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

I have a family of four (it was six, but two are now adults living on their own). I do not spend anywhere near $106k annually (the minimum to "get by" my state).

I spend in the 70s annually, and there is a lot of waste and luxury built into that.

Maybe I am not "getting by???" Oh, no. LOL. Nice house, smaller than most, but nice, a huge book collection, fancy firearms, even a long range 6GT, reloading setup, a couple nice cars, even if they are getting a little age on them. The wife and I even have fancy newish iPhones. I even have TWO not just one Sirius satellite radio subscriptions. We are not in poverty. We live well.

Maybe I should take a look at SmartAsset's "study" to see what is in a typical budget. Then again, nah. I'm doing fine not spending all that. No need to look at what they think I should spend.
 
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Oh, wait.

Sorry, Hobo Hilton. I did not mean to undermine your inflation narrative about how we are all drowning in rising expenses. Carry on.

I'll even help.

My groceries and gas are more expensive. They are still built into that 70 something thousand pushing up toward 80 thousand annual spend for my family of four.
 
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Oh, wait.

Sorry, Hobo Hilton. I did not mean to undermine your inflation narrative about how we are all drowning in rising expenses. Carry on.

I'll even help.

My groceries and gas are more expensive. They are still built into that 70 something thousand annual spend for my family of four.
No harm, no foul.

And that is one of the issues of these studies. The Government numbers don't align with studies like this one. Keeping the COLA number low goes in the Government's favor.

To validate your number -
  • Average household income: The average family household income was $74,755 in 2022. (Yes, a somewhat older study)
 
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Kashkari said it would probably take “a year or two” to get inflation back to the Fed’s 2% target. That prediction is not far off the median Fed forecast.


Kashkari said it would probably take “a year or two” to get inflation back to the Fed’s 2% target. That prediction is not far off the median Fed forecast.

Ya whatever Neel says is bible. Do these people believe this BS. Cracks in the economy continue to grow, you can window dress it any way you want the buying power of the dollar continues to decline. Neel is propaganda.
 
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IRS Abacus, inflation and its impact on household incomes; for all those believers that the credit cards are rewarding them for charging by giving them some kind of kickback. Probably someplace in that transaction a bank is skimming up to 3% of the transactions cost. Yes we understand you are paying that card off before incurring interest, that’s great. As the ability to track transactions electronically increases eventually it only seems feasible that the IRS will know how much dollar wealth a person has available, if you cross out of that range enough will this be cause a closer look from the authorities? Most of us at one time or another have probably received the form letter from the bank saying we have
discovered our computer system has been compromised by unknown hackers and we are providing you free credit monitoring for the next 100 years blah blah blah. Great not only did they not protect my information but now trying to look like good guys they are allowing a third party to monitor my finances, apparently I agreed to this when I opened the account but who says who these third party companies are sharing this information with? What if they are selling this information to the government, could never happen don’t be so sure about that. The more we embrace the convinces offered by electronic financial transactions the more we sink into financial quicksand. Occasionally I prefer to pay bills with money orders over checks from my bank, many reasons for doing this. Wmart has usually provided easy money orders cheaper than many competitors. It seems they have recently changed how they process and provide this service, they want to create a customer portal by using the customer's phone number. I’m all about a company providing excellent customer service but when it starts to collect my personal information like financial crumbs that are going to be stored in the cloud that is already providing credit monitoring that may or may not being shared with the government. Is it really about me or is it to better assist the IRS in monitoring my personal finances? Credit cards are banks, banks are not our friends.
 
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Inflation target must be "ZERO". American's wages / pensions need to increase to simply break even. Anything less is a losing proposition.
_________________________________

Consumers also anticipate that inflation will remain high in the coming years, projecting that it will hover around 2.9% three years from now – up from February's 2.7% and January's 2.4%. However, they expect that inflation will cool to 2.6% five years from now, according to the survey.
That remains above the Fed's 2% target, indicating that sticky inflation could be here to stay. By comparison, central bank policymakers projected in their latest economic forecasts that inflation will fall to 2.1% by 2025 and eventually settle at around 2% in 2026


 
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By the time land is purchased, local building codes are met, materials purchased, qualified workers hired, services are brought in there is no way "affordable housing" can be built. It is just a fact.
_________________

Yellen announces $100 million affordable housing fund as shelter costs weigh on Biden​


Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday unveiled a new slate of financing initiatives to support housing development, including a $100 million fund specifically for affordable housing.

