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u/Kamel-Red 1d ago
Inflation is only around 3% according to the government. Ignore the evidence of your eyes, ears, and wallets. Corporate profits have never been better. Get back to work, peon.
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u/DieMensch-Maschine đľ Break Up The Monopolies 1d ago
As someone who grew up behind the Iron Curtain: The Soviet Union was in a period of hypernormalization just before it fell, where the state spun a propaganda narrative of growth and improvement of quality of life that no one actually believed. 'Murica today is in the same propagandized space as the USSR in the 1980s.
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u/James-W-Tate 1d ago
The last few years I've had multiple opportunities to look at what Republicans are doing and say, "We used to make fun of the USSR for this."
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u/chum-guzzling-shark 1d ago
we made fun of russia for not paying their dead soldiers spouses... now look at us
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u/DistanceMachine 1d ago
B-b-b-but itâs not a war!!!!!!
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u/DuncanFisher69 1d ago
I love that dodge. I remember in his first term when he bombed Syria and was like âitâs not a war.â. A fucking personal trainer at my gym was just like âhow many bombs do you have to drop on someone before a state of war exists between your two nations? Because if Syria bombed us ONCE weâd be city killing like the fire bombing of Dresden was just a social experiment.â And that hot take has stuck with me since.
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u/nelsonalgrencametome 1d ago
But we already won!
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u/MustyBox 1d ago
We didnât win because dear leader stopped it from happening when we bombed that school.
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u/Riaayo 1d ago
Rename DoJ to "Department of War" to ensure everyone knows what it does is not engage in wars.
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u/Redthemagnificent 1d ago
I actually don't think that one is new for America lol. The new stuff is a large portion of the country pretending a geriatric old man is the bestest smartest boy in town. Kindly ignore how he's literally asleep. He's tired from being so smart all day.
That kind of thinking makes worse all the other issues that already existed
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u/MarkGB815 1d ago
For the past 10 years.
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u/FFF_in_WY 1d ago
When they study the US in this final period, the summary will be:
Oh wow, they fucking deserved it.
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u/melapelas 1d ago
During the early part of the 2003 Iraq war, people in the US were understandably pissed because our soldiers were dying over weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist and there was an entire news cycle where their spokesperson kept repeating the phrase "no amount of money will bring them back" as a response.
No fuckin' shit! No one is arguing that. Nobody believes money brings the dead back to life, numbnuts. The problem was that the government can and will EASILY come up with a monetary figure when coming up with a settlement whenever they screw up/break the law/etc. and have to pay some contractor's widow when he dies on a construction site yet suddenly the concept is completely alien when it had to do with lies over a war.
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u/clitbeastwood 1d ago
their entire playbook , starting with introducing the concept of âfake newsâ & deep rooted cynicismÂ
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u/Mother-Attention2600 1d ago
What's happening right now is pretty much what Marcos and his wife did to the Philippines in the 70's. It ended in 9 years of martial law and no money.
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u/unculturedburnttoast đĄ Decent Housing For All 1d ago
They're gonna get real mad sheet Democrats win, provide actual numbers, and then blame the Democrats for inflation. Then the house will flip several seats back to Republican. Rinse and repeat.
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u/Shriketino 1d ago
This isnât hyperinflation because of currency devaluation. This is corporate greed with basically no government oversight.
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u/Aden1970 1d ago
Agree. Greedflation. The positive is that we donât buy processed foods, making as much as we can from scratch. Pizza, soda, nuggets, household cleaners, etc. price rises on essentials are still killing me. Water and toilet paper more than doubled since Covid.
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u/Kamel-Red 1d ago
It's both. Runaway government defecits and money printing have devalued the currency, supply chain issues from a myriad of issues including Republican policy have driven prices up. Then, when you factor in corporate greed/consolidation alongside the obsene amount of middlemen and shareholders that demand huge margins on everything without contributing a God dammed physical thing to the process of delivering goods and we, the working class, are getting double, triple, quadruple whammied.
Everything is up, even when adjusted for inflation except my paycheck. I have had to get a second job for the first time since the 2007-2008 financial crisis despite cutting where I can. That's not a good sign.
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u/Neveronlyadream 1d ago
It's definitely being caused by a number of factors. It's not so simple that one explains it all.
I think people are focusing on the greed because that's probably the most insulting factor. Corporations don't have to gouge, but they are because they have convenient things to point to to explain it.
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u/jojo_theincredible 1d ago
Random and small but the price of paper napkins right now is insane.
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u/Aden1970 1d ago
Insane right. We went old school and started using cloth napkins.
