I'll talk technical..............2.8% is wrong.

:beer3:

To answer the OP question:

Happiness has nothing to do with inflation. . .

Its whether the ball goes in the hole in par :pepper2: or more :swear:

Yes....but who do you blame?
From Supermarket News: In March, Publix reported net earnings of $4.3 billion in 2023, up nearly 50% from the $2.9 billion reported in 2022.

Look past the headlines:
Excluding the impact of net unrealized gains on equity securities in 2023 and net unrealized losses on equity securities in 2022, net earnings for the fiscal year ended Dec. 30, 2023 would have been $4.1 billion, compared to $4 billion in 2022, an increase of 1%.

Does that make you feel better???

and how about the rest of the story. If you have the right numbers, prices are still rising, not dropping. The numbers above only show the rate of inflation is decreasing, not the prices.

Just finished an article about soft drink prices. Coke, Pepsi and others have used COVID and inflation to raise their prices from $4 a 12 Pack to $7 to $9. They are also increasing their margins as the test the market to see how much they will absorb.

Once the inflation door is open, they get us used to the higher prices they won't go back. Nobody out there looking to reduce price unless the market uses its power.

Clinton got all the credit but it was really a shared bipartisan result

The definition of inflation is the rate of increase in prices. As long as inflation is greater than zero, prices will be increasing. The numbers show the rate of inflation is decreasing which means the prices are increasing more slowly this year than they did last year or the year before. That is what inflation means.

Coke prices were more than $4 for a 12 pack before COVID. We drink a lot of it and I have been shopping for sales for a long time now. Increasing their margins as a test of what the market will bear? You realize that's the way capitalism works, right?

There may be some slight corrections to prices that have increased too rapidly but overall, we have what we have. I believe this is a good thing since a major decrease in prices, deflation, is a sign of a problem in the economy. But, that discussion is best left to those who have spent much more time studying economics.

You could almost always get a 12 pack of coke or Pepsi for $2.99 pre Covid. This was not the regular price but it was the sale price. They usually went on sale about once a month. Since moving to the Villages, coke is usually buy 2, get 1 free. Pepsi s occasionally buy 2, get 2.

Right now, Pepsi is $9.49 for a 12 pack at Winn Dixie and $9.59 at Publix. At Walmart, a 12 pack is $7.28 or $11.58 for a 24 pack.

See........ this is how people try to justify billionaire corporations being billionaire corporations. Lifted from Publix corporate website:Net earnings for the fiscal year ended Dec. 30, 2023 were $4.3 billion, compared to $2.9 billion in 2022, an increase of 49%.
A savvy accounting firm could create a spreadsheet that showed you Publix was damn near bankrupt!!!:rolleyes:

So, employee-owned Publix is a corrupt corporation?

By "fortunate," if you mean we worked hard, didn't spend frivolously, saved...then yes, I agree, I am fortunate.

It was 1.7% three and a half years ago. So, am I happy with 3.3 ? No !

What makes inflation hard to handle is that it's an everyday phenomena, whereas your annual salary / hourly rate / social security payment increase is only once a year, to catchup to the past. So unless you are in a place to raise your own income faster, then your income is always behind the cost increase curve. . . .

So what's good for investments in corporations (rising prices, increased profits) is not good for consumers, and what's good for consumers (cheap prices, very slowly increasing) , is not good for corporations. . pick your poison. . . and for this reason, some of your assets should be invested in corporations. . .

If corps want to grow profits and price inflation is zero( zero revenue growth) , then the only way they can get their bonuses is to reduce costs. To reduce costs, they can squeeze their material supply chain, or lay off people and replace them with automation .

This is where automation will kill the consumer economy by replacing consumers with automation. . and the only offset is to increase taxes on corporations and reduce taxes / increase support to consumers. . .

be careful what you wish for. .

Taxes on corporations are a bad thing. Guess who pays that bill? The consumer

:a20::1rotfl::1rotfl:

"Budget???" That's funny. Does anyone REALLY understand the meaning of "budget?" A budget is just a plan for the following year (in this case). He had a budget plan of spending for the following year, which did NOT include his being in office. An interesting CATO article:
https://www.cato.org/commentary/no-b...alance-budget#

But, let's stick to the subject, which is "Inflation."

