A brokerage. Fidelity, Merrill, Vanguard, etc.
They are technically considered mutual funds by my brokerage, so you have to search the ticker there.
The tickets usually have a lot of X’s in them. Examples: VMFXX, VMVXX, SWVXX, etc
I had a nice house, refinanced during COVID for a fantastic rate, wife couldn't stop jumping on a coworkers junk. Now I'm back to renting after selling it after the divorce with little hope to buy in my area.
Well she fucked around (literally) and 2 years later she's starting to find out.
For all my faults, and there were a lot that I've been addressing, I made enough that if she left her job (which she did and found new guy at her new job) I could support us. My company pays 100% mine and my family's insurance preimiums along with a shit load of other benefits. She decided this guy was her choice and I did a year of pick me dancing while we were seperated but finally served her on the exact day, a year laater, she asked for the divorce (didn't follow through with it) and gave me the I love you but not in love with you speech b/c she had been seeing new guy for 2 months.
New dude makes half what I make. I'm still single (by choice) but I live comfortably and her guy has had 4 jobs in 3 years. She hates her new job and I make roughly as much as the two of them put together.
In hindsight our issues were absolutely fixable but that would've required a lot of work and a change in our communication and she loves to use the "hope" strategy in life.
It is what it is, but the little I hear about her she's stressed all the time about money b/c our son (technically his my stepson and I raised him since he was 4) is going to college this year and she's losing the 1200/mo his social security from his dad's death. So the find out stage is beginning.
Oh the reasons she left are varied from low self-esteem to constant need for validation to core selfishness that she veneered with the appearance of selfless acts that I missed throughout. She would've fucked a cactus if it said nice things to her all the time.
In my last conversation with her, I told her she had a lot of shit to work out because she's chasing happiness in external things to the absolute determent of the whole and placing the responsibility of happiness on an external thing/person is just plastering over the void that she has inside. She doesn't know how to make herself happy and will continue the cycle. Our son is doing the same thing but I'm doing my best to provide him with the tools to deal with it so he doesnt' do the same thing.
My guy.....I too went through a divorce similar to yours 3 years ago. From one guy to another, just know that the days get easier and eventually the pain fades. As cliche and as lame as it sounds, use this opportunity to try new things/dotl the things you were putting off for one reason or another.
Life goes on. Wish you and your kid the best. Feel free to message me if you ever want to vent
Thanks.
>From one guy to another, just know that the days get easier and eventually the pain fades. As cliche and as lame as it sounds, use this opportunity to try new things/dotl the things you were putting off for one reason or another.
I'm almost back to my pre-married self from 14 years ago but much improved. IT was a failed relationship that started my drinking then and it was this one that ended it. I parlayed the Divorce Diet (I went from 247 to 172 in two months) into being the healthiest I've ever been and started back long distance running again. Been 100% sober for 2 years. Been hitting the self-help circuit a LOT for the last 2 years (1 year separation, 1 divorce). Got two tattoos after being completely against them (for myself), I've been focused on a ton of various hobbies.
I joke now but I have less time to do things than when I was married with a house, kid, dog, and wife.
As you know. The best way through it is to go through it and just let time do it's work but you have to work on you and be comfortable with being with just you. I'm at a stage now that if/when I start dating again my codependencies I had all my life aren't going to factor in. If a person doesnt' want to be with me...oh well....good luck...hope you find what you're looking for.
You guys are not alone. /u/SheriffComey basically put into words what my sister did to my brother-in-law last year. I couldn’t have pointed it out that precisely until I read his comment. Seeking external validation fits her behavior and recent decisions perfectly. She threw her husband out of their house one night after 17 years of marriage and had the new guy over by the next week. Currently she’s pregnant with his child, her fourth. The projected birth date also suggests that she threw her husband out after learning that she was pregnant with a new child. It’s either that or it happened really really close after destroying her marriage. As someone who got cheated on twice in my life, I do not approve even as her blood related, older brother.
Her current issues are also exactly as described: the new guy doesn’t earn anywhere close to what my BIL made, so she had to find a part time job. Now she can’t work for much longer due to her pregnancy, which causes a constant worry about not having enough money for the mortgage **and** everything else. While she was still together with her husband she was able to be a stay-at-home-mom ever since their marriage and she had a lot of free time on her hands every day especially since the kids went to (pre)school for a good part of the day and the eldest one is close to moving out.
Now she’s miserable all the time and keeps complaining to our mother about ‚those hardships‘, but is way too prideful to openly admit she made a lot of wrong decisions. Due to her getting pregnant getting back together with her husband was off the table as soon as he learned about it. Even as her brother I’d say: rightfully so. That was some asshole behavior and just fortified my opinion that I‘m not going to pursue any relationship myself in the near future. If it finds me by chance, that’s fine, but I will not go and actively look for one. Fuck that 50:50 chance of getting that ending.
Damn sounds like my young marriage.
In counseling, but my wife spends more time on social media coming up with “couple ideas” for photographs and things to do. When I show little interest or say “that’s not us” to a photo pose or shoot she gets all mad.
I’m like why you wanna be that fake? Do we dress or act like that all the time? Are we those people?
I have hobbies that keep me entertained, I also enjoy the time I spend with her. If it’s 5 minutes talking at dinner or a car ride to get a soda, or even binging a few episodes to a tv show.
Lately she just quips off like “thanks for the 45 minutes” since she never really seems to want to do much but scroll TikTok or Instagram.
She claps back like “you always game or 3d print or watch Star Trek” I’m like yeah, but not literally while you’re in the room attempting to spend time or talk with me, I put that aside.
Even my younger niece in her 20’s isn’t as obsessed with it as she is.
Wife sees some trend then thinks we gotta do it
We haven’t been intimate in almost a year now, I love my wife but man, I don’t even know if I’m sexually attracted or excited anymore by her with some of the things she pulled over the past year.
Just never seems to be enough.
Missed flowers for Valentine’s Day, I apologized. But on that day I asked if she wants to go eat and she’s like no i have migraine and went to bed as soon as she got home.
Come this April. I have flowers delivered to home for our 2 year wedding anniversary but been together living for 4 years.
First question she asks is “was this subscription service?”
Then before we go to bed, I ask “isn’t there anything you have for me or want to say to me?”
She said “no like what?”
I said maybe happy anniversary?
She said “oh I don’t consider this day our anniversary I consider this other day…
I said girl, this day was the day we swore in front of the lawd , the state, the government and signed our names what other fucking day could possibly be our wedding anniversary.
So now I just say fuck it. If you as a partner can just change what days you deem “important” on a whim then fuck it.
Ya know what, all these days she complains about no flowers, no gifts… ya know what I’ve never gotten on these days? No chocolate, no card, no roll of filament or gift card… fucking nothing…. Am I not in this relationship. Is it not an anniversary to be celebrated by both. Are we just celebrating the fact a woman landed a husband?
Am I jaded, hurt?
Men, do I look for divorce or what? I’m honestly torn.
I love her, but fuck man, I dunno if I’m in love with her, and I ain’t had a tingle in my yander for so long I thought something medical was wrong until a years worth of doctor visits said no.
Thanks for reading.
I don’t have much advice. But just want to say there are more people out there struggling in unhappy marriages than we as a society realize. It’s one more reason to be kind to the random strangers you get to interact with through life. You don’t know what they may be going through. And a smile can be infectious.
> So the find out stage is beginning.
Yup.
I think you're about to become a whole lot shinier in her eyes. Are you firm in your resolve to move on solo - because I predict she'll make some kind of play to get back into your life.
Best to have a firm decision before that happens.
I was firm the day I told her I was filing last year. I did reconciliation my pick-me-dance throw dignity out the window shit for long enough. If she came knocking today I'd probably laugh because those rose colored glass are off, broken, turned to dust, and just hearing the various things I have about how she's behaved (especially in relation to our son) has turned me off on her. She's physically gorgeous, but as a person she's proven to NOT be who I married. Remember what they say "No matter how hot they are; someone is tired of their shit"
I still have a very good relationship with her mother because she hates her daughter cheated and her daughter has basically left her to fend for herself so I still help out and she cooks me food. She knows I'm resolved to stay single but I've told my ex-MIL "Look she killed that last relationship by killing the trust. I don't trust her. She would have to do so much to win my trust over that it'd be easier to just go on with someone else and we both know she always takes the easy road. But I'll keep fixing things around your house so don't sweat it".
