And I bet you believe that if you threw a ball in the air, it would never be higher than your hand, because that is where it started, and that is where it ended.
Posted on 10/22/2015 10:19:33 AM PDT by blam
Tyler Durden
10/22/2015
Submitted by Raul Ilargi Meijer via The Automatic Earth blog,
Whenever we at the Automatic Earth explain, as we must have done at least a hundred times in our existence, that, and why, we refuse to define inflation and deflation as rising or falling prices (only), we always get a lot of comments and reactions implying that people either don’t understand why, or they think it’s silly to use a definition that nobody else seems to use.
-More or less- recent events, though, show us once more why we’re right to insist on inflation being defined in terms of the interaction of money-plus-credit supply with money velocity (aka spending). We’re right because the price rises/falls we see today are but a delayed, lagging, consequence of what deflation truly is, they are not deflation itself. Deflation itself has long begun, but because of confusing -if not conflicting- definitions, hardly a soul recognizes it for what it is.
Moreover, the role the money supply plays in that interaction gets smaller, fast, as debt, in the guise of overindebtedness, forces various players in the global economy, from consumers to companies to governments, to cut down on spending, and heavily. We are as we speak witnessing a momentous debt deleveraging, or debt deflation, in real time, even if prices don’t yet reflect that. Consumer prices truly are but lagging indicators.
The overarching problem with all this is that if you look just at -consumer- price movements to define inflation or deflation, you will find it impossible to understand what goes on.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
No, that's how you demonstrate that you are communicating with someone who wants to believe nonsense, and doesn't have the comprehension level necessary to be convinced otherwise.
Or a decline into an increase?
You could just say you don't understand the concept and leave it at that.
You're right, I don't understand how you can claim a drop from the $2.50-$3.00 area down to $2.35 is an increase.
And I bet you believe that if you threw a ball in the air, it would never be higher than your hand, because that is where it started, and that is where it ended.
Since I never claimed gas prices didn't go much higher, before they dropped, you don't.
Gasoline was $1.65 in 2007, went up to $3.85, and is now back down to $2.35,
According to the link I posted, more than $2.50, nationwide in 2007, about $2.35, nationwide, now.
I'll stick my nose in here - Albeit that I won't exactly support your 100% figure (I can't because my buying habits are effected, and thus are not comparable). Costs are way up. I am tightly budgeted and the past four years have been increase over increase for less and less product. But that has driven me to staple goods and canned goods, and toward the generic and bulk... And far away from convenience and luxury foods. I now scratch build almost everything I eat, and it is all simple fare, with very few goodies or treats. Even things like lunch meats and bread are rare purchases.
And bread is a good example - Used to be I could find a good, medium-quality (top shelf, but not designer) loaf for under two bucks, now it's often over four. Instead, I buy the staple goods and make my own bread at less than a buck and a quarter a loaf.
So while I can't explicitly defend your figure, I am most certainly in agreement with you.
(and yes, store bought milk is pushing $4/gal here in cattle country too)
Baking your own bread is very therapeutic, tastes wonderful right out of the oven with butter and honey and makes the house small great. Even given all those benefits, I stick to just biscuits and muffins out of the oven because I’m too lazy to make bread anymore and because Kroger now has a large loaf of wheat, 3% fiber, at $1.00 a loaf.
Simple food has always been and will always be better, IMO. Macaroni and cheese, big pot of chicken and noodles, meat loaf and mashed potatoes. All good stuff.
The three they called for might have been fine for a 21 oz. box.”
And particularly since eggs cost so much now. Sometimes I wonder if they have test kitchens any more before they print the instructions for the new box size.
Grandson commented that we can now afford to buy bacon but can’t afford the eggs to go with it. He loves omelets and would eat one huge one every night for dinner loaded with veggies and all kinds of stuff. Not an every night meal any more.
Yeah, I've really gotten into it... My only complaint is that baking heats my house up too much in the summer. So I am building an outside wood-fired kitchen for that purpose (among many others, to include canning time). It will have a grill, a pizza-style oven, and a hot/cold smoker... I literally can't wait.
