U.S. Annual Inflation rose to 6.8% in November - the highest in 40 years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Avocados today were $1.29 *each*. And that's on sale, supposedly...down from $1.99 per avocado. Since when did they become a luxury item now? They used to be 3 for $2 only a few years ago. Truly absurd.

That happened over five years ago. The industry seens to have enough money to run a super bowl ad though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Avocados today were $1.29 *each*. And that's on sale, supposedly...down from $1.99 per avocado. Since when did they become a luxury item now? They used to be 3 for $2 only a few years ago. Truly absurd.

Did you miss the whole avacado toast revolution of 2017?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The poor become more irrelevant every day as technology advances. It’s the way it’s always been and always will be. The labor shift away from low skilled workers to automation is happening now. Great thing about robots and software is that they don’t require benefits, higher wages, or join unions. They also can be programmed to take out rebellious masses of the poor. Inflation is the modern day culling under the planet’s survival of the fittest playbook.

I live in Maryland and I consistently have to self checkout my groceries.

Acme--I regularly have to self checkout with my cart full of $450 in groceries. They generally only one human working a checkout lane. If you don't do self checkout you can't exit the store.

Walmart Market--I have to self checkout there. I only pick up a few things here. They only have two human checkout operators here. You funnel through to the self checkout kiosks to exit the store.

Food Lion--still employs checkout operators--no self checkout here.

This is one reason why I like Publix in Florida. I've never seen a self checkout in a store.

No self checkout for me. I will wait on a line and read the National Enquirer before buying something at a store and being put to work. To the CEO earning $25 M a year off of this, screw you.

I suspect much of the shipping in of self checkout kiosks is due to shortage of workers. In a way it is a what came first the chicken or the egg.

Um no. That transition started happening way before the pandemic. Does nobody have a medium term memory anymore?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avocados today were $1.29 *each*. And that's on sale, supposedly...down from $1.99 per avocado. Since when did they become a luxury item now? They used to be 3 for $2 only a few years ago. Truly absurd.

That happened over five years ago. The industry seens to have enough money to run a super bowl ad though

Expect it to continue to worsen. The avocado industry was taken over by mexican cartels. https://insightcrime.org/news/brief/mexico-cartels-fighting-avocado-business

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The poor become more irrelevant every day as technology advances. It’s the way it’s always been and always will be. The labor shift away from low skilled workers to automation is happening now. Great thing about robots and software is that they don’t require benefits, higher wages, or join unions. They also can be programmed to take out rebellious masses of the poor. Inflation is the modern day culling under the planet’s survival of the fittest playbook.

Then the poor start robbing your stores by smashing and grabbing items.

Yeah but that’s where the cops of today who shot and beat the looters will turn into armed drones and robots tomorrow. The moral of the story is don’t get caught being poor. Study hard, work hard, be smart in your choices and if you live in the US you have an extremely high chance of not being poor, despite inflation.

That is a cherished Republican myth. The only place you have an "extremely high chance of not being poor" is in a socialist-style democracy. You do not have that chance in a capitalist democracy like ours that values profit over people. It is what it is.

Yet the Haitian and Hispanic immigrants in my area are generally home owners within 15 years of coming to the US. They buy older housing stock but generally can afford older brick ranchers or concrete block homes. They work hard and while they are saving are also sending money back to the home country to more distant relatives.

+1 their cultures value a strong work ethic and respect for the elderly

[Anonymous]

PPI for January increased 9.7% from last year. Not getting better people!

[Anonymous]

Holy S. PPI growth rate DOUBLED since Dec. Just absolutely horrible. Inflation is ACCELERATING, not tapering/leveling off. PPI is a forward indicator for CPI. CPI is gonna be baaaaad in March right before the Fed's FOMC meeting. The Fed may have to eat a recession at this point before inflation spirals out of control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy S. PPI growth rate DOUBLED since Dec. Just absolutely horrible. Inflation is ACCELERATING, not tapering/leveling off. PPI is a forward indicator for CPI. CPI is gonna be baaaaad in March right before the Fed's FOMC meeting. The Fed may have to eat a recession at this point before inflation spirals out of control.

The interest rate hikes will create a recession. That's pretty much a given. Prices go up until the consumer says no more and stops buying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy S. PPI growth rate DOUBLED since Dec. Just absolutely horrible. Inflation is ACCELERATING, not tapering/leveling off. PPI is a forward indicator for CPI. CPI is gonna be baaaaad in March right before the Fed's FOMC meeting. The Fed may have to eat a recession at this point before inflation spirals out of control.

The interest rate hikes will create a recession. That's pretty much a given. Prices go up until the consumer says no more and stops buying.

My walk through Wegman’s a couple nights ago says I’m already there just comparing prices to what I remember earlier last year.

[Anonymous]

Nailed it

[Anonymous]

It is now close to 10%. Amazing.

[Anonymous]

PPI today shows that companies are passing big extra costs down the pipeline they ultimately end up to consumers. Today's numbers portend ugly March CPI numbers. Companies that don't have pricing power are having their margins squeezed big time by this inflation. It could mean layoffs. Powell and the fed are almost criminals at this point letting inflation get this out of control. It is absolutely INSANE they are still quantitative easing and buying things like MBS. The QE machine should have been turned off a year ago, and the Fed's massive bloated balance sheet that's creating so much social l chaos and asset price distortion should be rapidly deflated. This is getting out of control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nailed it

I really think they should go 100 basis points. Why wait? Just get it done and try to stave off a significant recession.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nailed it

I really think they should go 100 basis points. Why wait? Just get it done and try to stave off a significant recession.

Agreed. At this rate, all of our paychecks are going to be worth 50% less in terms of real purchasing power in only a matter of a few years. Are companies going to double our salaries too in order to keep up? Probably not. The end result is that we all get poorer while our life's savings gets obliterated beceause of the Federal Reserve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PPI today shows that companies are passing big extra costs down the pipeline they ultimately end up to consumers. Today's numbers portend ugly March CPI numbers. Companies that don't have pricing power are having their margins squeezed big time by this inflation. It could mean layoffs. Powell and the fed are almost criminals at this point letting inflation get this out of control. It is absolutely INSANE they are still quantitative easing and buying things like MBS. The QE machine should have been turned off a year ago, and the Fed's massive bloated balance sheet that's creating so much social l chaos and asset price distortion should be rapidly deflated. This is getting out of control.

So why isn’t the fed raising rates? Are they just hoping for some magic cure at this point? Are raising rates the only thing that will curb inflation? Is it politics or corporate interests that are keeping the pressure on the fed to maintain the status quo?