There has always been a general shaping and interpretation surrounding economic news, specifically as it relates to the impact of pricing on consumers and corporations. However, against the backdrop of supply side inflation, the financial gaslighting from the Wall Street Journal stands out at the top.
Without pretending, and looking directly at the Main Street reality, CTH has outlined inflation as a matter of monetary and energy policy. From that standpoint the timing and scale of price increases (inflation measured over time) was predictable. Our current status is an inflationary plateau, where prices remain high but stabilize for likely two quarters.
What the Wall Street Journal outlines as a “shopper rebellion against high prices” is complete hogwash. Notice in the construct of the narrative, the demand side (consumers) is identified as the cause of diminished revenue & profits for corporations. They continue pretending that inflation was not driven by energy costs.
(WSJ) – […] Many companies raised their prices substantially last year to offset higher fuel costs and higher prices for ingredients, parts and labor. As fuel prices have dropped and pandemic supply-chain snarls have eased, some of those costs have come down.
That is a good sign for the economy. It suggests that some inflation in the past year resulted from extreme supply-demand imbalances brought on by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine and which are now fading.
Notice the transparent lack of mentioning ‘energy policy’ as the inflation driver.
[…] The study, by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, found that higher markups—the gap between what a firm charges and what it costs to produce an item—were a major driver of inflation in 2021.
They concluded that companies in some cases were raising prices in 2021 in anticipation of future cost pressures, rather than because of market power or outsize demand. Andrew Glover, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City who was involved in the study, doesn’t expect prices to fall this year, he said, but he anticipates that the pace of increase will continue to slow.
Inflation is the rate of increase over time. We have experienced two years of massive price increases. Yes, the rate of those increases will moderate, this is the plateau, but the price will never drop. The current prices are a direct result of fixed energy policy.
[…] Unit sales of food and beverages fell 3% last year, but on a dollar basis they rose 10%. That showed consumers were willing to pay higher prices for groceries but bought fewer items.
[…] “People need to eat,” said Krishnakumar Davey, a president at IRI. Shoppers are nonetheless buying less when possible and, in many cases, buying less expensive versions of necessities such as toilet paper and laundry detergent. (read more)
Meanwhile the Fed is worried that wages will be forced to increase. Here is the real worry for the Wall Street Journal, “If consumers believe high prices will persist, they could seek bigger raises, and businesses, seeing higher labor costs, could continue raising prices.” Yes, workers, forward inflation is your fault.
Government policy drives up prices, but workers needing wage increases to pay for those higher prices… well, that is not acceptable to the government, comrade proles.
Instead of appropriately weighting monetary (M2) growth and long term interest rates, the Fed’s model primarily looks at wages. That’s why it is hell bent on crushing the economy even though M2 growth has been below normal for months. Can’t have workers getting wage increases. The WSJ is a propaganda outlet for the oligarchs and views wage increases as akin to gangrene-something to be tamped down immediately.
RE: gangrene. I think you meant something to be “cut out” immediately.
And they keep pushing the $15 an hour as starting pay for an entry-level job, and 10+ year employees are supposed to be happy with $20 to $25 per hour, if they can get it. Look at all the cheap illegal alien labor coming across the border, who are happy to do the job for the $15, while they’re raking in and sucking off the teat of Americans for food stamps, housing vouchers, free medical. How do you like suckling all these people, America? My tits hurt.
I think I wanna borrow that . . . every time someone brings up that topic I’m just going to say that . . . MY TITS HURT.
🤣
If minimum wage is roughly doubled to $15, I would like my hourly wage also doubled so I can maintain my lifestyle relative to those earning minimum wage.
So what about the movement to pay low-end people $26/hrs as a minimum wage for jobs like washing dishes, mopping up floors, etc.? Aren’t we really heading to a universal wage where all of us are paid the same 0minimum wage, no matter the skills or education? That’s the only way you’re gonna get equity if this is the goal
The aristocrats always took the good cuts from the cow, and then the peasants figured out how to make brisket and ribs and shank taste wonderful, so the aristocrats took that, too. That left the peasants with pigs, but the royalty eventually took that, as well. So, it came down to “squirrels ‘n’ sich..” Carp looks better and better all the time.
We ate a lot of carp growing up, pressure cooking dissolves the bones. Soaking in cold water draws the blood out.
We lived right on the Ohio river so some in our family and most of our neighbors were commercial fishermen.
It’s a dangerous lifestyle, even today. Mom’s first husband drowned on Christmas Eve while running lines.
We still eat a lot of fish. SIL is a fishing guide on KY Lake, so we have mostly crappie, bluegill and catfish. We occasionally eat an Asian Carp, which rivals any fish you can put on the table.
As an aside, I’ve not trusted ANY mainstream media since 1962.
Living in W.KY here, also. Asian Carp is served in one of Paducah’s finest restaurants, Freight House.
Asian Carp is yet another invasive species from China along with Tree of Heaven and Paulonia.
They grow fast and get big, 40-50 pounds. They are mean. If you are pulling a seine in the pond they will swim right at you at full speed just below the surface and slam you in the chest or gut.
These were sold to control grass and weeds in ponds and they work great. Only one sex was sold to prevent reproduction. They were raised in Mississippi and Arkansas in tightly controlled environments that did not permit them getting out into the wild. Worked pretty good until the Mississippi river flooded and breached the ponds. Now they are pretty much everywhere in the Mississippi River system that does not freeze in winter.
Oh trust me, here we know all about that invasive species.
I never ate carp, I was told the story about cooking it on an oak board, tossing the carp and eat the board. I guess any fish is eatable. Sounds like you are salt of the earth!