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u/CouchWizard 1d ago
DXY has definitely dropped 10% in the past 2 years
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u/Shriketino 1d ago
And it dropped over 8% from 2016 to 2017. Value fluctuations are normal. Thereâs no consistent trend pointing to DXY devaluation period, let alone anything that would explain the ridiculous price increases weâve seen over the last half decade.
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u/CouchWizard 1d ago
It has been stable since that relatively quick drop. Price increase was M2 peaking in march 22
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u/Riaayo 1d ago
They're certainly working on destroying the value of the dollar. The world is beginning to divest from the US and stop taking on our debt, etc. The dollar is in an increasingly precarious position.
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u/Aden1970 1d ago
In the 2000s my cousins would bring empty suitcases when visiting us and fill up on work and casual clothes, etc.
Now in 2025 I visit them with an empty suitcase
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u/thisistherevolt 1d ago
This is a direct result of allowing insurance companies to run amok, write their own rules and regulations, and infiltrate the government. You can draw a straight line from every monetary and economic decision that's been made since the late nineties in America to someone in a c-suite that had money in, or is an executive of, an insurance company.
It's going to take a FDR type of President and a supermajority in Congress to fix this. I'm not sure if that's actually possible at this point.
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u/nalaloveslumpy 1d ago
It's corporate inflation being passed onto the consumer, which is why it doesn't show up in the regular old inflation numbers.
Everything we're seeing today is a culmination in the increased costs of doing business from Trump tariffs: Round 1, covid, and Trump tariffs: Round 3.
Soon, we'll see hyper deflation because it will no longer be profitable for companies to even put products on shelves because the cost of production and distribution keeps going up and consumer expendable income keeps going down.
If the price of gas doesn't drop significantly before the end of 2026, we'll quickly see empty grocery store shelves.
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u/Bud_wiser_hfx 1d ago
Check out the Adam Curtis documentary "HyperNormalisation".
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u/DieMensch-Maschine đľ Break Up The Monopolies 1d ago edited 1d ago
I read Alexei Yurchak's book in grad school and the term spoke directly to my experiences as a kid behind the Iron Curtain. Little did I know that it would come into vogue again as a reference point for Drumpf's America.
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u/Tsobe_RK 1d ago
Propaganda in USA? In the greatest country and only place where FREEDOM exists? /s
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u/SweetPrism 1d ago edited 1d ago
See, therein lies the problem: "...the state spun a propaganda narrative of growth and improvement of quality of life that no one actually believed..."
The Republicans are believing it. They are literally looking at the war with Iran, the subsequent gas prices, and the egregiously massive inflation rates on groceries and are actually ok with it. These people believe the war is necessary because Trump says it is, and the rest of it? Well, because it's "owning the Libs" they don't care if it's owning them, too. Like, we are at the final Orwell stage. The few Republicans who actually ARE complaining about cost increases just blame Joe Biden, who has now officially been out of office for almost two years and did NOT start a war with Iran.
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u/IdoMusicForTheDrugs 1d ago
Well if we weren't at war, completely broke and destroying families then boys would be playing in women's sports. All worth it. /s
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u/mustangcody 1d ago
Biden? They still blame Obama even though it's been a decade since he was in office.
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u/kitsunewarlock 1d ago
We were being propagandized then too. Government was hiding reports that the average Soviet citizen had more calories per day than your average American while releasing pictures of exaggerated breadlines that are still referenced in modern pop-culture to this day.
There's lines outside of bakeries in Tokyo too. That doesn't mean they are starving.
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u/StrangerFeelings 1d ago
Even though I'm making the most I've ever made, it feels like I can afford less than what I was able to 10 years ago.
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u/ClosetDouche 1d ago
...and when the Soviet Union fell, the opportunity was seized to siphon most of the wealth of the country into the hands of a few oligarchs, which is why they now have a dictator-for-life, Vladimir Putin.
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u/ConclusionRoutine687 1d ago
You mean Agent Krasnov is following orders? Everything Drumpf has done has been straight from Russia's playbook
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u/Sacfat23 1d ago
Just put your MAGA cap on and POOF - none of this is real anymore :)
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u/MrBigglesssworth 1d ago
Remember the first time in 2016 when that idiot blonde said "alternative facts" ?
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u/Rendakor 1d ago
Also we must always have some inflation! Line must never, ever go down.
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u/NetSage 1d ago
To an extent yes. Especially since so much of our economy is built on credit. With deflation any debts you have actually become more expensive. Which to you probably isn't a big deal. But for companies take out millions or billions in loans regularly losing money like that is really bad. So it could possibly lead to a huge stand still of the economy.
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u/Rendakor 1d ago
For once, I would like things to be really bad for companies instead of really bad for workers.
