[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by MrFlorida

Is inflation really down to 3.3 ? They can tell us anything, but how do we prove it ? Face it, our leaders lie to us.
Go the the food store, or buy gas or a new car, prices are still high, and that's inflation to me.

Gas in June 2023 was right about $3.30/gal. Today it is close to $3.00/gal. That would be about a 10% DECREASE.

According to here, the price of a dozen eggs in 2023 was $2.80 but only $2.70 in 2024. That would be about a 3.6% DECREASE. WinnDixie is advertising $2.99 and Walmart is $2.06 so $2.70 is believable.

Inflation numbers are calculated on more than just one particular item on one particular day. There is more than one inflation index and certain items are specifically excluded from certain indices. I believe the 3.3% number for the year-over-year increase for a particular index for a particular month... I just don't know which month or which index or what that index includes/excludes.

[Byte1]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Gas in June 2023 was right about $3.30/gal. Today it is close to $3.00/gal. That would be about a 10% DECREASE.

According to here, the price of a dozen eggs in 2023 was $2.80 but only $2.70 in 2024. That would be about a 3.6% DECREASE. WinnDixie is advertising $2.99 and Walmart is $2.06 so $2.70 is believable.

Inflation numbers are calculated on more than just one particular item on one particular day. There is more than one inflation index and certain items are specifically excluded from certain indices. I believe the 3.3% number for the year-over-year increase for a particular index for a particular month... I just don't know which month or which index or what that index includes/excludes.

Hah, nice try! Now compare your "today" prices with those of five years ago.
Eggs in 2019 = $1.40
Gasoline in 2018=$2.74 2019=$2.64 2020=$2.17
Anyone that shops and/or pays their monthly bills, knows when someone is lying to them when they are told that they are living better now than sometime in the past. When the price of products is 30-50% more than another given time, and their fixed income only increases 1-3% and they have to start sacrificing, they know that it's not raining when someone is peeing on their shoes.
3% inflation only means that it has only INCREASED that much since last year. It does not mean that prices have gone down.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

...

Inflation numbers are calculated on more than just one particular item on one particular day. There is more than one inflation index and certain items are specifically excluded from certain indices. I believe the 3.3% number for the year-over-year increase for a particular index for a particular month... I just don't know which month or which index or what that index includes/excludes.

Originally Posted by Byte1

Hah, nice try! Now compare your "today" prices with those of five years ago.
Eggs in 2019 = $1.40
Gasoline in 2018=$2.74 2019=$2.64 2020=$2.17
Anyone that shops and/or pays their monthly bills, knows when someone is lying to them when they are told that they are living better now than sometime in the past. When the price of products is 30-50% more than another given time, and their fixed income only increases 1-3% and they have to start sacrificing, they know that it's not raining when someone is peeing on their shoes.
3% inflation only means that it has only INCREASED that much since last year. It does not mean that prices have gone down.

Thank you for that explanation but I'm pretty sure that's exactly what I wrote.

Yes, INflation means prices have INcreased.

As for fixed income, much to my surprise it appears that SS fixed income has increased slightly MORE than inflation over the past three years (a range chosen by another commenter).
Inflation: 7.0%, 6.5%, 3.4% -> compounded increase of 17.8%
SS CoLA: 5.9%, 8.7%, 3.2% -> compounded increase of 18.8%
Over the past five years, both inflation and SS CoLAs saw a compounded increase of 22.2%.

It looks like egg prices are slightly below a trend of increases that started in 2001 and gas prices are slightly below a trend that began in 2015. There have been periods of extremes, both high and low, within those time periods but the general trend is clear.

[tophcfa]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Gas in June 2023 was right about $3.30/gal. Today it is close to $3.00/gal. That would be about a 10% DECREASE.

Every time the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil goes up, the price of just about everything else goes up with it. When the price of WTI goes back down, just about everything else stays elevated. It’s a better measure of inflation to look at prices of things like food, health care, insurance, and utilities.

[Normal]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

Every time the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil goes up, the price of just about everything else goes up with it. When the price of WTI goes back down, just about everything else stays elevated. It’s a better measure of inflation to look at prices of things like food, health care, insurance, and utilities.

Labor prices keep prices up also.

[Sabella]

I bet that 3% figure is not a true reflection and that the real inflation is a much higher percentage than that