Raising the taxes on businesses adds to their cost of doing business and of course that is added to the prices they charge , the standard of living is determined by how productive the supply chain works, the supply chain is the function of business, competitive pressure is always at work to lower cost because that makes for a higher profit, you go to work to put money in your pocket, businesses exist for the same reason, corps/business do not cause inflation they deal with it

Since some folks live on a fixed income, inflation hurts us more than those that have investments that are dependent on high interest rates. Inflation may go down but prices don't. In order to see the damage inflation does, you have to compare today's prices with yesteryear's prices. In many cases prices do not go down, once raised. Creating a personal budget for the year damaged by high inflation rates for retirees on a fixed income means cutting luxuries in order to pay for necessities. Like someone else said, inflation going down, does not mean costs go down. It just means that increases level off, but they do not go back to pre-inflationary prices. I am happy for those that have investments dependent on the stock market when inflation means interest rates go up, that doesn't help everyone else. Damages caused by inflation hardly ever repairs itself. I don't applaud a 3.3% inflation rate, when the damage from accumulated inflation for the last three years will take years to rebound from.

No but they are obviously marking up prices.

Higher Prices
 

I kind of relate to them as Wegmans up north. They are higher priced, but I don’t feel like traveling a lot for groceries.

Well let's see. Four years ago my income was my part time job at Publix, maybe $400/month total. Bursitis forced me to quit, and my income went to zero. Last year I turned 62, and now get $958/month in Social Security. Hubby was, and still is, providing all the rest in Social Security, pension, and a 2-day/week job.

I'd say we're doing great.

So how do consumers consume if the employers keep eliminating them. Jobs aren't unlimited, and paying above minimum wage jobs are getting smaller. . .

If you think that the minimum wage consumers can keep this entire economy growing, you haven't been in the work force lately.

theory is great, until it doesn't scale and work in real life.

Yet you keep ignoring that that 3.3% is still significant;y hicher than 3.5 years ago and when added to the nearly 17% cumulative inflation of the 3 .5 previous years, you have a 20% increase in prices...

But sure, it's better than a 25% increase in prices, so we got that going for us... Which is nice...

Kinda' like receiving "total consciousness on your death bead"...

"He turned me into a NEWT..."

3.5 years ago, 2021? Inflation at that time was 7%; is that what you want?

Yes, inflation has been lower in the recent past. Most years since 1996 have had inflation rates less than 3%. I would certainly prefer 1% over 3.3% but I see a decreasing trend over the last four years as a positive sign.

I do believe that for those of us without a mortgage cost of living increases are substantially higher than what they are telling us.

Agree.

In the weeds with debits and credits................"Tax big nasty corporations".

Reality: No such thing as Taxes on Corporations. It's jus another cost of doing business and who pays for these costs, plus margin???

Hmmmmmmmmmmm

That is probably true now...The under 50 year old vote the future. They will continue to try and vote themselves "free stuff" and will end up starving...like the third world. Maybe they will figure it out.

"From each according to their ability, to each according to their need" makes for an unable and needy society...Always :)

Does it matter
 

If the government taxes a product/company, the price of the product goes up to cover the loss.

It’s fairly simple really.

No business is out to work for a loss.

Inflation can be viewed as the growth of debt since money is now printed to create new debt.
The greatest scam in history involves creating new debt (a few keystrokes) and collecting interest on that debt.
Money could have been created with non-interest-bearing treasury notes, but that would deprive banker families of enormous wealth.

U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

It is not Really 3.3%… not on items that we purchase every day! Try more like 18%
No I am not happy at all because it could have been avoided!

3.3% is the last 12 months.

Your 18% is the last ~3 years.
In MANY cases, it's 30%, 40%, 50%, etc.
Very Painful.

Ridiculous question.

But sure, keep crowing how great the inflation rate is. You seem to be the only one who actually believes that nonsense...

I pay no tax at all on milk, bread, meat, fish, cheese, and many other items at the supermarket. Those are my "every day" purchases.

Who mentioned taxes on food?

True.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people are math-challenged.
They apparently don’t realize that the current 3% inflation rate is on top of the already 20% (or more) hike in prices. In order for prices of goods to actually decrease would require a negative inflation rate.

You pay it
 

You pay it, it’s just hidden and placed in the purchase price of food. Fuel taxes for transportation etc.

It's got nothing to do with inflation, which is the topic of the thread...

As they say.................it's a huge tax on everyone.
It's more painful for "lower income" individuals.
People don't realize...............they jus incurred a 20% tax.....every year going forward.

O U C H !!!

Was trying to follow the "logic" as well.

:22yikes: