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Inflation? Only If You Look At Food, Water, Gas, Electricity And Everything Else
Submitted by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog,
Have you noticed that prices are going up rapidly? If so, you are certainly not alone. But Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen, the Obama administration and the mainstream media would have us believe that inflation is completely under control and exactly where it should be. Perhaps if the highly manipulated numbers that they quote us were real, everything would be fine. But of course the way that the inflation rate is calculated has been changed more than 20 times since the 1970s, and at this point it bears so little relation to reality that it is essentially meaningless. Anyone that has to regularly pay for food, water, gas, electricity or anything else knows that inflation is too high. In fact, if inflation was calculated the same way that it was back in 1980, the inflation rate would be close to 10 percent right now.
But you would never know that listening to Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen. In the video posted below, you can listen to her telling the media that there is absolutely nothing to be concerned about...
And it is really hard to get too upset with Janet Yellen.
After all, she reminds many people of a sweet little grandmother.
But the reality of the matter is that she is simply not telling us the truth. Everywhere we look, prices are aggressively moving higher.
Just the other day, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the price index for meat, poultry, fish, and eggs has just soared to a new all-time high.
This is something that I have repeatedly warned would happen. Just check out this article and this article.
And it isn't just meat prices that are going up. One of the largest coffee producers in the entire world just announced that it is going to be raising coffee prices by 9 percent...
It took the Fed long enough but finally even it succumbed to the reality of surging food prices when, as we reported previously, it hiked cafeteria prices at ground zero: the cafeteria of the Chicago Fed, stating that “prices continue to rise between 3% and 33%.” So with input costs rising across the board not just for the Fed, but certainly for food manufacturers everywhere, it was only a matter of time before the latter also threw in the towel and followed in the Fed’s footsteps. Which is what happened earlier today when J.M. Smucker Co. said it raised the prices on most of its coffee products by an average of 9% to reflect higher green-coffee costs.
Not that coffee isn't expensive enough already. It absolutely stuns me that some people are willing to pay 3 dollars for a cup of coffee.
I still remember the days when you could get a cup of coffee for 25 cents.
Also, I can't get over how expensive groceries are becoming these days. Earlier this month I took my wife over to the grocery store to do some shopping. We are really ramping up our food storage this summer, and so we grabbed as much stuff on sale as we could find. When we got our cart to the register, I was expecting the bill to be large, but I didn't expect it to be over 300 dollars.
And remember, this was just for a single shopping cart and we had consciously tried to grab things that were significantly reduced from regular price.
I almost felt like asking the cashier which organ I should donate to pay the bill.
Sadly, this is just the beginning. Food prices are eventually going to go much, much higher than this.
Also, you should get ready to pay substantially more for water as well.
According to CNBC, one recent report warned that "your water bill will likely increase" in the coming months...
U.S. water utilities face a critical economic squeeze, according to a new report—and that will likely mean higher prices at the water tap for consumers.
A survey by water-engineering firm Black & Veatch of 368 water utility companies across the country shows that 66 percent of them are not generating enough revenue to cover their costs.
To make up for the financial shortfall, prices for water are heading upward, said Michael Orth, one of the co-authors of the report and senior vice president at Black & Veatch.
“People will have to pay more for water to make up the falling revenues,” he said. “And that’s likely to be more than the rate of inflation.”
Of even greater concern is what is happening to gas prices.
According to Bloomberg, the price of gasoline hasn't been this high at this time of the year for six years...
Gasoline in the U.S. climbed this week, boosted by a surge in oil, and is expected to reach the highest level for this time of year since 2008.
The pump price averaged $3.686 a gallon yesterday, up 1.2 cents from a week earlier, data posted on the Energy Information Administration’s website late yesterday show. Oil, which accounts for two-thirds of the retail price of gasoline, gained $2.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in the same period and $4.88 in the month ended yesterday.
The jump in crude, driven by concern that the crisis in Iraq will disrupt supplies, may boost pump prices by 10 cents a gallon at a time when they normally drop, according to forecasts including one from the EIA.
And the conflicts in Iraq, Ukraine and elsewhere could potentially send gas prices screaming far higher.
In fact, T. Boone Pickens recently told CNBC that if Baghdad falls to ISIS that the price of a barrel of oil could potentially hit $200.
Of course the big oil companies are not exactly complaining about this. This week energy stocks are hitting record highs, and further escalation of the conflict in Iraq will probably send them even higher.
Meanwhile, a "bipartisan Senate proposal" (that means both Democrats and Republicans) would raise the gas tax by 12 cents a gallon over the next two years.
