meanwhile, European Central Bank keeps its key interest rate at a record high ECB's Christine Lagarde stands firm: while Fed Chair Powell's comments, yesterday, have opened the door to potential rate cuts, Lagarde has firmly distanced the ECB from such considerations, Bank of Japan continues to fight inflation, will raise interest rates to 0.75-1% by the end of 2024 China’s economy is forecast to slow sharply in 2024, the World Bank says, calling recovery ‘fragile
This thread is far less lively now that inflation has been coming down this past year. Human nature is a curious thing.
Many economists think inflation turned out to be “transitory” after all, instead of a whole new regime of stagflation or worse in which price rises consistently outstripped income gains. but that’s better than no transition and a permanent decline in living standards.
Not too good if you're into 16 oz bag of chips. It used to be ~$4 pre-pandemic. If you are into TV, it's been pretty good. The average TV price was $410 in 2019. It's now $388. For a fancier TV, the entry 65" OLED class was ~$1800 in 2019; it's ~$1300 today.
Happy to help out... https://www.heb.com/product-detail/h-e-b-casa-magnifica-yellow-corn-tortilla-chips-11-oz/1720944
Home Buyers Are Ready to Buy. But Sellers Aren’t Selling. Owners are feeling too fond of the low interest rates on their existing mortgages https://www.wsj.com/economy/housing...bb455nal27n&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink link should work
Agree with this. I am glad inflation is slowing down - but a lot of damage has already been done. When it is $6 for a bag or chips and another $5 for salsa - things are not great compared to only a handful of years ago. People will get used to it, but it will take time.
As inflation comes down, and it is albeit slowly, does anyone honestly think that normal items such as fast food or groceries will come down?? Do you think the nice folks at your local Wendy`s or Burger King will make your burger cheaper.........nope. Will the nice folks at HEB charge me less for my 2% milk, maybe a little but these nice folks are greedy so now that people are paying it you wont see a decline. I am sure its happened at some point but I have never seen a reduction at my local Mickey D`s outside of promos
I bought an LG OLED to replace a bedroom TV and I wonder if these cheaper prices have to do with them taking as much of your personal data as legally possible. This thing tried to show me ads on my damn home screen...I opted out of most of the shitty terms but still the gall on these companies.
That's annoying! My Sony and Hisense TV (budget TV, but most people cannot tell the difference; the PQ is excellent) doesn't have ads. LG has its own WebOS, while most TVs use GoogleTV OS (Sony and Hisense included). The deflation in TV prices has to do with real competition, improved production, and lower panel prices. Using consumer data to sell ads might also be a revenue generator (haven't looked into that, but they should have been upfront with consumers if they are doing that - there is probably some EU privacy law against it).
People will also get used to certain items continuing to go down in prices (mostly electronics) robust wage increases a good end-of-year bonus hefty financials (the value of your home, investments, retirements, ...) Of course, not everyone is enjoying these. It is silly to think otherwise, and I also think it's silly to point to one or a few items in isolation and think otherwise.
I'd say people are used to the higher prices for dining and recreation. Might be trouble if they're allowing themselves to get gouged for large cars at 2021 levels. Credit debt is booming to historic levels, but delinquencies and utilization isn't out of the ordinary. What's fueling this is low unemployment and higher wages, but we definitely aren't out of the clear.
transitory implies prices go back down to previous levels, which never happens because we live in a inflationary environment. So people like yourself validate the term transitory because you use a basket of goods/services that faced basic concepts of economics of supply/demand issues. oh, eggs used to be $2 a dozen, now they are $10, but now back down to $2.50 ... thats transitory. You are ignoring the vast majority of goods that didn't face supply constraints and have continue to climb over the last 3 years and have yet to come down in price.
Some items may experience price reductions based on factors like raw material costs and other considerations. However, in general... Prices are not on a downward trend. Does anyone still remember enjoying a 25-cent newspaper? Typically, we aim for around 2% inflation, meaning that prices generally go up. The recent inflationary shock we've experienced involves a rapid increase over a short period. I believe a good percentage of it will recede (and already has), but some factors will keep prices elevated, depending on raw costs, production expenses, and other considerations. Real competition, production efficiency, and increased productivity are forces that can drive prices down. For instance, AI could serve as a significant driver for productivity and efficiency, exerting downward pressure on prices. Another example is that increases in battery production and more efficient manufacturing with new technology will drive car battery prices down.
Why should they sell? The value of homes has skyrocketed, and better yet - those that own homes don't have to let the properties sit an appreciate, they can be very picky renting out the homes at a very high rate... so you get actual profits each month from renters that are going to be of a high class than in the past, and you get the appreciation on the property. Someone could argue that this is a situation where - the government should perhaps step in, to promote more homeownership by individuals and families, as it is arguably one of the things that made the USA better than other Western countries - homeownership was something readily obtainable and that was not the case other places. Now we have so many homes owned by private equity firms and people that own 4-10 properties as a job.