What is the difference in Asian Carp? I thought they were all invasive.
Peace.
Not oak, cedar. Oak is too tough.
I prefer the taste of pine.
Funny, that’s what my father in law says about geese.
I gotta ask.. what event in 1962?
Two possibilities jump to my mind – the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the subsequent Cuban missile crisis in 1962.
Even the hunted animals belonged to the novels. You would be hung if you hunted them to feed your family. The peasants ate potatoes or cabbage. But even then the aristocracy took about 80% of the crops. They owned nothing and weren’t happy at all.
Royalty is now eating the squirrels, so will get to eat insects next…
Speaking of “Squirrels”. I’m from the south. My grandparents went through the depression. When I was a child, my uncle would bring my grandmother squirrels he had killed and cleaned and she would make my grandfather his favorite dish “squirrel and rice”. Of course everyone else found it gross, but he loved it. They had a farm and each year slaughtered one of their pigs, canned and put in the freezer for the next year what they had grown in their garden. And you never wasted any food, ever.
Well whats the difference between a squirrel and a rabbit? Rabbit meat is a delicacy and many fancy chefs and “farmhouse” type chefs have recipes for rabbit stew. The French regard it as a delicacy.
Mama would not have anything to do with a rabbit. There was a lot of rabbit fever when they grew up.
In those days they called rabbits “Hoover Hogs.”
You do have to be very careful with wild rabbits – the month you hunt them in – because of parasites. Now domestic rabbits, yum yum and no parasites to worry about.
Don’t you mean “bugs”?
My cat cannot even eat tilapia … just barfs it all up. And neither will I. No trash fish for me. No insects for me. Looks like I’m gonna starve … or die from all the fatty pork cuts I can barely afford
Ocean tilapia was great. Supermarkets here would stock it super cheap when they didn’t have anything else to put in the display case. Most people didn’t want to bother with the scales. When they decided to start growing them in brackish water is when they got nasty.
My bad. Apparently they have always been a freshwater fish. But somehow when they started farming them and jacking up the price they also started tasting like garbage.
My Hawaiian friends call tilapia, garbage fish, maybe even bait.
We know big pharma made massive profits from the clot shots, but where is the wealth that is being drained from the middle class through this energy garbage? What kind of profits is China banking from solar and wind scams? Of course the Ukraine cask kickback theft from taxpayers is obvious and the runaway spending by the US government to profit big money political donors has to be at an all time high, but there has to be a small group profiting massively from the WEF trash. Who are they?
Look at the Davos attendees for one.
I’m guessing Wall Street, Blue mayors, blue governors…hell, probably red governors, Fortune 500 CEO’s, senators…the usual suspects.
The type of trash who use high end prostitutes
Tricks of the trade: $2,500-a-night prostitute reveals how business rockets at this week’s Davos summit – and why she wear business clothes to blend in and NEVER gossips about elite clients
Sex worker Salome Balthus (pictured) is staying in a hotel near Davos throughout the summit attended by the world’s most influential leaders and businessmen.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11643585/Prostitutes-gather-Davos-annual-meeting-global-elite-demand-skyrockets.html
Ya know they get tense after a long day of figuring out how many of us peasants need to just die already.
We went to a local chain store Bi-Mart just after Christmas and they were slashing prices on many items that did not sell. The cuts were deep, 50% off. Went back a few days ago, a lot of items still on sale and the shelves where Christmas specific items once occupied were empty, not restocked with everyday items.
Yup. I’ve always suspected that higher prices are my own fault. Fortunately, the gubmint is here to help. Same with the banksters. Always looking out for me.
I know I feel loved.
The gasoline price difference between my small upper, upper middle class suburb … and little Mexico aka Concord CA is over $1.00/gal. It’s currently $3.59/gal. in Concord … and $4.69/gal. in my “posh” community. Simply put … I never buy gasoline in my town. I buy it where the illegal refugees live
Monument Blvd., good times!
Dead center … Meheeko City
We, the put upon and targeted people in this country, are well prepared for corporate bad news.
I hope it’s so horrible that our fascist corporate masters taking orders from their governmental partners will start perspiring profusely.
And then will realize the folly of their complicity with “wokeism” and the economic destruction of the very people whose own “bottom lines” have been ground into the dirt.
Can’t happen soon enough.
B.J. and oldtired guy.
I have been puzzled, for some time now about HOW this WEF sponsored ‘wokeism’ could possibly profit the multi-nationals, LONG TERM.
Sure, in the short term ma and pa small businesses have been devastated, benefitting the big chains.
But LONG TERM, it seems they are equally harmed by War on Oil, and all the rest of the foolishness.
I think we MAY see a repeat of history; the Big companies in Germany got behind Hitler, thinking it was in their benefit, and only after it was too late, realised the truth.
I think the latest iteration of Conmunism, “Globalism” will follow that same trajectory; it only APPEARS like a partnership between Gov and Corporations, the Conmunists are like Sauron, and the Corps are Saruman (Lord of the Rings); the Globalists have NO intention to share power, with ANYONE.
And yet, when you actually try to READ The Communist Manifesto it’s a bunch of word salad. This word salad, written by a guy who never had a job and lived of his friend’s rich parents, keeps on changing the world for the worst and never seems to stop! Plus, there is only one place in all of Marx’s writings with the actual word “government”.
Oh amen, Dutchman.
Try as I might, I can make no sense of it either. I’m sure globalists truly believe they’ve got this all figured out so that all their long developed plans will go off without a hitch, so smart do they consider themselves.