Our politicians have such good timing, don't they?
Ugh.
And our electricity rates are going up too. The electricity price index just set a brand new record high and there are no signs of relief on the horizon...
The electricity price index and the average price for a kilowatthour (KWH) of electricity both hit records for May, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The average price for a KWH hit 13.6 cents during the month, up about 3.8 percent from 13.1 cents in May 2013.
The seasonally adjusted electricity price index rose from 201.431 in May 2013 to 208.655 in May 2014—an increase of about 3.6 percent.
If our paychecks were increasing at the same rate as inflation, perhaps most families would be able to weather all of this.
Unfortunately, that is not the case at all.
As I wrote about recently, median household income in the U.S. is now about 7 percent lower than it was in the year 2000 after adjusting for inflation.
And if realistic inflation numbers were used instead of the government-manipulated ones, it would look a lot worse than that.
Inflation is a hidden tax that all of us pay, and it is systematically eviscerating the middle class.
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1984, guys in the bar, bitching about the size of the pint of beer ;-)
Open a bag a chips or box of cereal lately? Damn things are only 1/3 filled, if that.
Products are still sold by weight, not by volume. The package is inflated with air in order to make you "think" you're getting more product!
in eurozone, the introduction of euro had exactly the same effect. most of the prices doubled in few years and there wasn't a single complaint because idiots couldn't do the math
"Inflation is a hidden tax that all of us pay, and it is systematically eviscerating the middle class."
Yes. Only far worse than that. It has been pointed out that inflation leads to moral decay. As in, manufacturer's and serivce providers seek to find ways to cut rising costs without raising retail prices, in order to stay competitive. So we see half empty containers when we open them, 10oz, instead of 12oz. 4 packs. But far worse, we see compromises in quality of ingredients in our food stuffs. Every possible measure gets taken to delude consumers in to thinking they are still consuming Product A, when in fact they are consuming product B. Our suppliers are forced to "cheat" in order to stay in business. That's insidious.
It's reflects back to Keynesian hedonism.
"So we see half empty containers when we open them..."
Whoops. I just revealed myself as a the-glass-is-half-empty kinda person. I'm workin' on it. I'm workin' on it.
The engineer's response to that question is that the glass is neither half-filled nor half-empty....
...It is twice as big as it needs to be.
And that is one of the points of the bait and switch to which you refer. Half and 3/4 filled bags are currently lining the supermarket shelves.
Exercising license to meld The Matrix with a classic Charlton Heston flick: "If you pretend that soylent green tastes like chicken, and if you pay close attention to Madison Ave telling you that it is in fact chicken, then damned if it doesn't taste like just chicken." Up is down, piss is rain, rising prices are not inflation, and soylent green tastes just like chicken.
I bought a bucket of baseballs the other day for my son to practice with. 24 to a bucket. Mine had 23.
Some son of a bitch had opened the bucket in the store and taken one out and put it in his bucket, so he got 25.
Think about that. It had to be a person buying for their kid - and they felt compelled to steal a baseball.
We are a nation of people who have no self respect or moral scruples.
We've come to that. We've devolved to a society where unless something is specifically banned, OR, we think we may get caught, for some there is no other restraint.
Not to point fingers, because what brought us to this condition is a recipe with many ingredients, but a real touch point was when Bill Clinton was in office, and the whole "does character count" thing came up. Recall that? There was a grade school in my neighborhood from that era that actually purchased a huge banner that they permanently stretched across the entrance to the school that read: Character Counts School.
"There was a grade school in my neighborhood from that era that actually purchased a huge banner that they permanently stretched across the entrance to the school that read: Character Counts School."
Was that a public school? 20 years later, the same question would be moot. A few years hence, such dissent will require a permit in any quarter. Soon after that it will be a criminal offense. Count on it. We all see where this is going.
Look at all the people on eBay to buy but never pay. They have no intention of ever paying, just gumming up honest transactions. They're all fucks. Same thing as stealing baseballs.
As things get worse and more and more personal (ie localized) these folks are not going to fair so well. At that point, I fear many will become dangerous.
TheMeatTrapper - Yes the decline values is noticeable. My girlfriends mother is a teacher that retired this year. She told them the day before school started so the school had to pay two months salary and benefits which was $9,000. This is a woman that divorced a failry wealthy man and just payed $400,000 cash for a house in Jacksonville.
In some quarters gaming-the-system is a source of pride and given much thought and effort.
Questioning the entire system? Well that is considered anti-social behaviour at a BBQ.
