Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Americans’ refusal to keep paying higher prices may be dealing a final blow to US inflation spike
AP ^ | 08 12 2024 | CHRISTOPHER RUGABER

Posted on 08/13/2024 10:23:50 AM PDT by yesthatjallen

The great inflation spike of the past three years [Bidenomics] is nearly spent — and economists credit American consumers for helping slay it.

Some of America’s largest companies, from Amazon to Disney to Yum Brands, say their customers are increasingly seeking cheaper alternative products and services, searching for bargains or just avoiding items they deem too expensive. Consumers aren’t cutting back enough to cause an economic downturn. Rather, economists say, they appear to be returning to pre-pandemic norms, when most companies felt they couldn’t raise prices very much without losing business.

“While inflation is down, prices are still high, and I think consumers have gotten to the point where they’re just not accepting it,” Tom Barkin, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, said last week at a conference of business economists. “And that’s what you want: The solution to high prices is high prices.”

A more price-sensitive consumer helps explain why inflation has appeared to be steadily falling toward the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, ending a period of painfully high prices that strained many people’s budgets and darkened their outlooks on the economy. It also assumed a central place in the presidential election, with inflation leading many Americans to turn sour on the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the economy.

SNIP

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: inflation
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-51 next last
They admit there was an inflation spike for the past 3 years. [Bidenomics]

Now that you don't have any money to spend because of inflation, prices might start going down.

1 posted on 08/13/2024 10:23:50 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: yesthatjallen
Consumers don't have enough money to go around to support all of the price hikes producers have churned out over the last several years.

It's not necessarily a conscious decision, but more likely a practical one.

Private citizens don't have printing presses producing unlimited funds.

2 posted on 08/13/2024 10:28:51 AM PDT by Pox (Eff You China. Buy American!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yesthatjallen

These idiots (AP) don’t know how economics work. They make it sound like corporate greed was the driving force. Companies can’t just stop raising prices because they want to. They have costs, and contrary to communism, they have to make an eventual profit, or they will go out of business.


3 posted on 08/13/2024 10:29:05 AM PDT by Rinnwald
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yesthatjallen

The noble consumer, impoverished by the establishment, is heroic because they can no longer buy things. I hate these lying propagandists.


4 posted on 08/13/2024 10:31:58 AM PDT by wildcard_redneck (He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rinnwald

If consumers don’t buy enough, there may have to be layoffs, which reduces jobs, which reduces buying power.


5 posted on 08/13/2024 10:32:28 AM PDT by maro (MAGA!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: yesthatjallen
Don't buy anything. Repurpose what you can. Repair what's broken. Restock your kitchen to dried beans, rice, home made bread, make your own sauces, dressings, etc.. Use meats you cure at home. Pork belly, salmon, whitefish, carp. Feed your waste and scraps to your egg laying chickens.

Take up hobbies like gardening, growing fruit trees, herbs, veggies, etc.....

Zero waste.

6 posted on 08/13/2024 10:32:49 AM PDT by blackdog ((Z28.310) Be careful what you say. Your refrigerator may be listening & reporting you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rinnwald

Beat me to it.

“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon”
— Milton Friedman

Government causes it. Only government can fix it.
Consumers don’t “fix it” by their buying habits.


7 posted on 08/13/2024 10:32:59 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (I think women should get out of women's sports before they get hurt.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Rinnwald

Leftist economics makes witchcraft look good by comparison.


8 posted on 08/13/2024 10:34:09 AM PDT by cgbg ("Our democracy" = Their Kleptocracy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: yesthatjallen

“consumers refusal to keep paying higher prices”

Oh, if it were so easy...

What that really means in non-Govt-propaganda terms is that their incomes are not keeping up with inflation, and consumers, as a whole, are reducing the amount and quality of the things they buy.


9 posted on 08/13/2024 10:35:33 AM PDT by PGR88
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rinnwald
These idiots (AP) don’t know how economics work.

Indeed. Inflation is not a voluntary phenomenon. It is an economic consequence of putting excess money into the system with the same amount of goods and services. In other words, money printing. Prices will continue to rise.

10 posted on 08/13/2024 10:36:19 AM PDT by Blennos ( Byaasearepeat itnbelow.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: yesthatjallen
Is it REALLY over?

Last month it was $4.64. Three months ago it was $4.22.

Might be time to buy a cow, but hay keeps going up...

11 posted on 08/13/2024 10:38:28 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! (Repeal the Patriot Act; Abolish the DHS; reform FBI top to bottom!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yesthatjallen
It ain’t that hard to figger out.


12 posted on 08/13/2024 10:38:33 AM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yesthatjallen

A few thoughts

1) there are fixed expenses which are hard to control and variable expenses which you can control (like eating out)

2) Inflation is personal to each of us. Each of us is affected differently depending on what we need and buy.


13 posted on 08/13/2024 10:39:19 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yesthatjallen

It was not high prices from corporations or corporate gouging that caused inflation. It was not overspending by consumers that caused inflation.

Inflation was caused by out-of-control spending by the federal government, mostly under the Biden/Harris administration. Take away the idiocy of Bidenomics, and inflation would still be very low, or as low as it was under Trump.

People had it good under Trump, but then, the socialist spending under Biden and the idiocy of climate change policy, caused gas prices and everything else to go sky-high.

The AP and democrats cannot be trusted to tell the truth about the causes of any problems that affect consumers or the country.


14 posted on 08/13/2024 10:39:33 AM PDT by adorno (CCH)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yesthatjallen
Tom Barkin, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond: “The solution to high prices is high prices.”

That's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

15 posted on 08/13/2024 10:43:59 AM PDT by Schatze (It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rinnwald

You don’t work retail, do you? Once the millionaire and billionaire shareholders saw a profit during Covid, there was no way they were going to reverse course and bring prices back down even though supply has returned back to normal. Corporate (shareholder) greed is a major driving factor.


16 posted on 08/13/2024 10:51:37 AM PDT by nonliberal (Russia is not my enemy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: yesthatjallen

Kamalanomics


17 posted on 08/13/2024 10:53:04 AM PDT by KC_Conspirator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yesthatjallen
More smoke and mirrors by the Biden Administration. The current measure of inflation does NOT include food or fuel prices. They are left out because they show that inflation is MUCH worse than stated. Including food and distillate fuel prices would add 3-5% more to the inflation rate than the Biden Administration admits.
18 posted on 08/13/2024 10:56:23 AM PDT by econjack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yesthatjallen

We are still adding a trillion vapor dollars to the economy every hundred days. Inflation is nearly, if not already, permanent.


19 posted on 08/13/2024 10:57:30 AM PDT by lurk (u)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yesthatjallen

One of my staple items, Monterey Frozen Burritos has more than doubled in price since 2021. In 2021 they were about $2.99 for a pack of eight burritos. Now, they are usually sold at $5.99 or $.99. The item itself has shrunk a little bit. From the producer’s point of view, I understand the costs of ingredients has probably been going up at near the same rate as the retail product.


20 posted on 08/13/2024 10:58:15 AM PDT by lee martell
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-51 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson