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US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago

cnn.com

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Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago

#61

Post by taway9021000 »

ModernMech wrote: post #14

Every year for the past 5 years I’ve gotten a “merit raise” which hasn’t met inflation, so I’m effectively making less than I was when I started at my job despite having 5 years more experience. My organization puts a negative value on experience, and the only way I can get an actual raise is to jump ship. The story of my generation. Meanwhile they complain about a hiring and retention problem. Gee, I wonder why?

>> Meanwhile they complain about a hiring and retention problem.

This happens at every company because they realize most people dont leave, or so few leave that it is worth the few that leave.

You have three options

1. Leave

2. Work less given your effective pay increase. Invest the time into finding a better job and into leetcoding

3. (not ethical, but commmon) work less given your effective pay increase. invest the free time into freelance work to make up for lost pay.

Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago

#62

Post by matsemann »

candiddevmike wrote: post #4

As a parent with kids, I really don't know how folks are getting by with the prices of everything. I know folks who keep eating out, buying new vehicles, and even building new houses and I'm left scratching my head wondering how they afford all of this. I'm not saving nearly as much as I was years ago and I think my "lifestyle" has decreased post COVID (few vacations, eating out is a treat, gifts are for birthdays/ho…

In addition to inflation, the 4 percent points bump on interests also hurts. (Where I live we mostly have non-fixed mortgages)

Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago

#63

Post by CrazyPyroLinux »

newhotelowner wrote: post #36
01100011 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how most people are doing it. For me it's because the asset bubble has inflated my stock income. I suspect a lot of folks who owned homes, stocks and other assets are feeling the wealth effect. For the rest of society, I don't know why they're not in the streets with pitchforks.

One of the biggest opponent of minimum wage increase are the one who's in that category. 43% of Ohio voters voted against their own interest last week. Majority of them are in lower side of the income.

"lower side of income" != minimum wage

Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago

#64

Post by brink »

tmountain wrote: post #46
bko wrote: post #17

What I don't understand is this 2% price target. Prices could go up 10% one year, and well call it a success if next year we "tame inflation" by only having our prices go up 2%. Why can't we target to get prices back down? For those on a fixed income, this is money we lost forever. We expect (and see) some prices go down every year (mainly electronics) and it works fine. But god forbid the price of milk goes down a b…

Governments are afraid of deflation (prices going down) because consumers can go into a holding pattern (stopping spending while waiting for prices to continue to decrease) which can cause the economy to stall out.

If our government was actually as "green" as they say they are, they'd aim for this because consumers would slow down consumption to only buy what they need. But they know that inflation is another form of tax, and they're too greedy to say that inflation is anything but "good".

Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago

#65

Post by gruez »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #38
gruez wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>IMHO vehicles are huge drivers of debt. There are almost no cars under $30k now, and the average sale price of new cars is pushing up near $50k. This is for bog standard stuff like Hondas and Fords, not luxury cars. I went on toyota.com and a base level corolla is only selling for $22,795. This includes a "Delivery, Processing & Handling" charge of $1,095. If for whatever reason you think that driving a compact car…

Goooooooood luck driving off a dealer lot with a $22k Toyota! Seriously, if you can do it then good on you! But back in the real world the on the lot availability of cars is abysmal and most makes are sold out for months of backlog. Like if you want a Toyota minivan it's something like a 2 year wait--unless you are willing to buy one on the lot with a $10k dealer markup.

In other words, it's actually available for $22k. You just get it right now. That seems... fine? I guess it sucks for the people who need a new car in the past 2 years, but given that the average age of cars on the road is around 12 years, that's a small fraction of people. It certainly doesn't support the original claim that $30k cars are the reason why people getting in debt.

Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago

#66

Post by Auracle »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #22
paulpauper wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wages have gone up too

Not nearly as much as inflation. Groceries alone are up something like 40% in the last 2-3 years. Your and everyone else's wages have not risen that fast on the whole.

On the whole? No.

People that were making near minimum wage before absolutely have though, and I think that's been a huge driver of the inflation. Pre-pandemic, the Walmart in our area had a starting wage of $10 or $11 an hour. It's now $18.

Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago

#67

Post by taway9021000 »

gruez wrote: post #26
qbasic_forever wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a _LOT_ of debt being added, household debt is up to something like 17 trillion dollars from like under 10 trillion pre pandemic. IMHO vehicles are huge drivers of debt. There are almost no cars under $30k now, and the average sale price of new cars is pushing up near $50k. This is for bog standard stuff like Hondas and Fords, not luxury cars. Used cars are incredibly expensive too. People are financing cars…

>IMHO vehicles are huge drivers of debt. There are almost no cars under $30k now, and the average sale price of new cars is pushing up near $50k. This is for bog standard stuff like Hondas and Fords, not luxury cars. I went on toyota.com and a base level corolla is only selling for $22,795. This includes a "Delivery, Processing & Handling" charge of $1,095. If for whatever reason you think that driving a compact car…

>> If for whatever reason you think that driving a compact car is beneath you

Armchair economist-shoppers, I love them. The other day a guy told me housing in NYC was absolutely affordable. Managed to find a bedroom for rent at $2k/mo. Sure bro, let me stuff my family of four into a shared 1br apt and then have my kids share a bathroom with some random guy in the other room.

Sure, i'd do this if I was desperate...but WTF would I want to aspire to this setup if I just spent 6yrs in college and went to a top Engineering CS program. Come on.

Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago

#68

Post by Waterluvian »

candiddevmike wrote: post #4

As a parent with kids, I really don't know how folks are getting by with the prices of everything. I know folks who keep eating out, buying new vehicles, and even building new houses and I'm left scratching my head wondering how they afford all of this. I'm not saving nearly as much as I was years ago and I think my "lifestyle" has decreased post COVID (few vacations, eating out is a treat, gifts are for birthdays/ho…

I think a lot of people get into a mindset that a 25 year mortgage is meant to be paid off in 25 years, so that mindset guides their entire frame of reference for how large a lifestyle to adopt. I’m not saying to rush through a mortgage. Do whatever you want. But consider not getting into a situation where you’re somehow struggling even though you’re one of the lucky few who can afford to even own a home.

When times get tough they’re no more secure than those who make less.

I’ve seen this with many peers who have Teslas and 1.5M homes who are now struggling despite such an income.

Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago

#70

Post by CrazyPyroLinux »

xenospn wrote: post #21
silisili wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. I make decent money and used to save thousands per month. Now I'm lucky to stash away high hundreds a month, but any expense like new brakes wipes that out. I wonder how in the world everyone else is getting by. Maybe we're all just smiling and pretending here...

I live alone and just realized I’ve been spending $1300/month this year on groceries. For one person.

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/03/29/killing-your-1000...
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