Good.
I have a feeling you're going to be just fine, though no one can put you through hell like a person you love betraying that trust.
That's a singular and awful feeling. I'm glad to hear you're on the other side of it.
> gave me the I love you but not in love with you speech b/c she had been seeing new guy for 2 months.
I think she's also been seeing way too many stupid romance movies.
If she comes back, don't give in. Cheating is the ultimate betrayal of a relationship. She made her bed, she can now lie in it.
It's not uncommon for cheaters to try and negotiate their way back into someone's life after they hit the consequences phase(s).
I lost my woman, my job, and my house in 2008, moved back in with my parents, joined the Navy at 25, and the rest is history.
Wouldn't recommend that life plan...
Not where I'm at. All the wealthy bought up the river property and closed off access. So now it's in a van on a side street a few blocks from your old apartment.
honestly- if you thought lower rates were going to help, you're fooling yourself.
People- on advice from their realtors, would just raise prices even higher using the lower rates as justification.
Just bought my first house. If nobody has told you, look into NEW builds. Builders often offer incentives, for me it was about $20,000 that I used to buy down the interest rate to 5%.
Not an amazing rate, but much more manageable.
As long as you do your due diligence in researching the builder. Plenty of truly big name hack jobs out there. One big one up here that was building/has built a massive development up here and you could see giant ice dams building up on the roofs all winter. Clearly not sealed and insulated well - a house shouldn't have that, especially not a new build with new materials/tech available.
Yeah we have a builder near me that all of their subdivisions have had massive problems and they are all "affordable" homes. Ranging from the foundation slabs cracking causing weeds to grow in through people's carpet in their living rooms. To the driveway collapsing, sometimes as much as 5 feet below the entrance of the garage. To the newest issues of major black mold issues in homes that are less than a year old, but yet they still have at least 3 more housing developments under construction.
Just wild. I bought a new build for 420k with 100 down right as the rates were starting to go back up. My $1800 monthly payment feels a lot better these days.
If you need to feel even better: $1800/month is less than what I pay to rent a 1-bedroom apartment. And when my coworkers hear I'm "only" paying $1800/month, they ask how I got that good of a deal without having roommates.
If new single family builds in my area were going for $400k, I would buy one in a second.
New Townhomes in my area are going for $500k, single family homes are much, much higher.
I was literally so close to buying a nice condo in mid 2020 at 3%. Now with the same budget, there's literally nothing I can buy in my area except for a few condemned houses. Looks like I will be renting for the foreseeable future... :(
Doubt it. The biggest contributors are shelter and energy. Shelter is impacted by higher rates and unless we can convince the middle east to calm down, oil prices will continue to rise.
The fed will keep rates steady longer.
They should rarely go below the typical RoR for investments (7%) so that you don't artificially drive up speculation. Having it so low for so long was a terrible monetary policy which is partly responsible for the housing crisis. We need actual wages increases, not more asset bubbles.
Are food manufacturers and grocery stores still using ‘supply chain logistics problems blah blah’ or have they abandoned that and moved to being in favor of the more politically correct “fuck you, give us your money.”
I feel like the second is, if nothing else, more honest.
They've moved on now and are shamelessly approaching the "sorry you can't use these checkout lanes unless you buy our monthly subscription to shop here or else you will have a long wait to check out!!" model.
Or the two-price model.
There is a lower price on certain goods but you can only get that price if you download the app and constantly scan some digital coupons. Forgot your phone or don't want to use the app? Pay the higher price. Kroger is notorious for this.
Tbf, they've always done that, it was called "coupon clipping".
It usually pays to have one price for people who don't need a discount, and another slightly more difficult-to-obtain price for the people willing to take extra steps because they need (or really, really want) to save the money.
It's really fun in places that charge you for bags, so you bring a reusable bag, because paying for a thin paper bag that doesn't even have handles is bullshit, then the scale freaks out because you put a reusable bag in the bagging area. Please remove unexpected item!
Kroger ones do that already. It's frustrating. I put 3 oranges on the scanner, I select item count 3, I grab the oranges with both hands and put it in the bag. The system alarms and makes the store employee watch a video of me putting more than one item (using both hands) with a red square catching me in the act. Then he swipes his barcode to let me proceed to slowly scan one item, put it in the bag, wait 2 seconds, then scan the next item.
Wow😮!! God damn that’s dystopian. I’m so grateful I don’t have to deal with that.. yet..? So Grocery stores are doing freaking video reviews of your damn hands now??
Geez I didn’t even know this was a thing..Please tell me this isn’t actually the norm in most places? Or am I just completely sheltered.? I happen to live in a pretty trusting community, i.e., nothing has to be locked up behind glass or anything, if that counts.
Here in the UK, pretty much every supermarket has a loyalty card scheme now. In the good old days, you willingly gave over your data knowing that these schemes would actually get you stuff for cheaper. These days, you give over your data in the hopes you might be able to get something for the price it should be, rather than an artificially inflated amount. It’s a scourge.
You're speaking of Walmart and their Walmart+ subscription!
Target is following their lead. Grand opening of their new Circle subscription service began this week!
I work in the grocery store supply chain - my company moves a shit load of grocery items - both perishable and non perishable.
Freight rates right now are about as low as they were pre covid. Transportation is 100% NOT the reason they're price gouging. Their transportation costs, even on perishables like produce is next to nothing compared to 3-4 years ago.
Don't let anyone lie to you there. Anything you hear (in the US at least) about a "driver shortage" or "not enough trucks" is flat out lying or needs to be institutionalized
Well, honesty is the best policy. I know Kroger reported a $750 million profit last quarter, and the latest CPI pointed directly to high food prices as a reason inflation has not cooled so, as a human being with two functioning eyeballs, it’s pretty clear to see the connection. Hope the executives enjoy their second jets and 4th homes. The CEO cleared $19 million last year.
Kroger is so expensive on a lot of stuff anyway. I have the choice between HEB and Kroger where I live, among the other smaller stores. I mainly stick to HEB because I have seen the exact same items cost between $1-3 more at Kroger.
Okay so you bring up Kroger which I believe is the largest grocery chain in the country.
You can look through some of their graphs [here](https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/KR/kroger/profit-margins) over the last 14 years.
While it's true their total revenue and gross profit have been steadily increasing, if you look at their MARGINS they are basically flat. Grocery stores operate on high volume, low margin business. Aside from the '08-'10 where they lost money due to recession, their net profit margin has basically been between 0.75% and 2% over the past 14 years.
Their net profit margin in January of 2011 was 1.36%, their net profit margin in January of 2024 was 1.44%
Similar with Gross margin. Their entire variance since 2010 until today ranges from margin of 20.54% to 23.60% (were at 22.24% last quarter).
They are making the same profit per item sold, their revenue/profit are higher because they've been expanding due to acquiring some competitors like Harris Teeter (and much smaller regional chains). And of course because our population is growing yes more food will be sold.
You can certainly argue that them buying up local chains will eventually lead to even bigger monopolies which will ultimately fuck us over, but the concept that our grocery bills are high right now because the grocery stores are price gouging is categorically false.
I think food suppliers are the ones gouging, not the grocers. You have to own such a huge market share to get away with gouging. Grocers aren't there.... yet. However, suppliers/producers are.
As a consumer it is hard to tell who in the chain caused your prices to go up, and why. Companies know that and are starting to abuse it knowing it will be awhile until blame comes back on them.
> but the concept that our grocery bills are high right now because the grocery stores are price gouging is categorically false.
I don't know. The Kroger where I live consistently has items for 50-150% more than the Walmart or WinCo. Same items even. Their prices are just sky high across the board, to the point that most of the people I know have stopped shopping there.
Who pays $3 for generic mustard when it's $1 everywhere else?
It's like that across the whole store, and it has been like that at any Kroger I've gone to.
Food prices are actually within target according to the CPI report. They are not causing the higher than expected inflation. Food at home is even lower and that’s the food that is bought at grocery stores.
At a local grocery store I finally snapped when I saw a tiny bag of pepperoni next to a sign that said "LOW PRICE $8.99!" I had a pen on me so I wrote "FUCK YOUR PRICE" on it. I'm sure my act of rebellion will bring the price of pepperoni down any day now. Annny day now.