Sure this long dreamed about arrangement has never ever worked long term. But THIS time will be different. They are all going to be kings of the world. And they are all delusional. It is a moral sickness that has its grip on them.
I’ve often quoted Lord Macmillan, who at least recognized that events can disrupt any plan, no matter how meticulous it may seem to be. History not only rhymes, it does in fact repeat in many ways.
So while these narcissistic believers in their own infallibility gather in Davos to pat themselves on the back and cheer their hubris, like you, I feel their self positioning on Mount Olympus will inevitably crumble over that good old butterfly effect.
No one knows where it will come from…but come it will. They are all in their own private forest and can’t see any trees at all.
Like Icarus, they are flying too close to the sun..I just hope their wings will melt before humanity is decimated beyond recovery.
I seriously think these people don’t live in their own minds. They have no emotion. It’s like THEY’RE living in a simulated world. Actually, quite creepy!
Jean Fraud Kerry claimed today to be part of a select group of human beings who were called by extra terrestrial forces to save the planet.
These people are certifiable.
🤪
exactly how I see them😂
(I was laughing so hard, Jeanine, I had to edit a 5 word sentence)
All I know is 15 top Davosians couldn’t run a McDonald’s. I guess these big brains at the WEF never heard the expression “good in theory, bad in practice”.. I don’t care what they have gamed out on paper.
Exactly so, CR. So focused on the the final iteration of their psychopathy, I seriously doubt they’ve gamed the whole thing out to include miscalculations or unexpected events.
Arrogance and hubris tend to warp thinking.
No “i” in team…3 in narcissistic.
Stealing that…3 in narcissistic! 😊
Be my guest. I’m sure whoever came up with it won’t mind😉
As the great prophet once said, “Everyone’s got a plan till they get punched in the face.”
Seems to me now that communism only ever was another brick bat to beat the peasants with.
Most corporations owned by shareholders don’t run like a farm, they look to then next quarter profit goal and hope momentum keeps the business going. Sort of like a drug addict, the next high is the goal. Both are making a deal with Satan. Satan only; steals, kills and destroys. Never accept his lies.
1 Peter 5:8 NKJV
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
John 8:44 NKJV
You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
If my understanding of Biblical prophecy is in the ballpark, the anti-christ emerges to lead the one world government out of financial disaster and ruin.
Your assessment would fall in line with the current “woke” globalists going broke. Not sure who can’t see some type of financial collapse coming, but the current path is not sustainable.
Even Jesus doesn’t know the hour.
Mark 13:32-33 NKJV
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. [33] Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.
Verse 33 is the key. Keep you lamp trimmed and burning.
I speak with many Christians and some say the day is near. Some say they are ready now! I am ready, I just not sure my time is God’s time.
I will keep witnessing, praying and praising the Lord for the blessing I have till he calls me home. Thanks be to God!
Christians are the light in the darkness.
Maybe God is giving us a REALLY good chance to shine.
What’s in your wallet?
$35. Same $35 that’s been there for about 2 1/2 weeks.
Paid $20 for lunch today..meat and 1 side, glass of tea. As I’m eating I see a roach running across the counter…should have grabbed it for an after-dinner mint! Protein, non-GMO insect…screw you, Bill Gates!😆
I NEVER eat out. Always take my own lunch. The people who make the food often arent hygienic, and the premises are oftern filthy.
I eat out rarely, but my job today, that I thought I’d be back home and in my sweats by 11:00, lasted longer and we took lunch. I gave in to my stomach grumbling. If my job is going to be all day, I pack the same sandwich, cooler with drink and eat in my car.
The US economy is built on debt growth NOT product growth and eventually the debt will reach a point where it can no longer grow then its katie bar the door.
Treasury secretary warns US could default on its debt as soon as June | CNN Politics
YOU SHOULD THIS INTERESTING
They need to start inserting the slides now.
Anyone that needs “economic former “spurts” to tell them what the economy is doing, don’t live in the REAL world.
And while Sundances explanation is terrific and ‘spot on’, I think an awful lot of people who don’t read here, have figured out that the War on energy being waged by U.S. and WEF IS the major driver of inflation.
They can gaslight all they want, no one is paying any attention to what THEY say, because they have totally destroyed their credibility.
They are TRYING to piss down our leg, while telling us its raining, but we ain’t buying it.
They destroyed their credibility with COVID. I think everyone but the most extreme progressives must be thinking about the potential down sides of the jab.
No one at my office, my neighborhood or my circle of friends is fooled either. I know a husband and wife working 5 jobs between the two of them to raise their three boys.
This whole energy/food price problem could be solved overnight. If the biodiesel, ethanol requirement was eliminated. In 2007 the prices for grains actually doubled overnight with the passage of the energy act und Bush the younger.
Madame Defarge: The ethanol scam is a great way to prop up corn prices, degrade engine performance, and keep those ag lobby donations flowing to senators and congress critters.
We only put non-ethanol gas in our vehicles/machines, and no, that’s not snobby. We do not want the engines ruined.
For the non-diesel equipment, we have a process for removing ethanol from mid-grade gas. The process uses water & food coloring. All of the equipment runs better and it’s less expensive than the non-ethanol from the pump
How does that work? Does it involve a siphon and me sucking on a hose? If so, I’m out. 😆
But seriously, how does that work?
Energy was not the inflation culprit. Inflation was not an issue Jan 2021 but doubled mo/mo Feb 2021. The issue was the policy changes under Biden. Policy i.e., regulation, is a primary govt culprit mostly unseen by analysts. Everyone one blames the consumer, but consumer spending is always seeking to stretch personal income for greatest value. Consumers are the only deflationary force in the economy and drive which innovations get traction and which do not. Commodity prices rise and fall on inflation perceptions, but when all is said and done, not inflationary by themselves.
