Our Government says WHAT inflation rate????

[brewer12345]

Jeez, if ER just means that you lose your mind and spend all day bitching about Sam's club pizza and how much everything costs nowadays, maybe it is time to consider going back to work.  Either that, or getting in touch with h0suc.

 

[justin]

How do all these impacts on your time and shopping activities get measured by the CPI? Is your time free? The gasoline? The wear and tear on the car? The aggravation?

Well, the particular night that Sam's wouldn't sell me pizza, I substituted goods. I gave up on pizza and my mom volunteered to make burgers and dogs for the father's day dinner for which I had planned to provide pizza. It worked just as well after calming down from the Sam's induced stress and trauma.

Re: Sam's/Costco reducing inflation by providing lower prices - There is a lot of merit to that statement. I imagine life with no walmart would consist of paying higher prices at a grocery store for food, then going to Kmart and paying a little more (than walmart) for paper products, cleaning supplies, clothes, electronics, etc. I've found walmart to be an effective inflation fighter.

One thing that irks me about them - if a manufacturer's prices get too high for a particular product, they will stop stocking the item. Arm&Hammer cat litter deodorizing powder is the item, by the way. Time for a trip to yuppieville Target to stock up on a 6 month supply of cat litter deodorizer! :

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

... which is why CPI is available for various geographic areas, and why they have a CPI for the elderly ("over the 18-year period for which data is available, the CPI-E has grown about 15.31% more quickly than the CPI-W")

Absolutely no disagreement.

Now look at my agenda again. When tips and ibonds (etc) start paying your local/regional CPI level, or ideally a personal CPI indexed to your personal rate of inflation, I'll get less squirrelly when people talk about "real" rates of return, putting a third, half or all of their money into "inflation indexed" investments that pay no heed to their personal rate of inflation.

Of course, such a thing is implausible and wont happen. So when dealing with "cpi indexed" securities, and when evaluating inflations effects on ones early retirement, it behooves one to really, really understand what their personal rate of inflation is and how it may vary from CPI.

IMO, its not particularly productive at all to submit two posts a month essentially saying "CPI is a great measure of everyones inflation, and anyone who actually measures their own personal rate of inflation will find that CPI is right on target. People who think its not accurate are just bozos who dont actually do any measurement".

For my area and personal rate of inflation, there isnt a CPI indexed security available that would produce a positive or "real" return. Thats a pretty good thing to know.

ps: C-T just likes to get you all riled up!

Thats entirely possible. I'd like to think he has better things to do with his time.

 

[laurence]

Hey, Target (pronounced "tar-SHEY") is possibly the greatest store on earth! Show proper respect!  

I get a monthly allowance, so the only measure I have for inflation is Burger King at lunch.  Two years ago I could get a Whopper Value Meal for $2.99, now it's $4.59.  

 

[laurence]

Pulling a JG here:

So in conclusion, I'd say the best hedge against inflation is to lock in your housing cost with a fixed rate mortgage, work towards paying off the house by retirement, install a solar pv system in your house, do the maximum to insulate your house and keep down the utilities, and plant a vegitable garden. Hey, if they keep removing the volitale food, housing and energy markets from CPI, you better, too! And I'm less than half joking here!

 

[justin]

For my area and personal rate of inflation, there isnt a CPI indexed security available that would produce a positive or "real" return. Thats a pretty good thing to know.

I may have a solution to your problem. Let me introduce you to some I-banking buddies who could easily develop some inflation indexed security to track CPI-California and sell it to you and your fellow statesmen (and eat you alive with fees!!!!). They have a financial product for everything else.

 

[justin]

I get a monthly allowance, so the only measure I have for inflation is Burger King at lunch. Two years ago I could get a Whopper Value Meal for $2.99, now it's $4.59.

It seems like you can't get a Combo Meal at any fast food place now for much under $5. I wonder if the "$2.99 Whopper Value meal" you used to get was a special, as in all the other combo meals were $4-5. I know they used to have big macs and whoppers all the time on "2 for $2" specials. Now it's more like a lower cost sandwich on the $1 value menu, or 2 for $3 of something.

 

[d]

it behooves one to really, really understand what their personal rate of inflation is and how it may vary from CPI

it is also advisable to consider the after-tax return

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Macdonalds often has the "two for two/three bucks" deals, but they dont put them on the menu and only occasionally put a sign up in the window. Ask them if they have it, they usually come up with something. The one near me sells me two sausage mcmuffins for two bucks whenever I ask. Havent asked about any big mac deals because they're too pathetic to buy. Hardly any meat in them and macdonalds beef patties are full of gristle. Quality and quantity have hit bottom, so the price has gone up.

Theres that rubber band thing I was talking about.

I usually just throw a soda in the car to avoid paying them $1.50 for a cup of sugar water, and just order a $1.29 big cheeseburger at jack in the box. Its about the size of a macdonalds quarter pounder.

Laurence...I'll bet that BK burgers gotten smaller as well over time. I stopped eating at BK years ago because the food just got too small and too expensive. And the quality stunk. Carls and JITB have way better food.

 

[Cut-Throat]

Whats your agenda C-T? I ask because you start these identical threads about twice a month.

I didn't start this thread. And, I have started only about 3 threads on inflation since I've been posting here in the last 3 years.

This is my point about anecdotal evidence - highly exaggerated!

 

[laurence]

Oh, I've gotten totally snobbish for lunch (when I don't pack), I should have my LBYM badge revoked.  I go to this place called "Stir Fresh" near work once a week.  It's a Mongolian BBQ where you pack all the food you can into a bowl and they cook it in front of you w/lots of spices.  If you do it right, you can get two meals out of it, and they run coupons every week that get you 50% of the second meal, or even buy one get one free.  Go with a coworker, split the bill, ~$9 each.  Extravegant, but it's well worth it to get through Mondays, and if it makes it to dinner, that's really $4.50 a meal.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Oh yeahhh...the old mongolian barbecue. When I was still working we went to one that wasnt 'all you can eat' and we saw guys piling stuff up a foot over the top of the bowl, pounding it down with their fists to get it to fit. Funny stuff.

We've got three huge "all you can eat asian buffet" places in town that have everything from fried chicken and pizza to sushi, along with all you can eat mongolian bbq. They're all in such tight competition that they're issuing coupons and taking each others coupons. Took five adults, a 5 and 7 year old, and Gabe to one last week for $34 plus tip. Gabes favorite place to eat...

Eventually one or two of them will go out of business due to the competitive pressures. Two of them already dumbed down their offerings in quantity and quality so far I dont go there anymore, so I think I know which ones gonna "win".

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I didn't start this thread. And, I have started only about 3 threads on inflation since I've been posting here in the last 3 years.

This is my point about anecdotal evidence - highly exaggerated!

Seems a lot higher.

So whats your agenda in this? That CPI equals inflation for almost everyone and can be trusted as a true measure of broad based inflation for an early retiree, and that CPI indexed investments are good ideas to invest in without actually measuring your personal rate of inflation, because as far as you know, everyone who has done so ended up finding that CPI was right on target?

Everyone else is a buffoon with a bunch of anecdotal evidence that doesnt measure up?

 

[maddythebeagle]

Jeez, if ER just means that you lose your mind and spend all day bitching about Sam's club pizza and how much everything costs nowadays, maybe it is time to consider going back to work. Either that, or getting in touch with h0suc.

I am surprised nobody has pulled out the trump card….stories of when a candy bar was a nickle..

 

[free4now]

 It's a Mongolian BBQ where you pack all the food you can into a bowl and they cook it in front of you w/lots of spices.  

Ah the memories... I remember when I started working in the Silicon Valley and the Mongolian BBQ place in San Mateo was the popular lunch spot.  There was a whole art to building a second "wall" of cucumber slices to enlarge the size of your bowl and get more food.   And I think the price (back in the early 90's) was not much more than $4.50 for all you could eat.

At least here in the Silicon Valley, the real reason for inflation is upscaling.  That Mongolian BBQ place closed long ago, and there's a much fancier restaurant in it's place where you can't get lunch for less than $12.