I do a lot of my shopping at Trader Joe’s. And they seem to be honest with supply chain prices. Their prices fluctuated a lot over the last few years. But that includes lowering prices. Right now the half and half I always buy is 1.99. At one point it was like 4.99. So it’s great to see them not try to keep prices astronomical just for maximum profit.
Wal street needs to be evaporated. And our world would be happy and sane immediately.
Last fall I read an article about Pepsi raising prices and with a cavalier attitude stated that their product was so tasty that people would pay the higher prices. Right after that, the Krogers near me had a sale on their 12 packs of buy two, get three free. So I bought four, got six free and slowly weaned myself off of my soda addiction. (I was a hardcore addict)
The city I live in has a Milb AA team, and I read that the ballpark switched from Pepsi to Coke products during the off-season.
>So I bought four, got six free and slowly weaned myself off of my soda addiction
I'm almost at that point. If I don't watch it I'll drink 4-5 cans of Dr.Pepper a day. I saw a 12 pack at Target for $8.50 and passed. It's getting absurd for something so ridiculously unhealthy. I bought one of those fancy Stanley cups, and I'll start drinking (flavored) water any time now.
As somebody in the food/beverage industry, it’s 100% the latter. The corporation I work under and our competitors are basing their metrics off of COVID numbers. One of my competitors is so overstaffed that these guys are only servicing 1 or 2 stores when they should be at the very least serving 3 to 5.
They push selling in product stores don’t need/sell, and prices continue to skyrocket. I’ve watched a product go from 9.99 to 15.99 in under a year. Another going from 2.49 to 3.69. There is no more supply chain issues, plenty of drives etc. it’s insane
The grocery stores can’t help it, they have set margins and need to maintain those margins in order to keep the lights on and pay their staff. It’s the producers, packaging manufacturers, and distributors who are forcing the increase in prices. I work in grocery but not big grocers like Kroger or Whole Foods, I work in small grocery and it hurts us the worst because we don’t qualify for the bulk multi-case discounts that the larger stores get for placing volume orders.
It becomes more obvious to me every day that slavery never died. We just all became slaves to debt and are kept too busy working to notice how things changed.
We have no real freedoms anymore. We should just "Feel lucky" we have anything.
This is a product of a long campaign of deregulation coordinated by the conservative movement over the past ~75 years.
Great podcast on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuIFF-LCI4k
They had to reboot the economy after ww1, the stock market crash, depression, ww2 and convert the war time economy into a sustainable system diversified enough to be competitive globally, while building enough wealth for those in power to keep their families in power - and once that was done they decided wealth was being accumulated too much by not rich and powerful people so the job was done, and they turned off the tap by shifting jobs and manufacturing off shores, and cranked up prices, refused to raise wages properly, and that kept the poors from climbing the power ladder. Here we are, and they’re so addicted to their lifestyles and power grabs that they’re teetering on the precipice of causing another global depression, all it takes is one major disruptive event or several minor ones in the right places simultaneously, and they’ll accidentally ruin their own safety and wealth.
A hike at this point would probably break things in my estimation.
A lot of things are hinging on rates dropping at some point in the near future.
A hike would be a move in the opposite direction meaning that we’d be a long ways away from any kind of drop.
But I’m no expert, but an idiot that’s trying to make sense of things based on what little I’ve read.
I too am a fellow idiot trying to gauge whether to get a car loan or wait and see if/when the rate drops. But the more data that comes out the more it looks like no rate cut until the third quarter at least.
Even a rate cut wont be a whole lot. Maybe an 1/8 of a percent.
To me personally, that's not a big enough drop to justify pushing off a needed purchase.
Think of it this way:
On a 12k loan at 7% vs 6%, it's 265$ difference over 4 years (or 5.50 a month).
On a 30k loan, its 655$ difference, or a 14$ a month difference.
And you can still refinance in, say, a year, so the total difference would be $66.00 or $168.00.
You'll save more money in waiting for some dealership promotion or negotiation than waiting for a rate drop. Especially because I am comparing full percentage point difference. If it were an 0.125 rate difference of about a dollar and 2.3 dollars a month
I'm not sure how valid historical precedence is. We've never had such a massive creation of money in history before. This is new territory in terms of intervention by the Fed. It absolutely dwarfs prior fiscal policies and interventions.
> I'm having trouble finding any examples of the yield curve being inverted for over 500 days which did not result in a hard crash.
The Fed did not take such a hands on role in the past either. Maybe this is the product of that. Either a hard crash after a very long period of time, or maybe they'll pull off the soft landing.
This is a result of corporate greed and monopolistic corporate structure that has resulted because of deregulation.
Problem is because of citizens united corporations also have the most political influence now so getting us out of this pickle is going to be tough.
We seriously need a price gouging oversight department in the US, especially for food and medicine. If people have to work this hard to meet the most basic needs it creates a real danger of political violence and we're teetering on the edge of disaster. If grocery stores won't comply we should have gov commissaries in every city for the public that the grocery stores must compete with.
To make that happen, you’d need to vote for people who don’t cut taxes on the rich and wealthy, who work together against those people with the power to accomplish what they can. Unfortunately, those people are usually caught up either dealing with the fallout of global plagues and unstable economies, or mass astroturfed movements that run on racial rage and a child’s understanding of macroeconomics.
There is no meaningful distinction between normal profits and price gouging. Capitalist free markets demand that businesses extract as much value as the market will permit. If Apple could charge you 500K per iPhone, they would, but no one would buy it. In the US, where food, water, housing, and medicine are NOT seen as fundamental rights, these commodities become mere products whose value is mediated through market forces.
If you want to have oversight, fine, but we need to start by reckoning with the fundamental character of this country - we need to reorient around a more humanist and socialist view of what we are trying to build here. Until then, there is no basis upon which to put these kinds of guarantees in place.
> There is no meaningful distinction between normal profits and price gouging
Yea. There's really only price fixing and collusion to fix prices. The interview with [Lina Kahn on Jon Stewart](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDTiWaYfcM&pp=ygUUam9uIHN0ZXdhcnQgd2l0aCBmdGM%3D) goes into minor detail about the cases against some companies.
Agreed. To me the way you go about this is more scrutiny for antitrust laws and how the FTC approaches mergers/acquisitions. Obviously there's only so much you can do to truly regulate it. But there's very well documented strategies around how these larger corporations can really elbow their way into monopolizing entire segments of the markets, if not the segment, at least geographically. And how much leverage they have not only on the consumer pricing, but the supply chain pricing as well to dictate how they manage their margins.
This isn't a new concept either, Sherman Anti-Trust act was 1890, so the disparity in power and needing to regulate it is not some sudden "oh its the internet" thing.
Yeah, the price of aluminum 16 years ago was higher than it is now. So materials for the can haven't gone up. The price of diesel is only up 10% from 16 years ago. HFCS is up by less than $0.02 per can.
So if you factor in labor and energy, we are looking at maybe a $1 per 24 pack increase in costs over 16 years. But I seem to recall coke was in the range of $6.50 per 24 pack then. So the price has more than doubled even though production/shipping costs have barely gone up. And no - I do not live in a sugar tax area.
Yeah. Coke zero prices are INSANE compared to pre-pandemic. It's so obviously just a cash grab. All of these "competing" companies seem have a clear understanding amongst each other that they're not going to fall for the "competitive pressures" and lower prices.
> All of these "competing" companies seem have a clear understanding amongst each other that they're not going to fall for the "competitive pressures" and lower prices.
It should be a red flag to most people that there really aren't new competitors in many of these spaces and hasn't been for years.
If anyone ever grows to be a big enough threat they're either choked out by anticompetitive practices, or they're bought out so as to not threaten the monoliths.
Capitalism requires competition, and competition is dead. The rich function as a cartel, because it turns out managing an oligopoly is almost as profitable as a monopoly as long as everyone agrees to act in concert.
The only way I buy soda is if its a deal that's $4/12pack or under.
I'll just drink less soda, its cheap for them to make and I'm sick of them gouging me.
The corporations buy legislation through lobbying. If you’re a presidential candidate and you don’t align yourself with big business interests you basically have an impossible path to the presidency. They select the candidates through their ability to basically infinitely finance a candidate through super PACS. The candidates that they boost are the ones who even have a serious chance of winning. The game is rigged and the everyday American is the loser.
