Why is everything so expensive (general rant)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So DH told me at his "excellent top tier" employer, open enrollment has us paying $100 more a pay period for insurance. Unbelievable. Family of 4 with 2 kids all healthy costs $900/mo. I'm really unhappy with this.

Just ask your boss for a 75% raise, like those unionized dockworkers recently demanded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t mean groceries and gas and the things politicized and blamed on Joe Biden. I actually think groceries, gas, property taxes, my personal car payment and mortgage are not all that bad.

But I mean, the general annoyances of LIFE are so expensive. Home maintenance. Car repairs. Broken appliances. That sort of thing.

And then when you actually want to treat yourself with something that doesn’t even seem so extravagant, like an evening out, or ordering a pizza, or getting a cabin for the weekend (so I’m not even talking about overseas vacations and shopping sprees), those things are so expensive. I thought those kind of treats would be reasonable for middle class people to partake in from time to time. But all these fees, taxes, included gratuities, service fees and all that crap.

I know this board skews wealthy (reportedly) but it just seems impossible to accumulate any kind of meaningful liquid cash savings or an emergency fund when everything cost so much. Yeah I could just “do without” and just put off enjoying myself indefinitely, but what kind of life is that, I have relatives who died of cancer in their 40s, died in car accidents, so to a certain extent you have to live for the moment.

COVID. Manufacturers were allowed to price gauge then and are still gauging us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:inflation is much higher than stated. Things like car repairs, maintenance, etc have gone up astronomically and are hard to measure. Paying people to sit at home was incredibly disruptive to the labor market and was a failed experiment.

Remember how the Biden administration kept using the term “transitory inflation?”

Biden’s government is incapable of being honest.

I am tired of this utter garbage.

Trump caused this learn econ.

And moron you want a 60% tax on everything when he gets back? "Trump confirmed that he would impose tariffs of 60% or higher on Chinese goods were he to win a second term in office"

You like food right? Well gee who is going to work the farms when they deport everyone? Your white son or daughter

Biden is not the problem Republcians and CEO's are. What do you think when Trump and any REpublican for that matter deregulate everything? Jesus you freaks are stupid.

I would like to point out that Chinese goods are no longer cheap. I was friends with a Chinese dissadent who spent 20 years in a Chinese forced labor camp for doing nothing more than giving his opinion when asked. He died suddenly while on vacation outside the country. He always said the one thing anyone could do to help the people in forced labor camps making the "cheap goods" is to not buy them. Try reseaching a little about waht has happeded to Uyghurs Tibetans, followers of Falun Dafa and anyone that has an issue with the CCP like some Hongkongers.

At least Trump pushed back on China. I'm not pro-Trump but at least don't criticize him for that. What some of the people in his administration did, such as Mike Pompeo, when it came to China, was incredibly noble and brave.

[Anonymous]

I agree everything is expensive, but I think part of that is due to the cost of living in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So DH told me at his "excellent top tier" employer, open enrollment has us paying $100 more a pay period for insurance. Unbelievable. Family of 4 with 2 kids all healthy costs $900/mo. I'm really unhappy with this.

Insurance keeps getting to be more and more, even through employer. It's not right and not sustainable.

[Anonymous]

"Here are the actual oil production stats for USA., We are significantly out producing everyone in the world.
https://www.eia.gov/today"

My theory on oil production (and the push for solar/wind power) is AI and the data centers need vast amounts of energy to run. Along with the new surveillance systems beong put in place across the U.S.
Hundreds of county's have started fast-tracking their redevelopment plans, and a lot of money is being thrown at it. Theres not enough energy to run all this for the long haul but there is talk of re-opening some nuclear plants also
We, of course, will be forced into rationing our energy use eventually (climate change imho is BS) because the oil/fossil fuel is being hoarded and will mainly go to the data technology. The smart meters were installed for that reason.
All these cities getting new zoning and so-called attainable housing ect. are also getting the new intelligence systems infrastructure built as well.
Check your county's master plan & budget. The new street lighting bill is extremely high because that is where some of the data collection systems will go. The 'corridors' and highways will be linked with AI and data centers ect. will be put next to them. The sources for this info is easily found online. Your state freeway dept website is a good source also the Inflation Reduction Act to begin with

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So DH told me at his "excellent top tier" employer, open enrollment has us paying $100 more a pay period for insurance. Unbelievable. Family of 4 with 2 kids all healthy costs $900/mo. I'm really unhappy with this.