At the grocery store, I do see higher prices on some items, but I notice it's almost always the specialty or processed foods, the "high end" foods.  

It seems to me this "upscaling" is why many people are spending more.  Just a decade ago, there were hardly any Starbucks, and Whole Foods was rare and geared towards health foods.  
Not to mention that hardly anyone had cell phones, computers, internet service, SUVs, or side air bags 10 years ago.  

For basic foods, I found when the grocery stores switched over from coupons to "club cards" that was a big win for me.  I routinely save 10% on my grocery bill using a club card.  Because I'm slightly concerned about the privacy issues, I just signed up for the card using a false name.

 

[Nords]

I am surprised nobody has pulled out the trump card….stories of when a candy bar was a nickle..

Oh, so you're not spending enough quality time with my FIL either, eh?

 

[free4now]

I am surprised nobody has pulled out the trump card….stories of when a candy bar was a nickle..

I was trying to remember what a candy bar cost when I was young. I think it was 25 cents at the local corner store. Plugging that into a CPI calculator gives a current price of 78 cents. Candy bars now probably cost a bit more at corner stores, but I can buy them in bulk for less than 40 cents each at costco, which is an option we didn't have before.

 

[justin]

Go with a coworker, split the bill, ~$9 each.

Holy crap, $9 each AFTER the coupon? You guys in California, the land of high cost of living! Our local (OMG WTF soooooo good) mongolian bbq place is $6-7 for the obligatory 2 bowls piled 1 ft high. Two words for ya - "Meat Mountain" (my engineer buddies were awestruck the day I made an 11" tall stack of meaty goodnesss that was structurally sound). Plus unlimited rice refills. Nice way to get a cheap 3000 calorie meal

When DW goes, she gets it in a "to go" plate, and it usually serves as two more meals later.

Too bad my local mongolian bbq joint got flooded.

 

[justin]

Candy bars now probably cost a bit more at corner stores, but I can buy them in bulk for less than 40 cents each at costco, which is an option we didn't have before.

I think they retail individually at Walmart for $0.44. That equates to $0.29 when I was a kid (1990). Probably $0.50 in actuality, if memory serves.

The same frozen dinners (Michelina's) mom bought at the fancy grocery store on sale for $1 when I was a kid are still $1.00 (regularly priced) at walmart. Same size and everything.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Have you ever tried to eat one of those michelina things lately? Look like a yak hurled into a little box and they sealed it up and froze it

 

[justin]

Have you ever tried to eat one of those michelina things lately? Look like a yak hurled into a little box and they sealed it up and froze it

Luckily they taste much better. Michelina's is the main course for lunch 1-2 times per week for me. It gets the job done cheaply and efficiently without compromising taste much. I Know which ones are good and steer clear of the new "creative" sounding varieties.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Luckily they taste much better.

I think thats anecdotal evidence that wouldnt be borne out if you used actual measurement, or if a scientist or someone that went to medical school looked into it.

 

[justin]

I think thats anecdotal evidence that wouldnt be borne out if you used actual measurement, or if a scientist or someone that went to medical school looked into it.

I disagree since I went to medical school* and I consider myself well-versed** in this "science" thing you refer to. Make no mistake, if you come cook me a meal for lunch, I'd probably take it over the Michelina's. Until then, as long as I can exchange $1 for 8-10 oz of pure Italian frozen entree goodness, Michelina's will always have a place at my keyboard for workplace lunches.



* "went to", in this usage, means I spent 2 hours at the UNC med school looking at slides of dead bodies, dead bodies, and more dead bodies during law school.

** I took shop class in high school near the science building.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

dead bodies, dead bodies, and more dead bodies.

They probably ate Michelinas...

 

[justin]

They probably ate Michelinas...

Some were poisoned. Some "fell down the stairs*", others drowned, some killed themselves, some were killed by guns, knives, baseball bats. No record of any of them eating the Italian goodness that is Michelina's.



*had multiple lacerations and blunt force trauma to the back of the head and neck consistent with a hammer or mallet blow