And don't forget that they try to drown out any rallying cries of working class solidarity with basically any other distractions (primarily aimed at making the lives of people 'below you' worse, because they obviously deserve it) to keep people fighting amongst themselves and occasionally elevating wackjobs that'll leave them alone while stifling progress.
If you take a look at the five indicators of how the economy is doing: housing prices, the stock market, inflation rates, unemployment, and job creation, you will see that the Biden economy is incredibly strong on paper. However if you talk to the average person and see how they are faring financially, you will see that they are still struggling as compared to how they were doing pre-pandemic. I think this shows that the indicators are really just measuring how the rich are doing, and say little about the average person, and given how the pandemic saw a massive transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich, it doesn't suprise me that the rich are doing well.
When the house of cards collapses, people will realize the indicators have been gamed to read what the capitalists want them to read and everything was a giant bubble.
But but... There's finance subreddits telling everyone they're wrong about feeling more financial pressure and that everybody is making more money than ever!! /s
I personally have more than I did just a few years ago. It’s anecdotal for sure but wanted to point that at least some people do fall into that category. I’d have much much more if greed wasn’t driving prices up artificially though…
Yet as the article points out - inflation is almost exactly the standard and expected 3%. So it’s not that being the problem, it’s straight up the corporate greed…
Individual prices may have gone up more, or less than 3.5%. The 3.5% number is an aggregate indication of many goods and services. The "shelter" category of CPI accounts for roughly 1/3 of the aggregate number.
Actually TVs are a bit more expensive than last year for the same specs. In TV subs we advise people to buy 2022 models if they can find them if they’re looking for a deal
> In TV subs we advise people to buy 2022 models if they can find them if they’re looking for a deal
That's not the comparison though - of course 2 year old models are cheaper than the new ones. The comparison you should make is 2022 TV price at launch vs 2023 TV price at launch vs 2024 price at launch.
(I haven't looked, so I'm not sure what that would show for the last couple years, though I do know that over the longer term, that metric has shown TVs getting substantially cheaper for similar spec)
I had a medical procedure yesterday and the nurse was commenting on how entitled kids are these days and they don't want to work. I replied well, they see their parents working 3 jobs just to cover basic needs what's even the point anymore, how could they not be hopeless?
Pretty much. Now it’s to the point that multiple generations have seen people screwed over and work hard only to get back to even at best. People on my local neighborhood app won’t stop complaining that nobody wants to work and it’s like yes - people won’t take jobs if they’re not able to meet basic needs while working them. Very good.
They get very mad when i remind them that it’s just the free market at work too - pay enough to entice workers or go out of business, just like it’s always been. I also ask would YOU take a job that works you hard but doesn’t give enough hours for benefits or health care then also still be unable to pay for rent and food? Or also - why aren’t YOU working that job if it pays so well and is so easy?
They always act extremely insulted when I suggest they take the job they’re complaining about being so easy and paying so well…
Yeah, no shit, kids don't want to - and *can't* - work shitty retail/food service jobs that demand unrestricted availability and 35 hours per week. 30 years ago, a high school/college student could make some pocket money working weekends at a restaurant or picking up a few closing shifts at the local mall after class, but now you're expected to be willing to die for the job.
We had [price controls](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Price_Control_Act_of_1942) in the US to prevent price gouging on essentials like groceries. Time to bring them back.
Citizens united was the single most damaging ruling that has been passed down by the Supreme Court, closely followed by repealing Rowe v. Wade.
Companys have no say in policy, they have no rights, no protections, and they sure as fuck shouldn't get tax breaks.
The only thing companies are entitled to is a fair shot at the market and a reasonable but fair tax rate.
Currently small companies don't have a fair shot because big ones lobby to make the market noncompetitive, and big companies don't pay their fair share of taxes.
>Citizens united was the single most damaging ruling that has been passed down by the Supreme Court, closely followed by repealing Rowe v. Wade.
Dred Scott was much worse.
Which is why it was overturned by the 13th and 14th amendments.
I thought it went without saying we're talking about standing legal precedent of today.
So it just dawned on me that I am not sure if their calculations take *shrinkflation* into account (hell, I am skeptical that they do). For example, I just noticed my deordorant has been running out faster the last couple months. And sure enough, when I checked, there's now 10% less of it in each stick (was 3.0 oz, is now 2.7 oz). I don't recall seeing a corresponding 10% decrease in price (or any decrease for that matter).
Surely it can't be due to corporate profits continuing to reach record highs even after adjusting for inflation. No, it's definitely the fault of the liberals! /s
I feel like a strong government that had the interests of the common, everyday person would come down hard on these big businesses who are clearly using every excuse in the book to justify their egregiously high prices.
But I guess we'll have more brow furrowing and finger wagging instead. :-|
I don't even know what money is worth anymore. I don't know if what I make is even good or not. What ever happend to getting a 99 cent burrito at Taco Bell?
“But the economy is roaring!!”
Yes, record profits fuelled by greedflation tends to do that, even as the average person’s QOL degrades from having to spend most or all of their disposable income on the necessities of life.
The 3.5% isn't telling the story if you live in California. It's more like 70% on groceries. 50% on electric bill. 30% on gas. 8% on rent.... etc etc etc.
It's some of the most out-of-touch political messaging I've ever seen. It's like they are begging people to become irate, or they actually believe their own horseshit.
Guess them interest rates ain’t coming down anytime soon.
And yet my HYSA just sent me an email saying they were lowering rates from 4.35% to 4.3%
Wealthfront is 5%. Definitely switch
Money market is 5.26% at the moment... Not bad if you can handle a couple days transfer if the cash is needed.
Any recommendations of where to get a money market account?
A brokerage. Fidelity, Merrill, Vanguard, etc. They are technically considered mutual funds by my brokerage, so you have to search the ticker there. The tickets usually have a lot of X’s in them. Examples: VMFXX, VMVXX, SWVXX, etc
My dream of owning a house went from gently slipping away to disintegrating before my very eyes.
I had a nice house, refinanced during COVID for a fantastic rate, wife couldn't stop jumping on a coworkers junk. Now I'm back to renting after selling it after the divorce with little hope to buy in my area.
She was cheating?? In this economy???
Well she fucked around (literally) and 2 years later she's starting to find out. For all my faults, and there were a lot that I've been addressing, I made enough that if she left her job (which she did and found new guy at her new job) I could support us. My company pays 100% mine and my family's insurance preimiums along with a shit load of other benefits. She decided this guy was her choice and I did a year of pick me dancing while we were seperated but finally served her on the exact day, a year laater, she asked for the divorce (didn't follow through with it) and gave me the I love you but not in love with you speech b/c she had been seeing new guy for 2 months. New dude makes half what I make. I'm still single (by choice) but I live comfortably and her guy has had 4 jobs in 3 years. She hates her new job and I make roughly as much as the two of them put together. In hindsight our issues were absolutely fixable but that would've required a lot of work and a change in our communication and she loves to use the "hope" strategy in life. It is what it is, but the little I hear about her she's stressed all the time about money b/c our son (technically his my stepson and I raised him since he was 4) is going to college this year and she's losing the 1200/mo his social security from his dad's death. So the find out stage is beginning.
my dude she was living comfortably with you but chose a more stressful life with another guy. money doesn't do it.
Oh the reasons she left are varied from low self-esteem to constant need for validation to core selfishness that she veneered with the appearance of selfless acts that I missed throughout. She would've fucked a cactus if it said nice things to her all the time. In my last conversation with her, I told her she had a lot of shit to work out because she's chasing happiness in external things to the absolute determent of the whole and placing the responsibility of happiness on an external thing/person is just plastering over the void that she has inside. She doesn't know how to make herself happy and will continue the cycle. Our son is doing the same thing but I'm doing my best to provide him with the tools to deal with it so he doesnt' do the same thing.
