Inflation is Through the Roof - Whats Biden Admin's First Priority? Stockholders, of course!

[fskimospy]

Inflation is not "through the roof" in my personal life.

It is weird:
labor went up, food went up, mortgage went way down in refinance, laundry went down (no longer paying covid overhead costs on special treatment), supply costs remain flat ( cl, acid, cleaning supplies, soaps, paper, etc are not climbing yet), financial costs remained the same, utilities remained flat, and transport remained flat for me. My biggest problem is linens are backordered (but the price has not increased).


For me, the only thing really driving an increase in cost is labor, and that is 10% increase in that category.
For me, the primary decrease in cost is mortgage, which monthly payment wise is down 30%.

It’s because inflation isn’t actually through the roof. Pandemic affected industries and car related industries (due to the chip shortage) are way up. The rest is mostly a return to normal.

 

[IronWing]

This is not true.

Inflation CAN help the rich, but as they are generally net creditors it broadly does not. This is why the rich and the GOP fight against inflation.

I would be interested to know your thoughts about why if inflation benefits the rich and immiserates the poor that the GOP and the rich fight so hard against inflation. Is this just the one area where they are looking out for the average Joe?

Your argument is circular. Using the understated inflation rate to calculate “real” wages will of course show what you wish wage growth to be.

 

[fskimospy]

Your argument is circular. Using the understated inflation rate to calculate “real” wages will of course show what you wish wage growth to be.

Nonsense - the inflation rate is not understated. I asked you before to back up your argument but you never did.

Inflation truthers have made ludicrous claims about secret inflation for years, time has proven this idea self evidently wrong.

 

[IronWing]

Except that it is very much true. The buying power of SS benefits peaked in the 1970s due to chronically understated inflation.

 

[fskimospy]

Except that it is very much true. The buying power of SS benefits peaked in the 1970s due to chronically understated inflation.

Okay so if it’s true then show me how.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Okay so if it’s true then show me how.

This is a well-known fact that people on SS have been complaining about for... at least the last 2 decades?

 

[fskimospy]

This is a well-known fact that people on SS have been complaining about for... at least the last 2 decades?

Oh gotcha, so your evidence is old people complaining.

I really mean it when I say you are the world’s easiest mark. I wish I lived in your town so I could sell you essential oils.

 

[woolfe9998]

Oh gotcha, so your evidence is old people complaining.

I really mean it when I say you are the world’s easiest mark. I wish I lived in your town so I could sell you essential oils.

To be fair, "old people" have been complaining about it, but they aren't saying it's because the CPI doesn't accurately track overall inflation. They're saying it's because many of the things seniors purchase disproportionately have gone up in price way out of pace with general inflation. The most common complaint is that while we've had like 60% overall inflation since 2000, prescription drugs have gone up 250% during that same time period.

They want CPI to give more weight to commodities purchased heavily by seniors so that their benefits increases more accurately reflect their cost of living increases.

https://seniorsleague.org/assets/Report51419-LOBP-FINAL.pdf

Perhaps what would be better than altering our CPI calculus would be allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices as that is the single largest complaint.

 

[ivwshane]

To be fair, "old people" have been complaining about it, but they aren't saying it's because the CPI doesn't accurately track overall inflation. They're saying it's because many of the things seniors purchase disproportionately have gone up in price way out of pace with general inflation. The most common complaint is that while we've had like 60% overall inflation since 2000, prescription drugs have gone up 250% during that same time period.

They want CPI to give more weight to commodities purchased heavily by seniors so that their benefits increases more accurately reflect their cost of living increases.

https://seniorsleague.org/assets/Report51419-LOBP-FINAL.pdf

Perhaps what would be better than altering our CPI calculus would be allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices as that is the single largest complaint.

Then perhaps they can stop voting against their own self interest.

 

[woolfe9998]

Then perhaps they can stop voting against their own self interest.

Yup, it's the GOP along with the pharma companies who authored the legislation that way, and they've blocked every attempt to fix it, prioritizing corporate profits over people's health.

 

[ondma]

I used your own figures! June is comparing to a pandemic depressed CPI. In addition, your own article repeatedly references the fact that a rebound from depressed pandemic figures is a big reason for it. Did you read it?

Do you accept facts written in black and white? The data is right there. Overall prices as measured by the CPI did not decrease during the pandemic.

 

[fskimospy]

Do you accept facts written in black and white? The data is right there. Overall prices as measured by the CPI did not decrease during the pandemic.

Yes, I accept figures in black and white. What you are saying is false.

 

[Leeea]

Yes, I accept figures in black and white. What you are saying is false.

Now that is very interesting, that puts the increase at 6% or so. I love how they zoomed the graph in to make it look way worse then it actually is. Nice misleading presentation.

I suspect the GPU/PlayStation/Xbox market makes up most of that .

 

[fskimospy]

Now that is very interesting, that puts the increase at 6% or so. I love how they zoomed the graph in to make it look way worse then it actually is. Nice misleading presentation.

I suspect the GPU/PlayStation/Xbox market makes up most of that .

Oh to be fair I made that graph, I zoomed in so we could see the decline last year that he claims didn’t happen.

 

[Leeea]

Oh to be fair I made that graph, I zoomed in so we could see the decline last year that he claims didn’t happen.

oh, my apologies, I thought it was done to make the rate look exponential. I crossed out the part above where I was wrong.