The announcement came days before President Joe Biden faces off against former President Donald Trump in the first presidential debate, where inflation is likely to be a key point of contention.


 
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By the time land is purchased, local building codes are met, materials purchased, qualified workers hired, services are brought in there is no way "affordable housing" can be built. It is just a fact.
_________________

Yellen announces $100 million affordable housing fund as shelter costs weigh on Biden​


Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday unveiled a new slate of financing initiatives to support housing development, including a $100 million fund specifically for affordable housing.

The announcement came days before President Joe Biden faces off against former President Donald Trump in the first presidential debate, where inflation is likely to be a key point of contention.


What the heck, as the wheel turns, no this is more of a circus like plan, so it must be the merry-go-around.
 
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Fed Governor Bowman says she’s still open to raising rates if inflation doesn’t improve​


Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said Tuesday the time is not right yet to start lowering interest rates, adding she would be open to raising if inflation doesn’t pull back.

“Should the incoming data indicate that inflation is moving sustainably toward our 2 percent goal, it will eventually become appropriate to gradually lower the federal funds rate to prevent monetary policy from becoming overly restrictive,” Bowman said in prepared remarks for a speech in London. “However, we are still not yet at the point where it is appropriate to lower the policy rate.”

 

Key Points​

  • Prices in April rose 6.3% compared with April 2023, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index.
  • Home prices are now 47% higher than they were in early 2020, with the median sale price now five times the median household income.
  • Half of all renter households — more than 22 million — spent more than 30% of their income on housing this year, which is considered “cost burdened.”

Here’s how bad housing affordability is now​


 

Update

The share of credit card debt that’s severely delinquent, defined as being more than 90 days overdue, rose to 10.7% during the first quarter of 2024, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. A year ago, just 8.2% of credit card debt was severely delinquent.

 
I have a family of four (it was six, but two are now adults living on their own). I do not spend anywhere near $106k annually (the minimum to "get by" my state).

I spend in the 70s annually, and there is a lot of waste and luxury built into that.

Maybe I am not "getting by???" Oh, no. LOL. Nice house, smaller than most, but nice, a huge book collection, fancy firearms, even a long range 6GT, reloading setup, a couple nice cars, even if they are getting a little age on them. The wife and I even have fancy newish iPhones. I even have TWO not just one Sirius satellite radio subscriptions. We are not in poverty. We live well.

Maybe I should take a look at SmartAsset's "study" to see what is in a typical budget. Then again, nah. I'm doing fine not spending all that. No need to look at what they think I should spend.
$107k in MI? I can't see that.

Off the top of my head, we're at about $80-85k for 3. That's with 1 vehicle payment and without a house payment. Add in niceties and we're easily over $100k.
 
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Oh, wait.

Sorry, Hobo Hilton. I did not mean to undermine your inflation narrative about how we are all drowning in rising expenses. Carry on.

I'll even help.

My groceries and gas are more expensive. They are still built into that 70 something thousand pushing up toward 80 thousand annual spend for my family of four.
More than just groceries and gas..
good for you on buying a house , before Biden fk'd it over for everyone. Go buy a house right now.. pay that 6.5% apr
If you 'spending' 70k a year, you are not w2'ing 70k a year.
EVERYTHING is more expensive.
I've talked to a few milliionaires, they could careless about gas and food. Why, because .99 for a dozen eggs vs 4.99 doesn't bother them.
Now, take a poor person, yup, it matters.
HOBO never said 'we'; inflation hits everyone; it just doesn't matter to some or the ignorant.
 
good for you on buying a house , before Biden fk'd it over for everyone. Go buy a house right now.. pay that 6.5% apr
Biden does not really have anything to do with the housing shortage. It was not even created while he was in office as President.

There are not enough houses for sale and for rent for all the persons trying to buy or rent them.

What do you think that does to the price?

There have not been more houses than buyers for more than a decade and a half.

The shortage is in the millions. That is, millions more buyers and renters than housing units.

I am no fan of Biden, but you cannot lay this one at his feet. Sorry. It is supply and demand.



