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Estonia clocks fastest inflation in the Eurozone at 20.1 percent

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Re: Estonia clocks fastest inflation in the Eurozone at 20.1 percent

#281

Post by _0w8t »

at0mic22 wrote: post #257
_0w8t wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only problem is retrofitting older buildings. That is somewhat expensive, but entirely possible especially with ground source heat pumps.

But does it require big (or deep) fields for heat exchange? I mean, lets take a 20-story building, the amount of heating energy it consumes is really high, especially during winters. So you probably would need a soccer-field size heat exchanger in order for the heat to be extracted from the ground. I bet it will also use quite a lot of electricity to compress the transporting liquid.

With tall buildings an option is to drill to 300 meters or deeper, https://hvac.okstate.edu/sites/default/files/pubs/papers/201...

Re: Estonia clocks fastest inflation in the Eurozone at 20.1 percent

#282

Post by ssk169 »

vogre wrote: post #264
ssk169 wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? So Russia just didn't stop gas exports to Finland?

It did after Finland refused to pay.

Let me complete that sentence for you.... after Finland refused to pay in rubels because the signed gas import-export contract specified other currencies.

Re: Estonia clocks fastest inflation in the Eurozone at 20.1 percent

#283

Post by zen_1 »

ajnin wrote: post #223
zen_1 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who's not even thinking of buying a house, do fixed rate, fixed term mortgages even exist? It seems variable rate mortgages, while making financing more widely accessible, have caused their fair share of financial issues/instability.

Seems like it depends a lot on the local practices. Here in France the vast majority of mortgages are fixed rate and term. I'm probably a pessimist but it seems way to risky to take a variable rate, who knows what the future will hold in 15, 20, or even 30 years ?

> it seems way to risky to take a variable rate, who knows what the future will hold in 15, 20, or even 30 years ?

That's my gut instinct as well.

Re: Estonia clocks fastest inflation in the Eurozone at 20.1 percent

#284

Post by dijit »

foverzar wrote: post #79
jgilias wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. If you notice, the second and third place are taken by Lithuania and Latvia respectively. A lot of 'cheapness' in all kinds of sectors came from RUS/UKR/BEL somewhere upstream. Building materials being a prime example. So, a combined effect of energy prices, sanctions on RUS, a war raging in Ukraine. But then, as Estonian prime minister said recently - sure, gas is expensive, but freedom is priceless.

> gas is expensive, but freedom is priceless. Typical politicians excuse, tbh. It's not like this has any relation to actual freedoms, only bs political slogans.

I think there is a very direct link to energy independence & control of supply chains and freedom.

As much as I also hate political slogans, at least I'm not seeing a problem with this one given the context.

Europe is just now seeing the effect of being less free than it's population thought it was.

Re: Estonia clocks fastest inflation in the Eurozone at 20.1 percent

#286

Post by em500 »

Grimburger wrote: post #269
em500 wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not much of a secret when even in high school economics class I was taught about different substitution methods (Paasche, Laspeyres[1]) with various drawbacks. It's done because factually consumers buy different and producers produce different things over the years, and it's hard to impossible to observe/measure which substitutions are by necessity and which by preference. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price…

The average person in society doesn't have the knowledge of a high school economics student though. Even those that learnt eventually forget it. There's always an implicit older == smarter bias in society but I doubt many people who passed with good grades in high school economics are good at the basic concepts into their 30's. Not to mention the MMT experiments that have been undertaken in the west over the last few…

I mostly agree (except for the weird MMT stuff). OTOH, I believe governments and schools at least in my country have made a good faith effort to try to educate kids widely about these matters.

But most kids and adults alike probably find textbook economics and statistics as appealing as unsweetened oatmeal, and strongly prefer to consume sensationalized headlines and conspiracy theories. There's some tension between free choice and paternalistically nudging/forcing the population towards healthier stuff, that I wouldn't know how to resolve.

Re: Estonia clocks fastest inflation in the Eurozone at 20.1 percent

#287

Post by turbinerneiter »

piva00 wrote: post #215
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If housing is truly only up 2%, it probably makes up 25%+ of the basket. If Food is only up 8% - it's not too hard to imagine how you could get a 7% number... Electricity and fuel don't make up a huge portion of the average consumer's total basket of spending.

