US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years • Hacker News Board

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#71

Post by ferguess_k » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 1:53 PM UTC

elzbardico wrote: post #51

Frankly, I haven't seen a single country where I spent any significant amount of time, where official inflation numbers were not seeing as a complete joke by the common folks. And my experience usually matched it. There's plenty of space to hide reality when building a price index. Price index do not capture the reality of most people cost of living. They don't capture the family that have to buy margarine instead of…

Yeah. Most people should build their own inflation index. It's not hard whence you realize the biggest expenditures are usually 1) mortgage/rent, and 2) food. I wouldn't be surprised that given the rate hiking in recent years going along with higher food price, some people see dramatic "inflation".

Ofc one can always say that No this is not the academic way to define inflation, but who cares?

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#72

Post by Nicook » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 1:53 PM UTC

flanked-evergl wrote: post #54

In Norway our food prices has gone up by more than 4 in one month while we are destroying any capacity for local production while we have protectionism that would make Trump blush. How is that not newsworthy, but this is?

america/trump obsession

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#73

Post by Workaccount2 » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 1:54 PM UTC

mark_l_watson wrote: post #13

Over the years I have read a few articles or blogs that make the argument that if government inflation figures in the US were calculated as they do in Europe, then our reported US inflation figures would be much higher. Can anyone here verify this? Our main problems involve under the table unreported to the public military expenditures. If you look at a map of our military bases, we have many bordering China. I think…

The defence budget is America's job program. Very little of the money that is defense spending ends up in defense shareholder pockets. The overwhemling vast majority goes to propping up America's (now) anemic industrial base. Remember that virtually all defense dollars are constrained to only be spent on American made things and services. And most of money sent to the big contractors goes to the gazillion sub-contractors they use.

This is why the defense budget is never cut. By anyone red or blue. It's a funnel of money that can be pointed at any location in the US and give a bunch of decent full benefits jobs.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#74

Post by anjel » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 1:54 PM UTC

mark_l_watson wrote: post #13

Over the years I have read a few articles or blogs that make the argument that if government inflation figures in the US were calculated as they do in Europe, then our reported US inflation figures would be much higher. Can anyone here verify this? Our main problems involve under the table unreported to the public military expenditures. If you look at a map of our military bases, we have many bordering China. I think…

https://www.shadowstats.com/ Tl;Dr. The outlook has changed little. ShadowStats numbers show that the economy remains in a deepening downturn, intensified by ongoing Federal Reserve Rate Hikes. Headline inflation faces a near-term rebound, thanks to the continuing and broadly based excessive growth in the Money Supply and Systemic Liquidity, as triggered by the Fed. Separately, with the Debt Ceiling now eliminated by Congress and the Executive Branch, unfettered Federal Deficit Spending increasingly is adding fuel to the unfolding Inflation. The systemic Inflation is not driven by the Fed’s proclaimed overheating economy. Such an economy simply does not exist, at present.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#75

Post by ferguess_k » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 1:54 PM UTC

jahnu wrote: post #68

elzbardico wrote: post #51

Frankly, I haven't seen a single country where I spent any significant amount of time, where official inflation numbers were not seeing as a complete joke by the common folks. And my experience usually matched it. There's plenty of space to hide reality when building a price index. Price index do not capture the reality of most people cost of living. They don't capture the family that have to buy margarine instead of…

> Frankly, I haven't seen a single country where I spent any significant amount of time, where official inflation numbers were not seeing as a complete joke by the common folks. The public in general can be really bad at perceiving the truth. I might take note of people's feelings to go and recheck something but I would not trust peoples feelings with stuff like this to make any sort of conclusion. Verifiable metrics…

No. It's more like the elites don't GaF about the ordinary people, and then there is no trust between the two.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#76

Post by xnx » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 1:54 PM UTC

ivape wrote: post #21

[flagged]

Business is always "greedy", but it's true that it took some external events to make them realize they could get away with higher prices because consumers had gotten lazy about comparison shopping and alternatives. Good on you for boycotting increases by eating simply.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#77

Post by mark_l_watson » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 1:54 PM UTC

hshdhdhj4444 wrote: post #31

mark_l_watson wrote: post #13

Over the years I have read a few articles or blogs that make the argument that if government inflation figures in the US were calculated as they do in Europe, then our reported US inflation figures would be much higher. Can anyone here verify this? Our main problems involve under the table unreported to the public military expenditures. If you look at a map of our military bases, we have many bordering China. I think…

What does debt have to do with the calculation of inflation? It may impact inflation but you seem to be claiming debt is a component of inflation calculation, when inflation is little more than the change in prices.

Thanks for pointing out something: I didn’t mean that debt is a component of CPI.

Interest on 37 trillion in US government debt as well as huge consumer debt certainly is a long (and short term?) drag on the economy, but I accept your point that I don’t understand the correlation.

I have a simplistic way of thinking about the economy: I tend to view things as being healthy or unhealthy to the economic well being of all people in my country. In general, hiding information from the public is not healthy. Look, this is just my opinion, but I believe that our government is in the business of hiding information from the public; the government (both political parties) exists in its present form to protect and nurture the special interests who pay them off one way or another.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#78

Post by 9rx » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 1:55 PM UTC

zug_zug wrote: post #67

mark_l_watson wrote: post #13

Over the years I have read a few articles or blogs that make the argument that if government inflation figures in the US were calculated as they do in Europe, then our reported US inflation figures would be much higher. Can anyone here verify this? Our main problems involve under the table unreported to the public military expenditures. If you look at a map of our military bases, we have many bordering China. I think…

I can't speak to this, but I suspect something is afoot. I know my mom went to a university that she paid for with a part-time job while a student. Currently that university's tuition is 80,000 a year. When I looked at what inflation figures said for college education, it wasn't enough to account for that 10x+ increase.

Inflation seeks to understand the change in value of a currency, not the change in value of a good or service. College being worth more (in the eyes of the customer), rather than the currency being worth less, is what accounts for the 10x increase.

I don't know how old your mom is, but it wasn't that long ago that people only went to college if they had good reason to, not because they were told they "had to" under the "A diamond is forever"-style marketing campaign. That shift in mindset enabled colleges to charge basically whatever they want. That is not a product of inflation.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#79

Post by epistasis » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 1:58 PM UTC

elzbardico wrote: post #58

Havoc wrote: post #36

Are there inflation indicators that aren’t government controlled? Don’t think anything coming out of trump influenced bodies is worth the paper it’s on anymore

[flagged]

Honesty would require admitting that the parties are different. They are not the same, they have different values, and we can see that by who gains and loses power in the party. Which actions are unacceptable, and which actions are rewarded.

The difference is stark!

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#80

Post by hibikir » Thu, Aug 14, 2025, 1:58 PM UTC

mark_l_watson wrote: post #13

Over the years I have read a few articles or blogs that make the argument that if government inflation figures in the US were calculated as they do in Europe, then our reported US inflation figures would be much higher. Can anyone here verify this? Our main problems involve under the table unreported to the public military expenditures. If you look at a map of our military bases, we have many bordering China. I think…

It's a very difficult belief to have in the long run, because if the source of the "error" is always in one direction, it will compound to price level differences impossible to hide.

It's like the traditional view on GDP growth. Be a little slower than a similar country (say 0.5% a year) wait 20 years, and your formerly similar neighbor now sees your country as quite poor.