Why is inflation so high?

[rockcasbah]

Yes, a Summit!

And a Monorail!

 

[JohnEngelman]

Time for a Petroleum Summit. Much of the inflation problem is tied to energy. Production, distribution of fuel and natural gas are constrained by the war and post-pandemic supply/demand bottlenecks. Need to boost refinery capacity, open LNG terminals in various parts of the world, unleash pipelines and rail transport, and jump start domestic drilling. No quick fixes but very likely some low hanging fruit to ease the pressure a bit. Biden needs to stop listening to his useless cabinet and call a Petroleum Summit with the industry’s top CEOs and legislative leaders from petroleum producing states. Should have done it months ago.

Let me paraphrase what Leon Trotsky said about war:

You may not be thinking about man made global warming, but man made global warming is thinking about you.

 

[BabyBoomer50s]

Let me paraphrase what Leon Trotsky said about war:

You may not be thinking about man made global warming, but man made global warming is thinking about you.

Let Leon know MMGW can think about me all he wants. Me and my fellow humans can and will adopt to climate change as we always have. We don’t care who causes it. Humans are bred and built for engineering. Right now we need to help people who can’t afford to get to work.

 

[JohnEngelman]

Let Leon know MMGW can think about me all he wants. Me and my fellow humans can and will adopt to climate change as we always have. We don’t care who causes it. Humans are bred and built for engineering. Right now we need to help people who can’t afford to get to work.

They should take public transpiration and ride bicycles.

There are alternatives to fossil fuels. It will be expensive to develop them. It is also necessary.

 

[MetalRabbit51]

Democrats would have an easier time blaming the rich if it was not the case that most whites distrust the Democrat Party on the issues of crime, race, and immigration.

You really think so? Most conservative whites, perhaps. The Democrats have their problems, to be sure, but on crime, race and immigration I, a 70 year old white guy, and most of my friends think the Demos are on the right side of these issues.

 

[MetalRabbit51]

As regards gas prices, the Russians screwed the rest of the world with the colossal misadventure in Ukraine. That has a lot to do with the current price of oil. Our buddies in OPEC could mitigate this shortage by increasing production, but.. profits, you know. Then there's the rapacious greed of the oil companies here, raking in record profits on the misery of the rest of us. The Keystone pipeline (boon for Canada, perhaps) and drilling here, on or offshore, would do damn near nothing to alleviate our pain at the pump. Oil is fungible. A world commodity. Oil producers here in the States merrily sell their products to the highest bidder, here or overseas. Makes no difference to them.

 

[BabyBoomer50s]

They should take public transpiration and ride bicycles.

There are alternatives to fossil fuels. It will be expensive to develop them. It is also necessary.

Fuel prices are impacting every facet of the economy. Now. Today. Yesterday. Petroleum powers the world and more is needed. Now. Today. Yesterday. People are struggling.

 

[AlexBailey]

One of the biggest causes of inflation has been "stumulating" the economy with trillions of dollars in fiat currency, creating debt by doing so, then not taxing it back out of the economy. It accumulates in the upper end of the economy and is used to buy property and resources, which raises the cost of property and resources and increases the cost of living. People then need more income - the cost of services, transportation, and manufacturing increase, raising the cost of living...

Everyone understands that debt is a problem. No one wants to pay it back.

 

[JohnEngelman]

Fuel prices are impacting every facet of the economy. Now. Today. Yesterday. Petroleum powers the world and more is needed. Now. Today. Yesterday. People are struggling.

Europe saw hottest summer on record in 2021​

The summer of 2021 was the hottest summer Europe has experienced on record, EU scientists reported on Friday.

According to the annual report published by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the temperature in Europe was 1 degree Celsius above the 1991-2020 average...

Globally, the last seven years have been the warmest on record, C3S reported in January.

The EU scientific information agency's records date back to 1979, but it also uses records from ground stations, balloons, aircraft and satellites going back to 1950.

https://www.dw.com/en/europe-saw-ho...ummer of 2021 was,above the 1991-2020 average.