Who the hell is stupid enough to loan money to the gov at 2.5%??? They deserve to be defaulted upon.
That would be the folks lucky enough to borrow it from the government at 0% in the first place.
A hundred ^
That would be the folks lucky enough to borrow it from the Federal Reserve at 0% in the first place.
fixed it for you
I acknowledge your technical correctness. Not a small distinction but overlooked in my haste to post the obvious before someone else.
People in the US pay a smaller percentage of income for food than do most.
Bad as it may be in the US,
the rise of food prices and other costs is global.
More people are dependent for their food on global agribusiness,
and the cheap transportation costs for distant foods staying low.
Expect famines and food riots by those trying to live on a few dollars a day.
Expect famines and food riots in the US soon.
Well, clearly our leaders ARE expecting just that - why else the millions of rounds of ammo, MRAP vehicles going to local PD's, ever increasing drone use in the US and SO many other signs..........
And the Fed Governors were supposed to watch the stars and track the phases of the moon so they could correctly calculate the interest rate. But they had been too busy printing money, and had neglected their prayers. One day, the President asked, "What is the true inflation rate? Many of my followers are claiming it has increased greatly over the numbers posted at the temple. Can you tell me the true rate of inflation?" The Fed Chair was embarassed. It had been a long time since she had watched the moon, so busy had she been at the printer. "Please wait one more day," she said.
She summoned the other Fed Governors for a meeting. "Which of you has lately tracked the stars and the phase of the moon? For I wish to know the interest rate." The Fed Governors were embarassed. It had been a long time since any of them had watched the moon or the stars . . .
No, inflation is good. It means no deflation. Paying higher prices is good for the economy!!!!!!!!......
Of course this is nonsense. Janet Yellen has to convince people inflation is good, and not a threat to keep the printing presses going and have the sheeple buy her BS.
I watched the video. Believe it or not this is the first time I've heard this one woman's voice (politicians give me hay fever).
I'm telling you, this woman believes her own bull shit. I promise you... SHE BELIEVES HER OWN BULL SHIT!
That's how these types can keep from laughing on stage time after time.
Thinking like that will lead you to shorting the market...which will lead you to the poor house.
Watch the video again....she had to check her notes from time to time.
I have a copy.......
Bullshit...smile....pause....bulllshit....look inquisitive....bullshit....pause.
That's why I closed my brokerage accounts four years ago. Avoids the temptation. But right now I want to go long the miners. I really really want to go long the GDX. Sitting on my hands.
When you wage war with Russia you try to crush gold and or oil, gold is easy to crush, its price is entirely dependent upon the wages of 3rd worlders, TPTB can suppress it indefinitely.
Dumped my GDX on account of Ukraine, figure it will be pounded till Ukraine gets nuked, then drop.
When the fire hose of global QE slows gold will crater like houses in CA with 19% interest rates.
Hmmm. You present an interesting notion. If an economic collapse hits gold and silver will be dumped as industrial demand will fall. lol. Keep an eye out.
They were talking about tanks in the streets a few years ago. They know it's BS. They are trying to avoid a mass panic, as that would cause a revolt.
"she had to check her notes from time to time.
I have a copy.......
Bullshit...Remember your yeshiva training...smile...Remember your yeshiva training....pause....Remember your yeshiva training...bulllshit...Remember your yeshiva training....look inquisitive...Remember your yeshiva training....bullshit...Remember your yeshiva training....pause."
You had the redacted version. I filled in the blanks for you.
They do believe their own bs, pakled.
They live in a gated world, with no asociation, physical or otherwise with us folks. They haven't and never will, have a clue.
"But the reality of the matter is that she is simply not telling us the truth."
To paraphrase Kyle Bass: Government officials* will never tell you the truth. They can't tell you the truth. Their job is to promote confidence.
*It's understood that the Fed Chair is not a government official, but is symbiotically tied to the same.
In 1978, then President Carter was attacked for "stagflation," rising consumer goods prices and a sour economy. Whatever you read, prices back then did not go up by that much in dollar terms. Housing prices and credit card rates (then at 12%) did shoot up starting in 1978 as the Fed under Volcker raised the prime rate to 15% and higher in reaction to the effects of the "oil shock," higher Middle East crude oil prices. Since then, under Reagan and his crooked successors, the world for the middle class has gone to hell in a handbasket - massive increases in military spending, higher sales taxes, Social Security tax up and Social Security pensions taxed and defined pensions steadily eliminated. One other thing Reagan did was doctor the government statistics, so the long term unemployed became invisible and changes in the "market basket" used by Labor Statistics in 1987 left out goods that were subject to spikes in inflation, such as retail meat prices. So the Consumer Price Index that determines the inflation rate is now not worth the paper its printed on.