 

[fskimospy]

oh, my apologies, I thought it was done to make the rate look exponential. I crossed out the part above where I was wrong.

No, the rate for the most recent few months really is high, but it’s coming from a depressed baseline so it looks like more than it is.

Like if prices dropped in half last year and then went back to where they started from people would scream about prices doubling. It’s technically true, but also not really important. You see that with gas a lot - people saying how it’s doubled from last year. Technically true, but that’s because they went in the toilet last year. They are now back to around what they were before the pandemic.

 

[uclaLabrat]

No, the rate for the most recent few months really is high, but it’s coming from a depressed baseline so it looks like more than it is.

Like if prices dropped in half last year and then went back to where they started from people would scream about prices doubling. It’s technically true, but also not really important. You see that with gas a lot - people saying how it’s doubled from last year. Technically true, but that’s because they went in the toilet last year. They are now back to around what they were before the pandemic.

Gas prices haven't even hit the high we saw way back in 2007-2008, and apparently it was WAAYYYY more expensive then considering how much weaker today's dollar is due to all this inflation.

 

[woolfe9998]

No, the rate for the most recent few months really is high, but it’s coming from a depressed baseline so it looks like more than it is.

Like if prices dropped in half last year and then went back to where they started from people would scream about prices doubling. It’s technically true, but also not really important. You see that with gas a lot - people saying how it’s doubled from last year. Technically true, but that’s because they went in the toilet last year. They are now back to around what they were before the pandemic.

Correct. Raw month to month data here:

U.S. Regular All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices (Dollars per Gallon)

Gas prices are slightly higher than 2019 (pre-pandemic), on the order of 2-3%. But these prices are hardly unprecedented. 2008, and 2011-2014 were quite a bit worse.

 

[fskimospy]

Correct. Raw month to month data here:

U.S. Regular All Formulations Retail Gasoline Prices (Dollars per Gallon)

Gas prices are slightly higher than 2019 (pre-pandemic), on the order of 2-3%. But these prices are hardly unprecedented. 2008, and 2011-2014 were quite a bit worse.

Yeah I remember in San Diego in the summer of 2008 it was close to $5 a gallon, and that was 13 years ago. According to the inflation calculator that is the equivalent of like $6.30 today.

 

[IronWing]

The price of my chewing gum jumped by $0.25/package since last week. Whom do we set on fire?

 

[ondma]

Yes, I accept figures in black and white. What you are saying is false.

Just as I said, prices continued to rise during the pandemic. By cherry-picking the data (I know personally I did not buy any food or energy during the pandemic) you are able to see a tiny blip downward of maybe 1.5%. However, even if you take prices from the highest value during the pandemic (about 266 at the start of 2020) the prices are then up more than 10% in less than six months.

 

[fskimospy]

Just as I said, prices continued to rise during the pandemic. By cherry-picking the data (I know personally I did not buy any food or energy during the pandemic) you are able to see a tiny blip downward of maybe 1.5%. However, even if you take prices from the highest value during the pandemic (about 266 at the start of 2020) the prices are then up more than 10% in less than six months.

1) You’re saying that using core CPI is cherry picking data? Uhmmm, what? This is literally the most commonly used measure of inflation in existence.

2) No, you said prices did not decline during the pandemic, which was false. It was specifically false in relation to the reference month you were using.

3) What you are saying makes no sense. First, the start of 2020 is 18 months ago, not six. Second, the current CPI number is 278, which would be ~4.5% higher than 266.

4) If you are actually interested in accepting figures in black and white now is the time to admit you are wrong.

 

[ondma]

1) You’re saying that using core CPI is cherry picking data? Uhmmm, what? This is literally the most commonly used measure of inflation in existence.

2) No, you said prices did not decline during the pandemic, which was false. It was specifically false in relation to the reference month you were using.

3) What you are saying makes no sense. First, the start of 2020 is 18 months ago, not six. Second, the current CPI number is 278, which would be ~4.5% higher than 266.

4) If you are actually interested in accepting figures in black and white now is the time to admit you are wrong.

I made a mistake in the month count. However, that still does not change the point. Prices (using your metric) may have decline slightly for a few months during the pandemic, but there is certainly no "depressed baseline" that is making the inflation rate artificially high, and the year to year trend is upward from the start of the pandemic. The "decline" you show is also very small (hence why you had to expand the scale to make it visible), and is simply an artifact in the overall trend.

 

[woolfe9998]

Wages are growing at a decent pace to match inflation.

United States Wages and Salaries Growth

Wages in the United States increased 4.86 percent in August of 2025 over the same month in the previous year. This page provides the latest reported value for - United States Wages and Salaries Growth - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term...

tradingeconomics.com

Which is exactly what you'd expect during a labor shortage.

I suspect the higher wages will bring people back to work soon enough, which in turn will increase supply and curb inflation. Probably by the end of year.

 

[fskimospy]

Wages are growing at a decent pace to match inflation.

United States Wages and Salaries Growth

Wages in the United States increased 4.86 percent in August of 2025 over the same month in the previous year. This page provides the latest reported value for - United States Wages and Salaries Growth - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term...

tradingeconomics.com

Which is exactly what you'd expect during a labor shortage.

I suspect the higher wages will bring people back to work soon enough, which in turn will increase supply and curb inflation. Probably by the end of year.

If this continues as I expect it to then this is exactly the scenario I'm talking about where inflation is good for regular people.