US inflation slows to 8.3% in August but prices still rising
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
What you can say is that 8.3% is clearly still much too high. That's true. But it's no surprise that it's still above zero, since it's widely thought that numbers below zero are dangerous, and avoided at all costs by central banks.
What's required is to first reverse the moves made to get inflation back over 2%, which went on much too long. That trap sprung all at once, driven by the supply side (first the pandemic shutting down production, now the war in Ukraine). And that's what they're doing.
Inflation is therefore expected to do precisely what it's doing: come down, slowly. It will take some time to shake out the price increases that we should have seen a decade ago, and more time to reach the new equilibrium when things settle out in Ukraine one way or the other.
So I'm still optimistic and on the fence, but we may have a more stubborn problem than war in Ukraine and supply side issues.
* Subway $5 subs are now 9.89
* Lawn mowing 35 now 55
* Cars 32k now 46k
* Garbage collection $30 now $45 (plus $3 gas surcharge)
* Electric $200 now $350
I haven't purchased any of those other things since the start of increased inflation. I mean, I purchase food often from all kinds of different places, but I don't track prices. I don't think food and drinks here have doubled in price, or even close to that, because that would be shocking. $40 burgers? $20 beers? And if food prices have only gone up by 10%-15% (which may be the case) I would likely never notice.
I feel like it's mostly people who go to the same store every week and buy the same items that notice inflation.
This is a beyond dishonest excuse when your utility a) is likely required by state law to publicize rate changes in some capacity b) breaks down your bill on the invoice so you know exactly how much you're paying per unit.
then $1.39.
today it's $1.79.
that's above avg, but grocery inflation has been brutal, imo