All of this is plainly visible in the data.
Good thing Federal debt increases, QE and ZIRP/NIRP under the current prez and his three predecessors had little impact on liquidity and massive asset bubbles!
“That showed consumers were willing to pay higher prices for groceries but bought fewer items.”
People, referred to here as dehumanized consumers, were forced to pay higher prices for the food and drinks required to remain alive.
You pay, you eat, and you live. Or you die.
It is infuriating to read these constructs.
Dot-connecting is not a thing with economists.
They are trained view economics in terms of systems, not the people who compromise the systems. This leads to a detached and dehumanized perspective which views individuals as expendable.
This is not unique to economists. Project Veritas exposed the same type of thinking is prevalent in the pharmaceutical industry. Automakers have been caught deciding it would be cheaper to pay wrongful death settlements rather than perform safety recalls.
People running large public and private systems don’t care about you or I because they view us statistics within the systems.
Yeah, I know… (Sigh)
Now do healthcare! 🙂
Inputs and outputs….and those lovable “Widgets” theory…tie it all in and follow the money.
micro-economics
macro-economics
the part of economics concerned with large-scale or general economic factors, such as interest rates and national productivity. courtesy of googledeegoo.
The three main concepts of microeconomics are:
ttps://courses.byui.edu/econ_150/econ_150_old_site/lesson_06.htm
The three major concerns or issues of macroeconomics are:
My own micro economy…5 lawn bags for 3.00.
Last fall, I played a head game with myself: I resued one, to where if my math was right, the one bag cost me about 0.000005 of a penny.
We are nothing more than a number to all business entities.
Take care of the penneys and the pounds will take care of themselves (Old Scottish saying).
An amusing series of posts on capitalism! A fuller definition of the problem space is needed in these posts. Don’t throw the proverbial capitalist baby out with the bathwater!
Diction Games. In the economic lexicon, labor (correctly or not) is considered a “fungible”/mobile factor of production. Inherent in the logic, terms and assumptions of capitalist economic systems, labor is one interchangeable factor in a family of production isoquants. It’s an analytic abstraction that can be quantified.Dependencies. The capitalist notion/need for fungible, mobile labor as well as demand driven pricing as a signal of relative value (i.e., price discovery) girds the encompassing legal frameworks that support individual decision-making, free markets and free labor. Read your Schumpeter!ESG. The ESG construct so many rail against precisely targets “us” (admittedly often in a collectivist sense) as a priority. Unfortunately, ESG undercuts the integrity of the pricing function and ultimately capital allocation. Pick your poison!Problem Space. What’s the real problem here? Declining culture? Hugely disparate distribution of wealth? Unmoored public/private education systems? Oligopolies? Technology? Moral relativism driven by three centuries of epistemological wall slamming? Religious institutions that have lost their moral compass? To fix the problem (without sacrificing everything) requires a deeper understanding of causal agents. I don’t believe the idea that systems logic that is modeled and quantified is the root cause (i.e., we’re just statistics). The problem runs deeper. Much deeper.
I just don’t see how this can continue without catastrophic consequences.
I have, or should say had, an extremely well paying job. However, we got bought out and the new pay rate on my commission will be reduced by 35-40% next month, not even to mention they have taken about 35-40% of my accounts and given them to legacy employees or new hires that are failing those accounts. 50-60% total reduction in pay for me without a contraction in the commercial construction market and more expensive but worse health insurance, all kinds of perks gone.
I am hearing similar stories from all kinds of friends in my age group in various professions. And that’s just the ones who believe that feel they will still have a job this time next year. Many are considering early retirement, quiet quitting, semi-retiring and taking gig jobs.
Having said that, I am fortunate enough to still pay my bills, just no more saving, much less excess saving (I live way, way below my means and have for years). And I am older with no debt and near retirement.
And I am a shrewd, frugal shopper and yet I am appalled by the cost of everything.
BUT, when I see my less fortunate coworkers in lesser paying positions, the looks on the faces of young mothers or working class looking families in the grocery store, Walmart, doctor’s offices, workers at restaurants, laborers, fixed income retirees and know what they approximately make or their approximate net worth; and know they have mortgages/rents escalating, insurance all categories blasting up, etc. and have children to raise, I CAN LITERALLY SEE THE CONCERN, ANGUISH, AND DESPAIR IN THEIR EYES!!!
This is not going to end well by a long shot.
I believe if this keeps up without pause or the beginning of a correction to the ways we are doing things, we all are going to see bad times in all kinds of ways, strife and in your face oppression to counter the likes we have never seen within a year.
I pray that I am wrong but I believe that I am correct.
Yes
I cannot imagine the cruelty of starving cattle and chickens as@ business practice.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-12/chickens-starve-at-foster-farms-as-union-pacific-unp-rail-shipments-run-late
And we are next.
My employer, with no financial issues, just took a week of vacation away from employees. But don’t worry the execs are still getting big bonuses.
I believe they think they can cut benefits because the economy is bad and most won’t be able to switch jobs.
Between a rock and hard place.
A tough place to be.
https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/federal-snap-allotments-ending-after-february-hamilton-county-commissioners-meet-to-address
Pre-plandemic, a three person household received $180 per month in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act increased that to $740 per month in March 2020.
THIS ENDS AFTER NEXT MONTH.
Many, many low-income households will be taking a $560 pay cut from the federal government, starting in March.
It’s going to get very ugly.
