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US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

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Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#151

Post by Buttons840 »

neuroelectron wrote: post #104

Whatever the problem is, it's everything but unicorn funding. We can be sure of that on this forum.

When I was about 20 I started listening to Sean Hannity, and while I no longer agree with anything he says, I do appreciate the glimpse I got into his way of thinking. I mention this because...

I can't tell you how many times I've heard the idea that success in free market capitalism comes from offering goods and services to customers with the right balance between quality and price, and that good quality and price is assured because of competition in the market.

But now I see that the true path to success is to first gain favor from those who already have wealth and power, and then use their wealth and power to reduce or eliminate competition.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#152

Post by 9rx »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #143
9rx wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People didn't need to go to college because nobody cared. Employers were able to look at qualities of the actual person, not some outside attribute bolted onto the side. What changed was Griggs vs. Duke, which outlawed effectively all filtering mechanisms except a college degree, forcing the hand of employers. That still didn't mean the workers had to comply, though. What do you think would happen, with respect to em…

That's not true though. We keep hearing about coding tests given to applicants in high tech, and those are still legal. The decision said that the test had to be reasonably related to the job, not that they couldn't be used.

> We keep hearing about coding tests given to applicants in high tech, and those are still legal.

I was referring to pre-engagement. Those coding tests are generally only given after an applicant has shown enough potential to give them the time of day.

Whereas employers with tens of thousands of resumes on their desk look for a way, as to not overwhelm the process, to throw most of them out before opening lines of communication with the person. That was "No degree, garbage it goes". But yes, now that everyone and their brother has a degree, this doesn't work so well nowadays, which is why employers are quickly moving back to not caring about degrees — as you observed with said coding tests trying to stand in as a replacement. But there was that time in even more recent history...

I also said "effectively". There are technically other ways, yes, but they aren't all that practical at scale which is why a degree was settled on as the de facto solution, at least during the time it was effective.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#153

Post by frankbreetz »

abtinf wrote: post #129
mbfg wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe less than a quarter of the defense budget is for salaries and compensations.

All spending everywhere is essentially “salaries and compensation”. It’s not like you get to the end of the supply chain and suddenly are paying God. Money always goes to people.

Profit would fall into an entirely different category then "salaries and compensation"

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#154

Post by abtinf »

4fterd4rk wrote: post #127
abtinf wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you make insane claims like “the US has 900 military bases close to China”, you discredit yourself and your entire body of work.

They didn't say that. Your reading comprehension is poor.

> If you look at a map of our military bases, we have many bordering China. I think our total number is close to 900.

I would grant them the benefit of the doubt if English wasn’t their native language, but they’d identified as a US citizen elsewhere in the thread and their name strongly implies native speakership.

In the US, this conversational construction in this context is most reasonably interpreted as the second sentence completing the thought in the first.

If a manager asks an employee “how many dents are on the bumber?” A response of “I think the total number is close to 900”, that would be in reference to just the dents on the bumper, not all over the car.

Also, elsewhere in the thread, they’ve acknowledged they simply made the number up (by just repeating what a GPT said).

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#155

Post by RobAtticus »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #83
phkahler wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> What does debt have to do with the calculation of inflation? Debt isn't a component of inflation calculation but they are related. During Covid the US government increased the deficit (not debt, the derivative of debt) by a trillion dollars (no partisan stuff here, Trump did it first and then Biden). The infusion of money into the economy was one of the drivers of inflation between 2021 and 2025. You may ask, wher…

Technically speaking, the deficit peaked in 2020, fell a hit in 2021, and then fell a lot more in 2022, and then rose a bit in 2023 and 2024. The deficit on 2025 Inauguration Day was way smaller than on 2021 in Inauguration Day, so I’m not sure it would be fair to claim that Biden increased the deficit. See the graph at https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/natio... Downvotes on this are weird, it’s…

While true, there is another nuance missing here. The deficit was higher in 2020 & 2021 due to the Covid stimulus spending. Looking at 2017-2019 for Trump and 2022-2024 for Biden probably gives a fairer picture of what happened during both presidencies. It's basically been an upward trend since 2015, excluding the Covid outliers.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#156

Post by chasd00 »

IAmGraydon wrote: post #136
chasd00 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

>weren't we suppose to be staring at empty shelves, house arrest, fire and brimstone / dogs and cats living together by now? What are you even talking about?

Everything everywhere since late 2015 or so.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#157

Post by Aurornis »

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…

> Over the years I have read a few articles or blogs

Without linking the blogs or articles it’s hard to say much.

Inflation is a topic that attracts a lot of quackery. There are a lot of blogs and websites that go viral from time to time with claims that the “true” inflation number is dramatically higher.

There is a quick reality check you should run whenever you encounter these claims: Take the claimed inflation number over a period of time and calculate the net multiple. Then run a reality check on something like a $500,000 house or a $5 hamburger.

There’s one prolific website and author who claims the “true” inflation rate is some number like 11% going back decades. If you do the math, that means something purchased 50 years ago in 1975 would cost 185 times less. A $1,000,000 home today would have been $5,400 in 1975 and a $5 hamburger today would have been less than $0.03. Obviously these numbers don’t work, so you can discard the author’s claim.

Actual inflation numbers over long periods are very sensitive to small changes due to compounding. Even over a 10 year period. When you see someone claiming dramatically different results, run a quick math check.

Also be careful for the cherry pickers: They’ll identify one or two outlier year-over-year jumps (eggs during COVID, home prices during a housing rush, insurance prices in a city after a fire) and try to use those as their basis.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#158

Post by Lendal »

ivape wrote: post #21

[flagged]

That's what tariffs do though. If you have a product that competes with another that now costs more due to tariffs, you're now free to raise your prices as well, in order to maximize profit. Your product may not have a tariff, but it does have greedy shareholders that see that they can now raise their earnings because competitors suddenly aren't so competitive anymore.

Try going on a shareholder earnings call. They're free. It's company executives trying to impress shareholders. It's the only place I've ever heard people brag about how much they've raised their prices.

Re: US Wholesale Inflation Rises by Most in 3 Years

#160

Post by infecto »

4fterd4rk wrote: post #127
abtinf wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you make insane claims like “the US has 900 military bases close to China”, you discredit yourself and your entire body of work.

They didn't say that. Your reading comprehension is poor.

Perhaps English is not your native language. It at best comes across that many of the 900 are surrounding China and at worst that the 900 is referring to China.
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