It is paranoid of me to envision conversations planning this, a conspiracy amongst corporations? I don't remember ever seeing prices rise so steadily, so quickly (and I am old).
US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago
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Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago
#72America should have elected Bernie Sanders.
DNC wouldn't let us.
Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago
#73Earlier 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.
Inflation’s bad but it hasn’t gotten _that bad_ yet. If you’re spending $1300 per month for groceries for _one_ person you’re surely getting high end, organic everything.
Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
> my stock income My investment portfolio profits (or RSU vests or bonuses) never make their way to my checking account. Are people really dipping into their investment accounts to cover living costs? Maybe for home or car purchases?
Your investment portfolio profits will make it into your checking account at some point right? Otherwise why bother? Maybe this person has reached that point.
Keep up with inflation until I need to draw the money down during retirement?
Dividend investing underperforms the market, and pulling that money into your spending budget typically underperforms inflation.
Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago
#75My spouse and I have been talking about this quite a bit lately. Even with two incomes from tech employment we are watching our budget since it feels like everything is extra expensive lately. The income gains we’ve made have only allowed us to maintain versus climb to the next level of lifestyle. It makes me wonder where we will start falling behind. Obviously we are fortunate to not live on credit cards and have ou…
I feel like these anecdotes make more sense with numbers. What is your combined household income? > $250k?
I mean, if this is where people are feeling pinched I agree I have no idea how the middle class is surviving
Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago
#76As 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…
Debt slaves.
Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago
#77What 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…
>> What I don't understand is this 2% price target. It is statistical trickery and a headline number used to make people think things are OK. It is also a convenient number for COLA increase targets which make people think their incomes/pensions are going up (when effectively they are not on a real basis.) Also, as you note, we re-baseline each year and dont talk about the cumulative compounded inflation e.g., over t…
Low wage workers have actually seen the most wage growth recently.
Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago
#78Earlier 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…
That is base. How many people buy the base model?
That's moving the goalposts, because the original claim was that "There are almost no cars under $30k now".
Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago
#79Earlier 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.
"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning." - Henry Ford
Not an actual Henry Ford quote fwiw.
https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/18247/did-henry...
Re: US inflation means families are spending $709 more per month than two years ago
#80As 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…
401K early withdrawals are up almost 40% YoY and credit card debt is also up massively. If interest rate increases do lead to eventual job losses things will get ugly fast
real estate is the thing to watch, if even a small number job losses happen people will have no choice but to sell even if they want to keep their low interest rate(home prices have stayed relatively flat because everybody is staying put, so low inventory on paper). Interest rate increases have resulted in significantly lower buying power, so home prices will have to drop. Forced sales will cause others to rush for the exit and cause even further price drops