Why is everything so expensive (general rant)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's in part because we paid a lot of people a lot of money not to work during the pandemic, and people's expenses cratered when the did nothing.

No because inflation is global. US stimulus didn’t make oil prices higher.

If oil prices are the primary driver of inflation, why did Harris/biden unilaterally cancel the Canadian’s Keystone XL pipeline, deny the new oil leases, cap all the U.S. oil wells, and generally do all they could to hobble the U.S. oil and gas industry?

Do Harris / biden want higher prices??

You know what I find mind-boggling? I am from Oklahoma, whose primary industry is oil. When gas prices are low, the oil industry there suffers and the state’s economy (and collateral jobs) goes into the crapper. Yet, my friends from there always complain about the gas prices, not realizing that their entire economy relies on them being high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You paid $15 for that completely unnecessary tripe because McDonald's knows you'll pay because you aren't so poor after all.
They brag about jacking up prices because lazy gross people keep buying it, until they just recently found the upper limit.

$20 fed a family of 4 30 years ago. Adk your parents what it cost 60 years ago.

Yep. No one has to have McDonald’s.

Speak for yourself.

[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.

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

My mom is 78 and pays $594 a month for Medicare, $112 for prescription coverage, and $301 a month for items Medicare does not cover. She pays her doctor $2900 a year for concierge coverage. She takes one prescription and is relatively healthy. You are getting a deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It sounds like you need to build up your emergency savings so that these non-recurring expenses don't wreck your budget.

Earmark separate savings for luxuries/treats. So they're not conflicting with each other.

This isn’t a question about personal budget. There is no budget hack for simply not making enough money and things costing so much

The question is why do things cost so much?

Covid was an excuse for gauging the public and it is still going on.

[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.

You need to research some facts before spouting off. Undocumented immigrants come to the US primarily for work. Not for "freebies" like our amazing health care. They are less likely than citizens to present to the ER and the data show that they receive less health care than citiziens. Facts. Now, they come here to work. Conservatives will never stem that tide because they are cheap labor. At Mar a lago and billionaire's businesses in red state.

Undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022.

Read it again 96.7 BILLION with a B. They will not file returns, get refunds or ever draw social security.
Please try for a more creative stance on this. You are getting boring trying to get us to blame immigrants.

[Anonymous]

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

I wonder about this. So much is purchased online and so we all see national prices.
So that person in Oklahoma in a LCOL area paying $25 for something at costco.com is actually paying more than DCUM.