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Originally Posted by bcbgcbrcb
Ground beef was $7.99 two years ago, now $11.99. Bag of chips was $3.49 two years ago, today $5.29. 2L bottle of Coke was $2.75 two years ago, today $3.75. Box of cereal was $4.99, today $6.79. I could keep going on and on and on. EVERYTHING is indeed up 30-40% over the past two years. Where in history have we seen price increases at this rate? Of course, let's blame it all on COVID like everything else. While sports cards are average DOWN 30-40% over the past two years. At the start of 2021, gas was $1.99/gal., been over $3.00/gl. since the start of 2022.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Republicaninmass
Thank you for posting real time, boots on the ground numbers. Others in the arm chairs sitting back quoting figures the see on TV are in the dark. Electricity rates are double what they were as well. Gone from .07 khw to .15 khw and up to .25 during peak summer hours
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"Boots on the ground" numbers where? The organic section of a Whole Foods on Oahu?
Yes, prices are generally up on groceries and other essentials.
Yes, the Consumer Price Index fails to account for the whole picture.
No, anecdotal references to $11.99/lb. ground beef do not provide a boots-on-the-ground glimpse into the state of the economy.
I live in Massachusetts, which is often the butt of jokes about being overpriced. Just last week, I purchased $3.99/lb. ground beef at Roche Bros., a chain that is often the butt of jokes for being overpriced. The most I've paid anywhere since COVID is $5.99/lb. And the last time I saw a $3.75 2L bottle of Coke was at a mom-and-pop convenience store with low inventory and low turnover.
Perhaps Massachusetts grocery stores have tapped into some supply-chain mojo that allows them to sell hamburger for 50-67% less than the rest of the country pays. But my takeaway is that we shouldn't use what one person reportedly pays for hamburger or Coke as a barometer for the entire national economy.
I'm too young to remember 10% mortgage rates, but I'm old enough to remember mid-2008, when gas prices were over $4.00/gallon after nearly doubling over a three-year span. 15 years later, folks are complaining that gas is over $3.00/gallon and treating it like a sign of the apocalypse.
I'm not smart enough to know whether we're headed for economic collapse. But I do know that, if we are, we can't reliably predict it using short-term fluctuations in food and fossil fuel prices.