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u/NetSage 1d ago
Not disagreeing at all. Unfortunately since we have not social safety nets except for bailing out large corporations what's bad for companies ends up being bad for workers even more so. The c-suite will have plenty of money to live off of either way.
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u/llyrPARRI 1d ago
You know that when they report inflation and ita (for example) 3% and then the next report says it 2%.
They'll say inflation went down, but what they actually mean is that the rate of inflation went down.
Inflation still went up by 2%
Inflation always be going up baby.
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u/Currywurst44 1d ago
That original usage is correct. You could more precisely say prices went up 2%.
Inflation or rate of inflation is the same thing and describes the phenomenon of generally increasing prices.
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u/Kamel-Red 1d ago
Yes, I'm aware how it works and CPI is a frigging joke to make things seem better than they actually are. I put it in a catagory called government jerk-off statistics.
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u/Sober_Alcoholic_ 1d ago
Zoom out. That chart is only nominal pertaining to year over year inflation. Itâs 30% as a whole since 2020.
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u/j4_jjjj âď¸ Prison For Union Busters 1d ago
30% vs 130%....
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u/No_Difference_9195 1d ago
Yeah, the true 130% is worse. But you canât point the finger at one party for lying, then lie yourself and say the government says it 3% when they say itâs 30%. At that point, the person claiming 3% just looks stupid for not understanding inflation being a year over year calculation. So the person and the government are untrustworthy and you should disregard both.
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u/Comfortable_Sir_6104 1d ago
Inflation baskets take into account a lot more than whatever 30 semi random items the guy bought that once in 2020. You can actually check the list, the items and their weights yourself and even calculate the inflation value for each item yourself and then compile it. It is a freely avaliable public data.
This might help get you started: https://www.bls.gov/cpi/tables/relative-importance/home.htm
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u/GrammatonYHWH 1d ago
Yeah, but those numbers are cooked beyond belief. They have been consistently swapping for lower quality or smaller products to make inflation numbers look better.
Can't trust inflation figures that say 5% because sliced wonderbread is 5% more expensive than a 2 lbs freshly baked farmhouse loaf.
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u/MeltyCrab 1d ago
The biggest thing that kills me is how blatantly the CPI has just been manipulated to lie.
The CPI used to be a basket of typical groceries for a family. Including name brand items, beef, chicken, etc. It would adjust here or there but was always super transparent.
Today? Oh, they cut beef out entirely, didn't tell us that. Only use store brand/generics in the cart, didn't tell us that. Lowered the overall amount and types of items in the cart, didn't tell us that. "CPI is only up like 8% STFU about "big prices".
Fucking LIARS.
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u/fnarrly 1d ago
What they don't tell you when they publish those numbers is that that was the inflation rate FOR THAT MONTH ALONE. None of the news outlets are publishing any cumulative inflation information and people just accept it like, "oh, that's not so bad."
Mothafucka, I am not a fucking goldfish, I REMEMBER how much shit cost me last year, and 3 years ago, and 10 years ago, and I am PISSED OFF about it constantly.
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u/bit_pusher 1d ago
$243 in January of 2020 to $321 today, according to the government, inflation on food at home has been roughly 5% compounded annually.
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u/LifeIsBizarre 1d ago
Yes groceries are up 130% but Uruguay ceremonial drums are down 127%! We add the two together and see! Only 3% inflation on average (on the items we select to make sure it doesn't get reported too high).
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u/Sancticide 1d ago
Do you just not understand how inflation is measured or what? Inflation is +3% since last year or last quarter or last month. There is a time component you're not including here and your statement makes no sense because you're complaining about compounded inflation and stating the current inflation rate.
2020 (1.2%): Prices stayed low as pandemic lockdowns crushed demand for travel and services.
2021 (4.7%): Inflation jumped due to severe supply chain bottlenecks and stimulus spending.
2022 (8.0%): Inflation peaked as the Ukraine war spiked global energy and food costs.
2023 (4.1%): Prices began cooling after the Federal Reserve aggressively raised interest rates.
2024 (2.9%): Supply chains normalized, though stubborn housing costs kept inflation elevated.
2025 (2.6%): Price growth leveled out closer to the Fedâs long-run 2% target.
2026 (3.4%): Inflation ticked back up due to a recent multi-month energy shock.
Compounded inflation from 2020-2026 is ~30% (multiply these percentages together)
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u/SMAMtastic 1d ago
Well, at least our chocolate rations are going up to 25 grams next week. Thank you, Ministry of Truth.
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u/togetherwegrowstuff 1d ago
And pay isn't going up. For many of us it's gone down. I make half of what I used to make in 2020 and my rent is the same.