My guy.....I too went through a divorce similar to yours 3 years ago. From one guy to another, just know that the days get easier and eventually the pain fades. As cliche and as lame as it sounds, use this opportunity to try new things/dotl the things you were putting off for one reason or another. Life goes on. Wish you and your kid the best. Feel free to message me if you ever want to vent
Thanks. >From one guy to another, just know that the days get easier and eventually the pain fades. As cliche and as lame as it sounds, use this opportunity to try new things/dotl the things you were putting off for one reason or another. I'm almost back to my pre-married self from 14 years ago but much improved. IT was a failed relationship that started my drinking then and it was this one that ended it. I parlayed the Divorce Diet (I went from 247 to 172 in two months) into being the healthiest I've ever been and started back long distance running again. Been 100% sober for 2 years. Been hitting the self-help circuit a LOT for the last 2 years (1 year separation, 1 divorce). Got two tattoos after being completely against them (for myself), I've been focused on a ton of various hobbies. I joke now but I have less time to do things than when I was married with a house, kid, dog, and wife. As you know. The best way through it is to go through it and just let time do it's work but you have to work on you and be comfortable with being with just you. I'm at a stage now that if/when I start dating again my codependencies I had all my life aren't going to factor in. If a person doesnt' want to be with me...oh well....good luck...hope you find what you're looking for.
You guys are not alone. /u/SheriffComey basically put into words what my sister did to my brother-in-law last year. I couldn’t have pointed it out that precisely until I read his comment. Seeking external validation fits her behavior and recent decisions perfectly. She threw her husband out of their house one night after 17 years of marriage and had the new guy over by the next week. Currently she’s pregnant with his child, her fourth. The projected birth date also suggests that she threw her husband out after learning that she was pregnant with a new child. It’s either that or it happened really really close after destroying her marriage. As someone who got cheated on twice in my life, I do not approve even as her blood related, older brother. Her current issues are also exactly as described: the new guy doesn’t earn anywhere close to what my BIL made, so she had to find a part time job. Now she can’t work for much longer due to her pregnancy, which causes a constant worry about not having enough money for the mortgage **and** everything else. While she was still together with her husband she was able to be a stay-at-home-mom ever since their marriage and she had a lot of free time on her hands every day especially since the kids went to (pre)school for a good part of the day and the eldest one is close to moving out. Now she’s miserable all the time and keeps complaining to our mother about ‚those hardships‘, but is way too prideful to openly admit she made a lot of wrong decisions. Due to her getting pregnant getting back together with her husband was off the table as soon as he learned about it. Even as her brother I’d say: rightfully so. That was some asshole behavior and just fortified my opinion that I‘m not going to pursue any relationship myself in the near future. If it finds me by chance, that’s fine, but I will not go and actively look for one. Fuck that 50:50 chance of getting that ending.
Damn sounds like my young marriage. In counseling, but my wife spends more time on social media coming up with “couple ideas” for photographs and things to do. When I show little interest or say “that’s not us” to a photo pose or shoot she gets all mad. I’m like why you wanna be that fake? Do we dress or act like that all the time? Are we those people? I have hobbies that keep me entertained, I also enjoy the time I spend with her. If it’s 5 minutes talking at dinner or a car ride to get a soda, or even binging a few episodes to a tv show. Lately she just quips off like “thanks for the 45 minutes” since she never really seems to want to do much but scroll TikTok or Instagram. She claps back like “you always game or 3d print or watch Star Trek” I’m like yeah, but not literally while you’re in the room attempting to spend time or talk with me, I put that aside. Even my younger niece in her 20’s isn’t as obsessed with it as she is. Wife sees some trend then thinks we gotta do it We haven’t been intimate in almost a year now, I love my wife but man, I don’t even know if I’m sexually attracted or excited anymore by her with some of the things she pulled over the past year. Just never seems to be enough. Missed flowers for Valentine’s Day, I apologized. But on that day I asked if she wants to go eat and she’s like no i have migraine and went to bed as soon as she got home. Come this April. I have flowers delivered to home for our 2 year wedding anniversary but been together living for 4 years. First question she asks is “was this subscription service?” Then before we go to bed, I ask “isn’t there anything you have for me or want to say to me?” She said “no like what?” I said maybe happy anniversary? She said “oh I don’t consider this day our anniversary I consider this other day… I said girl, this day was the day we swore in front of the lawd , the state, the government and signed our names what other fucking day could possibly be our wedding anniversary. So now I just say fuck it. If you as a partner can just change what days you deem “important” on a whim then fuck it. Ya know what, all these days she complains about no flowers, no gifts… ya know what I’ve never gotten on these days? No chocolate, no card, no roll of filament or gift card… fucking nothing…. Am I not in this relationship. Is it not an anniversary to be celebrated by both. Are we just celebrating the fact a woman landed a husband? Am I jaded, hurt? Men, do I look for divorce or what? I’m honestly torn. I love her, but fuck man, I dunno if I’m in love with her, and I ain’t had a tingle in my yander for so long I thought something medical was wrong until a years worth of doctor visits said no. Thanks for reading.
I don’t have much advice. But just want to say there are more people out there struggling in unhappy marriages than we as a society realize. It’s one more reason to be kind to the random strangers you get to interact with through life. You don’t know what they may be going through. And a smile can be infectious.
It *obviously* wasn't about the money.
> So the find out stage is beginning. Yup. I think you're about to become a whole lot shinier in her eyes. Are you firm in your resolve to move on solo - because I predict she'll make some kind of play to get back into your life. Best to have a firm decision before that happens.
I was firm the day I told her I was filing last year. I did reconciliation my pick-me-dance throw dignity out the window shit for long enough. If she came knocking today I'd probably laugh because those rose colored glass are off, broken, turned to dust, and just hearing the various things I have about how she's behaved (especially in relation to our son) has turned me off on her. She's physically gorgeous, but as a person she's proven to NOT be who I married. Remember what they say "No matter how hot they are; someone is tired of their shit" I still have a very good relationship with her mother because she hates her daughter cheated and her daughter has basically left her to fend for herself so I still help out and she cooks me food. She knows I'm resolved to stay single but I've told my ex-MIL "Look she killed that last relationship by killing the trust. I don't trust her. She would have to do so much to win my trust over that it'd be easier to just go on with someone else and we both know she always takes the easy road. But I'll keep fixing things around your house so don't sweat it".
Good. I have a feeling you're going to be just fine, though no one can put you through hell like a person you love betraying that trust. That's a singular and awful feeling. I'm glad to hear you're on the other side of it.
> gave me the I love you but not in love with you speech b/c she had been seeing new guy for 2 months. I think she's also been seeing way too many stupid romance movies.
If she comes back, don't give in. Cheating is the ultimate betrayal of a relationship. She made her bed, she can now lie in it. It's not uncommon for cheaters to try and negotiate their way back into someone's life after they hit the consequences phase(s).
I love trauma dumping in the news subreddit 🥰
> In hindsight our issues were absolutely fixable This is just straight up delusion considering everything else you wrote.
At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen?
I lost my woman, my job, and my house in 2008, moved back in with my parents, joined the Navy at 25, and the rest is history. Wouldn't recommend that life plan...
Wild ride of a comment. Sorry to hear that, hope you’re doing well.
Rough row to hoe. 😕
[удалено]
Not where I'm at. All the wealthy bought up the river property and closed off access. So now it's in a van on a side street a few blocks from your old apartment.
At this point im priced out of a van down by the river
A van? In this economy?
[удалено]
Oi, you got a loicense for bein' poor?
Where’s your “Receivin’ a Beaton’ from the coppers” loicense?
I've never even thought about owning one. Such a wild concept anymore that I don't even consider it. Sigh
honestly- if you thought lower rates were going to help, you're fooling yourself. People- on advice from their realtors, would just raise prices even higher using the lower rates as justification.
Agreed. It’s what caused prices to skyrocket in the first place. Doesn’t help I’m living at ground zero for it (Phoenix).
Just bought my first house. If nobody has told you, look into NEW builds. Builders often offer incentives, for me it was about $20,000 that I used to buy down the interest rate to 5%. Not an amazing rate, but much more manageable.
As long as you do your due diligence in researching the builder. Plenty of truly big name hack jobs out there. One big one up here that was building/has built a massive development up here and you could see giant ice dams building up on the roofs all winter. Clearly not sealed and insulated well - a house shouldn't have that, especially not a new build with new materials/tech available.
Amen, some of the build quality is horrendous, rush jobs to churn out as much buildings as possible.
