And prices keep going up

[Koldo]

I'm not following you. Its late so....

You said. "The other poster mentioning paying 14$ for Wendy's combo. We don't have Wendy here but as a frame of comparison, a regular Big Mac meal here in Rio de Janeiro (since the size got smaller over time I am going to call it a small hamburguer too) costs about R$28. In other words, the brazilian would have to work twice as many hours to be able to afford it."

So we have $14 and R$28

$1 = roughly R$5.

$14 x R$5 = R$70

So shouldn't a $14 meal cost roughly R$70 instead of R$28 at that rate?

It takes nearly as much work for a federal minimum wage worker in the US to earn $14 as it takes for one in Brazil to earn R$ 14.

Think of it this way: Imagine a work shift an 8 hours work day. A $14 meal in the US means you can work 2 hours and take the cash for the next 6 hours of work back home. A R$ 70 meal here in Brazil though means a meal that can't be afforded even after working the whole 8 hours.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Sigh. Dang it (and no, we don't have bikini baristas where I live and they wouldn't be a draw to me anyway).

There is at least one stand in Seattle that might draw you in. They would not appeal to me.

What Is Core Inflation, and Why Food & Fuel are Exempt - Live Trading News

What Is Core Inflation, and Why Food & Fuel are Exempt

www.livetradingnews.com

How Inflation Affects Your Cost Of Living

Until recently, inflation was a far-off memory for most Americans. But that faded, distant memory has roared back to life over the past two years, imposing higher costs and painful choices on consumers. After spending more than two decades below 3%, the consumer price index (CPI)—a key measure of

www.forbes.com

Core Inflation: What It Is and Why It's Important

Core inflation is the change in prices of goods and services, except for those from the food and energy sectors.

www.investopedia.com

Okay, I was wrong, but I see why they do that. I know how grocery prices vary because I base what I buy heavily on what is for sale. Food prices vary too much to be of use in measuring inflation. Now what happens is that if someone is looking to blame the "ins" it is always easy to find some food prices that are higher than they used to be. by quite a bit. To actually measure food price inflation would take a long time record of grocery purchases. I have found that the base price of milk does not vary all that much. I will see some sales in that when they are trying to get people to buy new sources of milk, but on average they do not vary much. With beef prices I will see swings of twice or more. I just buy a different product. In fact that is sometimes how I have tried things that I normally would not have tried.

 

[Subduction Zone]

I do that but it's not five percent inflation.

You really do not know that if you just cherry pick items that have gone up more than others. When it comes to inflation and groceries people only remember the prices that are higher. Take fresh tomatoes, I just recently bought some at a buck a pound, In the winter they will be as high as three bucks a pound. And also, we had a period of inflation. You have to remember that. Inflation is not a measure of how much prices have gone up since it started. Inflation is measured for each year. We have had three years of inflation now. The first year it was rather high at eight to ten percent. It has dropped significantly since then. But if you want to measure inflation you do not compare prices to four or five years ago. You have to compare it to last year at the most. That may be another factor. You are likely remembering to far into the past:

 

[Brickjectivity]

There is a lot of structure in the market. Those who cannot afford the higher prices will look for alternatives. Instead of chips --> popcorn.

 

[Spice]

Prices are beginning to level or drop a little bit in the grocery store. I look at the overall cost, mainly, although occasionally pay attention to the actual unit price (and sometimes even remember! LOL). I noticed chicken legs, family pack, was under $2/lbs. last week.

But medical is rising now. My scrips went up 1.5 times from the last 90 day fill.

 

[Twilight Hue]

No! We've showed multiple times you can still get large pizzas for less than $10 in NY. $10 for a 12 pack of Coke? Not here.

I'm not talking about special deals and limited offers which btw meets or eclipses the original retail price.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I'm not talking about special deals and limited offers which btw meets or eclipses the original retail price.

Pizzas have long been ridiculous if you don't use specials and coupons, or if you get it from a place that serves a good pie and doesn't really do them except on occasion.
And if you aren't taking advantage of savings then you aren't being thrifty. That's your own fault, just like it's your own fault for mistaking the average of higher end joints for what the overall picture.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Nope and nope and whatever. I am mainly just saying Lord Have Mercy.

But you are complaining about prices, and asked "Who's watch is it happening on?" Meaning, one presumes, President. So if the Lord doesn't have mercy, you're blaming Biden?

 

[Twilight Hue]

Pizzas have long been ridiculous if you don't use specials and coupons, or if you get it from a place that serves a good pie and doesn't really do them except on occasion.
And if you aren't taking advantage of savings then you aren't being thrifty. That's your own fault, just like it's your own fault for mistaking the average of higher end joints for what the overall picture.

I don't live in that kind of fantasy. I know what prices were in the past and what prices are now.

 

[Kathryn]

But you are complaining about prices, and asked "Who's watch is it happening on?" Meaning, one presumes, President. So if the Lord doesn't have mercy, you're blaming Biden?

Who do you think I should blame?

 

[Kathryn]

Look, I am 62 years old. I don't want to try new things, and I don't want to try to be more thrifty. I just want inflation to slow down.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Who do you think I should blame?

The person who thinks that you can place blame in a multi-variate system doesn't understand how the world works.

For example, there's an old maxim in Project Management that of the three things you can control in a project are cost, time and quality. But you can only control two at a time. If you control cost and time, you'll probably have to put up with poor quality. If you control quality and cost, you'll probably take a lot longer to finish than anybody hoped. If you control quality and time, you may have to throw so many resources at it that the cost will sky-rocket.

