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U.S. annual inflation rate drops to 8.5%

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

#351

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Ha ha, no. That's where the money is. They have like 90 percent margins on those syrup/water mixes. ... I like discussions about inflation though because everyone brings up a particular item from their own budget. For instance, have you priced Little Debbie Zebra Cake Rolls lately? Did you even know they exist? It's like a mixture of a Swiss Roll and a Zebra Cake and they are completely awesome and I'm pretty sure th…

> They have like 90 percent margins on those syrup/water mixes. Not really. There's this myth that it only costs a few pennies to fill a cup with soda. I was a manager at a Subway from 2006 to 2012, so I got to see the costs of all our food. I did the math and found it cost about 1.7 cents per ounce dispensed, so a 32 oz soda cost 54.4 cents to fill assuming no ice. The cup/lid/straw cost us about 12 cents. At the ti…

Okay, what was the margin on sandwiches?

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

#352

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[flagged]

That's not true. 73% of Republican want more solar farms and 62% want more wind farms: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/06/08/most-americ... This also tracks with my experience. I know tons of conservative people who are leasing their farms out to build windmills or installing their own solar panels.

Let's just ignore that the number of Republicans supporting renewables has dropped 15% in the last 5 years and is still trending down.

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

#353
post #59

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There are a gazillion independent groups looking at economic data. What makes you think the government is able to falsify these numbers more than usual? This is not Turkey, where they had to use all sorts of proxy measures to figure out the government was lying (and by how much).

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Maybe Trump shouldn't crime so much. I for one want to live in a country where even ex-Presidents can become convicts, where no-one is above the law. Why won't Trump show us the warrant? Does he have something to hide?

And let's be clear here: I can't speak for you, but a lot of people on the right mocked all the folks marching (and yes sometimes rioting) over police violating people's civil and human rights. Not just mocked, but said that they should be given a beat-down by the police. Hell, Trump himself said that. To see all these same folks clutching their pearls over the FBI executing a lawful search warrant, signed by a federal judge, in which no-one was physically harmed, is just flabbergasting. That some are now calling for violent civil war is disgusting.

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

#354
post #48

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So, why did these greedy companies not raise prices to this rate when times were good? Surely there's more money exchanging hands when times are fine and dandy.

I think a lot of this is a combination of "because everyone else is doing it" and "because we can". I've seen a huge price increase in branded and prepared food products. Staples like fruit, veggies, eggs, etc. has gone up in price but much less than the branded.

I also think a lot of companies are running near capacity. Labor market is tight and the supply chain is still reeling from Covid. So there's not really an opportunity to lower/maintain prices to get market share.

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

#355
post #138

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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.

>companies are also still reporting record profits

Adjusted for inflation?

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

#356
post #237
post #93

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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…

To make you feel a little bit better: For similar size house in energy-efficient building tech we pay around 300$ per winter month for heating. And its “cheap” because house is well isolated. (EU)

Yes I do feel better. By energy efficient do you mean newer construction? I assume it wouldn’t be old stone construction (EU/UK old world stuff) that would be sucking up heat in winter.

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

#357
post #210

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>- if Ukraine doesn’t surrender, we can expect less food production and potential oil disruption to center Europe If Russia doesn't surrender. Don't put the responsibility of global food prices on the people being repressed and killed in their own homes. Do it on the aggressors and war criminals.

Lol I’m not “placing blame” I’m stating what I see as facts. Russia will not surrender. The longer the Ukraine is in the war, the higher likelihood the people of Ukraine starve. We can make an argument that they shouldn’t surrender. That’s a moral position. I’m pointing out if we don’t figure it out within the next few months you’re not going to get the food from the region, as people are fighting over it. I don’t ca…

What the OP is saying is you could have phrased your comment like you did in your last paragraph here.

Nobody disagrees that until it ends the situation will create further instability; but it can end with Russia giving up or surrendering as well. There is no global objective truth that Russia will not surrender; so by saying "I'm just stating facts" you're actually making a normative claim instead of a descriptive one; which can be viewed as problematic.

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

#358
post #146

What are the actual metrics they use to measure inflation? My electric bill is 33% higher than previous years, my gas bill is similar. City/Water/Sewer doubled. Trips to the grocery store are up close to 20%, and gasoline doubled. Everything you actually purchase day-to-day is up far more than the inflation benchmarks, so much so it’s beginning to feel like propaganda. I overnight went from thinking “I make good mone…

It is propaganda. I don't see how anyone can think it wouldn't be. The BLS is part of the executive branch and therefore has a vested interest in making the executive branch look good. If you gave a private company the responsibility of auditing itself, most would regard the audit as worthless, and I think rightly so. But for some reason people still trust the government to have totally pure and disinterested scientific intentions, and I have no idea why.

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

#359
post #262

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Again, another irrelevant comment unrelated to the subject. We shall see how this trend settles out at the end of the year. Enhance your calm. =)

The BLS reports inflation. It doesn't control inflation. The Federal Reserve does affect it with the fed rate, but it's independent, and the chair was elevated to his current role by Trump, so save the insinuations about this being somehow engineered by Democrats to win the election. I'm no fan of Democrats, but this is absurd.

"The Federal Reserve does affect it with the fed rate" In general, it takes some time for this to have any impact on inflation, and in some cases effects may be uncorrelated if markets shift for external reasons.

What is a "Democrat", and how is it related to the subject matter?

While I can't seem to understand the unjust world theories... I do respect your misguided opinions.

Have a gloriously wonderful day. =)

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

#360
post #327
post #253

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I'd love to know what Duke is going to do. I have a 1950s block home with less than 3 inches of insulation in the attic (Duke Energy efficiency audit put it at a charitable R-11) and original windows that I was told by the HVAC person "leak like a sieve". Electric bill this month may hit $400.

Original windows are likely the biggest offender. You could just replace the largest windows if budget is a concern or place plastic over the inside portion to create an “insulative” air barrier between the plastic sheet and the window. The plastic trick worked amazingly for me when renting an old farm house on a city plot. Looks ghetto ugly though.

There’s clear plastic shrink wrap which truly does become nearly invisible once you run a hair dryer over it. Last one I used was “Duck” brand and worked great. People would walk up to the windows and be surprised to hit the plastic that they didn’t see.
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