Inflation.......... ?

This will drive their "calculated" value down faster as consumers are forced to adjust their spending habits of real inflation. So weight adjustment and only 1 year look back.

Once everyone switches to eating bugs, inflation will look great.
I won’t eat bugs but I sure will eat Bambi and mamma if I have to.
Bambi be so tender eating just saying.
 
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inflation is too high so they can't cut rates not to mention if they do, housing pricing explodes up again and renting shoots north costing more. Fed should just raise 50bps and the let the dust settle
It's looking like the FED is just going to do nothing and allow inflation to tame inflation. Going to be a hell of a crash landing in the end.
 
May 31 (Reuters) - U.S. inflation tracked sideways in April, a worrying sign for the Federal Reserve that suggests the elevated pace of price increases could last longer than expected and casts doubt on how soon the central bank will be able to cut interest rates.
The report from the Commerce Department on Friday also showed tepid consumer spending, a wrinkle that could help the Fed's inflation fight or cause jitters if the economy cools too quickly.

"The longer you get the market inflation lingering close to 3%, the harder it is for the Fed to make a case for cutting rates. Certainly there's nothing in these numbers that advances the Fed's rate cutting idea," said Josepth Trevisani, a senior analyst at FXStreet.
 
The FED Reserve is America's Dead horse.

The Tribal wisdom of the Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that, “When
you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.” However, in
government, education, and in corporate America more advanced strategies are often
employed, such as:

• Buying a stronger whip.
• Changing riders.
• Appointing a committee to study the horse.
• Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.
• Lowering the standards so that the dead horses can be included.
• Re-classifying the dead horse as living-impaired.
• Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
• Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.
• Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse’s performance.
• Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse’s
performance.
• Declaring that the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower
overhead and, therefore, contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy
than do some other horses.
• Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses. And of course….
• Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.
 
When the Government comes out with inflation numbers... All I can do is laugh.
Being on a fixed income forces me to run my own inflation numbers.
I shop once a month for most of my groceries. With all the new scanners, prices are no longer on the items. So, I write the price on them when they go in my basket. Below is an example. Same can of store brand peanuts, bought one month apart.
Last month they were $2.56. This month they were $2.63... That would be a price increase of 2.7% in one month.
Over 12 months the increase would mount up to be 32% (+ / -).
No one is coming to save us.
 

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2.56 and 2.63, I see it, and here I am thinking that is COAL, and then, what is it on a can for, is he sticking his loaded cartridges in a peanut can???
That is the cost per unit that I wrote on the can. If everything in your pantry would have the price on it, you would certainly see "inflation" right before your very eyes.
My ammo also has the prices written on containers. I can see inflation (buying power of the USD) very easily without dragging out a calculator.
Take a paint stick and write the purchase price under the hood of your vehicle... Another good place to track inflation.
Prices are being hidden to appease the average, dumb American.
Lowering the COLA is the Governments goal.
 
When the Government comes out with inflation numbers... All I can do is laugh.
Being on a fixed income forces me to run my own inflation numbers.
I shop once a month for most of my groceries. With all the new scanners, prices are no longer on the items. So, I write the price on them when they go in my basket. Below is an example. Same can of store brand peanuts, bought one month apart.
Last month they were $2.56. This month they were $2.63... That would be a price increase of 2.7% in one month.
Over 12 months the increase would mount up to be 32% (+ / -).
No one is coming to save us.
start writing down the date, next to price.
It will make you sad, but at least you will know the truth. And keep a can with date and price from 4 years ago. The Media won't tell you this info
 
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Inflation? You wanna talk about inflation? Have you looked up the price of a 1971 Plymouth Barracuda lately???
I recently looked at incomes of American's in 1971. I was on a salary and was driving a company pickup. I was grossing $200 / week. Man, those were the good old days.
________________________________

Median income of the Nation's families went above $10,000 in 1971 for the first time in U.S. history.


The 1971 median family income of $10,290 was about 4 percent higher than the 1970 median of $9,870. However, because of price increases, the 1971 median income was about the same as the 1970 median income in terms of constant dollars.1 Among the 52.3 million families with civilian heads, approximately 64 percent were headed by year-round full-time workers. The median income of these families was $12,440.

 
Families were in for a rough time in the 70s.

And that 71 Barracuda was soon used junk that nobody wanted because it sucked too much gas and did not run well on the lower octane formulations that were becoming the norm.

But they sure are expensive cars to buy now!

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One year only front grill.

The lowest price one on Hemmings right now is $175k
 
1970s

Global median inflation started the 1960s at a low 1.5% but then trended up rapidly, in the range of 1.5–4.7% through the 1960s. In 1970, it reached 5.5% and then continued to trend up in a range from 5.5–14.4% through the 1970s before culminating at 14% in 1980.

 
Families were in for a rough time in the 70s.

And that 71 Barracuda was soon used junk that nobody wanted because it sucked too much gas and did not run well on the lower octane formulations that were becoming the norm.

But they sure are expensive cars to buy now!

View attachment 8431733


One year only front grill.

The lowest price one on Hemmings right now is $175k
For rough times there were a lot of GTO's, 442'S, Camaro's, Mustang's, 396 Chevelle's and muscle cars on the road in the early 70's .... But, I agree, by the end of the 70's many were replaced by Ford Pinto's as people got married and started families.
1717512380111.jpeg
 
EL PASO, Texas (Reuters) - Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Lorie Logan on Thursday said she believes inflation is still heading to the Fed's 2% target, although she can imagine "other paths" that the Fed ought to be prepared for.

