U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5% • Hacker News Board

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#151

Post by wil421 » Wed, Aug 10, 2022, 1:46 PM UTC

roflyear wrote: post #121

wil421 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s costs me about $100-$160 a month in the winter for gas to heat my home in the Deep South. My area is upgrading gas lines and now the base surcharge is $35. However that’s not a forever charge. My price per therm has more than doubled when I renewed this year. That won’t mean my bill doubled as there about $40 or so in fixed costs before gas use is accounted for. Edited winter numbers above: December: $100 Januar…

How big is your house? That is an insane price to pay. I owned a home in vermont and heated with gas and paid around that.

Around 2,200sqft but that doesn’t include a half basement (heated) and half garage (unheated but gets some heat). Updating my numbers above $170 was an exception.

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#152

Post by jrsj » Wed, Aug 10, 2022, 1:46 PM UTC

starkd wrote: post #118

chaorace wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As others have pointed out, the stated goal is 2%. Keep in mind, however, that the Fed's founding mandate is to balance price stability with unemployment. The mandate takes priority over their stated inflation target, so don't be too surprised if the Fed pivots strategy sooner depending on how the labor market evolves. You should also keep in mind that inflation trends tend to lag behind monetary policy, so the Fed w…

But they've lost a lot of credibility in being able to make those projections. The inflation-is-transitory call was a major blunder.

I think it could have been but the underlying issues were never solved (bad enough to make inflation permanent on its own) and then energy and food markets were disrupted by escalation of war in Ukraine.

Had the federal government pursued different strategies this all could have been avoided and these rate hikes would have come at a much slower rate.

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#153

Post by lotsofpulp » Wed, Aug 10, 2022, 1:46 PM UTC

post_break wrote: post #105

chrisjc wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My house insurance is up 30% Everything seems to be going up, but interesting that you brought home insurance up? Any particular reason why you mention it? I guess if house prices and building material and labor costs are increasing, it makes sense that insurance would too. (Although I'm sure if everything dropped, insurance would remain the same)

Because it stings. 2019 I paid $1400 for insurance for my home, this past June I paid $2200. Same home, no massive improvements, just pay more.

Labor, material, and risk costs have changed though.

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#154

Post by Kye » Wed, Aug 10, 2022, 1:46 PM UTC

peteey wrote: post #101

evrydayhustling wrote: post #9

It's a relief to see actual price drops in fuel and transport services hit before the end of the Summer travel season. Barring additional oil disruption, we can hope to see other prices (e.g. food) correct -- or at least stop growing so fast -- at a lag.

Fuel cost is down in part due to releasing oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The release will stop in October. https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-issues-fifth-emergency-n...

That's around the same time gas stations switch to cheaper winter-grade fuel and demand drops, so maybe the price drop will stick.

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#155

Post by epistasis » Wed, Aug 10, 2022, 1:47 PM UTC

roflyear wrote: post #128

krzyk wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder, is solar popular in Texas? From my vague memories it is quite sunny there.

[flagged]

There's a big divide between politics rhetoric from political parties, and what's actually going on economically on the ground.

Not only is Texas installing massive amounts of solar, wind, and battery storage, it's also mostly going into rural areas that are more politically conservative.

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#156

Post by bombcar » Wed, Aug 10, 2022, 1:47 PM UTC

jrochkind1 wrote: post #142

mdip wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Food is all over the place these days as long as that place is "up". We just stopped going to Taco Bell all together. It's kind of crazy. I can't find a reason to go there any longer. As a kid, they were so cheap[0], the running joke was that $20 worth of food there would kill a person. It was about properly priced -- despite being a fan of Taco Bell, their consistency between restaurants (better, today) was terrible…

Kind of a side issue, but I too have noticed that Taco Bell has gone from one of the cheapest fast food places, to actually being more expensive than other fast food options. This started before the pandemic/recent economic weirdness, but perhaps has become even more so.

I've noticed that too, though you can maybe still escape with the $5 box for now.

Amusingly the "Dominos Coupon pizza" has stayed constant through all this, whereas everything else around here has gone up - high enough that the difference between going to Culver's or going to the bar or an actual restaurant is basically nil again.

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#157

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 10, 2022, 1:47 PM UTC

rtkwe wrote: post #138

PaywallBuster wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

stock is not 100% correlated with earnings/profiteering https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/en-us/our-stories/ar... plenty of numbers down from 2021 including margins

Sure but companies are also still reporting record profits in many cases right now so it's clearly not just input costs driving up prices.

[deleted]

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#158

Post by shyn3 » Wed, Aug 10, 2022, 1:47 PM UTC

rfrey wrote: post #44

lake_vincent wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cleverly not false, just misrepresented. What they choose to measure and not measure is what allows for a certain ability to coax the numbers in a certain direction. https://www.forbes.com/sites/vineerbhansali/2021/02/23/why-p...

They're measuring the same thing they were measuring when inflation spiked. They don't change what they measure on a month-to-month basis.

Technically but not really. Inflation will always lag at peak inflation because of the way the baskets are created. For example, you may buy butter during a low cost economy but switch to margarine when it's the opposite. In that case, the inflation figures replace the expensive item, with the cheaper, causing inflation to go down. Now if the margarine prices keep rising this year, or don't deflate, or other items don't in relation, then the next quarter, or the one after, inflation will increase.

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#159

Post by daoist_shaman » Wed, Aug 10, 2022, 1:47 PM UTC

post_break wrote: post #36

Good news I guess. But my electricity price literally doubled. My house insurance is up 30%. My gas bill is up by a lot. Have you seen the price of oreos? The $5 box at Taco Bell is my splurge and I'm trying to cut back on everything I can.

My electric bill doubled and my electricity provider (Xcel Energy) added salt to the wound by suddenly terminating my Ecobee smart thermostat Eco+ cost savings program for the following reason: "not a single family home." Gee, thanks for discriminating against non-homeowners in the middle of all this.

Re: U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

#160

Post by swayvil » Wed, Aug 10, 2022, 1:48 PM UTC

Unless they just redefined inflation. I'll believe it when the prices stop jumping.

Also, given that the government is ultimately responsible here. And we pay taxes to the government. You'd think they might cut us some slack on that. Having fucked up and all.