Time to cut down the size of government work force.
“shopper rebellion against high prices” Oh I am guilty as charged!
They think those (useless eaters) consumers who have not been buying enough are motivated by rebellion?
They have barely seen the tip of the iceberg that is about to hit their ‘titanic’ of corporate earnings reports.
I am repairing instead of replacing, making it instead of buying, and often just doing without mostly out of sheer muleheadedness at these corporate rulers.
1764 the colonists rebelled against the Stamp act by refusing to purchase British products till the companies were buckling from the pain.
Looks to me like there is a boycott is progress, instigated by those who are terrified of boycotts? At the endo fothe day…its purchasing power…of which has been intensely decreased…and they attack those, like the WSJ, who make the good times roll, by buying the same and related widget products.
Somewhere I still have Grandma’s darning ball and needle…for Grandpa’s socks…wool socks btw. Wool socks now a luxury?
A rose is a rose…
Aggiegirl I think you’re absolutely right about the decreased purchasing power of many which has been joined by those of us who are just determined to make these America-hating companies hurt.
in 1764, when those that could afford the silks and brocades refused to wear them. They made wearing simple homespun a status symbol they put a serious hurt on British companies until those companies pushed the British government to repeal the Stamp Act.
Wool socks are so worth darning.
Pops always told me “The only protest anyone pays attention to is the one made with the wallet,son”
“repairing instead of replacing, making it instead of buying ( it new) , and often just doing without mostly out of sheer muleheadedness”.
Good comment Liqueda.
This is the way my husband and I have lived our whole lives or at least tried to do so.
We have live within our needs or less than and not from demands of our wants for most of the 47 years we have been married.
We started out just like so many with in a two paycheck marriage, spending everything and living at the fullness of spending every dollar we earned.
Living in the most expensive home we could afford whether we needed all of the sq footage or not or all of the bed rooms and baths or not.
Eating out even it it was not the healthy way to live.
Buying gobs of stuff for Birthday and Christmas presents just because it was a kids birthday or it was Christmas.
Then we decided one day we were not really happy or even comfortable with living this way and decided to think about what was important to us, what did we really want to do with life and how did we want to spend our time and our hard earned money.
And we started thinking about the difference between needs and wants and that made all the difference for us.
We still buy Birthday and Christmas presents but only because we want to, we go on vacations and have a nice house that we like but only because we like it.
We have made a point to do things or not do things for our own reasons, not because every one else was doing them.
I is a very nice relaxing way to live once you stop worrying what others say about you, and believe me they will never stop trying to get you to do things their way and give up doing things your way.
Amazing how people can be like that.
👏 👏 Yeah, I could care less with keeping up with the Joneses. Used to listen to Roy Matlock and Dave Ramsey (when they were together on the radio) as to their commonsense approach to money, saving, etc. My husband and I have always been a budget on a yellow pad couple. Three kids, all adults now. When we were a couple years in our marriage is when we started…my husband stopped to get a six-pack of beer and he used a credit card. I said, “You realize you’ve just financed beer?” Cut the credit cards up that night.
Good on you to look between wants and needs!
We decided to completely change our lifestyle, sell our Las Vegas home at the height of the market and downsize to a little place in serious need of repair that eliminated any mortgage.
But we are now in the rural on the northern WA coast on 5 wooded acres near the ocean with our own well.
Changed wants vs needs. 🙂 Now I want a greenhouse
Spot on. The Government will continue spending more money than they have to spend and will continue forcing more and more inflation. They can’t help but create more money if taxes can’t cover Government expansion. This is the way they grow THEIR industry. But, when they do everyone else will experience the inevitable devaluing of our currency, ad nauseum. If Government spending and inflation continue at a slow pace, the people won’t notice that they are still being fleeced and Government can continue to expand, although they will never be happy with slower expansion of Big Government and will eventually go right back to printing too much money and causing the people to notice the inflation again. We have been somewhere on this roller coaster ride for at least my whole lifetime, wherein we now pay more than 20 times as many dollars for everything.
Many products can be built with cheaper materials, producing a poor return on the cost in quality but holding prices arbitrarily lower. We still get what we pay for, but we choose to buy cheap crap from China and elsewhere and end up buying those products far more often. This negates any cost savings we thought we were getting and forces us to live with the headaches that poor products and services will always cause. For example, someone try to tell me how buying a new washing machine at the same bargain price we paid for our last one, has gotten anyone the value that the old washer gave us. Thus, our real wealth is depreciating by saving money on our purchases. This is the primary way industry responds to consumers who always think the value of their dollars is higher than it used to be. Everything eventually gets mucked up when Government gets involved with arbitrarily manipulation of money supply.
My favorite description of actual wealth follows. Wealth is the difference between the value of what you produce and the value of what you consume. Money is not wealth, but if it is valued the same by you as the value of what you have produced, you can decide to keep currency as the placeholder for that value. If inflation happens, you lost some of that liquid asset. Old people like me hate inflation because we can’t produce more wealth than we consume any more. This is why there are thousands of investment experts wanting to help us find more wealth with our money. Those guys are worse than lawyers and, in my book, that makes them real bad for both my wealth and health.
Cooking the books … anyone trusting any data from these agencies / corporations is delusional
Billions in payroll taxes alone … What do you have to show for it in your state, not a damn thing .
The FAA has very quietly tacitly admitted that the EKGs of pilots are no longer normal. We should be concerned. Very concerned.
https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/the-faa-has-very-quietly-tacitly?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=548354&post_id=97001835&isFreemail=false&utm_medium=email
I no longer participate in the fun and games of airline travel but if I were to consider flying then I would not do it. I know that there is a co-pilot but what happens if they simultaneously have a medical episode?
