Inflation.

[AppalachianPipe92]

I've seen projections for continuous raises in 23 and 24 at the groceries. Dear God I'll hope not.
We're fortunate to homestead and farm, so we've no shortage of eggs and dairy and beef products. We also hunt for meat. It's hard for me to imagine my life without these luxuries.
What's really a shame is how prices are sky high, yet the amount of food that US groceries throw away on a daily basis that aren't bad.

I'm very conspiracy minded, but I won't get into that stuff on here. I'll just hope everybody is able to stay afloat for the time being, and pray things get better.

 

[Briar Lee]

I’m afraid to even look at my mutual fund today, because the American stock market is getting hammered by the good news over a half a million households in January gained a new full time job.

—-

The US economy added an astonishing 517,000 jobs in January, showing that the labor market isn’t ready to cool down just yet, according to new data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The unemployment rate fell to 3.4% from 3.5%, hitting a level not seen since before Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon.

—-

About a half million people will go out to eat to celebrate, buy more stuff, and spend that paycheck. No wonder prices are going up.

One thing I know, for sure and certain.

The time will someday come when those same headlines will announce massive layoffs, high unemployment, gloom and doom and misery and woe.

We will long for inflation then, but not before.

 

[Zeno Marx]

Sable really nailed it. The children of the Depression" grew up with a phenominal lesson with regard to the value of money.

Makes sense though, doesn't it? If I had a nickel every time I heard an old timer talk about the lack of resilience (insert your term of choice here) in younger folk. Well, of course they're not! That's the whole point, isn't it? Who in their right mind would think your average US kid of 2023, or 1995, would be as "tough" as a kid from 1845 or one who lived through the 1920s? Now, I'm not saying that is a good thing, but the whole point of this exercise is to live a more convenient, less arduous, more rewarding, happier life. There are consequences to that, and one of those is that the kid from Wichita isn't as tough or as hungry (not literally) as the kid from somewhere Afghanistan. The kid from 1825 who grew up in an agrarian economy, who worked alongside their parents 14 hours a day, is going to be a lot tougher (or however you want to term it) than the 2023 kid. Any sane, decent person who grew up like that hoped that their children could escape all that difficulty to have a better life...and we succeeded at it. Whether the consequences of that ease are good or not is for another discussion (and let's hopefully realize blaming the kids for their easy life, that was decided by other, older people is absurd). But geez, why not scream the sky is blue and then act like it was some great epiphany that you recognized the sky is blue. As they say, "No sh1t, Sherlock."

I hope this wasn't too argumentative or aggressive. I used to sit at breakroom tables and listen to this kind of thing and scratch my head. I was working my ass off in a steel mill during the summers in 140° buildings, but I realized I still had it easier than people in 1845 or kids working 7 days a week in the factories of the cities before unionization. I was a wimp compared to them, and thank goodness for that!

 

[Sam Gamgee]

Makes sense though, doesn't it? If I had a nickel every time I heard an old timer talk about the lack of resilience (insert your term of choice here) in younger folk. Well, of course they're not! That's the whole point, isn't it? Who in their right mind would think your average US kid of 2023, or 1995, would be as "tough" as a kid from 1845 or one who lived through the 1920s? Now, I'm not saying that is a good thing, but the whole point of this exercise is to live a more convenient, less arduous, more rewarding, happier life. There are consequences to that, and one of those is that the kid from Wichita isn't as tough or as hungry (not literally) as the kid from somewhere Afghanistan. The kid from 1825 who grew up in an agrarian economy, who worked alongside their parents 14 hours a day, is going to be a lot tougher (or however you want to term it) than the 2023 kid. Any sane, decent person who grew up like that hoped that their children could escape all that difficulty to have a better life...and we succeeded at it. Whether the consequences of that ease are good or not is for another discussion (and let's hopefully realize blaming the kids for their easy life, that was decided by other, older people is absurd). But geez, why not scream the sky is blue and then act like it was some great epiphany that you recognized the sky is blue. As they say, "No sh1t, Sherlock."

I hope this wasn't too argumentative or aggressive. I used to sit at breakroom tables and listen to this kind of thing and scratch my head. I was working my ass off in a steel mill during the summers in 140° buildings, but I realized I still had it easier than people in 1845 or kids working 7 days a week in the factories of the cities before unionization. I was a wimp compared to them, and thank goodness for that!

^^^ Wisdom.

 

[fireground_piper]

You don’t have to look that far back to have gotten a lesson in financial resilience. If you didn’t learn from 2009 and spent the last decade not getting your finances in better shape after, that’s a personal failure.

I almost lost my house back then and have spent the last 10 years insulating myself from as much financial instability as I could possible resolve. Lesson learned loud and clear.

 

[condorlover1]

You know when we have high inflation when one of these $100 bills is worth more than one issued by the Federal Government!

 

[Pipingntrucking]

I’m afraid to even look at my mutual fund today, because the American stock market is getting hammered by the good news over a half a million households in January gained a new full time job.

—-

The US economy added an astonishing 517,000 jobs in January, showing that the labor market isn’t ready to cool down just yet, according to new data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Employment Situation Summary - 2024 Q03 Results

www.bls.gov

a little bit of digging prove it out to be smoke and mirrors as usual. A lot of those jobs are not full time jobs. Nor were they new jobs. Some were workers returning from strikes. Others were techies basically bouncing from a laid off position to another company. Meaning really a sidewards moved but conveniently counted as new employment.

As far as supply chain problems. Nothing will change until we get away from the "just in time" model.

 

[Pipeoff]

Get used to it. Nothing will drop in price to the level it was. They may come down a bit when the politics demand it but never to the level they were.

Agree, certainly true for tobac, cellaring deep is no hoarding.

 

[sjohnston0311]

I used to raise backyard chickens and had so many eggs I couldn't give them away. I'm thinking of getting some again.

Same here. Used to have a half dozen hens running around the back yard but got rid of them because they just tore everything up. Now I wish I hadn't.

 

[ADKPiper]

I notice the same thing.
I go to the store to get some specific thing and while I'm there I grab some groceries and when I ring it up I have to check the receipt because I've spent over $100 in just one or 2 bags.
But on the plus side it makes pipes look not quite as extravagant.
When it comes to spending money on another pipe which I really don't need, it runs through my mind that I spent that much on a bag of odds and ends at the store. So it doesn't seem extravagant.