Economies are much, much more complex than that. In order to keep tens of millions of people from losing their jobs, homes and everything, both Trump and Biden threw money at them.The same with millions of businesses. All that money led to people buying what they otherwise would not have been able to afford, which has a tendency to drive prices up. That's what market systems are about. Both those presidents could have avoided inflation, or even achieved deflation, by simply allowing those tens of millions of citizens, and millions of businesses, to go broke. The fact that would probably have ended in many suicides is not such a big economic problem, but heck, somebody's got to suffer when there's a pandemic, eh?

 

[Kathryn]

I repeat. There is no such thing as unskilled labor.

All work takes some degree of skill. Not the same skills. But skill nonetheless.

Unless you're equating "skilled" w/ college degrees, vocational school completers, or tradespersons. Which isn't what I think of.

You know what I mean. I mean, I guess if you want to call "show up for work sort of on time" a skill, I guess it is. If you want to call "smile occasionally at the customer and stay off your phone on company time" a skill, I guess you can.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

I repeat. There is no such thing as unskilled labor. All work takes some degree of skill.

As you well know, there are jobs that require no prior training or education such as stocking shelves, working a cash register, and bussing tables.

But I understand the objection. Maybe you'd like another term better. You might need to invent it yourself. Entry level probably isn't right, since there are entry level jobs for specialists like carpenters and teachers.

 

[We Never Know]

Who do you think I should blame?

IMO...

If the current pres was a repub the dems would be saying what you are. They know it as well a anyone does.

The same dems that supported and defended Bidens age are now attacking Trumps age.
The same repubs that attacked Bidens age ignore Trumps age.(if he wins the will be older than Biden when he took office).
Hypocrisy.

The same dems that supported and defended Bidens mentality are attacking Trumps mentality.
The same repubs that attacked Bidens mentality ignore Trumps mentality.
Hypocrisy.

Bring up anything about Biden, the most used reply is " but Trump"... Denial by comparison instead realization.
Bring up anything about Trump and the most used reply is "but Biden"... Denial by comparison instead realization.

Party rival wars are what our elections have become. It doesn't matter who the candidate is.

Loyalty to both parties are what matters. Defend it no matter what or who.

 

[Kathryn]

IMO...

If the current pres was a repub the dems would be saying what you are. They know it as well a anyone does.

The same dems that supported and defended Bidens age are now attacking Trumps age.
The same repubs that attacked Bidens age ignore Trumps age.(if he wins the will be older than Biden when he took office).
Hypocrisy.

The same dems that supported and defended Bidens mentality are attacking Trumps mentality.
The same repubs that attacked Bidens mentality ignore Trumps mentality.
Hypocrisy.

Bring up anything about Biden, the most used reply is " but Trump"... Denial by comparison instead realization.
Bring up anything about Trump and the most used reply is "but Biden"... Denial by comparison instead realization.

Party rival wars are what our elections have become. It doesn't matter who the candidate is.

Loyalty to both parties are what matters. Defend it no matter what or who.

Well, I am not going to vote for Trump so there's that.

 

[Magic Man]

Yep we are in the age of $30 pizzas , $10 being charged for just 12 average cans of Coke or other soft drinks.

Hell I've even seen small jars of mayonnaise selling for over $10, the Wendy's in my area chrsges $14 for its combo consisting of a soda, a small hamburger, and a small fries! That it.

A ham I used to buy for maybe 7 bucks is now well over $50 for the exact same size.

Watermelon in season used to be $2.50 now it's over $10 in my area For one small melon!

Deli meats under 1 pound I used to pay around 3 to 5 dollars, now it's in the 10 to 12 dollar range.

I could go on but I needn't do so. Most people know what they're seeing at the store.

Prices have gone up but not like this. Obviously prices vary, but there are various issues here.

1) My area's cost of living is higher than average, although not near the top. I can get $10 pizzas at certain places. The local place I go every week, it's $14 for a medium and $16 for a large.

Mayonnaise is about $5 for a typical/large jar.
Watermelons vary, but I can get them at my nearest store for $4. I got a yellow one the other day for $7, and that's expensive (because they're rare).

2) Those price differences didn't happen over the last few years. A ham didn't go from $7 to $50, unless there was a specific temporary shortage. Watermelons didn't quadruple in price. Deli meats haven't gone up that much, generally more like an increase of 10-20% over the past 2-5 years.

 

[Stevicus]

The person who thinks that you can place blame in a multi-variate system doesn't understand how the world works.

As a social science, economics is mainly a sub-set of political science, which would suggest that its causes and effects are human-derived and human-perceived. The situation of "how the world works" is a culmination of choices made by human beings. I don't think it's necessary to "blame" anyone, but pointing out which human choices might have been wrong is a different matter.

I guess if there's anyone to blame, it's "us," the voters. We choose to vote for politicians, and we are stuck with the results and consequences of the choices they make, both positive and the negative. I guess Biden voters can blame Trump voters or vice versa, but most of our problems today are the long-term consequences of choices made a long time ago.

 

[Kathryn]

Hey, it seems like everything has gone up at least 20 percent. It's horrible.

I'm talking about per size too by the way. If the company has kept the price the same, the size seems to have diminished.

 

[Kathryn]

As a social science, economics is mainly a sub-set of political science, which would suggest that its causes and effects are human-derived and human-perceived. The situation of "how the world works" is a culmination of choices made by human beings. I don't think it's necessary to "blame" anyone, but pointing out which human choices might have been wrong is a different matter.

I guess if there's anyone to blame, it's "us," the voters. We choose to vote for politicians, and we are stuck with the results and consequences of the choices they make, both positive and the negative. I guess Biden voters can blame Trump voters or vice versa, but most of our problems today are the long-term consequences of choices made a long time ago.

I guess every country has the government they deserve.