Posted on 06/20/2021 6:59:27 AM PDT by bert
Free Republic Inflation June 2021 Posting
There are a few of the 20 selected grocery items that have increased in price. At the Food City Chain where I get the price data, there is no across the board increase in prices. In general there is no price increase to report in the June monthly report
As a Media Template, Inflation is a major story of the day. As a result of Biden policies, 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 $2 Trillion Covid relief plus the 15$ 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 food inflation noted for the June Report although other inflation is the news of the day Will it happen?
As President Trump was fond of saying……..We’ll see
That’s right-but across the board, I think there stuff saves me a lot of money.
There are things I wouldn’t buy anywhere else.
Something like Graham Crackers is about $3 everywhere and at ALDI - under, $1
bert, would you mind adding in the weight in addition to the count?
That game has been played many times throughout our history.
Now that a new Aldi’s has opened near us, I will head over to start my own chart of prices/weight.
Another data point, this time from Texas.
Kroger Ribeye usda choice 6.99 a pound today, Midlothian Va....battle of the shifting loss leaders and supply and demand adjustments probably.
And you have to watch some of those Walmart meats...they pump with salt water to increase the weight and then sell them by weight.
Yes, I noticed that he did include weight/count. I was just pointing it out in case someone wants to add to the list. As to products, decades ago coffee was sold as a 3 lb can, now it’s down to about 2 lbs. Smoked sausage: 1 lb down to as little as 10oz now.
Coming? It’s already here. Gas has skyrocketed in California - when gas goes up EVERYTHING goes up. You’d be lucky to find anything under $4.00/gallon here. I had to cough up $4.50/gallon in the central part of the state recently.
Big Macs going up 6.5% is very interesting - I subscribe to a financial site that uses the Big Mac as an index for food inflation b/c it has so many components to it - all of which have to be shipped in from somewhere - IOW, when the price of a Big Mac goes up, we’re in trouble.
You point out a one-time rise in one brand of sausage and say that proves inflation?
Ludicrous.
Canned goods too - a lot of recipes call for a “14 oz. can” and all I could find was the 12.5 oz. size.
Correct I save big time at Aldi.
Some of their”Specialty” labels are pretty good.
Granola and cheese, dairy and juices are decent & “Wild Range IPA” from Rockwall Brewery in up state NY 6.50 a 6er here @ 6.9%
Loose produce is good packaged I dont like as by the time I get to the 2nd or 3rd crown of Brock or Zuc its bad.
I re buy the food list every month.
The current list is the fifth iteration
Thanks
Price at Aldi’s is irrelevant. Buying cheap is not the point of the exercise.
The point of the exercise is to track increase in prices of the various items
I used to buy Dole sliced peaches in fruit juice. It started as USA, then Greece got added, then China(brown flavorless peaches) and eventually China only.
Now DelMonte makes them and in the USA.
OK.... I thought for most items the quantity was specified. I look at the same items each month so it’s not much of a problem to add quantity specific such as weight.
Ribeye choice in San Francisco (Luckys) was $21.99 a pound last week. New York on sale for $6.99.
It does to me.
Ribeye choice in San Francisco (Luckys) was $21.99 a pound last week. New York on sale for $6.99.
I WISH there was an Aldi near us. Closest one is about 25 minutes away. Two stores that offered Walmart and Wegmans competition went away. It’s either outrageously priced but lovely LOOKING displays at Wegmans or plain jane Walmart.
A huge driver in food inflation is ~$7.00/bushel corn.
I’ve read China has purchased so much corn that ships loaded with corn are clogging their ports. Seems nefarious at first glance.
Anyone else know what is driving corn prices?
We know that the Bureau of Labor and Standards creates these massive spreadsheets for the US. In many cases they are even pretty good.
I like the idea of what you are doing - it gives us a personalized way to track in a particular area, and compare to the rubbish that is produced by the MSM. That has always been one of the problems that truth faces - few ever read down into the actual statistics, and for sure the MSM does not.
Here is a link to the BLS report for Consumer Price Indexes:
“FWIW, at ALDI, crackers (any kind) are much less than everywhere else.”
Agreed
get your basics there. save a bundle.
lots of stuff comes from the facilities that package stuff for everyone else.
Try stuff. Some you’ll like some you won’t.
Peanut butter, ketchup, canned beans, honey, bread, “awesome” cinnamon buns, chips, ice cream, half/half, yogurt the list goes on . . .
BTW - only place I can find canned “3 bean salad” for our summertime pasta salad mix.
FYI - We don’t like their pasta. Grew up with Ronzoni, kind of locked into the flavor and cooking style.
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