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U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

bls.gov

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Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#141

Post by tootie »

post_break wrote: post #36

Good news I guess. But my electricity price literally doubled. My house insurance is up 30%. My gas bill is up by a lot. Have you seen the price of oreos? The $5 box at Taco Bell is my splurge and I'm trying to cut back on everything I can.

Your electricity bill is probably correlated to heat wave more than inflation (depending on where you live). Also, the headline number is a very broad indicator. Inflation hits different sectors and different regions very differently. It's not a uniform force, it's derived from thousands of data points. Also, bear in mind that a "drop" is a drop in the rate of increase. Not an actual drop in prices which is something that never happens by design.

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#142

Post by jrochkind1 »

mdip wrote: post #120
post_break wrote: post #36

Good news I guess. But my electricity price literally doubled. My house insurance is up 30%. My gas bill is up by a lot. Have you seen the price of oreos? The $5 box at Taco Bell is my splurge and I'm trying to cut back on everything I can.

Food is all over the place these days as long as that place is "up". We just stopped going to Taco Bell all together. It's kind of crazy. I can't find a reason to go there any longer. As a kid, they were so cheap[0], the running joke was that $20 worth of food there would kill a person. It was about properly priced -- despite being a fan of Taco Bell, their consistency between restaurants (better, today) was terrible…

Kind of a side issue, but I too have noticed that Taco Bell has gone from one of the cheapest fast food places, to actually being more expensive than other fast food options. This started before the pandemic/recent economic weirdness, but perhaps has become even more so.

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#144

Post by creaghpatr »

judge2020 wrote: post #49
phkahler wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Sausage McMuffin and a coke used to cost $2.12 at most locations near me two years ago. Today it varies from $2.95 up to $3.85 (strangely this high value is in Detroit proper where income is lowest vs the burbs). I notice this price varies even at the same locations sometimes, but it's WAY up in general by a solid 50 percent in 2 years.

For my closest McD’s it’s still $1 for a large soft drink at least (I know some franchises have the ability to change the cost of a large nowadays), but it is $2.49 for a sausage McMuffin.

Soft drinks are a loss leader for fast food, which is why judging McDos on the price of a single item like soda or mcmuffin is a bit oversimplified. Pricing strategy fluctuates (sometimes) independently of supply costs.

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#145

Post by rhexs »

deanmoriarty wrote: post #111

No freaking way! My rent just went up 15% (and last year too, which forced me to move out and look for a cheaper apartment), all groceries are up 30% across the board compared to last year, I know because mobile apps show my previous receipts. These are the times I feel dumb for not being a homeowner (despite technically being able to afford it, just didn't want to get locked down in an area for 8+ years to make the…

Yeah, but you can buy a 65 inch OLED for $1200, so it balances out!

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#146

Post by donatj »

What are the actual metrics they use to measure inflation? My electric bill is 33% higher than previous years, my gas bill is similar. City/Water/Sewer doubled. Trips to the grocery store are up close to 20%, and gasoline doubled.

Everything you actually purchase day-to-day is up far more than the inflation benchmarks, so much so it’s beginning to feel like propaganda.

I overnight went from thinking “I make good money” with a respectable savings to going backwards every single month, and I am generally a VERY frugal person.

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#147

Post by bombcar »

judge2020 wrote: post #49
phkahler wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Sausage McMuffin and a coke used to cost $2.12 at most locations near me two years ago. Today it varies from $2.95 up to $3.85 (strangely this high value is in Detroit proper where income is lowest vs the burbs). I notice this price varies even at the same locations sometimes, but it's WAY up in general by a solid 50 percent in 2 years.

For my closest McD’s it’s still $1 for a large soft drink at least (I know some franchises have the ability to change the cost of a large nowadays), but it is $2.49 for a sausage McMuffin.

The weirdest thing I've discovered is that the app doesn't show you certain discounts (but you still get them) - there's often a BOGO discount on the sausage McMuffin (the only true McMuffin, all you egg McMuffin eaters can gtfo) where the second is a dollar (or sometimes even free!) but nothing tells you this until you add a second one to the order.

The McDonalds app is the weirdest mish-mash of modern app design with ancient CRM systems I've ever seen. It looks like they finally updated the email receipt - it used to be text-based straight from the 80s.

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#148

Post by bombcar »

pirate787 wrote: post #115
chrisjc wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My house insurance is up 30% Everything seems to be going up, but interesting that you brought home insurance up? Any particular reason why you mention it? I guess if house prices and building material and labor costs are increasing, it makes sense that insurance would too. (Although I'm sure if everything dropped, insurance would remain the same)

Coastal and flood prone insurance is rising in the US at a higher fixed rates the next couple of years because of federal policy changes that reduce the insurance cross-subsidy for riskier areas.

That must be why my earthquake carrier straight up dropped me.

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#149

Post by chaorace »

starkd wrote: post #118
chaorace wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As others have pointed out, the stated goal is 2%. Keep in mind, however, that the Fed's founding mandate is to balance price stability with unemployment. The mandate takes priority over their stated inflation target, so don't be too surprised if the Fed pivots strategy sooner depending on how the labor market evolves. You should also keep in mind that inflation trends tend to lag behind monetary policy, so the Fed w…

But they've lost a lot of credibility in being able to make those projections. The inflation-is-transitory call was a major blunder.

Yes, well... they make their own predictions, so it's not really a matter of whether the public trusts the Fed as long as they are internally unified.

Public inflation expectations certainly do play a role in inflation, but, as Volcker showed us in the 80s, it doesn't matter how much credibility you have with the public if you're willing to slam on the brakes hard enough.

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#150

Post by post_break »

tootie wrote: post #141
post_break wrote: post #36

Good news I guess. But my electricity price literally doubled. My house insurance is up 30%. My gas bill is up by a lot. Have you seen the price of oreos? The $5 box at Taco Bell is my splurge and I'm trying to cut back on everything I can.

Your electricity bill is probably correlated to heat wave more than inflation (depending on where you live). Also, the headline number is a very broad indicator. Inflation hits different sectors and different regions very differently. It's not a uniform force, it's derived from thousands of data points. Also, bear in mind that a "drop" is a drop in the rate of increase. Not an actual drop in prices which is something…

My electricity bill is tied to the Texas freeze recouping their costs and natural gas price spike.
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