Glad to see someone who is not a rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth anti Obama (or whatever bullshit name you like to call him) fool here on ZH. Blame is due where it is due: Reagan and then Bush. Obama is just cleaning up the mess these a-holes left. The middle class can thank the policies of Reagan and then Bush for their destruction. Disagree? Then how is your totally useless and good for nothing idiot president single-handedly responsible for the destruction of the middle class when you know that he can't take a shit without a Reepublican to wipe his ass?
"Obama is just cleaning up the mess these a-holes left."
You're more fucked up than Bush ever was - and that's saying a lot.
Wow what a special kind of asshole you are Aphids!
Regan was cleaning Carters mess
Who was cleaning Nixons Mess
Who was cleaning LBJ's Mess
Who was Cleaning Kennedy's mess
... ... ...
Find a fucking clue yet buddy?
"Find a fucking clue yet buddy?"
I'm leanings towards either Professor Plum in the library with a candlestick, or Fed Chairman (insert kosher name here ________) with an auger in the de facto proctologist's office.
Yup. "I inherited this problem." Hang the next fucker who says that.
It's a conspiracy of shit. Obama is simply smearing shit with a dirty rag and calling it a clean up.
-26 and growing
Drink more kool aid, there's a seat waiting for you in Gyana.
Yes, I'm a rabid, foaming at the mouth, clinger, redneck, shallow, beer drinking, slopeheaded, resident of flyover country.
Obummer should be impeached.
Actually it was Nixon who took the US of the gold standard in order to free up the printing presses to pay for government overspending...most notably the numbing failure in Vietnam. By the time Carter came to office, inflation bounced . in after Nixon's failed experiment with wage and price controls (the Keynsian solution). Carter tried making peace (successfully with a lasting Egypt/Israeli accord) and has been roundly vilified ever since from the rabid right. Reagan came along and reflated military spending to the point that it became the entitlement for war profiteers that it is today. Carter will be forever ridiculed for doing the right, moral and prudent thing. You all get what you deserve... a parade of presidential lackeys of the bankster/MI complex.
Wow, that piece of nonsense dies real hard....
Nixon reneged on BW because of the flow of gold required to pay for rocketing oil imports after the US production peaked...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Crude_Oil_Production_and_Imports.svg
Annual CPI inflation rate was around 6% when Carter took office and 12% when he left. At the end of Reagan's first term it was under 4% and it was about 4% when Reagan left office.
Nice try Jimmy, but the facts are against you.
Are you still lusting in your heart?
+1 for remembering the Carter quote.
Perhaps the -1 was for failing to pay attention to the article's note (and dozens of poster's comments) that THE INFLATION FIGURES ARE FUCKING LIES AND THE EQUATIONS HAVE BEEN AMENDED WHENEVER IT'S CONVENIENT TO DO SO.
I'm quite aware of government lies in terms of inflation. But generally they do it to underestimate inflation, not overestimate.
So I think we can be reasonably sure that the 12% under Carter was not an underestimate. Are you then suggesting that all the drop from 12% to 4% under Reagan was fiddling the figures? That has to be a serious rewriting of history and of the role of Paul Volker, who used to be seen as the Fed chairman who killed inflation until his successors unleashed it again.
In past decades, anti-Reaganites never denied that inflation dropped during his first term, just claimed it was all due to Volker, not Reagan.
It was certainly the monetary policies introduced by Volker that caused the contraction and sharp drop in inflation. But a Fed chairman doesn't get to do that unless backed by the President, as Volker was.
Yet, you are not aware that the FED chairman tells the president what will be done. The FED chairman, in turn, is told by the Committee of 300 what he will do. The holder of the presidency is an actor, designed to calm the people when they are agitated and inspire people when they need to get to work or war. They are puppets. We are the audience.
In economic terms, with the collapse of US manufacturing and the loss of the gold standard, the dollar was pretty worthless. This was the reason for the inflation. When Volker increased the interest rates, he made dollar denominated bonds desirable again, repairing the value of the dollar.
With the dollar protected by petro status and military superiority, the dollar remained valuable, taking the edge off inflation. However, the US is being exposed for the bankrupt nation of out of control debt addicts it is, the out of control military/spy apparatus it uses to support the Elites, and the dollar is now being allowed to crumble. Which should lead you ask, why now?