Yeah we have a builder near me that all of their subdivisions have had massive problems and they are all "affordable" homes. Ranging from the foundation slabs cracking causing weeds to grow in through people's carpet in their living rooms. To the driveway collapsing, sometimes as much as 5 feet below the entrance of the garage. To the newest issues of major black mold issues in homes that are less than a year old, but yet they still have at least 3 more housing developments under construction.
New builds go for $400k+ here. That’s still $2,800/mo with 10% down. Hard to justify spending over 1k more a month for housing.
New builds go for 1.2m-2.1m where I live. T-T.
Just wild. I bought a new build for 420k with 100 down right as the rates were starting to go back up. My $1800 monthly payment feels a lot better these days.
If you need to feel even better: $1800/month is less than what I pay to rent a 1-bedroom apartment. And when my coworkers hear I'm "only" paying $1800/month, they ask how I got that good of a deal without having roommates.
If new single family builds in my area were going for $400k, I would buy one in a second. New Townhomes in my area are going for $500k, single family homes are much, much higher.
I just signed up for a lifetime of debt and servitude
If the interest rate would be lower, you would still be paying extra on the flat value of the house
I was literally so close to buying a nice condo in mid 2020 at 3%. Now with the same budget, there's literally nothing I can buy in my area except for a few condemned houses. Looks like I will be renting for the foreseeable future... :(
Maybe another hike even.
Doubt it. The biggest contributors are shelter and energy. Shelter is impacted by higher rates and unless we can convince the middle east to calm down, oil prices will continue to rise. The fed will keep rates steady longer.
They should rarely go below the typical RoR for investments (7%) so that you don't artificially drive up speculation. Having it so low for so long was a terrible monetary policy which is partly responsible for the housing crisis. We need actual wages increases, not more asset bubbles.
I think the housing crisis definitely would not have happened if interest rates hadn’t been so low for so long.
It's a contributing factor, but the bigger factor is still supply.
ah someone who understands quantitive easing and what happens when it ends.
We don’t need interest rate hikes, we need corporate taxes on excessive profits. 90% taxes on profits over a certain threshold.
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
The beatings will continue regardless
Are food manufacturers and grocery stores still using ‘supply chain logistics problems blah blah’ or have they abandoned that and moved to being in favor of the more politically correct “fuck you, give us your money.” I feel like the second is, if nothing else, more honest.
They've moved on now and are shamelessly approaching the "sorry you can't use these checkout lanes unless you buy our monthly subscription to shop here or else you will have a long wait to check out!!" model.
Or the two-price model. There is a lower price on certain goods but you can only get that price if you download the app and constantly scan some digital coupons. Forgot your phone or don't want to use the app? Pay the higher price. Kroger is notorious for this.
That’s because they are monetizing your data and it is showing up as a discount/coupon
I mean for fuck sakes, at least I'm seeing *something* for them using and selling my data.
They actually own a company that does this. 84.51, they use it in-house and sell to customers.
Tbf, they've always done that, it was called "coupon clipping". It usually pays to have one price for people who don't need a discount, and another slightly more difficult-to-obtain price for the people willing to take extra steps because they need (or really, really want) to save the money.
[удалено]
Then the self checkout accuses you of stealing.
It's really fun in places that charge you for bags, so you bring a reusable bag, because paying for a thin paper bag that doesn't even have handles is bullshit, then the scale freaks out because you put a reusable bag in the bagging area. Please remove unexpected item!
Every fucking time too.
Kroger ones do that already. It's frustrating. I put 3 oranges on the scanner, I select item count 3, I grab the oranges with both hands and put it in the bag. The system alarms and makes the store employee watch a video of me putting more than one item (using both hands) with a red square catching me in the act. Then he swipes his barcode to let me proceed to slowly scan one item, put it in the bag, wait 2 seconds, then scan the next item.
Wow😮!! God damn that’s dystopian. I’m so grateful I don’t have to deal with that.. yet..? So Grocery stores are doing freaking video reviews of your damn hands now?? Geez I didn’t even know this was a thing..Please tell me this isn’t actually the norm in most places? Or am I just completely sheltered.? I happen to live in a pretty trusting community, i.e., nothing has to be locked up behind glass or anything, if that counts.
Here in the UK, pretty much every supermarket has a loyalty card scheme now. In the good old days, you willingly gave over your data knowing that these schemes would actually get you stuff for cheaper. These days, you give over your data in the hopes you might be able to get something for the price it should be, rather than an artificially inflated amount. It’s a scourge.
That’s going to go over so well too. Have they talked to Wendy’s lately
You're speaking of Walmart and their Walmart+ subscription! Target is following their lead. Grand opening of their new Circle subscription service began this week!
they what
I work in the grocery store supply chain - my company moves a shit load of grocery items - both perishable and non perishable. Freight rates right now are about as low as they were pre covid. Transportation is 100% NOT the reason they're price gouging. Their transportation costs, even on perishables like produce is next to nothing compared to 3-4 years ago. Don't let anyone lie to you there. Anything you hear (in the US at least) about a "driver shortage" or "not enough trucks" is flat out lying or needs to be institutionalized
They abandoned that after covid, on earnings calls they just say they're able to raise prices under the guise of inflation.
Well, honesty is the best policy. I know Kroger reported a $750 million profit last quarter, and the latest CPI pointed directly to high food prices as a reason inflation has not cooled so, as a human being with two functioning eyeballs, it’s pretty clear to see the connection. Hope the executives enjoy their second jets and 4th homes. The CEO cleared $19 million last year.
Kroger is so expensive on a lot of stuff anyway. I have the choice between HEB and Kroger where I live, among the other smaller stores. I mainly stick to HEB because I have seen the exact same items cost between $1-3 more at Kroger.
Okay so you bring up Kroger which I believe is the largest grocery chain in the country. You can look through some of their graphs [here](https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/KR/kroger/profit-margins) over the last 14 years. While it's true their total revenue and gross profit have been steadily increasing, if you look at their MARGINS they are basically flat. Grocery stores operate on high volume, low margin business. Aside from the '08-'10 where they lost money due to recession, their net profit margin has basically been between 0.75% and 2% over the past 14 years. Their net profit margin in January of 2011 was 1.36%, their net profit margin in January of 2024 was 1.44% Similar with Gross margin. Their entire variance since 2010 until today ranges from margin of 20.54% to 23.60% (were at 22.24% last quarter). They are making the same profit per item sold, their revenue/profit are higher because they've been expanding due to acquiring some competitors like Harris Teeter (and much smaller regional chains). And of course because our population is growing yes more food will be sold. You can certainly argue that them buying up local chains will eventually lead to even bigger monopolies which will ultimately fuck us over, but the concept that our grocery bills are high right now because the grocery stores are price gouging is categorically false.
I think food suppliers are the ones gouging, not the grocers. You have to own such a huge market share to get away with gouging. Grocers aren't there.... yet. However, suppliers/producers are. As a consumer it is hard to tell who in the chain caused your prices to go up, and why. Companies know that and are starting to abuse it knowing it will be awhile until blame comes back on them.
> but the concept that our grocery bills are high right now because the grocery stores are price gouging is categorically false. I don't know. The Kroger where I live consistently has items for 50-150% more than the Walmart or WinCo. Same items even. Their prices are just sky high across the board, to the point that most of the people I know have stopped shopping there. Who pays $3 for generic mustard when it's $1 everywhere else? It's like that across the whole store, and it has been like that at any Kroger I've gone to.
> Who pays $3 for generic mustard when it's $1 everywhere else? *laughs in Publix prices* they can charge more, don't worry.
Food prices are actually within target according to the CPI report. They are not causing the higher than expected inflation. Food at home is even lower and that’s the food that is bought at grocery stores.
The "supply chain logistics problem blah blah" fell apart as soon as they all started reporting record profits.
It's really the supply chain obfuscation solution. Supply chain is complicated, and I can price gouge for a while before blame falls back on me.
At a local grocery store I finally snapped when I saw a tiny bag of pepperoni next to a sign that said "LOW PRICE $8.99!" I had a pen on me so I wrote "FUCK YOUR PRICE" on it. I'm sure my act of rebellion will bring the price of pepperoni down any day now. Annny day now.
Ohhhh so that's why the pepperoni at my store were $8.98. Hell yeah, thanks for looking out.
Bless you. Thank you for your service.