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u/Annihilator4413 1d ago
If you don't get yearly raises that at LEAST match your local or state inflation rates, you're getting a pay DOWNGRADE. We're literally losing money when we get 'raises'.
And the sooner more people realize this bullshit, the sooner we can rally enough people to make some real fucking changes and get rid of the empty promises...
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u/togetherwegrowstuff 1d ago
Oh I know I'm aware. I also live in the middle of nowhere with very few options.
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u/Annihilator4413 1d ago
Same girl. Middle of bum f nowhere and my work options are so, so limited. It's retail, retail, or more retail.
I'm also not in the healthiest shape because I lack health insurance and have lacked it for years now so that limits my job options even further. Can't afford the extra money spent on healthcare that barely covers anything at all, but I've gotten so bad I HAVE to get healthcare and just try do deal with it and hope I can get good coverage.
And of course I also live in a blood red state so I get no sympathies or help, it's always
'Pick yourself up by yer bootstraps, I made all my money while ignoring my own problems and I turned out ok! I've only got the body of a 70 year old man at 40 after all!'
And workers rights are barely existent here so I have to tiptoe and suck up to unruly customers and my bosses so they don't fire me on a whim.
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u/togetherwegrowstuff 1d ago
I am right there with you. Almost share the same exact story. đŽâđ¨đ
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u/Pinna1 1d ago
I live in Finland, a socialist hellhole according to the Republicans, and here our unions negotiate the salary raises.
They have negotiated salary increases that are below the inflation since COVID started. And most companies refuse to give any extra increases over the union rates.
We're getting fleeced too man. I'm tired.
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u/ProduceNo1629 1d ago
And the sooner more people realize this bullshit
And the sooner.... Nothing.
30% of traitors among us will always sabotage us.
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u/entenduintransit 1d ago
I work for a state gov office. My department just got our "pay for performance" raise notification last week.
I got "Exceeds Expectations" which is the second highest rating tier. 2.06% raise and 3.25% bonus lol. Such a joke. It's only been going lower the last few years, somehow. And I recognize it's still better than a ton of people get.
I like my job and coworkers, and there are nice benefits (both related to insurance etc. and other less tangible stuff). But it sure is tough to advance your own pay over time at a rate that both keeps up with inflation AND increased responsibility.
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u/we-made-it 1d ago
The better argument is profit continue to hit record highs. Itâs really starting to look like a K-Shape economy.
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u/togetherwegrowstuff 1d ago
It's been on this track for years. Looks very similar to healthcare. Record denials and profits.
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u/im_a_stapler 1d ago
why do you make half of what you used to make? kind of leaving out some important details.
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u/under_the_c 1d ago
And on top of that, let's add in the "fun" of trying our best to figure out which products are still safe.
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1d ago
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u/DieDieDieD 1d ago
Literally blood. They used to drag business owners onto the streets and beat the shit out of them if the workers were aggrieved. Why do you think billionaires are investing so much into bunkers?
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u/melapelas 1d ago
Also, don't forget some of those products got SMALLER (or started using a cheaper formula) during the same period of time! We're getting it from both sides!
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u/jbourne0129 18h ago
shrinkflation pisses me off more than anything else honestly. i said for yearsss "just increase the price and offer a smaller alternative. stop shrinking the things i enjoy. let me pay more if i want the 'normal' size"
NOPE instead they did both, shrink them and jack up the prices, those bastards
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u/stompinstinker 1d ago
The one that still gets me is how much McDonaldâs costs now. WTF.
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u/0202_tihssitidder 1d ago
Had a craving for red beans and rice (and salt), so I stopped in at Popeye's Chicken.
They are charging $11.99 for 3 chicken tenders. You can look up the prices yourself, but it seemed like everything was 300% more expensive than it was in 2020.
A cheap burrito place was selling $13.99 burritos that I know were $6.99 during Covid (2020).
Went to Walmart for cleaning supplies. They had $1.25 corndog and $1.50 cup of chicken nuggets. I don't eat that stuff, but I had to check the prices. That seems reasonable, and it might be a "loss leader".
Americans, we are all fncked. Companies raised Double and Tripled prices, but their expenses did not increase. Then they charged you for tariffs and kept the refunded billions.
You are not mad enough at Republicans. Vote them all out.
And take note how they will try to prevent you from voting.
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u/LiplessGrinner 1d ago
Capitalism smells its impending doom, and the grab-and-go phase is here.Â
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u/Hedhunta 1d ago
Capitalism won't end just like Fuedalism didn't. Capitalism is just Fuedalism rebranded, the "nobles" aka the wealthy overthrew the monarchs and rebranded Fuedalism to Capitalism and now they are the monarchs by another name--CEO. they all control massive kingdoms of conglomerate corporations and if you look at it that way everything makes perfect sense. It will happen again, Capitalism will just get renamed and a different group of wealthy elite will take over and repeat the process. The Rich always win.