-----------

National Institute Environmental Health Sciences, October 31, 2021

July 2021 was the world’s hottest month ever recorded, marking a significant milestone for climate change. That month, global surface temperature reached 1.67 degrees Fahrenheit (0.93 degrees Celsius) above the century average. The Pacific Northwest region in the U.S. and Canada, Eastern Europe, Northeast China, and Japan experienced record-breaking heat. In the contiguous U.S., the summer of 2021 slightly surpassed the 1936 Dust Bowl Summer as the hottest on record.

https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/..._change_reports_assess_the_earths_climate.cfm

 

[JohnEngelman]

Oil giants reap record profits as war rages in Ukraine, energy prices soar: Here's how much they made​

USAToday, May 7, 2022

• Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, the price of oil climbed in 2022's first quarter.
• Shell's adjusted earnings, for example, rose to $9.1 billion, while Exxon Mobil reported $5.48 billion in profits.
• Rising prices have boosted the profits of major energy companies, further contributing to global inflation and the cost-of-living crisis.
• https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2022/05/07/oil-company-record-profits-2022/9686761002/

 

[rockcasbah]

Your “flu” killed more people per capita:

USA 18th
(1st amongst industrialized nations)

Canada 88th

Your Covid response was far less stringent.

 

[rockcasbah]

Yeah, but we live closer to each other than 50 miles,
so it really is an apples to oranges comparison...

86% of Canadians live in 4 Provinces.
40% of Canadians live in Ontario.

Pop density Ontario 37/km2
Pop density USA 36/km2

The differences dont explain your problem, sorry.

 

[rockcasbah]

Nice try.

Anyway…. Pandemic recovery is/will probably be much like the years after WW2.

 

[rockcasbah]

There is nothing dramatic about economic cycles…

This will take a few years.

 

[rockcasbah]

No. It will take one election.

Agreed… in 2-2.5 years the cycle will be moving up again and consumer confidence will be Up.

The next Pres will have an easy ride.

 

[jomar]

Turning off our oil independence
Gas prices control everything and for some idiotic reason he shut us down
The big question is why
Tired of hearing about the green bullshit
That’s one big one

Where do you get your talking points?

https://www.oregonlive.com/nation/2...-because-the-us-shut-down-oil-production.html
https://www.poynter.org/fact-checki...on-in-bidens-first-year-is-on-par-with-trump/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapie...-is-still-energy-independent/?sh=7f4470c530b6
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/15/politics/energy-independence-fact-check/index.html

 

[ll74]

Where do you get your talking points?

https://www.oregonlive.com/nation/2...-because-the-us-shut-down-oil-production.html
https://www.poynter.org/fact-checki...on-in-bidens-first-year-is-on-par-with-trump/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapie...-is-still-energy-independent/?sh=7f4470c530b6
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/15/politics/energy-independence-fact-check/index.htm

Pjmedia disagrees

 

[jomar]

Pjmedia disagrees

Ah. Well there ya go.

 

[icanhelp1]

Turning off our oil independence
Gas prices control everything and for some idiotic reason he shut us down
The big question is why
Tired of hearing about the green bullshit
That’s one big one

The Biden administration wants to punish mom and pop gas stations in the name of patriotism, the protection of the new liberal world order at all cost. You will do it and like it! Biden is committing national suicide.

 

[ll74]

The Biden administration wants to punish mom and pop gas stations in the name of patriotism, the protection of the new liberal world order at all cost. You will do it and like it! Biden is committing national suicide.

Gas stations are making bank right now.

 

[PaxNurgle]

Let me ask this...in 2003-2004, Gas prices spiked under George Bush. Not quite as high as today, but...significantly higher than average for the previous years leading up to Bush being in power. The difference was, and this is key...the Bush family earned much of his fortune through ties to the oil industry. They directly profited from spiking gas prices, and did absolutely NOTHING about it, in fact, they looked the other way when the oligarchs conspired to fix prices, while breaking up Enron (as a distraction?) for doing the exact same thing.

And one other key difference...some of the SAME PEOPLE who are criticizing Biden today, were CHEERING ON George Bush back in 2003-2004. Why, I ask...is that?

Biden's policies combating high gas prices are largely ineffective and half-assd at best, but that's still a heck of a lot more than Bush did back then.