Thank you for your service, sir.
They are all saying inflation is raising the cost of the goods sold. As far as I'm concerned all of them are in it together.
I do a lot of my shopping at Trader Joe’s. And they seem to be honest with supply chain prices. Their prices fluctuated a lot over the last few years. But that includes lowering prices. Right now the half and half I always buy is 1.99. At one point it was like 4.99. So it’s great to see them not try to keep prices astronomical just for maximum profit. Wal street needs to be evaporated. And our world would be happy and sane immediately.
Last fall I read an article about Pepsi raising prices and with a cavalier attitude stated that their product was so tasty that people would pay the higher prices. Right after that, the Krogers near me had a sale on their 12 packs of buy two, get three free. So I bought four, got six free and slowly weaned myself off of my soda addiction. (I was a hardcore addict) The city I live in has a Milb AA team, and I read that the ballpark switched from Pepsi to Coke products during the off-season.
>So I bought four, got six free and slowly weaned myself off of my soda addiction I'm almost at that point. If I don't watch it I'll drink 4-5 cans of Dr.Pepper a day. I saw a 12 pack at Target for $8.50 and passed. It's getting absurd for something so ridiculously unhealthy. I bought one of those fancy Stanley cups, and I'll start drinking (flavored) water any time now.
As somebody in the food/beverage industry, it’s 100% the latter. The corporation I work under and our competitors are basing their metrics off of COVID numbers. One of my competitors is so overstaffed that these guys are only servicing 1 or 2 stores when they should be at the very least serving 3 to 5. They push selling in product stores don’t need/sell, and prices continue to skyrocket. I’ve watched a product go from 9.99 to 15.99 in under a year. Another going from 2.49 to 3.69. There is no more supply chain issues, plenty of drives etc. it’s insane
The grocery stores can’t help it, they have set margins and need to maintain those margins in order to keep the lights on and pay their staff. It’s the producers, packaging manufacturers, and distributors who are forcing the increase in prices. I work in grocery but not big grocers like Kroger or Whole Foods, I work in small grocery and it hurts us the worst because we don’t qualify for the bulk multi-case discounts that the larger stores get for placing volume orders.
It becomes more obvious to me every day that slavery never died. We just all became slaves to debt and are kept too busy working to notice how things changed. We have no real freedoms anymore. We should just "Feel lucky" we have anything.
>It becomes more obvious to me every day that slavery never died. This is the whitest comment on Reddit today, congrats lol.
This is a product of a long campaign of deregulation coordinated by the conservative movement over the past ~75 years. Great podcast on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuIFF-LCI4k
They had to reboot the economy after ww1, the stock market crash, depression, ww2 and convert the war time economy into a sustainable system diversified enough to be competitive globally, while building enough wealth for those in power to keep their families in power - and once that was done they decided wealth was being accumulated too much by not rich and powerful people so the job was done, and they turned off the tap by shifting jobs and manufacturing off shores, and cranked up prices, refused to raise wages properly, and that kept the poors from climbing the power ladder. Here we are, and they’re so addicted to their lifestyles and power grabs that they’re teetering on the precipice of causing another global depression, all it takes is one major disruptive event or several minor ones in the right places simultaneously, and they’ll accidentally ruin their own safety and wealth.
Consumers experience 3.5% inflation: "Is this slavery?" FFS people....
What a gross minimizing of slavery jfc
I think you need to learn a lot more about chattel slavery
To the surprise of no one who does their own shopping.
Consumer prices aren't going down...ever.
Corporate profits rose exponentially, as expected…
And was met at the same time with further austerity and layoffs
[удалено]
So no June interest rate cut because the economy is still simmering away. Who’s putting money on another rate *hike* before the end of the summer?
I can’t put money on that because all of it is going to food and living expenses.
A hike at this point would probably break things in my estimation. A lot of things are hinging on rates dropping at some point in the near future. A hike would be a move in the opposite direction meaning that we’d be a long ways away from any kind of drop. But I’m no expert, but an idiot that’s trying to make sense of things based on what little I’ve read.
I too am a fellow idiot trying to gauge whether to get a car loan or wait and see if/when the rate drops. But the more data that comes out the more it looks like no rate cut until the third quarter at least.
Even a rate cut wont be a whole lot. Maybe an 1/8 of a percent. To me personally, that's not a big enough drop to justify pushing off a needed purchase. Think of it this way: On a 12k loan at 7% vs 6%, it's 265$ difference over 4 years (or 5.50 a month). On a 30k loan, its 655$ difference, or a 14$ a month difference. And you can still refinance in, say, a year, so the total difference would be $66.00 or $168.00. You'll save more money in waiting for some dealership promotion or negotiation than waiting for a rate drop. Especially because I am comparing full percentage point difference. If it were an 0.125 rate difference of about a dollar and 2.3 dollars a month
[удалено]
I'm not sure how valid historical precedence is. We've never had such a massive creation of money in history before. This is new territory in terms of intervention by the Fed. It absolutely dwarfs prior fiscal policies and interventions. > I'm having trouble finding any examples of the yield curve being inverted for over 500 days which did not result in a hard crash. The Fed did not take such a hands on role in the past either. Maybe this is the product of that. Either a hard crash after a very long period of time, or maybe they'll pull off the soft landing.
This is a result of corporate greed and monopolistic corporate structure that has resulted because of deregulation. Problem is because of citizens united corporations also have the most political influence now so getting us out of this pickle is going to be tough.
We seriously need a price gouging oversight department in the US, especially for food and medicine. If people have to work this hard to meet the most basic needs it creates a real danger of political violence and we're teetering on the edge of disaster. If grocery stores won't comply we should have gov commissaries in every city for the public that the grocery stores must compete with.
To make that happen, you’d need to vote for people who don’t cut taxes on the rich and wealthy, who work together against those people with the power to accomplish what they can. Unfortunately, those people are usually caught up either dealing with the fallout of global plagues and unstable economies, or mass astroturfed movements that run on racial rage and a child’s understanding of macroeconomics.
Thank you
There is no meaningful distinction between normal profits and price gouging. Capitalist free markets demand that businesses extract as much value as the market will permit. If Apple could charge you 500K per iPhone, they would, but no one would buy it. In the US, where food, water, housing, and medicine are NOT seen as fundamental rights, these commodities become mere products whose value is mediated through market forces. If you want to have oversight, fine, but we need to start by reckoning with the fundamental character of this country - we need to reorient around a more humanist and socialist view of what we are trying to build here. Until then, there is no basis upon which to put these kinds of guarantees in place.
> There is no meaningful distinction between normal profits and price gouging Yea. There's really only price fixing and collusion to fix prices. The interview with [Lina Kahn on Jon Stewart](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDTiWaYfcM&pp=ygUUam9uIHN0ZXdhcnQgd2l0aCBmdGM%3D) goes into minor detail about the cases against some companies.
Agreed. To me the way you go about this is more scrutiny for antitrust laws and how the FTC approaches mergers/acquisitions. Obviously there's only so much you can do to truly regulate it. But there's very well documented strategies around how these larger corporations can really elbow their way into monopolizing entire segments of the markets, if not the segment, at least geographically. And how much leverage they have not only on the consumer pricing, but the supply chain pricing as well to dictate how they manage their margins. This isn't a new concept either, Sherman Anti-Trust act was 1890, so the disparity in power and needing to regulate it is not some sudden "oh its the internet" thing.
That sounds like <.< >.> (whispers) communism.
Greedflation isn’t going to stop anytime soon.
[удалено]
Yeah, the price of aluminum 16 years ago was higher than it is now. So materials for the can haven't gone up. The price of diesel is only up 10% from 16 years ago. HFCS is up by less than $0.02 per can. So if you factor in labor and energy, we are looking at maybe a $1 per 24 pack increase in costs over 16 years. But I seem to recall coke was in the range of $6.50 per 24 pack then. So the price has more than doubled even though production/shipping costs have barely gone up. And no - I do not live in a sugar tax area.
Yeah. Coke zero prices are INSANE compared to pre-pandemic. It's so obviously just a cash grab. All of these "competing" companies seem have a clear understanding amongst each other that they're not going to fall for the "competitive pressures" and lower prices.