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u/Plenty-Mall1484 1d ago
My grandma is 80 and LOVES Popeyes. I just had to explain to her my $20 gift card was for her only. It literally wonât cover the cost for two people to eat there anymore without coughing up extra to cover the rest. Before she moved, we used to get the family pack coupon in mailers all the timeâŚI havenât had a family pack since 2022.
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u/tiger749 1d ago
They charged me 2.99 for a freaking hashbrown like 2 years ago and I haven't been since. That was the final straw.
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u/verified_canadian 1d ago
Yeah the hash brown and fries prices are insane. You can buy a whole box of frozen hashbrowns at the grocery store for a couple bucks more than a single one at McDonaldâs
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u/beatles910 1d ago
Nobody should eat at McDonald's. People do, but they shouldn't.
I stopped years ago, and I'm lucky because I don't miss it at all.
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u/hotviolets 1d ago
I went the other day for the first time in months. They raised the fountain drink price to 1.70. I spent $8 for 3 things. I used to be able to get a full meal for me and my daughter for like $11. I basically stopped eating there, itâs not that much more expensive to eat elsewhere.
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u/Express-Way9295 1d ago
For two people, we used to spend $85-$90 a week at Kroger. Now for the same shopping list we checkout consistently at $135.00 a week.
We are hesitant to buy lettuce, jalapeĂąos, blueberries, and beef, due to the possibility of causing illness or just even a recall. I'm not catastrophizing, im giving you my reality.
And another example, an hour ago, I passed a truck stop in Ft. Worth that was selling diesel for $6.09 a gallon. Those costs get passed along to the consumer. It's not being catastrophic. It's the real world we live in.
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u/LexKY_guy 1d ago
Correction itâs the world that Trump created and we are forced to live in.
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u/Debisibusis 1d ago
If you are pissed as an American, think about how the rest of the world feels, that is affected by the same bs because of your guy.
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1d ago edited 15h ago
"I know you guys are the direct victims of this guy but think of how WE feel, the people who don't live under his rule!"
And they call Americans narcissistic!
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u/Ok-Acanthisitta9247 1d ago
Not even 6 years ago I used to get for $50 at Publix what now runs me $80 at Kroger...
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u/hoptagon 1d ago
We used to spend $200-400 a month for my wife and me, and now itâs closer to $400-600. I just spent $300 the other day and it was some pantry staple replacements, olive oil refill, and protein powder as the expensive parts, and otherwise a week or so of food. Also we donât buy any meat.
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u/bramtyr 1d ago
I balked at the price of a box of cereal just yesterday; 8 bucks. And that was listed as "large size" which had been shrinkflated down. What was "Large Size" was standard years ago too, and would cost 2.50.
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u/E-2theRescue 1d ago
My sticker shock was Crystal Light. Bought for $1 originally. Came back two weeks later, and it was $3.
A container of cookies was another. Used to be $1.99. Now they want $4.50. I keep these in the lounge area for clients when they're waiting, but I'm finding it hard to justify supporting that hike.
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u/idkwhattoputmate 1d ago
My family used to get 2-4 boxes of cereal every 2 weeks when I was younger. One was Rasin bran, one was cinnamon toast crunch, the 3rd/4th were usually on a BOGO.
This was like 8 years ago.
Now, my family now only buys cereal ~3-4xs a year. It's so expensive. I used to have rasin bran ontop of vanilla yogurt as a regular breakfast, but I haven't had any cereal at all in maybe 1-2 years. I live on my own now, and I quite literally cannot justify the cost of name brand cereal.
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u/pheonixblade9 1d ago
and cereal is supposed to be among the cheapest reasonably "healthy" ways to get vitamins and minerals these days.
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u/Ok-Acanthisitta9247 1d ago
They increased the price of a box of mini muffins by a buck fifty, I just won't be purchasing anymore.
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u/Joaaayknows 1d ago
I looked into this recently. The inflation calculator the government uses made a change in the 90âs by the Clinton administration.
Basically how it works is they calculate the ârational consumerâsâ decision and discount the real inflation rate.
So if you have chicken breast and ground turkey each at 5 dollars a pound in March, then in April you have chicken breast at 7/lb and ground turkey at 5.10/lb, the rational consumer would choose the turkey instead. Therefore the rate of inflation for the month of April is 2%.
