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US annual inflation declines to 7.7% in October vs. 7.9% expected

bls.gov

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Re: US annual inflation declines to 7.7% in October vs. 7.9% expected

#371

Post by elgenie »

Am4TIfIsER0ppos wrote: post #362
matwood wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And to add to your explanation, because inflation jumped so quickly and then slowed we'll eventually hit a YoY number that plummets. If milk is $4/gallon today and still $4/gallon 12 mos. from now, that's 0% YoY inflation. This will inevitably lead to people saying the numbers are fake because milk used to be $2/gallon.

If "inflation is transient" when is it going back to 2/gal?

“Inflation” means “increase in price levels”. That’s it.

“Inflation is transient” fits prices increasing and then leveling out, and does not imply that every bit of price increase is balanced out one-for-one by immediate deflation afterwards.

As for gas prices, it’s going to depend on supply (including refinery capacity) and demand. The $2/gallon of April 2020 was an artifact of covid nuking demand.

Re: US annual inflation declines to 7.7% in October vs. 7.9% expected

#372

Post by supertrope »

hristov wrote: post #123
hnburnsy wrote: post #94

Anyone notice that brand name soda (looking at you Coke) has increased almost 100% while the generic/house brand has had slight increases. I feel like Coke is testing the pricing limits of its customers especially with the smaller packaging and these prices will not come back down.

Then buy generic. This is one way to fight inflation. Coke will get the message very quickly if their sales start coming down.

I understand your point on saving money. Switching to cheaper substitutes is accounted for in chained CPI. e.g. If steak becomes too expensive and more people buy hamburger instead this substitution effect is accounted for in the basket of goods. It's very rare for food items to deflate. It's usually a slow monotonic upward march.

Re: US annual inflation declines to 7.7% in October vs. 7.9% expected

#374

Post by rank0 »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #366
aeternum wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people are underestimating how much the cost of energy impacts inflation. It used to be primarily labor costs, and labor/wages is still a major part. However with automation some labor is being replaced by automation and thus converts what used to be labor cost to energy cost. European countries are not in great shape from an energy POV.

And yet solar radiation falling on just 1% of Spain, Italy, & Greece - even in the Winter - can power >50% of Europe (and >100% in the Summer). Europe already gets ~12% of its energy from Nuclear, ~5% from hydro. Solar energy will not be a problem in the future - neither will sourcing the remaining 33% of energy from other renewables, nuclear, and fossil fuels.

I don’t understand how you can be so optimistic about energy security in Europe. They’re in the midst of an energy crisis right now…

The infrastructure they have now is literally insufficient.

Re: US annual inflation declines to 7.7% in October vs. 7.9% expected

#375

Post by supertrope »

vsareto wrote: post #151
hristov wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then buy generic. This is one way to fight inflation. Coke will get the message very quickly if their sales start coming down.

If you drink neither and choose water, then it'll really come down. Bonus: you'll feel better

And then your medical expense category of the CPI will not go up as much.

Re: US annual inflation declines to 7.7% in October vs. 7.9% expected

#376

Post by roflyear »

laweijfmvo wrote: post #175
thomastjeffery wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They effectively said, "The increase went down." It would have been much clearer for them to say, "The increase has slowed."

This is like the 3rd derivative, right? e.g. we now have a slightly lower rate of acceleration towards the cliff than before?

No, acceleration is going down. Not a lower rate of acceleration. The second implies acceleration is still increasing, but at a slower rate. What is actually happening is we're decelerating (so we're still going fast, meaning inflation is high, but inflation is going down...)

Without trying to be mean, I would also argue your framing is also poor as some inflation is not bad.

To put it in context, if current trends hold we'll expect 3-5% inflation yoy. That is not awful. Higher than last decade or so but we have had super low inflation for a long time. Averaging out, inflation over the last decades, even including the recent high inflation, will still be pretty low, around 3%.

Re: US annual inflation declines to 7.7% in October vs. 7.9% expected

#377

Post by rank0 »

tomcam wrote: post #210
thehappypm wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People don’t need to make payments, why bother making a payment if its going to get forgiven?

I would bother to make my payments because I would feel like shit if I took that much money from the American taxpayer without paying it back.

And you’d be a sucker for not taking tax credits the government has legally granted you.

It’s the governments fault for making terrible loans and forcing taxpayers to absorb the risk. Don’t be mad at people for receiving…be mad the government is offering!

Re: US annual inflation declines to 7.7% in October vs. 7.9% expected

#378

Post by coding123 »

bleuchase wrote: post #320
Forgeties79 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve always thought this was somewhat apocryphal/a myth. Did it actually occur?

Stupid people exist. It’s happened. In fact, it’s a pretty easy mistake to make if you don’t understand fractions. 4 > 3.

And since we don't know the context they could have shown a closer up burger, or heck, taller burger that is 1/4 and a 1/3 next to each other but further away or stepped on at which point they were asked, what's bigger?

Also, the 1/4 or 1/3 is referring to the raw, uncooked meat only. So in theory you can add 1400 lbs of lettuce to make something larger than my car. (Which is terrible, since lettuce is where you pick up all the disease these days - everyone here should order all their food without any lettuce)

Re: US annual inflation declines to 7.7% in October vs. 7.9% expected

#379

Post by roflyear »

slaymaker1907 wrote: post #356

MoM inflation is still unfortunately 0.4% which is about 5% annualized. I think it's unfortunate that reporting focuses around yearly inflation which isn't really useful for talking about inflation in the moment.

5% is not that much higher than historic averages. 1990 had 5.4% inflation, and 2008 close to 4%.
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