Even given all those benefits, I stick to just biscuits and muffins out of the oven because I’m too lazy to make bread anymore and because Kroger now has a large loaf of wheat, 3% fiber, at $1.00 a loaf.
I can get 1.00/loaf bread here, but it's more air than bread... If I buy bread it is usually Franz brand's oat/nut bread or hazelnut... and I have a preference for light rye, now and then... Not heavy loaves by any means, but structural enough that it can take being spread by real butter :) ... Butter gets cold here in MT...
Simple food has always been and will always be better, IMO. Macaroni and cheese, big pot of chicken and noodles, meat loaf and mashed potatoes. All good stuff.
I have only recently begun cooking (pretty much since my divorce 4 years ago), But I definitely prefer exactly what you are getting at... even to the point of putting in a garden to get better produce too - I grew up with all that, and the surprising thing is how much of it just came flooding back to me from my mother's kitchen when I was a lad. That woman taught me more than I'll ever know... I never cooked a thing, but I watched her do it for decades, and knew most of her main recipes by heart. Most of my cooking comes directly from her.
Good for you. My son and oldest grandson love to cook, But they never follow any kind of a recipe so if something turns out to be really good, they have trouble replicating it. It’s begun to cool down in our part of Texas a bit so it’s time to add a big pot of gumbo to the menu as well as something with homemade spaghetti sauce - which with my grandsons seems to work on everything! Have fun with your outdoor pizza oven. Sure beats anything from the store.
Jeb is an idiot. For the last few decades people have worked longer and harder to gain more income... only to see government salivate as the people go into higher tax brackets and lose their income as taxation. All the while, government increases fees and taxes. Yup, people need to run faster on that hamster wheel, that's the ticket. (Or, we could lower taxes and regulations.)
Pepsi used to have these nice 6pk of 24oz soda...now, you think you’re grabbing it and they’re only 20oz...
average families can't buy many cuts of meat...
about 3 yrs ago you could occasionally buy name brand tuna for 3/$1....now, you find it on sale for one can, 68cents...
Food has gone up, more reflecting international but local problems than inflation. Medical, because of Obamacare's perversions, is soaring. But when you factor houses, wages, and energy (not to mention most commodities), food is the outlier.
We aren't discussing two disembodied points in time. We are discussing the entire range between 2008 and 2015, and frankly I have become convinced that you aren't up to the level of comprehension necessary to continue any sort of discussion.
Gas prices went up because of Obama's stupid policies. They came back down because the industry and technology advanced. In other words, they came back down despite Obama.
Had the industry and technology not made advancements, (fracking, shale oil processing) they would still be way up there at around double the prices of 2008, (or higher) just like everything else under this stupid jackasses regime.
I said "nearly 100%". Some things are more than that and some things are less than that.
100% is a good, easy to understand number, and it saves a lot of time by rounding up to that, but from what I have observed, it is not quite 100%. I would say it is between 85% to 100%, but the anecdotal data is squishy.
The cost of a quart of oil is up 400%. Anti-Freeze is about double. Batteries are almost double, but not quite.
So while I can't explicitly defend your figure, I am most certainly in agreement with you.
(and yes, store bought milk is pushing $4/gal here in cattle country too)
Can we agree that the figure 25% is utter nonsense? That things are up far more than 25% since 2008? That the Obama government is absolutely lying about inflation?
Absolutely. Which still doesn't make your inaccurate 2007 gas price number any better.
I am not finding any Star Kist, or Bumble Bee tuna for $0.68/ can. I'm finding it at $0.95 per can.
But yeah, we can safely conclude that Tuna is up around 100% or more since 2008.
I, when I have my reading glasses with me, always go by unit prices....its the only way I can figure out what is the better buy....
eggs are outrageous now.....I notice Fred Meyer had good peanut butter prices though...
bread seems to have stayed the same....meat very high...even turkeys...
overall it takes much more money today to buy what you could several years ago...even with a few items staying the same....
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