[bumpa]

Read the last sentence in your post

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by bumpa

Agreed but it's not the government determining the size of the package

Never thought it did but companies reducing the size of the package is a major part of the inflation we are seeing.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by bumpa

Read the last sentence in your post

When you do not quote the post you are referring too how does anyone know what you are talking about?

[KAM+6]

Originally Posted by Pugchief

Because inflation was very low, which is a good thing. That's how short term interest rates work.

Never in modern-day history was interest rates lowered to below 3%. Also, regulations eliminated so banks could whatever they want. Exactly what happened to Silicon Valley Bank last year. Just a repeat of 2008.

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by KAM+6

Never in modern-day history was interest rates lowered to below 3%. Also, regulations eliminated so banks could whatever they want. Exactly what happened to Silicon Valley Bank last year. Just a repeat of 2008.

Other than these Fed Disc Rates:

2.50% 3.00% 28-Jul-22
1.75% 2.25% 16-Jun-22
1.00% 1.50% 05-May-22
0.50% 1.00% 17-Mar-22
0.25% 0.75% 16-Mar-20
1.75% 2.25% 04-Mar-20
2.25% 2.75% 31-Oct-19
2.50% 3.00% 19-Sep-19
2.75% 3.25% 01-Aug-19
3.00% 3.50% 20-Dec-18
2.75% 3.25% 27-Sep-18
2.50% 3.00% 14-Jun-18
2.25% 2.75% 22-Mar-18
2.00% 2.50% 14-Dec-17
1.75% 2.25% 15-Jun-17
1.50% 2.00% 16-Mar-17
1.25% 1.75% 15-Dec-16
1.00% 1.50% 17-Dec-15
0.75% 1.25% 19-Feb-10
0.50% 1.00% 17-Dec-08
1.25% 1.75% 29-Oct-08
1.75% 2.25% 08-Oct-08
2.25% 2.75% 01-May-08
2.50% 3.00% 18-Mar-08

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by KAM+6

"Slap in the face"?? Just when did the government say that you could live entirely on SS??

When was this????

[Pugchief]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Food prices seem to be about 2.2% higher over last year.

Is that your personal experience (or your wife's if she does the grocery shopping)? In fact, does anyone on this board think food prices are reasonable?

I do the shopping for my household. We eat pretty much the same stuff from trip to trip with the exception of maybe what fruit is in season / on sale. I shop at the same store. And I can tell you that since 2019, my same pile of groceries is more than double what it used to be. Yes, the rate of increase has slowed, but food is very expensive on a relative basis.

[kkingston57]

Originally Posted by Rich42

There is no way that I believe those percent increases that people are quoting here or that the government is quoting here are anywhere near accurate. The government has to minimize the Social Security increase as a way of keeping the deficit down for next year. Additionally, those cost increases that are quoted don’t include the fact that virtually every container that every kind of food comes in is now smaller than it was before and there is less in it. In some cases up to 30 and 40% less food in the package. As usual, we seniors are getting screwed over by the government.

Agree with wat you said but how is government screwing seniors? We still are getting our SS check and Medicare is the best and cheapest health insurance that I have had in my adult life. Before I turned 65 my private health insurance was 11k a year with huge co pays and while employed I was paying 5K a year with a large deductible. Have a lifetime senior National Park Pass that cost me $50 for life. Income taxes are same.

[kkingston57]

Originally Posted by Pugchief

Is that your personal experience (or your wife's if she does the grocery shopping)? In fact, does anyone on this board think food prices are reasonable?

I do the shopping for my household. We eat pretty much the same stuff from trip to trip with the exception of maybe what fruit is in season / on sale. I shop at the same store. And I can tell you that since 2019, my same pile of groceries is more than double what it used to be. Yes, the rate of increase has slowed, but food is very expensive on a relative basis.

A lot of beefs about food prices here. Basically we have two major grocers in Florida, Publix and Walmart. Not a monopoly but close. Can argue that we have Sams but who owns Sams(rhetorical). We spend about 1/2 of our food budget at Aldi. Not bad but choices are limited

[tophcfa]

Originally Posted by kkingston57

A lot of beefs about food prices here. Basically we have two major grocers in Florida, Publix and Walmart. Not a monopoly but close. Can argue that we have Sams but who owns Sams(rhetorical). We spend about 1/2 of our food budget at Aldi. Not bad but choices are limited

We get the same stuff at Publix in the Villages as we get at Stop and Shop or The Big Y up north and the grocery bill is almost identical. Some things are a little more and others are a little less. The only good deals we get up north relative to the Villages is frozen goods from Trader Joe’s. We eat relatively healthy stuff, fresh fruits and veggies, yogurt, nuts and beans, multigrain bread, and lean protein (lots of fish) and our grocery bill has easily doubled in the last four years. I supposed if we bough food (if you want to call it that) with sugar and white flour then our grocery bill would be significantly lower (but the savings would catch up to us in health care expenses). Bottom line, healthy food has become very expensive.

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Actually, if you look over the past 10 years (because I got tired of typing numbers) the Social Security COLA numbers track the September inflation numbers very closely. 2016 was an anomaly where inflation was 1.5% but the COLA was only 0.3%.

If you add the numbers for the 10 years you get 30.8% for inflation and 30.0% for COLA. A loss of 0.8% over that time but that doesn't seem like much. The rates are actually compounded from year to the next but I haven't taken the time to figure out the equation for that.

As for SS payments to someone who retired 20 years ago and someone who retires today, there is more work to determine what that gap may be but my guess is it has to do with wages increasing faster than inflation. If wage increases have outpaced inflation then initial SS payments will have outpaced inflation as well. The SSA maintains a chart for average wage increase by year. It shows that wages have increase a cumulative 43.45% over the past nine years (2024 data isn't available yet), much greater than inflation.

So if the starting SS is roughly tied to ending wages and the SS COLA generally keeps pace with inflation but wages increase faster than inflation then the starting SS for someone today will be more than the COLA-adjusted starting SS for 20 years ago.

Does it *feel* like wages are keeping up with inflation? Probably not. Do people's feelings generally track with reality? No. But think about how much "stuff" we absolutely need and can afford today compared to what we had when we were growing up. My family had one television and a record player. Vacations were camping in a tent and later a pop-up trailer. I spent most of my summer riding my bicycle or running around with friends. Today, multiple flat-screen smart TVs with a sound system are essential. We pick which country we are going to fly to for vacation and make hotel reservations (or splurge on Disney). It is nearly impossible to get kids off their devices (phones, tablets, gaming consoles) to get them outside. My parents didn't amass a huge bank account with the money they saved by NOT buying the things kids have today while today's parents are usually able to save a little even after buying all of today's "necessities." How can that be if wages have not increased faster than inflation and are now able to buy more?

Note: Not an economist, just someone who can google data, add numbers, and remember what constituted a good standard of living a few decades ago.

I know the story, one walked uphill twenty miles in three feet of snow each way to go to school daily also. Sigh.. it's a song and dance and many elderly people are having great difficulty in this economy and that tiny SS increase when considering the increase in the cost of insurance co-pays and prescription medication alone is putting many under great pressure.

We too are solvent but not so insensitive as to miss the struggle going on for many of the elderly. Maybe a nice tax on SS benefits for those receiving benefits over $40,000. a year would help.

[sianagers@att.net]

[QUOTE=Bill14564;2377785]Unadjusted 12 month CPI ending in September 2024
All items: 2.4%
Food: 2.3%
Medical care commodities: 1.6%
Medical care services: 3.6%
Gasoline: -15.3%
If your doctor increases 50% might looks for another that’s a scam

[dewilson58]

Deflation items:

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