The China/Russia challenge is fabricated, cash will soon be eliminated, the State will process and track your wages and subtract your taxes. You will trade security for liberty or you will die. That is, if we allow it. The Elites are not stupid, they spend trillions of debt notes they printed to insure we follow the script they have written. Tavistock, Stanford Research, Rand, Aspen Institute, etc.
Arguing over presidents? They have you right where they want you.
Yes BM, but I remember my grandfather gloating that he was getting 20 cents interest on his 1300 dollars in savings at 77 years old and he said he " just might register to vote for Carter", if he ever found the time to go to town.
Carter was/is a failure and President Rayguns had his inattentive moments also.
10% inflation over ten years is 100% inflation.
Got Gold?
nope, it's worse than that
Compound inflation...
Compound W?
The real remedy to Compound Z is Gulag C (or maybe ashtray VW).
I figure 159%
With the prices of nearly everything exploding, you would think gold would go up in lockstep.
Got manipulation?
I just got a ticket from camera in Milbrae Ca. On the 101 and milbrae exit. They sent pictures of me making a california stop making a right turn. I was hopping pissed of to be a subject of their spy camera. I was screaming about moving to Chile and giving up my citizenship on the spot. I then found out it was a Texas company running the cameras. I could log into the system and see myself caught red handed. The fine was a paultry $500. That's only half of my $1200/mo Obama care payment which was only $300 for the same shitty health care a few months ago. The reason I was in Milbrae Ca. was that I was visiting the east coast with family where I rented a van for the week for $700 per week from Budget. When I picked up the car it was $1200, the rest was fees and taxes in Boston. This makes me want to take lots of vactions with my family in the future. It's a lot of fun if you like to get raped.
You are experiencing the new service economy. You just paid for being "serviced".
We no longer own the country, the country owns us.
"Servicing the customer"
George Carlin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZYY0U3pALk
Be glad we don't have random TSA highway checkpoints here. When that comes, I'm off this ship.
Well, up here in northern cal we just had a checkpoint on the main road to the ocean with about 20 fish cops stopping every car and checking for poachers. If you looked like you were camping you got searched. Another "feature" is that if you live in rural Cal. you get a fire "service" fee (they claim that it's not a tax so it doesn't require 2/3 vote of the public) which apparently entitles the Cal Fire to come inspect your property for violations. It turns out that they don't even need to make an appointment to come on your property to inspect it. Illegal searches?
Don't get off the ship - buy a rifle.
Buy two of the same calibre, your odds will increase.
"Be glad we don't have random TSA highway checkpoints here. When that comes, I'm off this ship."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTG1EHw1XZw you might want to scroll fwd to 1:07, but the preceding 1:06 gives you background on who he is. (a likely recipient of my vote if he ran in my district)
Too late skateboarder. We not only have DHS checkpoints; we have BORDER PATROL CHECKPOINTS as far as 100 miles from a border. We also have TSA (part of DHS) beta testing train station and bus depots checkpoints for the last several years. We have local law enforcement in joint exercises with the military (posse comitatus be damned apparently) whereby the military occupies the town....as a training exercise. The question is "TRAINING FOR WHAT???" Oh, so THAT explains those billions of rds of DHS and TSA and FDA and DOE ad nauseum ammo.
I can't find a classic from a few years ago from one of the first guys to protest this bullshit by filming the "It's my job" assholes and posting them on Youtube. The jackbooted thug who is asking to see his ID later says, "We know who you are" and the guy replies, "If you know who I am, then why do you need to see my ID?" Priceless.
There are hundreds of these on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_3dDNPwJTU
"Am I being detained? How about YOU show me YOUR ID?" LOL
Got a "speeding" ticket for 2 MPH over around the same area (just north of the SFO airport on Hwy 101) in the late 80s.
Got a "speeding" ticket for 5 MPH over on Hwy 17, just south of Los Gatos near the Lexington reservoir around the same time.
I was busted by CHP in both cases.... Before they had traffic cams.
This is big business for the State of CA. (and the cities). I believe I paid ~$220/ticket + $50 for "traffic school" to have my infractions expunged from my record.
The controls of the CA Police State, along with ridiculous and burdensome taxes and regulations finally convinced me to " jump ship," and exit California.
Just recall that Candidate Obama promised that energy prices would "necessarily skyrocket" and that energy providers will be "bankrupted" if they build anymore coal fired plants.
A perversion of the rule of law if there ever was. But hey, a small minority vote and decide for everyone.
Do you think Obama cries at night because it hurts him more than it hurts us?