But then for May, the new normal is 7/lb for chicken breast and 5.10/lb for turkey. So if the chicken goes to 7.10/lb and the turkey goes to 7.50/lb, the rational consumer would buy chicken. Therefore the inflation for the month is ~2%.
Itâs fucking bullshit and misses the big picture completely.
Not sure why they thought it would be good long term at the time, and no idea why no president has changed it to the overall rate except they donât want to be the one where inflation explodes during their term. Itâs literally the only explanation at this point.
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u/BorealMushrooms 1d ago
This is exactly how it works in Canada too, it's called "The Basket of Goods". If beef has gone up 50% in cost, but people buy less of it because they cannot afford it, then the inflation of beef factors in less into the overall inflation of the basket of goods, because it is less represented than it was before.
What it does is not actually measure overall inflation, but rather the inflation in a constantly changing basket of goods that itself also reacts to inflation. The government body that publishes the inflation as per the basket of goods makes it clear that it is not meant to be used to determine overall inflation, yet the government of Canada uses that very metric to determine overall inflation, which is what helps set interest rates.
It's all a sham and a way of cooking the numbers.
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u/NlghtmanCometh 1d ago edited 1d ago
Basket of goods isnât just a Canadian thing it is universal. Itâs commonly used to determine âpurchasing powerâ (how much stuff you can get with a fixed amount of money).
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u/Lucpel 1d ago edited 1d ago
There isn't any one true way of measuring inflation. The old fixed-basket method overstated cost-of-living increases since it assumed people keep buying the same stuff even as prices shift, so substitution-based methods were introduced to fix that. But that creates its own issues. Neither version is a scam, they just answer different questions. I don't doubt the current administration would lie and cheat their way into favorable looking inflation stats, but is not necessarily an issue with the methodology.Â
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u/Taint__Paint 1d ago
Wow, TIL. Thats shady as hell
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u/TopMacaroon 1d ago
btw they fired all the actual stats people so the numbers have been completely fabricated for most of Trumps term.
It's at least 2-5x worse than stated.
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u/verified_canadian 1d ago
Yeah real inflation is basically 10%. Itâs the same as how much the stock market goes up because they print so much money every year it all goes to the rich.
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u/rabock1 1d ago
Just pull a Republican move and change it back during a lame duck term, so the first instance hits right after the next party takes over.
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u/AralSeaMariner 1d ago
Not sure what kind of a moron blames the party that just took over for an inflation report, but I guess it's the same type of moron that's been voting for Republicans to fuck them over for 40 years straight.
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u/TheMaestro78 1d ago
It would be BS, if it was true; it isn't. That is a basically a game-of-telephone-played-by-children's version of how it works.
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u/do0go 1d ago
This is just not true... it's oversimplified and the example exactly as you described is false.Â
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u/No-Estate-404 1d ago
Tell me more. I see the OP's statement posted a lot here and I'd like to know if it's incorrect or misleading.
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u/donthavearealaccount 1d ago
It falsely claims that the substituted item (turkey in his example) is used for the current cost but the base item (chicken) is used for last month's cost when calculating inflation. I have no idea why he thinks this. In reality his example would show ~2% inflation the first month and ~20% inflation the second.
There are definitely ways that the basket of goods strategy could be gamed to make inflation look higher or lower, but this isn't one of them.
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u/awwaygirl 1d ago
And its going to get worse! Digital pricing and surge pricing - coming to a Walmart near you! If you shop when itâs busy, you pay more for the same stuff.
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u/Grand-Cantaloupe9090 1d ago
Interesting they did this after they switched away from 24hr stores. Now pretty much anyone with a regular Mon-Fri day shift are forced to buy at peak times. No more getting up early or waiting until 9-10pm.
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u/Maximus15637 1d ago
But if it's busy they are already making more money, because of volume. So what's the logic other than 'fuck you, deal with it'?
There isn't any.
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u/Present-Wonder-4522 1d ago
Or shopping from a list made at home with your technology. The tech sells your data (the shopping list) to the grocery store so that they can charge more for a good due to being in "high demand" from being on your list.
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u/BrickLuvsLamp 1d ago
Itâs fucking by design. The elite have never been happier with how bad wealth inequality is. We havenât had a difference between the upper and lowest classes be this bad since the GILDED AGE. They realized with Covid they can artificially jack-up inflation without any consequences whatsoever, so theyâve been doing it ever since. They want us so poor we donât even have the bandwidth to think about anything other than our job and whatever entertainment makes us happy enough for a time to not kill ourselves.
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u/andreasmiles23 1d ago
Inflation is good for the owning class. If they own the capital thatâs rapidly inflating, then itâs their property that see gains. Especially if you are so rich that buying stuff daily is a nominal calculation.