Well,please say a prayer for us who have an upcoming flight. Too late not to go by air.
Prayers of safety for you, Flova, as well as others that are flying.
Yes. Be safe and my prayers are for you and all on board the airplane. It’s disgusting what they have done to us.
About a year ago, I was reading some articles by flight surgeons and flight doctors (while airlines were demanding the clot shot).
My overall impression, based on their level of utilizing the concepts of physiological aerodynamics and the effect on the human body with a penchant for clot development in the lungs-either by natural causation or by artificially induced by the jab, was not good.
Apparently the elites are only hiring NON VACCINATED pilots for their private planes
I bet the elites hate that article being published. Good.
National Guard soldier suffers two heart attacks after Vaccine…
https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/national-guard-soldier-suffers-two-heart-attacks-after-vaccine/
DAVOS WATCH: USA climate envoy John Kerry claims that the WEF globalists are the “select group of human beings” touched by something at some point in their lives that caused them to have a savior complex He calls the experience “extra terrestrial”
Deceived and deceiving….
For a face so hideous, he sure has an elevated opinion of himself. I do not know what sort of cosmetic procedures he has done but now his ugly inside matches his ugly outside.
‘but now his ugly inside matches his ugly outside’ – DanteIsAWhiteCat
John Kerry has morphed into The Picture of Dorian Gray, with his megalomaniacal fantasies of saving the planet. ‘We had to destroy the people to save the planet.’
Just like the hideous harridan Madeleine Albright (the face of Doreen Gray, if you will), who said ‘the price is worth it’ for slaughtering half a million Iraqi kids.
Tonight the WEF attendees dine on dead babies.
Oh, he’s part of a select group alright
I’m not allowed to post the rest of that thought…..
Don’t worry.. the meme makers ate busy at work doing that for you.
I’ve already seen a few outrageous clips and quotes from attendees.
Oh yes, mock them mercilessly.
Extra-terrestrial? As in “not of this Earth”? Okay. Let’s send these globalists, these “select group of human beings” on a trip so that they will be EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL. Load up as many rockets as we have on the planet, fill them with the “leading” globalists, ensure that there is enough fuel in each rocket to escape the Earth’s orbit, countdown to lift-off and then LET THE PARTY ON EARTH BEGIN!
Ketchup Lurch has delusions of grandeur. My 8 year old son suggested that we just load all the bad people in govt. in a rocket and send them to space. I told him as soon as Elon could make a reusable rocket that pushes them out the door once they are in space…
🤣 I just love kid logic.
John Kerry is full of BS.
Having a fire hydrant moved to prevent parking tickets in front of his Beacon Hill/Boston mansion showed to EVERYONE of us commoners here that Lurch’s opinion of himself was gargantuan….LONG before it was “people like him” that needed private jets to travel since they were “so important”. He is SO full of BS it is coming out of his mouth and his ears.
Satan?
Sick F’ers
Above others
Above the laws
Extra terrestrial. That is another way of saying demonically possessed.
Somewhere, it is written, that there are really no peoples better than another….
“all men are created equal”….is he saying ‘some more than others’?/s
Totally nucking futz
Delusions of grandeur
Tertiary syphilis I think
Ok so beam him up Scotty!
Utterly Satanic
Lurch is an idiot !!
Interesting post!
We just walked in after doing a bit of shopping here in Greater Vancouver B.C.
Our local Home Depot at was nearly empty.
Several cashiers were literally standing around.
Simple bathroom towel racks were in the $30.00 to $40.00 range 😟
Goofy looking mid range washer/ dryer sets were approx $3000.00 all in.😟
All prices are in Canadian $ so roughly 30% more than if priced in U.S. $
Interesting times ahead..
Cheers!
An independent contractor repaired my fence a few months ago. I had told him I was holding off on a new fence as I was afraid of the financial fallout and expense………he told me if I could wait four years, prices would come down. I am holding out but not by choice.
My local over priced Jewel grocery store, had volumes of empty shelves yesterday. In a variety of products.
A dozen eggs were $8 in wally world.
Interesting times while they bring us to the edge of disaster.
What news ISN’T manipulated?
Lies, lies and more lies.
I have a question that I’ve never seen anyone answer. Yes, Biden’s administration has restricted oil and gas production and exploration. But it is claimed that petroleum companies made enormous profits – outsize profits – in the last 2 years.
Did the imposed restrictions cause the petroleum companies to raise prices in anticipation of price increases? Or were there market price increases that actually drove their price-setting? Or was there a quid pro quo, Biden restricted the oil and gas companies, but allowed them to raise prices exponentially because it fit with the green agenda?
The oil and gas market is a bit complicated. In 2018, oil and natural gas was cheap, cheap. Oil companies were barely making money but they were drilling, fracking and selling and making a little money. Then the Middle East and Russia started flooding the world oil market and drove prices so low that USA oil companies, particularly fracking, was under water and going bankrupt. Many independents went out of business. Then Covid hit and demand went to the floor. When it was all over, only the big guys are still in business and that includes Russia. Prices are at a (very) profitable level, maybe too profitable. Prices in a bit of a slump now but soon moving back up.
About independents…I would think big oil wants them out of business…Big oil is financially positioned to ride out the “disruptive competitors”. And scarf them up, in a fire sale.
U.S. Oil companies own production around the world, and many places drilling and production costs are much cheaper as well as pay zones much richer than compared with the U.S
Baker Hughes shows North America rig count increasing.
