing inflation above the normal 2-3% increase that is considered acceptable by economists.
FWIW, wages don't have to be stagnant for inflation to occur. And you can have situations where both increase meaningfully and simultaneously. The end result is the same: the actual purchasing power, inspite of prevailing wages or wage increases, decreases.
Right now I view it as a serious, though not yet alarming, problem. Its only if it begins to snowball into a hyper-inflationary trend that there will be cause for panic. We're not there. Hopefully we don't get there, either. Though for the trend to reverse, something major has to give somewhere. What that something is, is anyone's guess.
-Spyder
FWIW, wages don't have to be stagnant for inflation to occur. And you can have situations where both increase meaningfully and simultaneously. The end result is the same: the actual purchasing power, inspite of prevailing wages or wage increases, decreases.
Right now I view it as a serious, though not yet alarming, problem. Its only if it begins to snowball into a hyper-inflationary trend that there will be cause for panic. We're not there. Hopefully we don't get there, either. Though for the trend to reverse, something major has to give somewhere. What that something is, is anyone's guess.
-Spyder
I have no doubt that the government inflation index is showing 0% inflation.
As a real life person, that means little to me. It costs me more to maintain the same standard of living in May 2011 than it did for any time in my adult life. Even with the pay raise I received in the end of 2010, my first paycheck in 2011 was smaller than the last one I got in 2010 due to health insurance increases.
We also tie up significantly more of our budget to pay for things like gasoline, natural gas, electricity, water, and taking our kids to see the doctor.
I doubt we'll be seeing any kind of turn around. Eventually, our standard of living will drop and the third world will increase until we reach some kind of equilibrium.
As a real life person, that means little to me. It costs me more to maintain the same standard of living in May 2011 than it did for any time in my adult life. Even with the pay raise I received in the end of 2010, my first paycheck in 2011 was smaller than the last one I got in 2010 due to health insurance increases.
We also tie up significantly more of our budget to pay for things like gasoline, natural gas, electricity, water, and taking our kids to see the doctor.
I doubt we'll be seeing any kind of turn around. Eventually, our standard of living will drop and the third world will increase until we reach some kind of equilibrium.
I think the biggest problem is the housing component used to calculate the CPI. Most housing "costs" are declining. However, this is fallacious, as most people are locked into their costs of shelter.
Figures don't lie but liars figure.
Figures don't lie but liars figure.
Quote:
OTOH, a Keynsian would reply that as long as there is significant slack capacity in the economy, and with 9% unemployment, there certainly is, inflation is not much of a risk.
There are plenty of current situations (not to mention in the past) in the world that show this to be false, yet people still buy into it. It always amazes me how people will intentionally put the blinders on when something doesn't jive with their world view.
OTOH, a Keynsian would reply that as long as there is significant slack capacity in the economy, and with 9% unemployment, there certainly is, inflation is not much of a risk.
There are plenty of current situations (not to mention in the past) in the world that show this to be false, yet people still buy into it. It always amazes me how people will intentionally put the blinders on when something doesn't jive with their world view.
Originally Posted By: buster
Inflation is low.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/the-inflation-monster-under-the-bed/
http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2011/05/i-agree-with-paul-krugman.html
The price of labor does not necessarily drive inflation!
Inflation is low.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/the-inflation-monster-under-the-bed/
http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2011/05/i-agree-with-paul-krugman.html
The price of labor does not necessarily drive inflation!
Somalia is run by military dictators, otherwise known as "war lords". The people have no private property rights, no due process, no free speech. The people live under the anarchy that comes from arbitrary BIG GOVERNMENT.
This really shows how little you, and those you listen to, understand of these things.
This really shows how little you, and those you listen to, understand of these things.
The Gov changed the way it calculates inflation using the old method it's at 10%.
Originally Posted By: buster
LOL I'm aware.
Then why did you post that?
Quote:
But you still don't understand inflation.
Then educate me.
LOL I'm aware.
Then why did you post that?
Quote:
But you still don't understand inflation.
Then educate me.
Originally Posted By: Tempest
Somalia is run by military dictators, otherwise known as "war lords". The people have no private property rights, no due process, no free speech. The people live under the anarchy that comes from arbitrary BIG GOVERNMENT.
This really shows how little you, and those you listen to, understand of these things.
There are a few contradictions in that post. One being that the war lords running the show are more akin to mafia, and bear no semblance to any form of "government" as defined by accepted definitions. They are not even "military dictators" as they dictate nothing. They are gangsters and criminals who organize into small bands of armed thugs, drive through the villages, take what they want and kill anyone in the way. There is no dictatorship, military or otherwise, as that implies some semblance of law and order; the law and order is complete to the point of total oppression of civil liberty, and enforced by a single entity (person or party) at the state level; and hence the title "dictatorship." Somalia obviously bears no resemblance to this. That's a better description of North Korea or Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
Anarchy and big government is another contradiction. Anarchy is a state with no government, big or small.
I thought Buster's clip pretty amusing, in that it does contain a lot of tongue-in-cheek truth to it. Its obviously not the utopia those who believe every dollar "stolen" from their pocket by government to be a dollar wasted that they could be better spent if government would just get out of the way. Yet the clip shows a much more accurate version of what this utopia would really resemble if they had their way.
-Spyder
Somalia is run by military dictators, otherwise known as "war lords". The people have no private property rights, no due process, no free speech. The people live under the anarchy that comes from arbitrary BIG GOVERNMENT.
This really shows how little you, and those you listen to, understand of these things.
There are a few contradictions in that post. One being that the war lords running the show are more akin to mafia, and bear no semblance to any form of "government" as defined by accepted definitions. They are not even "military dictators" as they dictate nothing. They are gangsters and criminals who organize into small bands of armed thugs, drive through the villages, take what they want and kill anyone in the way. There is no dictatorship, military or otherwise, as that implies some semblance of law and order; the law and order is complete to the point of total oppression of civil liberty, and enforced by a single entity (person or party) at the state level; and hence the title "dictatorship." Somalia obviously bears no resemblance to this. That's a better description of North Korea or Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
Anarchy and big government is another contradiction. Anarchy is a state with no government, big or small.
I thought Buster's clip pretty amusing, in that it does contain a lot of tongue-in-cheek truth to it. Its obviously not the utopia those who believe every dollar "stolen" from their pocket by government to be a dollar wasted that they could be better spent if government would just get out of the way. Yet the clip shows a much more accurate version of what this utopia would really resemble if they had their way.
-Spyder
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