Posted on 03/15/2021 6:17:32 AM PDT by bert
There is no general price increase to report in the March monthly report
What will be the results of a Pelosi/Biden government?
Many think there will be inflation. Milton Friedman taught us that “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, in the sense that it cannot occur without a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.” The $2Trillion Covid relief plus the !5% minimum wage plus the forgiveness of college loans all pump money into the economy.
Those actions are the very definition of monetary phenomena.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis keeps us informed on the inflation rate but fails in one respect. The inflation information provided leaves out food. So, in the era of Pelosi/Biden induced inflation, bert has developed a basket of 20 common food products and will track prices and compute the inflation rate on the basket total and each individual item at a one month interval.
The reason given for excluding food in the BEA inflation figure is because there are so many variables that effect prices that monetary inflation gets lost in the shuffle. That fact seems to be in evidence in this month’s numbers. The Big Mac that represents all food groups declined in price. So, there will be no attempt to correct for other variables.
One we know that is already happening is China. China is in terrible food shape. Crop failure, massive flooding, swine disease and poor management of stockpiles have forced China to import phenomenally large quantities of soy beans and corn. Brazil is sold out of soy beans. American farmers will pick up all he slack. So, there will be a large China induced food price inflation.
Being bert and being conservative, I choose to ignore China and blame all the food price increases on Pelosi/Biden
The second monthly food inflation presentation is posted below. There is no general inflation noted for March
Will it happen? As President Trump was fond of saying……..We’ll see
| Item Cost | Measure | January | February | Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bread | 2# Loaf | $1.69 | $1.69 | 0% |
| Eggs | 1 dozen | $$1.69 | $1.69 | 0% |
| Bacon | 12 ounces | $4.99 | $4.99 | 0% |
| Ground Round | 1 pound pkg | $4.19 | $4.19 | 0% |
| Hot Dogs Oscar Mayer | 10 count | $2.99 | $2.50 | -16% |
| Zesta Saltine Crackers | 1 Box | $1.49 | $1.65 | 11% |
| Cambell’s Tomato Soup | Can | $1.00 | $1.00 | 0% |
| Le Suer Green Peas | Can | $1.89 | $1.89 | 0% |
| Campbell’s Pork and Beans | Can | $0.69 | $0.69 | 0% |
| Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes | 13.5 oz Box | $2.99 | $2.99 | 0% |
| Pic Sweet Frozen Corn | 28 Oz | $3.29 | $3.29 | 1% |
| Holly Farms Chicken Breast | Per Pound | $1.99 | $1.99 | 0% |
| New York Select Strip | per pound | $11.99 | $11.99 | 0% |
| Milk 2% | per Gallon | $1.99 | $1.99 | 0% |
| Water | 6 pack | $3.99 | $3.99 | 0% |
| Maxwell House Coffee | 11.5 Oz | $3.99 | $3.99 | 1% |
| Coca Cola | 12- 12 Oz | $5.99 | $5.99 | 0% |
| Budweiser Beer | 6 pack 12 Oz | $7.29 | $7.29 | 0% |
| McDonalds Big Mac | Each | $4.29 | $3.99 | -7% |
| Basket Total | $72.59 | |||
| Percent Increase | -0.40 % |
Animal sweet feed (soy), oats, and chicken feed have all gone up around 40% since the beginning of the year
Gasoline is going up every day.
All other prices will soon follow.
They ALWAYS DO......................
The main items I get at a supermarket is perishables like yogurt, eggs, butter, cheeses and fresh produce. I get all my meats and fish delivered monthly from Walden Local Meats (direct from farms and fisheries) and a lot of our durable food items like canned sardines, nuts, peanut and almond butters, etc., come from Thrive Market, which I highly recommend. Thus much of our groceries is shipped to us and is of high quality.
Last month eggs were 91 cents at Walmart (extra large, 18-count). Now they’re $1.95...
Pretty soon the half gallon ice cream will only be a quart.
Shadow Stats, which computes inflation based on 1980 methodology, shows the inflation in the US running at a 9.4% annual rate versus the 1.6% rate reported by the government. Over the last 40 years the government has periodically changed assumptions used for computing the CPI with the effect of pushing down the reported rate.
From what I see at the grocery store, in my utility bills, and at the gas pump, inflation probably is running at 10% a year and accelerating.
According to the CPI-W inflation index, what the Social Security administration uses to determine annual COLAs, inflation in Jan/Feb was up over 1%. That’s an annualized rate of nearly 7%. And gas prices have continued to climb in March so don’t expect it to get any better. Welcome back Jimmy Carter,
Electric utility bills are an excellent metric.
Everybody has to pay them—and they reflect many inputs (labor, raw materials, maintenance).
They are easy to compare month to month and year to year.
.Gov likes to muddy the waters with claims about many products (they are “better” with more utility), but electricity is electricity is electricity....
Who ever complied this is tripping their brains out. Gas has gone up as much as 50 cents in some places. It’s up to about $3.29 for regular here in southern NJ.
A New York strip steak at my Shop-Rite has gone from $6.99 a pound two months ago is now about $9 a pound.
They also lie to keep from giving COLA’s to SS and other inflation adjusted pay scales..............
My last trip to the grocery store two Sundays ago was the most expensive cartload of items in my 57 years on this planet.
It was $355 at Market Basket in NH. This is the least expensive full line grocery store chain in New England. Cheaper than Walmart. Aldi is the only one cheaper.
During this trip we did not purchase ANY beef/steak, pork or chicken. There was no lobster in the cart. There were two halibut steaks and a salmon fillet. Also, a full box of protein bars(12). These were the thee most expensive items.
The rest was just normal stuff.
The list is very accurate and prices are as published currently
The interesting part is Exxon regular gasoline. There is considerable variation at Exxon stations within say a radius of 10 miles or less.
I’ll take your comments as a lead. The study is of course very local, one chain food market store. The point of the exercise is to detect and quantify genral food price inflation. Regional variation is to be expected, however the trend should be general
I buy 3M pet allergenic furnace filters from the same ebay supplier each year.
3 years ago 122.00, last year 134.00. This year 163.00
This “study” is full of lies.
Anybody who peruses the grocery aisles regularly can attest to that.
My toothpaste is up over 25% this year alone.
“.Gov likes to muddy the waters with claims about many products (they are “better” with more utility), but electricity is electricity is electricity....”
I’ve noticed new “administrative” fees on my electric and natural gas bills over the past couple of years. Another way of extracting more revenue from the customer base without appearing to increase the cost.
Of interest, I looked at the proxy statements of Apple and my local electric utility. The CEO of the power company make more the Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, a global corporation and one of the largest corporations in the world. Why would a utility company CEO make more than the CEO of Apple?
Prices for gas and food are going way up here.
It's all courtesy of this brain dead diaper wearing twit ending the Keystone Pipeline. And none of the morons who voted for him will ever claim responsibility for doing so.
With gas prices going up, everything else will too. Noticed grocery dollars are not going as far as before.
I am already seeing it in the grocery stores and gas is up over 75 cents a gallon.
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