Insurance keeps getting to be more and more, even through employer. It's not right and not sustainable.

It is 100% FREE for every one of the 7,000 aliens who walk right over our southern border every single day.

I’m serious: go to any emergency room. By law, they cannot turn anyone away, even if all they seek is an ibuprofen tablet. They even provide translators.

Do you seriously believe, if a bill is even sent, those individuals will ever pay it? Seriously??

It is effectively free healthcare.

[Anonymous]

I hear you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So DH told me at his "excellent top tier" employer, open enrollment has us paying $100 more a pay period for insurance. Unbelievable. Family of 4 with 2 kids all healthy costs $900/mo. I'm really unhappy with this.

Insurance keeps getting to be more and more, even through employer. It's not right and not sustainable.

It is 100% FREE for every one of the 7,000 aliens who walk right over our southern border every single day.

I’m serious: go to any emergency room. By law, they cannot turn anyone away, even if all they seek is an ibuprofen tablet. They even provide translators.

Do you seriously believe, if a bill is even sent, those individuals will ever pay it? Seriously??

It is effectively free healthcare.

USA citizens better be first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:inflation is much higher than stated. Things like car repairs, maintenance, etc have gone up astronomically and are hard to measure. Paying people to sit at home was incredibly disruptive to the labor market and was a failed experiment.

Remember how the Biden administration kept using the term “transitory inflation?”

Biden’s government is incapable of being honest.

I am tired of this utter garbage.

Trump caused this learn econ.

And moron you want a 60% tax on everything when he gets back? "Trump confirmed that he would impose tariffs of 60% or higher on Chinese goods were he to win a second term in office"

You like food right? Well gee who is going to work the farms when they deport everyone? Your white son or daughter

Biden is not the problem Republcians and CEO's are. What do you think when Trump and any REpublican for that matter deregulate everything? Jesus you freaks are stupid.

I would like to point out that Chinese goods are no longer cheap. I was friends with a Chinese dissadent who spent 20 years in a Chinese forced labor camp for doing nothing more than giving his opinion when asked. He died suddenly while on vacation outside the country. He always said the one thing anyone could do to help the people in forced labor camps making the "cheap goods" is to not buy them. Try reseaching a little about waht has happeded to Uyghurs Tibetans, followers of Falun Dafa and anyone that has an issue with the CCP like some Hongkongers.

At least Trump pushed back on China. I'm not pro-Trump but at least don't criticize him for that. What some of the people in his administration did, such as Mike Pompeo, when it came to China, was incredibly noble and brave.

Enjoy it when you’re cult leader’s tarriffs make an iPad $10k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:inflation is much higher than stated. Things like car repairs, maintenance, etc have gone up astronomically and are hard to measure. Paying people to sit at home was incredibly disruptive to the labor market and was a failed experiment.

Remember how the Biden administration kept using the term “transitory inflation?”

Biden’s government is incapable of being honest.

I am tired of this utter garbage.

Trump caused this learn econ.

And moron you want a 60% tax on everything when he gets back? "Trump confirmed that he would impose tariffs of 60% or higher on Chinese goods were he to win a second term in office"

You like food right? Well gee who is going to work the farms when they deport everyone? Your white son or daughter

Biden is not the problem Republcians and CEO's are. What do you think when Trump and any REpublican for that matter deregulate everything? Jesus you freaks are stupid.