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Biden does not really have anything to do with the housing shortage. It was not even created while he was in office as President.

There are not enough houses for sale and for rent for all the persons trying to buy or rent them.

What do you think that does to the price?

There have not been more houses than buyers for more than a decade and a half.

The shortage is in the millions. That is, millions more buyers and renters than housing units.

I am no fan of Biden, but you cannot lay this one at his feet. Sorry. It is supply and demand.



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When a majority of those buyers are investors, foreign and domestic, it makes sense.
 
When a majority of those buyers are investors, foreign and domestic, it makes sense.
I track housing like a hawk b/c I invest in it from agency mortgage REITs to low cost housing manufacturers. In the 1st quarter of 2024 depending on where you look from Redfin, to NAHB or HUD ~ 20% of residential home purchases were from the investor side for the entire country. 'Majority' are definitely not investors.
 
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When a majority of those buyers are investors, foreign and domestic, it makes sense.
That changes nothing. The housing shortage is in rentals, too.

If you and I invest in a house for a rental, or ten of them, those houses are all counted. If you buy one to live in, and I do, too, those houses are also counted.

What we would discover is lots of buyers competing with us for both, however, and lots of renters putting in applications once we closed on the sale and advertised the units for rent.

3.2 million short - whether rentals or buying to own. Investors are included. There is still a shortage of housing. Have you looked at the cost of rent lately?

All of this has been covered already in this thread.
 
I track housing like a hawk b/c I invest in it from agency mortgage REITs to low cost housing manufacturers. In the 1st quarter of 2024 depending on where you look from Redfin, to NAHB or HUD ~ 20% of residential home purchases were from the investor side for the entire country. 'Majority' are definitely not investors.
I think he was just using hyperbole to make a point, not trying to lie to us.

The point does not change the situation, however. Investors buying housing units does not create a shortage. Those houses are being rented. That is the main reason investors buy them.

The housing shortage is for residential real estate, not only purchases or only rentals. It is both.

Not enough housing is being built.

Shortage in housing, lots of demand from home buyers, renters, and investors, and the price goes up.

Biden did not do that.

Lots of your neighbors did, though, bitching to the city council or the county commission every time a new development is proposed, especially if it is high density or "affordable." Not in my backyard everywhere results in less housing units being constructed. This means a shortage.
 
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pay that 6.5% apr

You must be very young and inexperienced. I had a mortgage at 9.5% and that was market at the time. 6.5% is not high by any historical measure. It is only high compared to recent 0% interest rate stimulus for the economy that helped drive inflation. Spend more than a decade with artificially low interest rates, then shut down the economy and have Trump hand out free money to everybody, and then Biden do the same, and you get what is 100% predictable. Inflation.

Nobody wants inflation, but everybody bitches about normalizing interest rates.

6.5% for a mortgage is normal to low, not high.

You can't have it both ways. Inflation or normal interest rates. Take your pick.




The figures below come from Freddie Mac, which began tracking 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates in April 1971:
DecadeMortgage rate near the beginning of the decadeMortgage rate at the end of the decade
1970s7.33%12.9%
1980s12.9%9.78%
1990s9.83%8.06%
2000s8.15%5.14%
2010s5.09%3.74%
2020s3.72%Today’s mortgage rate


6.5% is barely above the artificially low stimulus rates from 2010 and later.
 
You know what they say about stats. 😉

For example, in Lincoln County, Mississippi, more than 60 percent of homes sold went to institutional investors.

But yeah, from the stories I heard I assumed it was worse.

 
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You know what they say about stats. 😉



But yeah, from the stories I heard I assumed it was worse.



"Interestingly, according to a new Redfin report, the phenomenon of investors buying up residential homes may have peaked. The company found that investor home purchases fell drastically over the course of 2022, declining by 45.8 percent from the fourth quarter of 2021 to the fourth quarter of 2022."

Wow, that's huge. They do not even venture a guess as to why there was such a large decline.
 
Over the last couple of weeks my weekly groceries are up approximately 10%. Coke Pepsi Kraft Budweiser Pepperidge Farm Frito Lay etc. Not sure if it the retailer or combination of all of the above. Good thing the illegals are getting plenty of EBT, we sure as hell don’t want the working class citizens to feel any relief.
 
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