U.S. Inflation Relief Kicking In

dilettante said:
I guess wage increases are only a good thing when they happen for your own class and nobody else.

"I don't need to outrun the bear, I just need to outrun you!"
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that is why inflation can be a spiral that is hard to break .

this is also why these tariffs are going to see soaring prices here .

i am a photographer and i just saw a notice this morning that sony is raising prices as much as 33% on camera gear with other manufacturers following .

i am a wholesaler for 170 different factories in the electrical industry.

pretty much all have price increases going in to effect in june .

this is killer on an economy trying to get its inflation down
 

CarolfromTX said:
HERE
H‑E‑B is selling large eggs for $3.82. Aldi is probably even cheaper. Here’s the thing. Many prices may never go down, but at least they’ve quit going up like a skyrocket. Media denied inflation for years, but now all of a sudden they’re noticing prices. SMH.
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Media has been reporting regularly and consistently on inflation and the economy throughout the years. In addition to recent 2025 reports in the news, here are several CNN reports from the past five years:

MARCH, 2020
APRIL, 2021
JANUARY, 2022
MAY, 2023
MAY, 2024


Additionally, network news stations broadcast live remarks and statements from the Federal Reserve Chairman during policy meetings and news conferences. CNBC and NBC New York are examples of news outlets covering these events. If you miss the live broadcasts, you can find historical press releases back to 2006, at the Federal Reserve System website -> HERE.
 
No one truly knows the effect tariffs might have on prices. The retailers set the price and the consumer either buys or balks. If the consumer balks, the price will drop, as the retailer will absorb the tariff in their markup. They can't pay their bills without sales. The inflationary impact of tariffs... is simply unknown. Sure, we can all guess, but it is just that... a guesstimate.

As for the fixation on eggs, I do not know of anyone that eats eggs only, without salt or pepper or usage of butter or oil. Folks that want eggs will buy eggs and complain about the price. Those that find the price too high will forego eggs and complain about the price. Eggs made up 0.219% of the CPI index for April, up from 0.217% in March.
 

Knight said:
This video is what I think about tariffs. I'm sure they will have some impact but until it does IMO the best we can do is prepare for how it MIGHT affect us.
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It's May 19th and the forecasted expectation for May inflation is 0%~0.2% for month to month and a range of 2.2%~2.4% for the annual rate.

June's forecast, while a bit early... seems to be in the same range. Generally speaking, it is forecast to stay within that range for the remainder of the year.

Of course, no one knows for certain.
 
mathjak107 said:
retailers and wholesalers will just close up shop if it isn’t profitable enough .

jt reaches a point if sales fall off and margins fall off it’s not worth it
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You are correct. When a merchant misjudges their customers and stocks up with goods they won't buy, whether cost or change in taste... this happens. And those goods end up in liquidation sales at steep discount, sent to goodwill stores, or end up in flea markets.

That is the beauty of competition. Those capturing the changes in consumer tastes and/or habits, will continue on.
 
I couldn't give two hoots about the price of eggs.

Let's talk about the increasing costs of home maintenance and repairs. Very few talk about it but it is one of the highest costs many experience these days. Our house is almost 20 years old and every A/C repair, plumbing repair, power washing, landscaping, etc. is more expensive than in past years. We recently received an estimate for interior painting from the same company we used a few years ago and it was eye-watering in comparison to what we paid in the past for painting the identical areas.

Prices for materials skyrocketed during Covid due to a shortage and companies have simply not reduced them.
 
dilettante said:
While the media put a hard negative spin on things, they can't duck the fact that U.S. inflation has slowed to the lowest rate in 4 years. April 2025 figures came in well below March.

Gasoline and groceries have become more affordable, not to mention eggs in particular which have fallen quite a bit.

Set aside any politics. This is good news for American consumers.

Annual inflation rate hit 2.3% in April, less than expected and lowest since 2021
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/13/cpi-inflation-april-2025.html
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One cannot live by statistics alone. The broad problems still exist, and seem to be accelerating.
 
While we're on the topic of inflation relief, let's discuss why Americans' optimism about the economy is at a record low. Less spending will certainly curb inflation. ;)

The University of Michigan’s closely watched consumer sentiment index fell 2.7% to a preliminary reading of 50.8 for May, dropping further from April’s reading of 52.2.

May’s preliminary reading, the second-lowest on record, landed a touch above the all-time low of 50 notched in June 2022, when inflation was at a 41-year high.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/16/economy/consumer-sentiment-may-preliminary
 
seadoug said:
Prices for materials skyrocketed during Covid due to a shortage and companies have simply not reduced them.
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I’m not sure that it’s as simple as corporate greed or price gouging.

Wages and other costs have also increased during that same period.

IMO the real problem is our inability to match our income and expectations to our cost of living.

It’s too late for most of us to make any significant changes in our own situation but we owe it to the people that we love to teach them how to earn and allocate their resources in ways that will protect them during retirement.

So far, I’ve been fortunate to be able to balance my income and expenses but I’m afraid that the astronomical costs of comfortable, dignified, end of life care could change that rather quickly.

Could someone please crush a few pills and slip them into my jello when the time comes.
 
Harry Le Hermit said:
You are correct. When a merchant misjudges their customers and stocks up with goods they won't buy, whether cost or change in taste... this happens. And those goods end up in liquidation sales at steep discount, sent to goodwill stores, or end up in flea markets.

