November 3, 2007
ECONOMICROT: INFLATION or HYPERINFLATION
Maybe it’s just me, but my Seat Of the Pants Inflation-o-Meter (SOPIM) and my empty wallet are both telling me that inflation is running at a much, much higher rate than that... I’m now paying $3 a gallon for gas and $3.50 for a gallon of milk...
It's been nearly nine years since the Great Hyperinflation began. Prices are insane.
Good luck finding gasoline at $3 per gallon now. You'll need it. Your best bet is to haggle with an independent gasoline station owner and hope he's willing to negotiate.
Don't even get me started on milk. This week it's going to cost me $10 per gallon for the stuff, and only then because I have a coupon. That's right. I'm not even joking.
That's a free gallon of milk with $10 grocery purchase at my local QFC. Well, we all know that nothing comes for free. There's always a catch, and this week the free milk's going to cost me ten bucks. Oh, sure. I could buy 14.5 pounds of bananas at 69 cents per pound I suppose. I just wish they were on sale. Seems like such a waste. Maybe I'll find something else instead, but I'm just not that hopeful.
Hyperinflation sucks. If only we could turn the clock back and pretend it never happened. Or given time, maybe we can all learn to adapt?
Note to self: Remember to somehow lock in the ShadowStats subscription price of just $175 per year in case they ever raise it. In theory, it could happen, someday, maybe, especially after nearly nine years of hyperinflation. Better safe than sorry.
It's like the unstoppable force of the zero interest rate policy meeting the ShadowStats subscription price immovable object, all during hyperinflation! Crazy paradox! There's just no way to resolve it in any kind of logical sense.
Bad Stagflationary Mark. Bad! Bad! ;)
If you can't find a gasoline station owner who is willing to negotiate with you, then I have a tip. I should warn you that it involves a bit if trickery and deceit on your part though.
ReplyDeletePut 10 gallons of gas in your car. Go in to pay. Hand the person behind the counter $30. Tell him to keep the change. Then run to your car and quickly drive away. Keep in mind that he might try to shout at you as you leave. If you hear "Hey, mister! Thanks!!" then you definitely did it right.
This is perfectly legal right now at many, many places all over the country. I can't say it will be legal forever though, if prices do continue to rise.
Bad Mark. Bad! Bad! :)
There's odd pockets of inflation, but no broad obvious wave except in healthcare and education. Prices for canned soup and canned chili, for example, have escalated significantly in the last 8 years. Canned stew, by comparison, is very close to no change. I have yet to figure a rhyme or reason for which prices have been rising in the grocery versus which ones have held fast.
ReplyDeleteMilk is strongly influenced by freight cost - so no surprise that with gas down, milk is down.
I really backed the truck up recently on name brand canned tomatoes (49 cents per can). Now just need to eat them faster than the acid eats through the cans!
ReplyDeleteIt's always a race with canned tomato products. Lost a race once with canned tomato sauce. Got a bit ugly, lol. Sigh.
My staples are doing quite nicely. Chicken has been flat, as has rice, frozen vegetables, and dairy.
Beef has been high, but since cattle prices have fallen perhaps there is hope there.
WEEKLY OUTLOOK: FALLING CATTLE PRICES, WHERE IS THE BOTTOM?
I like chicken better anyway, most days. No big deal to me one way or another.