“Profits” is not what the word means to normal people. It’s an accounting result of lots of inputs, and carries a taxation repercussion also. Profits may be up at oil and gas companies in significant part because they have stopped exploration and development (been forced to stop). With those costs no longer offsetting income “profits” could result.
This is just my opinion as to what may be a significant factor in the final number shown as profit. No research, no insight, just an understanding that profit means something way different to a large company or the IRS than it does to a kid selling lemonade on the corner.
I think it’s more like be prepared for breakfast, lunch and dinner costing over $50 each whether you cook at home or eat out at a fast food establishment.
I just did 5 days worth of shopping today for a family of 4 and it worked out, rough math, to about $7/person for a meal. The kids eat school hot lunch, so I had to exclude those. Of course there’s some snacks, coffee, etc. in there so it might be a little less. My wife and I do well, but I can’t stomach the prices, and I won’t do takeout now that we’re looking at $20 for a salad. I’m choosing on sale proteins, store brands, and reduced price items. I think I could tighten the belt further if I had to. In fact, I’m thinking of intermittent fasting and significantly reducing eating altogether for that and the health reasons.
I am going on my annual trip to Oro Valley, Az (north of Tucson) and my
sister is coming to visit for five days. She likes steak – filet, ribeye, etc.
I checked out the top rated steak restaurants on Trip Advisor and looked
at their menus. Filet mignon was between $49 and $51 at all restaurants.
No way will they stay in business when the sh*t hits the fans regarding
the economy
Visit your local butcher, and cook at home.
If people recall, the Demoncrats were saying in 2016 that electing Donald John Trump would cause a catastrophic economic disaster. THAT NEVER HAPPENED.
What did happen was the second a DEMOCRAT stole power, EVERYTHING WENT TO H311!
I know its bad for retailers because I am seeing big markdowns and rebates on guns. Just bought a new Beretta and looking at a S&W.
Vibe Man, I hope you paid cash otherwise they have you tagged! And, when buying ammo, pay cash. And, if you are getting emails on gigantic markdowns on ammo, beware of phishing scams to get you on you know who’s hit list.
American workers will be replaced by automation and illegals.
Although different Canada is linked closely to what’s happening in the U.S.
Here is a “ feet on the ground “ story for you.
An individual well placed in the local ( British Columbian) maritime industry, told me recently that our British Columbian ferries are hiring significant numbers of Ukrainians.
As many locals were “ let go “ because they would not get the jab, and Ukrainians were fast tracked.
Well..Ukrainians that our source talks with, state that they will go back to the Ukraine A.S.A.P as our 40% or more tax bracket plus and other fees etc. is simply too onerous.
Sounds crazy..but housing is insanely expensive, and the cost of commuting to work is prohibitive.
We have become a nation of well off ( on paper at least) and the true working poor.
Cheers to all.
My housemates nephew, about 30, went to live and work in Olympia, WA last year. Left about the end of Jan 2022. He had friends out there to stay with until he found a place and he had a cannabis job lined up. He found housing to be so expensive and nonexistent that he had to go on a list. He broke his foot and was on medical leave for a month and while on leave just decided to pack it up and move back home right before Christmas. While he was dropping off his Uhaul from the trip back he got a call that his name had finally come up on the list and they had a place for him. He made it 11 months.
Cheers!
I saw a video similar to what you are saying recently.
Young guy in order to not be drafted by Ukraine military took plane to Mexico. Walked over border in California.
He has no papers but managed to find work in LA. Started making videos about ….the American Dream…and how he loved it here.
Reality check after 6 -8months. Now whining–I believe he works in a Restaurant. He only makes 2400.00 month. Rents a room. Don’t know how…but he has a car. Started complaining about insurance cost on car,cost of gas,payments on car,no healthcare…blah blah blah. He can’t go out and party because he is always working and doesn’t have money. And doesn’t have money for a lawyer to get him papers so he can make more money….
Oh well…he is experiencing the “American Dream” that most Americans are living right now. That “Dream ” is rapidly becoming a Nightmare for many here.
Great Post!
Thanks.
Not sure anymore, how it works in America but it used to be the American merchant marine looked after its own by way of various legislations that also protected the ferry workers…
It was the same here…but rules had to change.
The Scamdemic mandates changed everything.
All by design.
Watch this Agenda Weekly episode. Curtis Bowers and Trevor Louden.
Continue spinning all the lies that one can make up but at some point reality will hit them so hard they will be dazed into next week!
Anyone reading here and elsewhere know exactly what is going on economically; we live it everyday.
We don’t need the WSJ or anyone from the Fed to explain it to us. We the Deplorables make the economy go round and round.
The elites are purposely destroying all lives worldwide for nothing other than complete control.
This will end and it will not be pretty.
Lies, damn lies, and inconvenient facts. Mark Twain and a bit of ad lib.
Our economy has been in a tailspin since Trump left office
Yes, and WSJ lied about his GREAT economy then too.
It wasn’t that long ago that I heard people advocating for a ridiculous $25 an hour minimum wage.
I’m paying 28$ per hour to clean cars…. and still need to hear about sick kids, electric bills, and broken cars. What we do to stay afloat, I don’t like what I see when I shave.
Proof, the Nazis are running the world.
“Manipulation” and the swamp are synonymous.
Measuring the rate of inflation is how how they snooker the masses. The year over year rate, as previously explained here at the CTH, ignores the compounding from previous year to year increases.
The real benchmarch should be a Consumer Price Index set at 100 in January 2021 when FJB was installed and what it is today. It feels like the current level of such an index is at least at 140 to me.
