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

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

#401

Post by dntrkv »

alistairSH wrote: post #148
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.

Of course they are. There was a much-watched video that went around a few weeks ago that composed quite a few CEOs talking about pushing the pricing envelope to take advantage of inflation news (effectively saying: "People now expect price increases, we can leverage that to our gain!"). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psYyiu9j1VI

That's literally how the market is supposed to work and it's not a bad thing. This is not some conspiracy. Companies price test all the time. They will increase the prices until either the consumer won't purchase their product or a competitor comes in and undercuts them. Sometimes the market conditions favor the consumer, sometimes they favor the company.

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

#402

Post by claudiulodro »

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.

The biggest crock is the increase in price of sparkling waters. Literally just carbonated water with a squirt of flavor, somehow more expensive than soda nowadays.

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

#403

Post by massysett »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #264
nashashmi wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also it is worth mentioning that part of the major reason accounting for inflation is car price. It’s going down now as chip makers produce more and prices go down further.

I expect the number of car sales in the US to go down significantly like it has in Europe. Interest rates are one major factor, but another is the electric transition. Anecdotally I know quite a few people that aren't buying new vehicles right now. They're the kind of people that buy a new car every 10 years or so, and are delaying their purchase or buying used. They realize it's a bad idea to buy a new gas car but a…

Why is it a bad idea to buy a new gas car? ExxonMobil is not going to stop pumping oil out of the ground.

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

#404

Post by paxys »

Seems like these days there are more people who want the economy to fail just to be able to make a point about the political party they support.

I'm personally ecstatic that inflation seems to be softening. It's likely that there will be another couple interest rate hikes regardless, but there does seem to be a "back to normal" in the (distant) horizon somewhere.

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

#405

Post by dntrkv »

ionwake wrote: post #263

In many European countries inflation is at 15% If it reaches 20% that means every 3.5 years your cash reserve loses half its value Mean someone correct me if I’m wrong I think that is astounding

As the other poster pointed out, that's primarily due to the energy costs and those will most likely come down. For a more accurate look at inflation, you should look at core CPI which excludes energy and food which can be volatile. This number is closer to around 5% in most of Europe.

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

#406

Post by massysett »

claudiulodro wrote: post #402
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.

The biggest crock is the increase in price of sparkling waters. Literally just carbonated water with a squirt of flavor, somehow more expensive than soda nowadays.

This doesn't surprise me much. Most of the cost of these things is the cost of packaging and trucking them around - the cost of the sugar syrup in Coke isn't adding much cost versus the sparkling water. The soda maker might have a more efficient distribution network that allows a lower cost per unit. That, and the customer who's buying sparkling water (instead of buying soda, or just plain bottled tap water) probably is willing to pay more.

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

#407

Post by mrep »

parkingrift wrote: post #370
MagnumOpus wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shadowstats is bullshit for a number of reasons - you can read up on most of them on the official articles and publications and justifications on the BLS website -- which are generally written by statisticians with maths or econ PhDs with no vested political interest, unlike Shadowstats which is written by an MBA who needs to sell a newsletter. But you can very easily debunk Shadowstats by just averaging the ridiculo…

8% YoY would indeed be a comical amount of inflation. I don't believe shadowstats is implying such an increase. The reason people don't believe the official CPI numbers is because the CPI numbers are not properly weighted for life or dollar impact. If we look from 1970 the price of health care has increased 54x, a new house has increased 19x, and annual tuition has increased 25x. If the price of milk increases 19x wh…

Look at the 1980 based graph [0]. They are definitely implying 7-5-10% inflation for the past 25 years.

[0]: http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

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

#408

Post by excitom »

Aunche wrote: post #293
eatsyourtacos wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I must be wrong, but I'll never understand why Coke needs that much advertising. Or anything "that well known". The argument is maybe they are that well known because of advertising, but I just don't think that's the case. Maybe for a crappy product, but not a good product. With Coke it's the quality (and consistency) of the product. I've never tasted anything "as good" as Coke. A new fresh cold can has a bit…

In blind taste tests, Coke performs about as well as Pepsi. However, people still overwhelmingly seem to like Coke, so it's really because they like the brand. If they reduced advertising, their brand will slowly be eroded.

Remember "New Coke"? The Coca Cola people responded to taste tests that indicated people like Pepsi better by making it more sweet like Pepsi. Sales and PR disaster ensued, famous case study in MBA courses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke

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

#409

Post by calgarymicro »

dotnet00 wrote: post #373

Reminds me of Nixon's "the rate of increase of inflation is going down" comment and the associated quip that it was "the first time a sitting president used the third derivative to advance his case for reelection."

This isn't that. The rate of inflation is going down, not the rate of increase of inflation. 8.2% in September, 7.7% now. The second derivative of prices, not the third.

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

#410

Post by twobitshifter »

massysett wrote: post #403
bryanlarsen wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I expect the number of car sales in the US to go down significantly like it has in Europe. Interest rates are one major factor, but another is the electric transition. Anecdotally I know quite a few people that aren't buying new vehicles right now. They're the kind of people that buy a new car every 10 years or so, and are delaying their purchase or buying used. They realize it's a bad idea to buy a new gas car but a…

Why is it a bad idea to buy a new gas car? ExxonMobil is not going to stop pumping oil out of the ground.

Gas prices ice bans and global warming. If you buy a gas car today, I wouldn’t expect much in terms of resale value.
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