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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

#491

Post by allemagne »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #481
nivenkos wrote: post #26

The US has it easy, since the inflation was largely caused by lockdown stimulus, and also benefits from being the global reserve currency so it can leverage cheap imports as the interest rate rises increase the value of USD. I wouldn't be surprised if it's better in a few months, especially with the growing protectionism in the anti-inflation act, etc. and acts against Chinese competition, etc. keeping more industry…

> I wouldn't be surprised if it's better in a few months, especially with the growing protectionism in the anti-inflation act Wouldn't protectionism be inflationary?

Absolutely. Higher prices for the same goods, plus a stimulus to domestic industry.

Unless you are a savvy technocrat who knows where production bottlenecks are better than the market does, protectionism is just a welfare program at best and a cynical rent-seeking, vote-buying scheme at worst.

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

#492

Post by kelnos »

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 bet some people are buying generic now, and Coke doesn't care, because they've done the math, and have decided that losing a few customers (perhaps only temporarily) is worth the extra revenue generated by the customers who keep buying Coke at the higher price.

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

#493

Post by javchz »

zie wrote: post #325
javchz wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, coke can get expensive. I recommend you try cold brew tea, it's almost as refreshing as soda in hot days. You only leave water with tea in the refrigerator at night and enjoy it the next day.

Or make Sun Tea: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/sun_tea/

Oh, I didn't knew about that one. I'll try it, thanks for sharing!

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

#494

Post by kelnos »

BeetleB wrote: post #461
vsareto wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Water is healthier, but not a substitute. Something like Spindrift is a partial substitute. A real substitute is Izze. Less sugar, but still sugary. Tastes awesome - better than Coke. http://blog.nawaz.org/posts/2021/Dec/taming-my-soda-addictio...

> Water is healthier, but not a substitute.

It can be, if you commit to really reducing your sugar intake. I did it, 20+ years ago, completely giving up soda. My go-to drink for every meal is water, and I drink water throughout the day from a large water bottle. I still consume sugar here and there in food (or the occasional cocktail), but I eat much less of the stuff than I used to. It's hard in the US, where everything has so much sugar, but it's doable.

The less sugar you consume, the less your body/brain will want and need it. It's like an addiction...

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

#495

Post by landemva »

fullstop wrote: post #436
aabceh wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny how people freaked out over the -0.1% interest rate but don't care about having money in the bank when the inflation is at +10%.

Absolutely. I don't live where negative interest is a thing, but it seems like that would encourage people to keep money outside of banks.

Thus many EU countries reduced the maximum note value, reduced allowable amount for buying things in cash, and .se has mostly eliminated cash with everyone using cards.

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

#496

Post by whimsicalism »

ceejayoz wrote: post #426
whimsicalism wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My partner and I make $420k gross. it's ridiculous the government is offering us another $20k because we graduated school in the last 2 years. still going to take it, of course, but simply bad policy.

Making $420k with student loans is a pretty clear edge case, and we often find that trying to means-test these sorts of things winds up making things worse, not better.

I find the arguments against means-testing less compelling for one time transfers.

Large income and large student loans is actually very typical for early-career doctors and many other professionals who have very high expected lifetime income.

FWIW, this transfer was means tested - it's just that they consider the lesser of 2021 & 2020 income and we were in school in 2020.

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

#497

Post by coffeebeqn »

kmonsen wrote: post #184
coffeebeqn wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EU had negative interest rates for a decade. Low interest rates during the good times is definitely a mistake You end up paying for eventually

That’s the thing that makes me question the whole Keynesian/ interest rate setting problem, you cannot know if you are living in good times are bad times. That requires knowledge of the future. Let’s say all of this is due to the war in Russia, or in some alternate reality China carpet bombs Taiwan, if you thought you were living in bad times before the event you are in for a rude awakening. It’s the same as black sw…

You know if unemployment is low and the economy is having solid growth at the time.

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

#498

Post by idlehand »

safety1st wrote: post #389
dmix wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's not really much we can do about this. Artificial price ceilings were tried in Venezuela and it only contributed significantly to their massive food shortages they experienced. Most notably it resulted in a big reduction in the variety of food available because while some of the biggest companies could survive with the new lower prices (and work with the gov directly to set those prices) the bulk of small/medi…

I don't know. While price controls may not work in the long run, if businesses believe that there's a time-limited opportunity to raise consumer prices, you could try imposing time-limited controls until the opportunity is over. You might very well end up with lower consumer prices and thinner corporate margins, or at the very least, slow the rate at which the price increases occur. Price controls are a pretty big de…

Most importantly you communicate to investors that your government does not respect the pricing mechanism of the market. That'll make investors worried about which other norms of economic stewardship your regime will violate. The uncertainty alone will be a heavy burden for the economy of a country that decides to impose arbitrary price ceilings on commodities.

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

#499

Post by fleddr »

fullstop wrote: post #436
aabceh wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny how people freaked out over the -0.1% interest rate but don't care about having money in the bank when the inflation is at +10%.

Absolutely. I don't live where negative interest is a thing, but it seems like that would encourage people to keep money outside of banks.

How does that stop the money from being less valuable?

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

#500

Post by UncleMeat »

Jerrrry wrote: post #205
jklinger410 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> since the inflation was largely caused by lockdown stimulus This is a widely disproved myth.

Please explain how literally directly increasing the M1 money supply doesn't cause inflation. Everyone got money for free. Things that are free, tend to have less value.

Look at the inflation measurements for fuel oil. It swings wildly. In September prices went down. In October prices went up.

If "more money makes each dollar worth less" was the story then we'd see all goods inflate at similar rates. Perhaps it'd be delayed from the money printing but we'd still see this consistency across industries.

But we don't.

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