Originally Posted by MrFlorida (Post 2234559)

Yesterday on 466 all the Circle K stations were $3.49 for regular...

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby (Post 2234569)

So - here's how it works:

Widgets were invented 10 years ago, and were $1 each.

Last year, you needed a widget. Last year, widgets cost $9 each.

This year, the same widget is $3.

Yes - it's up from when it first came out on the market. But it's much less than it was last year.

Originally Posted by Mrfriendly (Post 2234848)

Last week we were at our home and had use of a car for the week. We noticed gas prices in the bubble ( The Villages) were .40 or more higher than gas stations outside our area. Hmmm
I was thinking, maybe these stations have a captured audience of many, many golf carts and the abundance of landscapers needing fuel for their equipment who don’t want to lose time driving further away to refuel?

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby (Post 2234569)

So - here's how it works:

Widgets were invented 10 years ago, and were $1 each.

Last year, you needed a widget. Last year, widgets cost $9 each.

This year, the same widget is $3.

Yes - it's up from when it first came out on the market. But it's much less than it was last year.

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby (Post 2234810)

Read all the previous replies correcting me, and my response acknowledging that I was incorrect. There's around 2 pages of this. I mean unless you just want to jump on the "OB Is Wrong" bandwagon, in which case - go ahead and get your rocks off.

Originally Posted by Maker (Post 2234764)

Totally incorrect.
Worldwide economics ties seemingly unrelated events together. Here's the timeline of cause and effects that triggered this inflation.

Energy companies lost a huge amount of money when Biden terminated land leases for oil and natural gas wells on federal land. The billions they invested in constructing those wells was instantly lost. Plus they lost the income from the raw product those wells would have produced.

Then Biden said no more leases.
The energy companies decided to hold on to (stop spending) their well investment dollars rather than risking it being lost on the whim of the president. They did not invest budgeted money into building new wells because they were worried about the the performance of new wells on existing unused leases that had a poor potential for being productive (that's why they were unused - junk geography after analysis), and fearing a repeat of Biden's previous financial hit.
That is where the record profits came from. Holding money instead of investing it. The future energy production is also now crippled.

So Biden said, ok, we will lease some land. It was the lousy areas. And there was no promise that leases wouldn't get pulled away again. A non-solution, but it sounded good in the press. Solved nothing.

That all had a cascading effect. Now there is not enough energy for the needs of the country. So the USA suddenly became an net importer of energy. No longer energy independent as more is being imported into the country than being exported. Foreign countries (Venezuela, Arabs, etc.. think OPEC) were happy to sell us energy, but at much higher prices than previously. The USA had no choice except to buy at those inflated prices. There is the reason for higher gasoline prices. (inflation)

With no new wells coming online, the future production will drop as wells dry up. Lower supply will drive prices up even more as time passes. (inflation)

And related, Biden restricted use of coal. A plentiful, low cost, energy resource within the USA. We all need electricity - even when it's cloudy or at night, or when the wind is not blowing. What do power plants use for generating power now? Oil and natural gas. That caused demand for oil and natural to go up substantially. That drove the USA into importing even more oil and natural gas. The spiral grows bigger. (inflation)

We see gasoline has gone from $1.90 to $2.92 (or more)
What you may not notice is diesel has more than doubled. Diesel moves trucks and trains. As a result, shipping costs have gone way up. That drives up the cost of everything we buy. (inflation)
Manufacturers also have to pay more to get the raw materials. That drives prices up again, this time at the source. (inflation)
Farmers costs for fuel for their tractors, buying seeds or feed, are all up too. Their costs for providing our food are way up, so that hits everybody. (inflation)

Having every step of the process to get goods into our homes suddenly become more expensive is a direct result of Biden's energy policy. That triggered the start of record inflation. What will stop inflation? Reversing the cause would be a great start.

Originally Posted by Chi-Town (Post 2234685)

I still get a charge of of those that are fixated on higher gasoline prices. A reminder that it is supply and demand. During the covid years demand was very low and $2.29 was common. Compare it to the demand now.

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby (Post 2234569)

So - here's how it works:

Widgets were invented 10 years ago, and were $1 each.

Last year, you needed a widget. Last year, widgets cost $9 each.

This year, the same widget is $3.

Yes - it's up from when it first came out on the market. But it's much less than it was last year.

Originally Posted by Steve (Post 2234881)

Then how do you explain that it was $1.87 before COVID hit?

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby (Post 2234520)

Inflation was as high as 9.1% nationwide a year ago. We were still recovering from global shut-downs post-pandemic, restoring jobs lost, getting manufacturers back on track, and a bunch of other stuff that's political so I won't detail it here but - politics certainly played some part.

The good news, is that the inflation rate has been in decline for the past 12 months, consecutively, and hit 3% as of the end of June.

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby (Post 2234539)

Yup. Gas was $2.94 this morning at BJ's, which is where I get my gas. That's 4 cents lower than it was a week ago. It was $2.98 for around a month. It was consistently over $3.00 before that.

As I posted in response to MichaelG, the *price* that you pay as a customer, when inflation rates drop, is up to the seller. They're getting things cheaper, it's up to them to decide whether or not to reduce their retail price keep the higher margins.

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby (Post 2234691)

So yeah I had my math and logic all turned around upside down and backward. I guess my point remains the same though: the rise of inflation is lower now, than it was a year ago. It's been steadily decreasing all year. There is almost always inflation. It's a rare occurrence when there is a year of no inflation. It's also a rare occurrence when there is a -significantly- steady decrease for a full year.

This almost 6-point decrease is pretty significant. You can argue the math all you want, but I know I for one would prefer a 3% inflation rate than a 9% inflation rate. Zero would be best but - that isn't on the list of options at the moment.