Daddy spanking us for our own good.
College costs, healthcare costs, gasoline costs, food costs, new car costs, home owners insurance costs, electricity costs...land costs...housing costs. Everything has gone up. We bought land back in the early 90's for under $300 an acre...were just offered $4500/acre for it... my god. Only people who can afford to own land is those that either are the 1%, inherit or got in very early.
Where the fuck are we in another 10 years...in 20 years? $10/gallon gas and $10 loaf of bread...$1000/month for health insurance??? Wages will still be the same... Don't at some point we hit the point where people start snapping (large groups)?. Scares the shit out of me...hope it holds together a lot longer then i think, but who knows.
So long as those "large groups" have their creature comforts covered, they won't riot. Here in FL, every other person is receiving some form of assistance with food, housing, medical, etc. What isn't covered by the government can be purchased on credit which these people seem to have access to in abundance. There will not be any social unrest unless or until government assistance and credit dries up afterall, what else are the masses going to do to amuse themselves when their means of obtaining brain numbing entertainment (cable and phones) are shut off?
I would be thrilled to find an acre for $4500. Best I can tell it is running $10K for a rural acre, $30K for a 1/4 acre suburban lot here. Gotta live somewhere...
We already pay $1000 / month for healthcare Obamacare for my wife ... In SoCal
What about deflation in quality of goods produced? I know that I am not the only one who has seen this over the decades. Another bullshit inflation "offset".
Nice China wrench asshole, it just fell apart in your hands before you even used it.
A box of cereal and a bag of chips also used to be full. Now you are lucky to get 2 thirds full.
You are spot on LH. We just ate a muck sandwich for dinner because the CPI substituted Mississipi river buttom muck for the price of ten day old ground turkey and we got beaver fever. At least the bread was stale.
Everyone has diarrhea now so we can sell more toilet paper. Now that is an economy!
Hell, they have even cut a 1/2"+ off the rolls of TP - no inflation if you pay more for less.
While I celebrate the sentiment you express, I protest your use of the term "deflation" in this context.
A quick trip to the grocery store and the gas station will tell you the truth. The problem with socialism is that everntually you run out of other people's money.
"socialism" LMFAO.
You dumb Usans - well not all of course - got brainwashed into knee-jerking every time you hear the words 'socialist', 'liberal', 'progressive' and so on.
Joe McCarthy did a job y'all.
"lionhearted" you do not have a clue.
It's the TBTF banksters running out of other peoples money and assets ... and they are not even capitalists. They are Financialists and fund the Corporist melding of state and financial interets ... hence QE.
Socialist, communist, bankster whatever you call them. They are all blood sucking parasites. They only exist because our collective apathy make it possible. My job is not to be a sheeple.
>> My job is not to be a sheeple.
You must be in a union, otherwise you'd be fired on the spot.
Non Sheeple United
My income comes to my from my direct efforts. NO ONE CAN FIRE ME. I create intellectual property and sell it internationally. (Work once get paid for ever). The only person who can fire me is myself. Part of not being a sheeple is being independent.
You mean fascists with a nice topping of communism.
Does not "socialism" rely on government taking from one who has earned it and giving it to another who has not?
Laugh all you want Setarcos. You want to claim that red team / blue team is all the same? Fine. I'll accept that. But if you want to use that logic to imply that socialists are the same as free market capitalists, who are the same as communists, who are identical to crony capitalists, who are identical to conservatives, who are identical to liberals, then you are part of the problem.
Don't forget the stock market.
CNBC trotted out a parade of clowns on Friday who firmly believe that there is at least another 20% left in this upward run before any pullback commences and that when there is a pullback, that it will be a buying opportunity for the retail investor.
Do you really think that CNBC would allow people to lie through their teeth on air? <sarc>
Looking at the Yellen video, reading about "IRS recycling crashed hard disk drives," "Iraq incursion 3," etc. affirms what I consider to be a morally bankrupt government "gone wild."
For some reason I remember food shopping with my mom in the early 60s. I remember us walking out of the store with 2 SHOPPING CARTS full of groceries for $60. Now, we get 3 one KG bags of shrimp for the same $60. Saying inflation is under control is a "mis-statement" (because, you, know, they never lie).
We now live in S. Thailand, and I can give you my perspective on the items discussed:
Food - In the major corporate food centers, food is on par with the west. In the local "fresh market" the prices are more reasonable, as the vendors are happy to make a smaller profit.
Water - we are on a well so the cost is in the electric bill. The well levels go down during the summer season, but there seems to be an unlimited supply because of regular rainfall.