I would like to point out that Chinese goods are no longer cheap. I was friends with a Chinese dissadent who spent 20 years in a Chinese forced labor camp for doing nothing more than giving his opinion when asked. He died suddenly while on vacation outside the country. He always said the one thing anyone could do to help the people in forced labor camps making the "cheap goods" is to not buy them. Try reseaching a little about waht has happeded to Uyghurs Tibetans, followers of Falun Dafa and anyone that has an issue with the CCP like some Hongkongers.

At least Trump pushed back on China. I'm not pro-Trump but at least don't criticize him for that. What some of the people in his administration did, such as Mike Pompeo, when it came to China, was incredibly noble and brave.

The main reason is that china no longer has the birth rate or young labor to produce “stuff” at low cost. Their economic policy was short sighted and killed their own children.
It’s easy to blame labor camps or trump. The underlying reality is always basic economy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The prices at McDonald's tell a crazy story. The dollar menu is gone. I paid $15 for two fish filets this week. $20 used to feed a family of four.

Wendy's has a meal deal for $4-5.

I just picked up 1lb of Tuscan chicken made by an Italian grandma at a local deli. I throw in potato salad I made myself and my family is fed without full on cooking from scratch.
I also take advantage of pre made meals at falls church viet market place, lemon grass chicken and pastries were more affordable than Panera.
Today I am going to hit this polish deli for some turkey burger (have no idea what they call it in Poland).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CEO's and their bonuses.

I think this is part of it. We are leaning heavily into profit, and less price competition- and there is enough demand to let it stay so expensive. Our country condones a few people getting wealthy off of overcharging regular people. It strangles most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t mean groceries and gas and the things politicized and blamed on Joe Biden. I actually think groceries, gas, property taxes, my personal car payment and mortgage are not all that bad.

But I mean, the general annoyances of LIFE are so expensive. Home maintenance. Car repairs. Broken appliances. That sort of thing.

And then when you actually want to treat yourself with something that doesn’t even seem so extravagant, like an evening out, or ordering a pizza, or getting a cabin for the weekend (so I’m not even talking about overseas vacations and shopping sprees), those things are so expensive. I thought those kind of treats would be reasonable for middle class people to partake in from time to time. But all these fees, taxes, included gratuities, service fees and all that crap.

I know this board skews wealthy (reportedly) but it just seems impossible to accumulate any kind of meaningful liquid cash savings or an emergency fund when everything cost so much. Yeah I could just “do without” and just put off enjoying myself indefinitely, but what kind of life is that, I have relatives who died of cancer in their 40s, died in car accidents, so to a certain extent you have to live for the moment.

It’s extremely expensive bec of corporate greed.

Maga is so dumb this is their fault

And if Trump wins I hope to hell they lose everything I mean it every thing all their social security all their savings jobs etc everything. We all know his heath are plan is coming after what like 8 years? Oh dear maga project 2025 definitely spells that one out you idiots are too stupid to have read it.

They got us here this is 100 percent on maga stupids unamerican dummies

Let there be no doubt, if that happened, MAGA would find a way to blame democrats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So DH told me at his "excellent top tier" employer, open enrollment has us paying $100 more a pay period for insurance. Unbelievable. Family of 4 with 2 kids all healthy costs $900/mo. I'm really unhappy with this.

Insurance keeps getting to be more and more, even through employer. It's not right and not sustainable.

It is 100% FREE for every one of the 7,000 aliens who walk right over our southern border every single day.

I’m serious: go to any emergency room. By law, they cannot turn anyone away, even if all they seek is an ibuprofen tablet. They even provide translators.

Do you seriously believe, if a bill is even sent, those individuals will ever pay it? Seriously??

It is effectively free healthcare.

Well, this emergency care is federally funded and extremely limited. I mean, very very limited. Even to get life-saving medicine for more than 24-36 hrs is impossible, for example. And the emergency care is only for life or limb-threatening situations.
For citizens of the USA, insurance is crippling for most, covering only catastrophic situations, unless you have medical assistance. Medical assistance is hard to get and keep. All citizens should have access!