"I think there's good reasons to think that we're headed to 2% -- we're still on that path, perhaps a bit slower and a little bit bumpier than maybe many thought at the beginning of the year," Logan said at an event in El Paso, Texas. "But there's a lot of uncertainty about that path. And I can imagine other paths that we need to be prepared for. And I continue to be concerned with upside risks around inflation."
___________________________________

Two prominent economists, who both were on short lists to run the Federal Reserve, on Tuesday rejected the benign view that inflation would continue to gradually decline to the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target without causing the economy pain.


“I do think inflation at the moment is stuck well above the Fed’s 2% target. We’re not at a good level,” said Glenn Hubbard, a top economic adviser to President George W. Bush.


Economists who blame a measurement issue with shelter costs for the high inflation are overstating the case, Hubbard said. Even if shelter costs were lower, they would not fall enough to reach 2%, he argued. That’s because, at the current level of shelter inflation, all other prices would have to be zero to reach the 2% target, he said.

Larry Summers, a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, agreed about the troublesome inflation picture.

“I don’t think we’re on a convincing trajectory to the 2% inflation target,” Summers said.
 
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17% is not enough. When looking over the transom of the SS Inflation, Americans have learned how to put a pencil to their personal inflation numbers. The numbers the US Government is publishing are no where the inflation numbers of the real world. Negotiating a contract based on Government numbers is comparing apples to oranges.
_____________________

The labor union that represents American Airlines
flight attendants on Wednesday rejected a company proposal to immediately raise pay by 17%.
CEO Robert Isom offered flight attendants immediate 17% wage increases earlier Wednesday as contract talks continue without a deal, bringing the prospect of a strike closer.
The airline and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants have struggled to reach a new contract agreement, differing on major issues, such as pay.
Flight attendants haven’t received contract raises since before the pandemic.

 

The low-end consumer ‘is really being stretched,’ says Five Below CEO​


While inflation is showing signs of easing, consumers in the country may still be feeling its effects for quite some time, according to Joel Anderson, CEO of discount retailer Five Below
. The executive sees underperformance particularly in the lower-income demographic.

“The lower-end customer is really being stretched,” Anderson said on an earnings call with analysts Wednesday. “We’ve got to deliver value, and we’ve got to really display that in how we go to market, and when you walk in the store, what you see. But all that’s in flight right now, and [we] expect to see some of those changes improve by back half of the year.”


 
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The low-end consumer ‘is really being stretched,’ says Five Below CEO​


While inflation is showing signs of easing, consumers in the country may still be feeling its effects for quite some time, according to Joel Anderson, CEO of discount retailer Five Below
. The executive sees underperformance particularly in the lower-income demographic.

“The lower-end customer is really being stretched,” Anderson said on an earnings call with analysts Wednesday. “We’ve got to deliver value, and we’ve got to really display that in how we go to market, and when you walk in the store, what you see. But all that’s in flight right now, and [we] expect to see some of those changes improve by back half of the year.”


"While inflation is showing signs of easing, " LOL
 
WHOLESALE..... Not retail. It is not trickling down to the consumer.

A measure of wholesale prices unexpectedly decreased in May, adding another piece of evidence that inflation is pulling back.

The producer price index, a gauge of prices that producers get for their goods and services in the open market, declined 0.2% for the month, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thusday. That reversed a 0.5% increase in April and compared to the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.1% increase.

 
Making more money.... Spending more money .......... But just buying the same shit.

1718721664881.jpeg

American households have seen their purchasing power increase​

Americans have seen their buying power rise for a year amid falling inflation and a strong job market, which might be welcome news for households struggling to afford everyday purchases.

The average worker in the private sector saw their real hourly earnings grow 0.8% from May 2023 to May 2024, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
 
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The FED Reserve is powerless.... Their plan is to do nothing. Just a paper tiger now.

Fed’s Barkin: More data is needed before any changes are made to interest rates​


Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Tom Barkin on Tuesday said more data was needed before the U.S. central bank can make any changes to its policy interest rates.


During a livestreamed interview with news outlet MNI, Barkin described the outlook for the U.S. economy as uncertain and said the Fed should keep its benchmark rate steady until a clearer picture emerges of the path of inflation and the labor market.


Barkin painted a picture where there are good arguments to be made for three distinct outcomes for the economy.

The first is that inflation continues to subside and the Fed can declare victory, a so-called soft landing. A second scenario is that inflation remains sticky in coming months, in line with the hot inflation readings in the first three months of the year, and a third scenario is a flattening out of economic activity, he said.

Investors and economists may have already decided which path they think the economy is going to follow, Barkin said. “But that’s not where I am. I don’t think it is clear. We will learn a lot more over the next several months,” he said.

Last week, the Fed kept its benchmark rate steady in a range of 5.25% to 5.5%.

The Fed’s benchmark interest rate is “well positioned … to react” to any of the three scenarios he described, or if the economy evolves in unexpected ways, he said.

The median forecast of Fed officials projected only one interest-rate cut this year.

Barkin, who is a voting member of the Fed’s interest-rate committee this year, refused to discuss the timing of any possible Fed action.

He said he didn’t think it was useful to give “forward guidance” to the markets at the point, given his uncertainty about the outlook.