 

[mayfly13]

Let me ask this...in 2003-2004, Gas prices spiked under George Bush. Not quite as high as today, but...significantly higher than average for the previous years leading up to Bush being in power. The difference was, and this is key...the Bush family earned much of his fortune through ties to the oil industry. They directly profited from spiking gas prices, and did absolutely NOTHING about it, in fact, they looked the other way when the oligarchs conspired to fix prices, while breaking up Enron (as a distraction?) for doing the exact same thing.

And one other key difference...some of the SAME PEOPLE who are criticizing Biden today, were CHEERING ON George Bush back in 2003-2004. Why, I ask...is that?

Biden's policies combating high gas prices are largely ineffective and half-assd at best, but that's still a heck of a lot more than Bush did back then.

I often wonder how many lay-Americans who cheer measures that on the surface seem to bring down their livelihood too
have invested or have shares in those companies.
Tiny amounts of money, but still...

 

[JohnEngelman]

I am glad that the United States, under the leadership of President Biden, is helping Ukraine against the Russian invasion. Nevertheless, in retrospect I think sanctions were the wrong way to do it. Sanctions are not a safe, painless way of opposing aggression. They cut both ways. I had not been aware of how important Russian exports of energy and food were to the world economy, but they are important. By making it difficult for Russia to export energy and food we are contributing to world inflation - and ours - in both. In addition, sanctions force suffering on the Russian people, and embitter them against us.

I think our response to Russian aggression should have been restricted to supplying the Ukrainian military with weapons. That is what the Soviet Union and Communist China did during the War in Vietnam. There were no sanctions against the United States, but the Soviet Union and Communist China made sure that the Vietnamese Communists had enough weapons to win the war.

 

[phrodeau]

Gas prices have been dropping since mid-June. Thanks, Biden!

 

[dmonty]

Why is inflation so high? It is easy to blame President Biden. Although I voted for him, I am not absolving him of all responsibility. Nevertheless, if Biden shares responsibility for the high inflation rate, what has he done and/or not done to cause the high inflation rate? If Biden shares responsibility for inflation, what else is responsible? If Biden is completely innocent, what is causing all that inflation?

What do you think should be done to bring inflation down?

Do you believe that a Republican president, and a Republican dominated Congress would be able to control inflation? Why? What would they do differently?

abolish the Federal Reserve, an unaccountable bureaucratic political organization mostly selected and run by Democrats that has cause nearly all of America's crises (housing bubble, tech bubble, stock market crashes, depressions, and other asset bubbles.

Of course the way that inflation is calculated today is much different from the way that it was calculated back in the 1980s or even from the early 2010's. If the way that inflation was calculated had not been changed, the official inflation rate would be much higher right now. This is why real inflation calculators and research use the original methods.

Chronology of changes in the Consumer Price Index - this change done over time was to hide the true inflationary costs and harms on the American Economy, these cahnges lowered the amounts calculated for government provided Social Security/Disability Benefits and stealthily raised Tax Rates on million of Americans while hiding increasied costs for American consumers.
https://www.bls.gov/cpi/additional-resources/historical-changes.htm


https://www.investopedia.com/articles/07/consumerpriceindex.asp
http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

But even if you want to take the 9.1 percent figure at face value, it is still extremely high, and last month energy and food prices were two of the main reasons why we witnessed such a dramatic surge…

• Gas: 59.9%
• Electricity: 13.7%
• Food at home: 12.2%
• New vehicles: 11.4%
• Food away from home: 7.7%
• Used cars and trucks: 7.1%
• Shelter: 5.6%
• Apparel: 5.2%

Let’s focus on that “food at home” category for a moment.

Every single one of us needs to eat, and so this is something that is deeply affecting all of us.

And right now we are seeing rapid price increases in almost aisle of the grocery store…

• Cereals and cereal products: +15.1%
• Beef and veal: +4.1%
• Pork: +9.0%
• Poultry: +17.3%
• Fish and seafood: +11.0%
• Eggs: +33.1%
• Dairy and related products: +13.5%
• Fresh fruits: +7.3%
• Fresh vegetables: +6.5%
• Juices and nonalcoholic drinks: +11.6%
• Coffee: 15.8%
• Fats and oils: 19.5%
• Baby food: 14.0%

Has your paycheck gone up by a similar amount over the past year?

If not, you are losing ground and your standard of living is declining.

Overall, real wages in the United States have now fallen for 15 months in a row.