I despise these people in the media who carry the water for these installed criminals. Do not let them gaslight you! Call them out at every opportunity.
Aside, I was comparing prices with a women in line at a local Winn Dixie. They had Dole spinich leaves for $4.29 for 8 ounces container. That’s $8.58 per pound! I started laughing as I showed her a photo of the spinich price tag. I bought my wife’s spinich at $4.70 for a 2.50 lbs. bag at another store. That’s still incredibly high from what it was a few years back.
There’s a lot of various stores and markets around and I now go through every flyer. It’s a hassle, but it does save money.
To any Americans living near the Canadian Border in N/W Washington State.
Come into Canada and grocery shop.
With your $ being worth about $1.30 ( Can) IMO one would save a lot of money if you shop wisely.
We head South to buy gas, I save approximately $45.00 per tank full gassing up our 3/4 ton GMC 4×4 in the U.S.
Cheers!
Retired Magistrate here: We fortunately found an excellent appliance repairman who specializes in repairing older appliances. He can still get parts for the older appliances we have and strongly suggested that we keep what we have because the new appliances are expensive and don’t last very long.
So he fixed my 23 year old Kenmore dryer for about $250 and it works better than ever. Several years ago he repaired our 21 year old Kenmore Refrigerator for $180; our 40 year old GE refrigerator in the basement is still going strong. Our 35 year old Sharp Half Pint Microwave finally bit the dust; however, my husband took it apart and got replacement parts for about $30. So, it should be up and running soon.
In a week I will have our 50 year old wool carpet professionally cleaned (still looks new) and our 18 year old fuel oil furnace, recently serviced, is operating at 81.6% efficiency when it is rated for 80%.
We do most of our shopping now at Aldi’s; still shop some at Kroger’s with coupons ($11.00 off if we spend $110 which is really easy to do, plus other coupons amounting to over $30 worth of coupons).
Anytime any food is on sale I buy it whether we need it or not now because we will need it later. Other than the Christmas blizzard, it has been a fairly mild winter here in Central Ohio. If that holds, we should not have to fill our fuel oil tank up again this heating season.
Again, make your house your Alamo; a refuge of peace, freedom and supplies.
Yep, my grocery shopping strategy has changed completely, from “what I want” to “what’s on sale and don’t buy anything that is not on sale”. Last week the bill was $180 but that was after $50 bucks off on on sale items.
I do the same. I look for the deals and stock up.
My wife likes to drink pop so we buy it only when on sale at Dollar General , and only on a Saturday when they give $5 dollars off when you spend $25. We each do this, and the $40 of pop always lasts until the next sale. I never turn 20% savings down.
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Electric prices went up 14.4% Jan 1 for SE Wisconsin. I check the rate sheets every month start. Natgas prices flutuate monthly. Elec prices are on an annual basis plus some minor fuel adjustment. Jan 1 up 14.4% elec, up 5% natgas. Natgas is 65% more expensive than 2 years ago.
I called my brother and said that I predict once the Grocery store accountants realize their elec rates went up 14% suddenly, they would drop almost all sales = effectively raising consumer prices. Yes it did happen exactly like that over the next 7-10 days.
Grocery stores are very large consumers of electricity.
Every time I’m at the store, I’m tempted to run up and down the frozen food aisles…just for fun. Lol. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to leave the lights burning?
The Great Wave of Corporatism.
It’s all our fault 😃.
Usually it’s either 🤷 President Trump or Russia.
Guess they decided to change up their spin narrative.
The closer they get to dumping Biden…maybe they will blame it on him where it should be.
Nah…..can’t see that happening.
That would take introspection, which they refuse to do.
Here’s some nostalgia from American Greatness about the golden age of President Trump. Read it and weep.
https://amgreatness.com/2023/01/16/compared-to-the-present-trump-era-was-a-golden-age/
The trillions of “covid” dollars printed up out of thin air and pumped into the economy all at once had nothing to do with inflation, right?
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/17/prices-have-not-peaked-yet-says-unilever-ceo.html
“The CEO of consumer goods giant Unilever
said Tuesday that prices would likely continue to rise in the near term, adding that his firm had a playbook for high inflation thanks to its business dealings in markets like Argentina and Turkey.
Speaking to CNBC’s Joumanna Bercetche at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Alan Jope talked about how his firm was managing its operations in the current climate.
“For the last 18 months we’ve seen extraordinary input cost pressure … it runs across petrochemical derived products, agricultural derived products, energy, transport, logistics,” he said.
“It’s been feeding through for quite some time now and we’ve been accelerating the rate of price increases that we’ve had to put into the market,” he added.
“So far, the consumer response in terms of volume softness has been very muted, the consumer has been very resilient,” Jope said.
“We do see the prospect of higher volume elasticity as winter energy costs hit, as households’ savings levels come down and that buffer goes away and as prices continue to rise,” he said.”
why would we want to build a $400,000 house for every homeless person?
I don’t care about the cost of goods, gas, beer, or income. I care about who is causing it to happen. Good or bad.
Whenare the “peepul” going to ram raid and storm the food stores like they did with the luxury goods stores in LA and NewYork?
God help them if they do. That works ONCE. Where will they get food once their stores have been looted?
“Government policy drives up prices, but workers needing wage increases to pay for those higher prices… well, that is not acceptable to the government, comrade proles.”
This is precisely what government wants. This way, they get to control who receives increases and who doesn’t via new government programs to help the, repeat it with me now, “disproportionately affected people of ”.
Your government hates you.
At least we’ll always have the petrodollar. <sarc>
Their economic policy is cruelty.