3.3% Inflation, R U happy???
 

Why are people happy with 3.3% inflation??

Stock market jumps.
Buy/Buy/Buy.

I guess it's better than 9.9%.

Are you happy??

Yep! But, I try to always be happy. I'm to old to be mad.
🫠😉😊

Nicely put. Stress is a killer.

And thanks for asking!

Nope, not happy at all about prices, even if the reported (and highly massaged) statistic showed zero inflation. The damage has already been done. The stuff most important to us, with inelastic demand, like food, insurance, health care, utilities, taxes, etc… has already gone up way more than any reported statistics indicate and won’t be reversed! The last 3-4 years has been painful from a price perspective.

Also not happy with an economy dependent on excessive debt and low interest rates. We live in a twisted world when stocks do good when we get news showing an economic slowdown, because it gives the Fed an excuse to continue with irresponsible fiscal and monetary policy. Shouldn’t the stock market do well when we get strong economic data, and not vice versa?

Hate to say it................but could we use some Deinflation??

:mornincoffee:

Yes, but inflation is a killer as well.............it's a huge tax.

:read:

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Happy that it's 3.3% rather than 9% or more
Happy that it's near a long term average
Happy that the economy appears to be expanding and not contracting
Happy that most prices are increasing slowly
Happy that businesses will likely be able to increase salaries to cover inflation
Happy that we are not (yet?) experiencing what the doom&gloom group has been predicting for many years.

Absolutely. And it’s not ZERO inflation. Simply that the level did not increase. It’s still, what, 3.3%. And all the dramatic inflation levels from past years still impact prices etc etc. all that is built in. But this is a good sign that things are kind of settling.
But the way D.C. spends, nothing is safe. And the deficit…. Enough already.

:eclipsee_gold_cup:

Until the govt decides we need a balanced budget at the very least, we are on a very slippery slope that our kids and grandkids will have to deal with at some point.

To worry about something I have zero ability to change isn’t how I choose day to day life. Still buy, same things, if it’s more than my grandkids will get less.

It is "transitory" so inflation does not matter. Or so we have been told.

Inflation may be down, but prices are still high.

“Most people are as happy as they make up their mind to be.” Most of us who retired and live in The Villages are very fortunate.

People keep banging on about the debt our kids will have to pick up.
It's our kids who have been running the show for years.:shrug:
Blame them.
Our turn at the wheel has long passed.

Only partially. Lots of old folks in our govt

As the song goes..."what goes up must come down" Well I've been waiting too long! More than 20% increase in prices of goods we all must buy does not make me happy.

I graduated college in 1964. From then until now "officially" inflation has averaged 3.97% per year.

Inflation Calculator 2024 - Calculate U.S. Inflation by Year

Am I happy about it? Yes and no. I am pragmatic about it. It helped me in my younger years as I was investing in real estate with very high leverage and was able to more than double a down payment in a year. Nowadays it is more a question of holding on to what I have.

Is your kid 81?:laugh:

Assuming you’re correct, inflation is currently below average. That’s humbling.

3.3% above the 59% last few years. Stock market inside Ponzi scheme. manipulated by billionaires and career _——-. They know outcome of their actions.

Some things don’t come back down.:thumbup:

Keep voting to grind your grandchildren between the millstones of taxes and inflation...they will eventually love you for it :)

The idea is that with people getting poorer, the fed will lower interest rates so the Wall Street Casino(WSC) will enjoy cheap money again.

Gubbermint spending is now approaching 50% of the total economy...True banana republic stuff. I suspect inflation is here to stay...And so does Powell. When Powell leaves we will get MMT free money so inflation will go even higher.

I have no kids. I blame all YOUR kids. And you, for not teaching them right. How about them apples!

Do you hit the accelerator when you see one of those signs that says “drive like your kids live here”?

Inflation reduction act took care of everything, right ?

Haven't had to dive into my pension check or 401k only my SOC SEC and still have money left over…

Stats say 7.0%, 6.5%, IRA, 3.4%, 3.3% (through first five months). Looks like a significant drop to me.

Causation or just correlation? I imagine books will be written attempting to answer that.

100% unrelated.

:eclipsee_gold_cup:

Not what Fed reported today. 2.8% inflation and 4% unemployment. Pretty Good economy.

Well I guess that settles it then. No analysis necessary, nothing to write a book about. 100% unrelated and that's that.

:BigApplause::BigApplause:

I was a federal employee from 1978-2012. I remember when President Bill Clinton left office and there was a budget SURPLUS...We (federal employees) all thought we would get a piece of that. Ah, the good old days...

From Wiki... [Clinton] had budget surpluses for fiscal years 1998–2001, the only such years from 1970 to 2023. Clinton's final four budgets were balanced budgets with surpluses, beginning with the 1997 budget.

What happened? How did we go off track?? What lead to this inflation and the recession of 2008?

"The Great Recession of 2008 to 2009 was the worst economic downturn in the U.S. since the Great Depression. Domestic product declined 4.3%, the unemployment rate doubled to more than 10%, home prices fell roughly 30% and at its worst point, the S&P 500 was down 57% from its highs."

You are tragically on point...we are leaving our economic mess (and financial burden) to our children and grandchildren. I know that our Social Security and Medicare benefits are always on the table as a solution but is that fair? You and I paid for Medicare and SS benefits for more than 40-50 years--but the government (including our Senator Rick Scott) wants to "revisit" our benefits to reduce taxes.

Not a simple solution to be sure...

shades of 476 AD

Still looking for that silver lining, I see...

Who held the purse strings during that time?

Sorry, I don’t see the value judgment in my statement.

But now that you mention it, 3.3% is a whole lot better than 6.5% or 7.0%

Not sure where you got 2.8% inflation.

Every report that I saw said that annual inflation dipped to 3.3% in May from 3.4% in April.

You may have seen the projections for inflation and now anticipate core prices to rise 2.8% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, up from 2.6% in their March projections.