Propane Gas - 340 bht/16.5 liters ($10/4.4 gal, or $2.27/gal)
Gasoline - 33 bht/liter (~$4/gal). Note: these prices are subsidized and thus stable year to year.
Electric - in N. Nevada our monthly power bill was at least ~$100 month for a 3BR/2BA. Here it is ~$70/month 4BR/2BA.
Property Taxes - not even close... Here we pay $2/year. In US we paid $1600/year.
Just before we left in 2012, the city had raised property taxes ~15%.
Sales taxes - ~7% here.
Import/luxury taxes: we are in the 200-300% range here for imported autos and luxury goods (even imported cosmetics). US has a big advantage on this one.
Well, at least we know there won't be inflation in the number of lies and purposeful misrepresentations from the federal reserve or federal government... because both are already at 100%.
How true Honest, except this government will gladly give 200% and more...
Here in southern California In and Out burger announced that they were increasing prices today due to rising costs. Yesterday Starbucks announced the same thing. A pound of bacon now costs 9 dollars now. No inflation my ass.
$9 for a pound of bacon is for the cheap stuff at the grocery store. Criminal!!!! I am starting to not feel like such a dumb ass for loading up on those "soupcans" of Yoder's over the years. Who knew that soon they'd look like a bargain? Hell, if this "low inflation environment" continues, my Yoder's cans might even be tradeable for some really good stuff!
fasta food is fungible, just drive to Sonic
Medical care and college tuition are the real inflation drivers. With medical care hospitals are laying off staff because of the reduced reimbursement from Medicare, Medicaid, and the insurance companies. This leads to a reduced quality of care for people who are hospitalized. Four days a week at 12 hours a day is the new normal for nurses. We have a medical system designed by everybody but doctors, nurses, and potential patients.
On the educational side colleges and universities have become a sick joke. $50,000 a year of borrowed money to go Sara Lawrence and study LGBTQ? And when the graduate can't become a contributing member of society with an utterly useless degree the taxpayer picks up the tab.
When I went shopping recently I spent £112 on petrol, and about £150 on food, if I had not checked prices online before hand I worked out I would have paid more than £300 at the top price!
During the "boom times" when asset values are going up lots of people think they are getting rich. In inflationary times government also does well as tax revenues grow. Not only does government get to spend the money they print, the side effects of inflation on taxes are good for government, though bad for their subjects.
By a continuing process of inflation, government can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. said John Maynard Keynes. As the central banks print like crazy to control interest rates on bonds they devalue the currency.
While there are not many Bond Vigilantes there are many Currency Vigilantes. Changes in the value of a currency directly affect "buying power" and the value of assets. Inflation, deflation, what is something worth? More on this subject in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2014/02/when-will-inflation-strike_1.html
After much thought I have come to the conclusion that while inflation appears tame and is not showing up in a big way the seeds have been planted, and the number of them is somewhat shocking. Inflation lurks beneath the surface and is hidden away in the dark corners of our future.
Want to know where the real cost of things is going, just look at the replacement cost from recent storms and natural disasters. Several things to consider when trying to understand inflation come to mind, first competition tends to keep price increases in check, and our slow growth economy is helping the consumer in many areas, but the monster when unleashed will take a very large toll! More on this subject in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/06/inflation-lurks-beneath-and-hidde...
Everyone knows the propaganda arm of the 0bama administration, also known as the main stream media, has shirked their responsibilities and joined the communist/fascist party . Their complicit acts of treason are what enables the current destruction of our freedoms, our economy and our country as a whole, so you will see no honesty in inflation numbers, government or the media. If the propaganda arm would tell the truth, the hangings would begin tomorrow.
I think this is why the 0bama administration is blocking the farming of hemp in Kentucky - too much easily accessible rope...
i agree thats part of the problem the other half is the lazy serfs who are to lazy to educate themselves and do something about it then again maybe its for the better when we cull some of the sheep when it falls apart
2+2=5
Article needs context.
Limits to Growth. The 2000 update.
which is why fucking Congress SHOULD STOMP THE GUTS OUT OF YELLEN ON THIS POINT ALONE.
THEY SIT THERE WITH SILLY GRINS AND TRYING TO BE NICE....BUT THEY NEED TO POUND THIS POINT HOME LIKE A NAIL AT AN AMISH BARN RAISING....
HEY...YELLEN....WE GOT INFLATION....BIG TIME....YOU LIAR!