Groceries are pretty expensive in Sweden, just came back from the shop and spent the equivalent of 20€ and got: 500g of coffee, 12 eggs, 2L of oat milk and bread.

And how much of your total spending is that?

My monthly income goes to (very roughly estimated):

* 35% rent * 10% groceries * 10% other stuff (energy, internet, subscriptions) * 10% mobility * 35% savings

My rent didn't go up. Not sure if savings are part of inflation (how do you measure inflation for ETFs?). So only 30% of my income is affected by inflation, which is less than half of my spending.

Your personal inflation rate will mostly depend on if you live in a new or an old building (e.g. my heating costs are tiny because the building is new) and if you have a car (I only have a motorcycle and I take the bike to work). If you live in an old house and have to drive a fuel-inefficient car to work every day, you are screwed.

I think the current inflation is mostly about energy prices and only very little about money supply.

Re: Estonia clocks fastest inflation in the Eurozone at 20.1 percent

#288

Post by vageli »

itsoktocry wrote: post #80
yodsanklai wrote: post #36

I don't understand inflation. I understand that it's a measure of the price of things, but for me there should be two types of inflations 1. a dilution of money. Let say a central bank injects a lot of new money, then all prices will be higher, but salary will be higher too, and the overall effect is neutral 2. some prices increase due to change in supply or demand (e.g. gas or cereal), but salaries and everything el…

> but for me there should be two types of inflations 1. a dilution of money Outside of the fact that "some people say" (generally anti-fed types) that inflation is an increase in the money supply, why is it you think that? In economics inflation has a specific definition: a general rise in the price level. It can be caused by all kinds of things. A rapid rise in the money supply is one. A breakdown in available suppl…

> Outside of the fact that "some people say" (generally anti-fed types) that inflation is an increase in the money supply, why is it you think that?

Because for much of our existence, trade has been facilitated by commodity-based currencies which would inflate when new deposits of the commodity were found.

Re: Estonia clocks fastest inflation in the Eurozone at 20.1 percent

#289

Post by ChuckNorris89 »

tauntz wrote: post #256
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think parent lives in some start-up bubble full of rich exciters, as where I live (Austria), start-up exists don't move the needle at all.

> I think parent lives in some start-up bubble full of rich exciters I do. > as where I live (Austria) start-up exists don't move the needle at all. I totally believe this as the "% of people who are employed by a startup that has made an exit" is vastly different in Austria vs Estonia. The total population of Estonia is so small that all exit events stand out. This year, there have been about 40 houses sold in the c…

I feel you, but your statement is true for Estonia, not for the whole EU like you originally claimed.

That's why I said you live in a different bubble.

Re: Estonia clocks fastest inflation in the Eurozone at 20.1 percent

#290

Post by photochemsyn »

gbasin wrote: post #263
photochemsyn wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as labor competition, that only works if there are a wide variety of employers, rather than a few primary employers (Amazon, Walmart) who can effective set wages prices. Labor competition has also gone international, driving labor wages down in the US. Factors like these account for the relatively flat growth in bottom-level wages relative to CEO/shareholder wages, which have skyrocketed throughout the past 40…

> instead of giving it all to large banks and corporations, who use it for things like stock buybacks. this is nonsense and has no basis in reality, as far as I know

It's reported pretty frequently, although the Fed has put some limits on stock buybacks:

Background (ABC): "The Fed has bought roughly $2.1 trillion of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities since the pandemic intensified in March [2020] That has flooded many short-term lending markets with cash, making it easier for many banks to borrow."

https://www.bankingdive.com/news/federal-reserve-stock-buyba...

> "The Federal Reserve said the country's largest banks can resume stock buybacks in the first quarter of 2021 with certain limitations, after the central bank released the results of its first-ever "mid-cycle" stress tests Friday... JPMorgan Chase was the first bank to announce it would resume share repurchases. Just minutes after the Fed released stress test results, the bank announced its board approved a new share repurchase program of $30 billion."

It's not just the banks, the airlines did the same thing:

"Companies that binged on buybacks now seek bailouts from taxpayers, March 2020"

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/business/bailout-buybacks-air...

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