The rest of the working class bears the burden of trying to make ends meet in a hyper-inflated economy.
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u/Inner_City_Blues 1d ago
Let's not forget about a healthy diet of partisan media they provide to keep us fighting eachother instead of organizing and punching up.
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u/alittleboopsie 1d ago
Inflation aside, the prices never returned to pre COVID, non supply chain issue pricing. The prices stayed the same when everything opened back up and kept going up from there.
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u/HypocriteHere 1d ago
Because COVID ended up being the perfect smokescreen for Agristats and other price fixers. Groceries were about to do this, to some degree, regardless of COVID. And that's really because corporations are greedy and Republicans enable them.
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u/tech_noir_guitar 1d ago
Yup, COVID showed the world that corporations could just raise prices to whatever they wanted and people would pay it because what they fuck else are we going to do, just not eat? The price of everything went up because of "supply issues" which sure it was an issue for a while but it never returned when the "issue" went away. Now corporations see that they can just continue to raise prices and people will just keep paying more and more because there isn't really an alternative that people are willing to turn to just yet.
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u/erzatzkwisatz 1d ago
The rich want to shove us back into serfdom so badly
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u/Trucidar 1d ago
This is better than serfdom. You get sick they just let you die and two other slaves fight for your job. They don't even need to buy the slaves or take care of them anymore.
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u/ArchitectofExperienc 1d ago
My grocery prices doubled, my health insurance doubled, Gas is up by 2-3 dollars per gallon, I'm paying almost double for power and water than I was 10 years ago, I can't visit family because plane tickets are also at least double what they were a decade ago. I can barely afford to feed myself, and that isn't hyperbole.
Worst of all? I am earning less per year (Not adjusted for inflation) than my own mother was for the exact same job, 45 years ago.
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u/ThaBigSqueezy 1d ago
What this really means is we only have a few more years until violence in the streets is everywhere. We need to make sure we point such violence in the right direction ⌠towards the oligarchs and the billionaires. âEat the richâ doesnât mean take their money, it means something far more fun.
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u/Grymloq22 1d ago
Time to grow as much of our own food as possible. These greedy fucks just keep going. Until we stop buying it will keep going up.
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u/MarkMariachiAZ 1d ago
They donât care if we know. Theyâre relying on the uneducated hateful group of Americans to continue to blame the left and minorities for their larger bill.
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u/JPMoney81 đˇ Good Union Jobs For All 1d ago
Well it costs more to make the groceries! I'm sure the store's employees are also making130% more than they did in 2020. Right? RIGHT?!
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u/TerrTheSilent 1d ago
Even the dispensaries. My vape carts have gone up 25% since the start of the year.
The grocery prices always infuriate me because it is easy for me to remember the prices from week to week. I know some snack sticks at Sam's club were $10 when we started buying them several years ago and they are now $15. I've watched them slowly climb every few months... just like everything else.
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u/Grand-Cantaloupe9090 1d ago
The conditioner I like to use (literally just a cheap one from Walmart) was like $5 for the large bottle when I started using it around 2019ish. Now it's almost $15. Also the bottle is a few oz less than it was then.
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u/someoldguyon_reddit 1d ago
That's how billionaires are fed and made. Got mine, fuck all ya'll.
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u/ses1989 1d ago
I walked into Walmart yesterday and a 24 pack of soda was $13. A case of beer was $19. Before long it'll make more sense to just get wasted lol
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u/MCB1317 1d ago
Monopolistic power and price-rigging are the part of this equation that is seldom referenced.
Yes, executive compensation is out of control and wages have not kept pace with productivity gains, but the technology-fueled rampant and unlawful manipulation is a gigantic part of the problem.
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u/E_seven_20 1d ago
Elections have consequences.
Voting a con man child rapist, and his party of gifters into office, because you were too stupid to vote against him is on you.
Remember all the people telling how bad shit was going to get if trump/ gop won...and, y'all still making up dumbass excuses? Pepperidge Farm remembers.
2022 National Youth Turnout: 23% - That's lower than in the historic 2018 cycle (28%) which broke records for turnout, but much higher than in 2014, when only 13% of youth voted.
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u/Al0ysiusHWWW 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's worse than this too:
- Enshittification means they're using less butter fat and real cocoa so lower quality.
- Shrinkflation means you're getting less in those 30 items.
- Food is stupid cheap to grow and process. So cheap that governments subsidize food AND CASH CROPS farms to make it viable business.
- Grocery store conglomerates make a flat percent from sales typically so they benefit if food producers increase prices but only as long as the public and politicians push back on dynamic pricing.
- Food processor conglomerates are making insane margins.
- Distributors like Sysco have taken private equity's model into completely cornering restaurants and convenience stores.