Congress? Are you fucking kidding me? Congress wants inflation. With the fed printing the way they are it enables congress to spend with no consequences. No congress doesn't need to stomp the guts out of Yellen.... We need to stomp the fuck out of congress.
There will come a time when bankers and politicians are hunted down like the nazis after world war 2.
"Release the guillotine!" will be a phrase often heard in those times.
>> like the nazis after world war 2.
Maybe a few token Nazis were hunted down. Anyone of service was spirited off the Russia or the good old USA to continue with their war making abilities.
"inflation would be close to 10 percent right now.
That's bullshit, no matter how one calculates, inflation is at least double from ten percent.
Only the terminally stupid believe anything that Obama, Yellen, or their pals in the Socialist Semite democrat Media say.......
Many of the same idiots also believe that "both parties are the same" which is nothing more than Socialist Semite media/ democrat party election year propaganda aimed at keeping the Communists in charge.
You know who you are, and so do we, since you take great pride in revealing your ignorance and stupidity here on ZH.
"Under my plan, energy prices will necessarily SKYROCKET." B H 0bamao
How's that working out for you America?
BTW, go to inflationcalculator.com Example: what cost $1 in 1970 would now cost $6.13 a rate of 513%
When it comes to feeding their respective fat cat constituencies there isn't really much difference. Both are gutting the middle class, supporting the MIC, picking fights around the globe, intervening and nation building, supporting the NWO, manipulating markets, maintaining elites, growing poverty, fleecing granny, making everyone terrorists, pumping the police state, etc., etc., blah, blah. I have my bullshit shields raised.
One cost savings tip coming up:
Hone those slices of watermelon into the shape of T-Bone steaks. Serve that to your summer BBQ guests.
Not much left after cooking
* Serve Rare
One cost savings tip coming up:
You know that yapper, rat dog the old lady up the street owns – snatch that f’er up and toss it on to the rotisserie. Nobody needs to know.
Yellen reminds me of the witch in Hansel and Gretel. She seems kindly and invites us in for dinner. Little do we know that WE are dinner!
they've already had us for dinner, now they're mopping up the gravy. what comes next, i ask?
USA = Argentina with regards to inflation denial
Oh, I thought you were talking Futbol for a second!
You spelled soccer incorrectly.
having inflation, and having inflation under control are seperate concerns. since the fed wants inflation, and they can (by bernankes statement) lick inflation in 15 minutes, inflation is under control. an airplane crash is just a high speed landing.
Recent inflation figures in the UK showed that practically everything of consequence to a normal person in the street were excluded from the calculation. The real inflation here on the ground is at least 8%.
A Bedtime Story- by Janet Yellen
If I pull the levers that turn the gears,
I pump the market and kill investor fears
In they pile just like they should
I'm serving them steak made out of wood.
More! they shout so I oblige.
While peons moan, sad faces cry
"Stop killing us you raise our cost
if you don't stop we'll soon be lost"
But I don't care so pump I will
So all my friends can get their fill
I have a signal that they will know
to short this bitch when I let it blow
There will be blood, there will be tears
From the little folk caught in the gears
But we won't care, we got our taste
While Main St. lies in utter waste.
Their assets will drop and prices will rise
So fast they won't believe their eyes
No problem for us, we lick the cream
For everyone else ... the American Ream.
The End
Consumers are getting squeezed from both ends of the retail markets.
Not only are prices rising but the quantity of goods sold in packages is shrinking too.
When's the last time you bought a half gallon of ice cream at the grocer? It's now 1.5 quarts and at a higher price!
Here is the way I have been describing the evil of inflation to children and young adults:
365 days in a year. 2% of 365 = 7.3 days.
IF your money to buy food and the types of food and portions per meal don't change You will not eat for 7.3 days next year. Because the government makes inflation You and your family don't get to eat anything at all for more than a week this year.
The amount of days You will not eat will increase to more than 14 days -more than two weeks- next year.
That is considering only 2% inflation continuing for only two years..
That is one reason why people are on food stamps.
The Government is doing everything it can to starve people -everyone in the country- and make them go begging the government for food.
Every time the you hear the word inflation you must understand that what is really being discussed is food deprivation and starvation.
Government forced hunger and starvation are being dressed up in the fancy word inflation.
It's 120 degrees outside but the government has rigged thermometers to read 72 degrees.
"What heat? Stop whining! It's all in your minds!"
Flip that comment Phil - I'm pretty sure the thermometers are rigged to show the opposite; the Gorian-hockey stick temp increase, so that you can pay some carbon taxes
Don't forget milkfat $$$$.
Have no fear!!
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