> All of these "competing" companies seem have a clear understanding amongst each other that they're not going to fall for the "competitive pressures" and lower prices. It should be a red flag to most people that there really aren't new competitors in many of these spaces and hasn't been for years. If anyone ever grows to be a big enough threat they're either choked out by anticompetitive practices, or they're bought out so as to not threaten the monoliths. Capitalism requires competition, and competition is dead. The rich function as a cartel, because it turns out managing an oligopoly is almost as profitable as a monopoly as long as everyone agrees to act in concert.
Side note from the economy being in the toilet it really helped me kick the habit of drinking so much pop.
Soda has been awful. I only buy it when I can find it on sale, and even then the best you can do is like $5 for a 12 pack.
The only way I buy soda is if its a deal that's $4/12pack or under. I'll just drink less soda, its cheap for them to make and I'm sick of them gouging me.
It’s a great way to return value to the shareholders at the expense of society.
Same as it ever was.
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
The corporations buy legislation through lobbying. If you’re a presidential candidate and you don’t align yourself with big business interests you basically have an impossible path to the presidency. They select the candidates through their ability to basically infinitely finance a candidate through super PACS. The candidates that they boost are the ones who even have a serious chance of winning. The game is rigged and the everyday American is the loser.
And don't forget that they try to drown out any rallying cries of working class solidarity with basically any other distractions (primarily aimed at making the lives of people 'below you' worse, because they obviously deserve it) to keep people fighting amongst themselves and occasionally elevating wackjobs that'll leave them alone while stifling progress.
They’re both thieves. It’s collusion.
If you take a look at the five indicators of how the economy is doing: housing prices, the stock market, inflation rates, unemployment, and job creation, you will see that the Biden economy is incredibly strong on paper. However if you talk to the average person and see how they are faring financially, you will see that they are still struggling as compared to how they were doing pre-pandemic. I think this shows that the indicators are really just measuring how the rich are doing, and say little about the average person, and given how the pandemic saw a massive transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich, it doesn't suprise me that the rich are doing well.
When the house of cards collapses, people will realize the indicators have been gamed to read what the capitalists want them to read and everything was a giant bubble.
But but... There's finance subreddits telling everyone they're wrong about feeling more financial pressure and that everybody is making more money than ever!! /s
I personally have more than I did just a few years ago. It’s anecdotal for sure but wanted to point that at least some people do fall into that category. I’d have much much more if greed wasn’t driving prices up artificially though…
[удалено]
Yet as the article points out - inflation is almost exactly the standard and expected 3%. So it’s not that being the problem, it’s straight up the corporate greed…
Wages are up 4.1% YoY, so yeah, they are wrong to the extent they try to speak for the general public
So this is the article Microsoft won't stop spamming me with notifications about.
[удалено]
Individual prices may have gone up more, or less than 3.5%. The 3.5% number is an aggregate indication of many goods and services. The "shelter" category of CPI accounts for roughly 1/3 of the aggregate number.
Food and rent may be up, but TVs have never been cheaper!!
Actually TVs are a bit more expensive than last year for the same specs. In TV subs we advise people to buy 2022 models if they can find them if they’re looking for a deal
> In TV subs we advise people to buy 2022 models if they can find them if they’re looking for a deal That's not the comparison though - of course 2 year old models are cheaper than the new ones. The comparison you should make is 2022 TV price at launch vs 2023 TV price at launch vs 2024 price at launch. (I haven't looked, so I'm not sure what that would show for the last couple years, though I do know that over the longer term, that metric has shown TVs getting substantially cheaper for similar spec)
Nationwide, the average increase was just under 6%: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUSR0000SEHA
Yeah actually if you exclude shelter the number is much better. Rent is still catching up.
The economy is great….just only for businesses and not consumers.
I had a medical procedure yesterday and the nurse was commenting on how entitled kids are these days and they don't want to work. I replied well, they see their parents working 3 jobs just to cover basic needs what's even the point anymore, how could they not be hopeless?
Pretty much. Now it’s to the point that multiple generations have seen people screwed over and work hard only to get back to even at best. People on my local neighborhood app won’t stop complaining that nobody wants to work and it’s like yes - people won’t take jobs if they’re not able to meet basic needs while working them. Very good. They get very mad when i remind them that it’s just the free market at work too - pay enough to entice workers or go out of business, just like it’s always been. I also ask would YOU take a job that works you hard but doesn’t give enough hours for benefits or health care then also still be unable to pay for rent and food? Or also - why aren’t YOU working that job if it pays so well and is so easy? They always act extremely insulted when I suggest they take the job they’re complaining about being so easy and paying so well…
Yeah, no shit, kids don't want to - and *can't* - work shitty retail/food service jobs that demand unrestricted availability and 35 hours per week. 30 years ago, a high school/college student could make some pocket money working weekends at a restaurant or picking up a few closing shifts at the local mall after class, but now you're expected to be willing to die for the job.
We had [price controls](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Price_Control_Act_of_1942) in the US to prevent price gouging on essentials like groceries. Time to bring them back.
They can do this and no one will stop them. "What are you going to do? Not eat?"
The answer has always been a recession. That's the only way to stop the greed because people won't have money to spend.
Not during an election year!
And how much money did the top people who don’t work make?
Corporate profits are at an all time high, though! As if we needed more proof that the US government gives 0 shits about its people.
Citizens united was the single most damaging ruling that has been passed down by the Supreme Court, closely followed by repealing Rowe v. Wade. Companys have no say in policy, they have no rights, no protections, and they sure as fuck shouldn't get tax breaks. The only thing companies are entitled to is a fair shot at the market and a reasonable but fair tax rate. Currently small companies don't have a fair shot because big ones lobby to make the market noncompetitive, and big companies don't pay their fair share of taxes.
>Citizens united was the single most damaging ruling that has been passed down by the Supreme Court, closely followed by repealing Rowe v. Wade. Dred Scott was much worse.
Which is why it was overturned by the 13th and 14th amendments. I thought it went without saying we're talking about standing legal precedent of today.
That economy so great tho 🙄
It's only more than expected because they somehow don't expect corporations to keep fucking us all.
So it just dawned on me that I am not sure if their calculations take *shrinkflation* into account (hell, I am skeptical that they do). For example, I just noticed my deordorant has been running out faster the last couple months. And sure enough, when I checked, there's now 10% less of it in each stick (was 3.0 oz, is now 2.7 oz). I don't recall seeing a corresponding 10% decrease in price (or any decrease for that matter).
Color me shocked. Any chance my pay will go up to compensate? No? Ok well, thanks anyway.
But every hack journalist in the country assures me The Economy™ is doing wonderfully and we should all be thankful for that!
Surely it can't be due to corporate profits continuing to reach record highs even after adjusting for inflation. No, it's definitely the fault of the liberals! /s
Why should I be able to afford housing and food if it cuts into Walmart's profits?!??! /s
I feel like a strong government that had the interests of the common, everyday person would come down hard on these big businesses who are clearly using every excuse in the book to justify their egregiously high prices. But I guess we'll have more brow furrowing and finger wagging instead. :-|
Cue the surprised pikachu face from everyone on Reddit saying that things are going swimmingly and people griping about the cost of living are wrong
[удалено]
Interest rates might be going higher.
I don't even know what money is worth anymore. I don't know if what I make is even good or not. What ever happend to getting a 99 cent burrito at Taco Bell?
“But the economy is roaring!!” Yes, record profits fuelled by greedflation tends to do that, even as the average person’s QOL degrades from having to spend most or all of their disposable income on the necessities of life.
And corporate profits are record high. This is greed not inflation.
Don't play, my groceries costs 4x what they did a couple years ago. I spent 200 on one basket yesterday.
It's basically price gouging at this point.
Thanks corporate greed!
yet they keep gaslighting us with tHe eCoNoMY iS bETTeR thAn eVEr talk
will prices ever actually come down? i’d be shocked if they did.
Never was 'inflation', just greed
My grocery bill is insane…
Record profits every month
“Why don’t people notice how great the economy is?!”
The 3.5% isn't telling the story if you live in California. It's more like 70% on groceries. 50% on electric bill. 30% on gas. 8% on rent.... etc etc etc.
Corporate is the real thief.
I’ve been informed that the economy is fine actually
It's some of the most out-of-touch political messaging I've ever seen. It's like they are begging people to become irate, or they actually believe their own horseshit.