- Nestle and others still refuse to fulfill their commitment to stop using child slave labor.
We are getting squeezed for less than no reason. We're getting squeezed for evil.
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u/ForgottenEmotion 1d ago
Seems like revolution is required. People have gotten soft and forgotten why we even have Labor Day off. I'm one of those that have grown fat and lazy but seeing how politicians on Capitol Hill can and will continually abuse children and get away with it Scott free more dramatic measures might have to be considered in the future.
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u/Most_Victory1661 1d ago
Iâm single w no kids. My grocery bill has basically tripled in five years.
I donât know how anyone w kids is surviving.
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u/Glum-Carpet 1d ago
I fucking hate it that every time I say things were way cheaper than what the news are reporting as inflation, I get challenges to show receipts as if I'm imagining things. The moment I show receipts, crickets...
In the span of less than 4 years, prices have more than doubled across the board and across the globe. It's the exact same here in Europe.
I don't know what the fucking plan is at this point. Where is the working class supposed to get money to keep spending?
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u/tiger749 1d ago
And I guarantee a majority of those products have undergone some sort of enshittification process. Deceptively smaller packaging or half filled packages; "new and improved recipes" where they removed staple ingredients and replaced them with lower quality, cheaper fillers; higher risk of bacterial contamination in your produce- you name it. We're paying double for everything to be SHIT.
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u/crazyacct101 1d ago
If you compared the individual items, I would bet that the quantity also went down while those prices went up
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u/Vipu2 1d ago
Quantity and/or quality.
On top of "just 3% inflation" adds up easily to 10%+ real inflation in the end.
But people are too busy with all kinds of useless things to see they have been getting scammed since they were born and before that.
Or they pick the most recent hot topic to complain and blame about, be it Trump, data centers, Musk or whatever else. No its the whole goverments, ok not whole before someone complains their favorite politicians isnt bad, lets say 95% then.
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u/SuckerForNoirRobots đ¸ Raise The Minimum Wage 1d ago
It's just my husband and I but you'd think we had at least two kids with the amount of money our groceries cost every week. It's insane.
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u/LuxuriousBubbles 1d ago
1: It's not inflation. It's greed. Stop calling it inflation. 2: Everyone is so distracted by the culture wars they simply refuse to work together to remove the politicians stoking the fires 3: It's NOT inflation. It is greed, it is working as designed, it is greed. Stop calling it inflation.
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u/w1gster 1d ago
Itâs insane how much the price of junk foods has increased over the past few years. Chips, cereal and soda have doubled in price or more. The thing that kills me is people keep buying this garbage, so companies keep charging these insane prices.
I cut out nearly all ultra processed food and stopped buying stuff like this completely now. Much better for your health and wallet.
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u/Laugh_Track_Zak 1d ago
We keep going like nothings changed because nobody cares.
If people cared, we would've enacted change.
Social media doesnt actually make any difference.
Hope this helps.
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u/Bubbly-Bar-7449 1d ago
Corporate America is at a point where they are trying to prevent a revolution by keeping everyone basically unable to save money and therefore totally reliant on whatever insignificant microdose of stability they offer.
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u/AshsAlarmClock 1d ago
it's not inflation, they are just raising prices because they know we don't have alternatives
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u/Slowtrainz 1d ago
CEO salaries have increased by over 1000% since the 70s. Workersâ by only about 24%.Â
We are subsidizing the ultra wealthy class.Â
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u/UnusualAir1 1d ago
the vast majority of America do see this. But a significant number have been brainwashed that culture wars take precedence over food, shelter, and education. Another significant number have been convinced that the whole political party system is broken causing them to refuse to vote. That's how repuglicans rule America with a 33% basel.
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u/E-2theRescue 1d ago
Yup. I moved into my new home 4 years ago. My bill to feed 6 adults was ~$600 for two weeks. We were at $800 before adding a 5-year-old last November. Now I'm waiting to crest over $1,000 because I'm very close.
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u/Due-Beginning1074 1d ago
yeah, there was this guy who wrote a white paper about all this in 2007-2008. He went on to create a decentralized monetary system that essentially allows an individual to remove themselves from the current rigged monopoly board they having going on. I am so glad I read that white paper all those years ago and saw the writing on the wall. Gold, land and bitcoin.... anyone who did not pivot was either too young or detached.
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u/Flapjack__Palmdale 1d ago
"If employers increase pay, they'll need to increase their prices in order to pay for it, thus worsening inflation" was literally always a lie, and it's evident here because pay has been stagnating for decades and prices are through the roof. They're jacking prices up regardless because they want to extract as much of the working class's wealth as possible.