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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%

#531

Post by kshacker »

inflationish wrote: post #512
scottLobster wrote: post #266

Great. All I know is I'm trading a lot more time for money this year. Way less takeout, avoiding toll roads unless it saves at least 30 minutes, fewer streaming services (will renew on a show-by-show basis), and food is getting so crazy I might start going to multiple stores to try and save money instead of my one consolidated trip to Wegmans. I'm also stuffing my freezer with meat and have a year's supply of non-per…

Just read about the inflation trimming. It is one of the ways the government make inflation to appear lower than it is, making people happy. In US, the 31% of the goods with highest inflation are excluded, but only 24% of the goods with lowest inflation, making the inflation appear much lower than it is.

Then that should hurt them when inflation reduces, no?

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

#532

Post by andsoitis »

ununoctium87 wrote: post #451
mirker wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But when you think about it, what’s the benefit of driving? For reasonably short drives you don’t save much time with parking in cities and you don’t get any exercise.

Rain

In Amsterdam rain, cold does not deter cycling.

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

#533

Post by UncleMeat »

silent_cal wrote: post #98

These inflation numbers, as I assume other flagged posts have already pointed out, are extremely misleading. Does anyone really think that housing, food, gas, or any other major consumer expense has only risen 8.5% since a year ago?

Inflation is not a force that acts on prices. It is a weighted measurement of price increases. 8.5% CPI is perfectly possible even with 100% increases in the price of gasoline. "Wait, but this thing rose by more than 8.5%" is not a coherent argument. In fact, you can go look at the breakdown by price category and see the categories that have gone up by higher amounts.

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

#534

Post by smaryjerry »

jcranmer wrote: post #403
hajile wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an artifact of dumping 30% of the strategic oil reserves into the market to drive down prices. Maybe the prices stay low, but with Europe warning of fuel shortages this winter, I can't see that happening.

The prospective fuel shortages in Europe are mostly to do with natural gas, not oil and oil derivatives, no?

This is correct. Many are conflating oil and natural gas. Both have increased significantly, but natural gas has increased the most.

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

#535

Post by cjrp »

KallDrexx wrote: post #245
nobleach wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was my experience while living in Florida. Hurricane/Flood risks made it so there was no "shopping around". I had a house (built in the mid-60s) with a ton of tree cover. There was basically one company who'd even talk to me. I can't imagine what they'd charge me these days.

As a Florida resident, the florida situation is screwed but not because of hurricanes and flood risks. The problem is our laws about assignment of benefits and how insurance lawsuits get punished. So what happens is anytime any storm comes in you get swarmed with roofing companies wanting you to assign all benefits to them and they offer you a "free" roof. They then keep telling the roofing companies their previous e…

Why would the insurance company pay more than the adjuster's estimate? Isn't that the point of them sending a loss adjuster, to determine how much they should pay?

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

#536

Post by ryukafalz »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #455
Jalad wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm planning on getting a bike to commute to work. I don't have a car right now and also don't really want to buy one because it's a huge expense. My only regret is that it's much harder to get groceries with a bike so I might end up walking instead for that.

Just get panniers

Or a bike trailer if you need to carry more. Some can detach and be used as a hand cart too, so perfect for grocery shopping!

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

#537

Post by ghaff »

nirav72 wrote: post #390
antiverse wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> fewer streaming services Pessimist's take: When thinking about what we trade our time for, TV shows (and films, to some degree) have always been to me an endless source of a time sink for relatively little return. Games, slightly better, more social in some ways, certainly more mentally engaging, but also parasitic of time. To concurrently pay for multiple streaming services is unfathomable to me, moreso right now…

I found having 3-4 streaming subscriptions is still quite a bit cheaper than cable tv or satellite. Also I get to watch what I want to watch when and where. Like many others, I cut the cord 3 years ago when I was paying $100/month for just basic cable with mostly useless channels or content that didn’t interest me. Now my total cost is under $50/month for a family of 4 for streaming subscriptions.

I did the same about 18 months ago. I found shows were just piling up on my TiVo and I hardly ever watched them. I miss access to live TV now and then but I rarely want to watch sports and it's just not worth it to me to pay for that access. Of course, I could always add a live streaming service if I change my mind at some point--and I'd still probably be paying less than I did for cable TV.

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

#538

Post by anotherman554 »

_-david-_ wrote: post #490
fleddr wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I generally agree that CPI "feels" to be consistently lower compared to what actual people experience. But you can't have a meaningful discussion about it if you do not list the weight of the price hike in your expense pattern. When gas for your car normally takes up 10% of your income, and this price doubles, your personal inflation is 10%, not 100% (assuming no other price hikes).

Just to be clear. The person did not say it his personal inflation is 100%. He said prices increased by 100-150%. If item X usually costs $3 and now it costs $6. The price of that item increased by 100%. Perhaps he is only spending 10% of his income, but it doesn't really matter for what he is talking about.

He said the things he care about doubled in price. This is a remarkable claim. Even gas appears to have only gone up around 30% year over year:

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=e...

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

#539

Post by UncleMeat »

ospzfmbbzr wrote: post #191

"Government theft drops to 8.5% annual rate" -- There I fixed the headline Inflation is a hidden tax that the public has been PR'd into thinking is acceptable.

Let's say inflation is at 0%. Then McDonalds decides to double all of their prices for no reason other than that they want more money. Measured inflation will now be greater than 0%. Was that the government stealing money from you?

Money creation is part of the story of inflation, but it isn't the end of the story.

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

#540

Post by kube-system »

roflyear wrote: post #121
wil421 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s costs me about $100-$160 a month in the winter for gas to heat my home in the Deep South. My area is upgrading gas lines and now the base surcharge is $35. However that’s not a forever charge. My price per therm has more than doubled when I renewed this year. That won’t mean my bill doubled as there about $40 or so in fixed costs before gas use is accounted for. Edited winter numbers above: December: $100 Januar…

How big is your house? That is an insane price to pay. I owned a home in vermont and heated with gas and paid around that.

Insulation, construction style, and usage makes a gigantic difference. Two houses of the same size right next to each other could be using 400% different amounts of energy.
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