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.

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.