That is the beauty of competition. Those capturing the changes in consumer tastes and/or habits, will continue on.
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even if a company decides to absorb some of the increases from the tariffs it still goes right to their bottom line .

that portion they absorb may not come out of the pockets of their customers but for sure it will come at the expense of their workers in the form of either layoffs or compensation they pay in wages and benefits.

there is no free ride here and the one cost companies can control is labor
 
mathjak107 said:
the one cost companies can control is labor
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That's kind of the point. The core purpose of tariffs is to protect a domestic labor force from predation and exploitation by preying upon and exploiting offshore labor to increase profit levels. A secondary purpose is to protect against aggressors who would starve and blackmail you once you've foolishly destroyed your own domestic labor force and production facilities.

Working families won't cry over those who got rich betraying their country for personal gain.
 
Apparently, some companies have increased prices on American made items to cover the cost of imported items that are costing them more to buy now.
Callahan auto parts (brakes, I think), stated that he is leaving Walmart because they increased the prices on his brake pads, even though they are all made right here in America.
Walmart is now selling the same item from a company that makes brakes pads in China, rather than sell the American ones for the same price they were selling them for.

It is unfair that they raise the price for American products, when there is no tariff on products manufactured here in the US. Walmart used to pride itself on selling American products, but has apparently changed over to mostly foreign products now.
 
https://www.thestreet.com/retail/walmart-suffers-another-major-boycott-from-customers

The retail giant faces the threat of another nationwide boycott, organized by The People’s Union USA, which begins on May 20 and ends on May 26.​
​
The group encouraged consumers to boycott Walmart because it believes the retailer has contributed to economic corruption.​
​
“We've been watching prices rise while wages stay the same,” said The People’s Union USA founder John Schwarz in an Instagram post last month. “We've watched these companies rake in billions while families can barely afford groceries, and Walmart, just like the rest of them, has been a part of that problem. So this is where we, once again, draw the line.”​
 
RE: Post #64 - We saw price gouging prior to tariffs, and we can expect it during and after. No one is too big to fail. Kmart and Sears are history.
 
dilettante said:
That's kind of the point. The core purpose of tariffs is to protect a domestic labor force from predation and exploitation by preying upon and exploiting offshore labor to increase profit levels. A secondary purpose is to protect against aggressors who would starve and blackmail you once you've foolishly destroyed your own domestic labor force and production facilities.

Working families won't cry over those who got rich betraying their country for personal gain.
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i doubt there is anyone in america who feels cheated by a 395 dollar 65” tv from a country who can do it better and cheaper then we can .

that holds true for every product in the world that has a country doing what they make cheaper and better.

for decades our living standards all around the world have been elevated by cheaper and better products made else where .

trying to artificially prop up a country that can’t do it cheaper and better is a disservice to americans as we are forced into buying over priced products we can’t make efficiently here.

we are a global market place today and we are all joined at the hip.

american companies do what we do best , we are the designers, the thinkers and we perform services worth hundreds of billions of dollars all around the world .

but services are not counted in the trade deficit.

neither are the trillions in dollars that come back to us funding our debt .
 
Hollowing Out: What It Means, How It Works

What Is Hollowing Out?​
​
Hollowing out is the deterioration of a country’s manufacturing sector when producers opt for low-cost facilities overseas. Taking away these jobs has helped to concentrate wealth among the very wealthy, hollow out the middle class, and increase the number of working-class and lower-class households.​
 
mathjak107 said:
i doubt there is anyone in america who feels cheated by a 395 dollar 65” tv from a country who can do it better and cheaper then we can .

that holds true for every product in the world that has a country doing what they make cheaper and better.

for decades our living standards all around the world have been elevated by cheaper and better products made else where .

trying to artificially prop up a country that can’t do it cheaper and better is a disservice to americans as we are forced into buying over priced products we can’t make efficiently here.

we are a global market place today and we are all joined at the hip.

american companies do what we do best , we are the designers, the thinkers and we perform services worth hundreds of billions of dollars all around the world .

but services are not counted in the trade deficit.

neither are the trillions in dollars that come back to us funding our debt .
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Exactly. If the average consumer buys a TV from China and feels he/she received a good quality product for the price there is no "trade imbalance" that should be the impetus for tariffs.
 
dilettante said:
Hollowing Out: What It Means, How It Works

What Is Hollowing Out?​
​
Hollowing out is the deterioration of a country’s manufacturing sector when producers opt for low-cost facilities overseas. Taking away these jobs has helped to concentrate wealth among the very wealthy, hollow out the middle class, and increase the number of working-class and lower-class households.​
Click to expand...
I don’t buy the idea of hollowing out.

I agree that it is disruptive and damaging to the workers currently employed in industries that pick up and move offshore or automate to reduce the number of workers in an effort to reduce expenses, gain efficiency, increase productivity, etc…

IMO these shifts actually create new opportunities for future workers to pursue more interesting and lucrative careers.

We are fortunate to live in a country where we may be born into a lower or typically middle class household but still have the ability to bootstrap our way into what we perceive to be a more comfortable/better economic class.

IMO the old notion of being content to go down to the local factory, where your grandparents and parents worked, when you turn eighteen is much more damaging to our future prosperity.
 
Because making nothing, consuming everything, and trying to pay for it on credit and by shining each others' shoes ("the service economy") has worked out so well for so many of us. Right?

Forget eggs. Look at how bad fast food prices are. Meat prices are. Produce prices. Housing costs. Heating and cooling costs. Car prices.

Ok, I won't try to list those further. But tell me how people are supposed to live on cheap disposable crap from China on depressed wages because good jobs are gone?


And if none of this matters, then why all of the whinging about tariffs? Clearly you are made of money, so what's the big deal?
 

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