The rising cost of food has become a main topic at my morning coffee gatherings

4 years of Trump had consequences

 

where are these gas shortages? Globally there is a shortage, but we have so much we're still exporting

 

oh it's real oh right, you don't raise the debt as much as Trump did in 4 years without inflation

 

Wow. Talk about our of touch.

 

Well glad to put you back in touch. You're welcome.

Now go to Fat Mildred's dinner or someplace local and support a small business. They sell coffee too. and pie.

 

I buy my coffee local. Starbucks sucks.

 

I mean no offense but I cried in the shower because even before inflation hit I could barely afford food. I had been relying on a food pantry. When I get a place on my own, I will be relying on a food pantry again. Because I have never made enough money to afford things on my own.

I don’t know how much money you and your friends make but this isn’t some casual discussion that’s “politics”. It’s been this way for ages now. I mean what’s the statistic 1/6 kids are considered food insecure? How many qualify for reduced or free meals at schools? I know you mean well but it just seems so out of tune with the reality of the situation.

 

But you will continue to vote for Biden because he appointed a trans Secretary of Health (you told us in another thread). Isn't that correct?

Should we talk about what the effect of immigration is on wage levels, rent prices, and the economy, or is that subject off limits?

Do you think rising Democrat spending will benefit you more than the rapid price increases will hurt you?
I guess that's the question you have to ask yourself.
Because the economic purchasing power to spend this extra money is coming from inflation.

 

Yeah. Identity politics is so wonderful isn’t it?

 

Trump had to print all that money because Democrats would have printed even more.
The average stupid American voter wants the US to print more money. They will vote for the candidate who hands out more stuff.
So to try to win reelection and prevent Democrats from winning the next election, Trump had to do it. I'd say he was almost forced to do it.

The blame of course is still ultimately on Democrats, not Trump.

If Democrats expressed and were willing to stick to some sane and reasonable spending plan, and tried to cut an agreement with Republicans to reduce budget deficits, then the money during Trump's term would not have been printed.

Democrats in Congress did not object at all to the huge amount of money being spent. They would have wanted to spend even more.

How can you possibly put your foot down and blame Trump for not stopping the Democrats when the voters would have tossed him out for doing that and elected a Democrat???
(Yes, of course he ended up getting voted out anyway, but it was a very close election)

 

I don't drink coffee but I like lemon pound cake and Starbucks has a really good one. I used to go there especially for that when I was out and about the city at lunchtime pre-pandemic.

 

the Trump economy was failing, that is why he had to do it and that was all pre-Covid

 

Was it failing because Democrat state governors intentionally shut down the economy and businesses, hoping it would make Trump look bad? willing to sacrifice the economy for political gain

 

You are right, we should have learned that remaining dependent on fossil fuels for energy is absolutely absurd. Fossil fuels are finite, and should only be used for what they are absolutely necessary for. All other power should be from some alternative form of energy. Staying reliant on fossil fuels has become a threat to national security.

If we worked seriously on finding and implementing alternatives after the crisis during the carter administration, we could be sitting pretty right now. But instead we were morons, fooled into thinking that “letting the market decide” was a good idea. The energy capitalists/oligarchs are laughing at our idiocy as they count their piles of money.

 

Price of gas goes up...price of everything goes up.

Last I checked farmers require the use of gas to farm ****. Then their is transportation costs. And of course the war in Ukraine which apparent the entire world relies on for grain...

You nominated a weak ass president which emboldened Putin to make his move on Ukraine. Whom also favored lock downs, wrecking the supply chain and made an enemy of the domestic oil companies. He promised we would all be working clean energy jobs...remember that?

We said there was going to be an incoming food shortage.

But whatever.

 

We've nothing to really be concerned about here. The conservative Republican Party will take over Congress in a landslide and will go on to win the White House in 2024. At that time, the ideology of a truly free market coupled with capitalism will become a fact. Prices will fall as entrepreneurs enter the market wherever corporate profitability levels show a chance to compete. All will benefit.

Not.

Regards, stay safe 'n well 'n remember the Big 5.

 

It’s not opinion. It’s economic fact. You cannot print trillions of dollars with no increase (and actually a massive decrease due to covid) in production. When you do so you are giving people the means of which to buy goods and services and yet you have not created an increase in suppply because you have no increase in production. Therefore you have the SAME (or less) amount of supply as before you printed trillions of dollars and gave it to consumers and yet you have a MASSIVE increase in demand because all of those people who could not afford those products can now do so.

Basic economics dictates that if supply decreases (or stays the same) and yet demand increases 10-fold, prices MUST increase.

I shouldn’t have to explain it like this but I will:
Let’s say you have a company that produces 1000 widgets every month. Your widgets cost $100. You have set your price at $100 to account for your finite supply and at a price so that you could sell just enough widgets to sell out every month because approximately 100 people can afford your widget.

Now the government goes and hands out trillions of dollars to everyone. Now instead of 100 people being able to afford your widget 1000 people want them. But there’s been no increase in production on your part, no ability to expand or increase resources. You do the best you can but can only double your production.

So you now can produce 200 widgets and 200 customers can get widgets but that still leaves 800 people who wanted those widgets out in the cold without a widget. These 800 people get pissed off because they really want a widget so when you get to where you have 10 widgets left for the month some of them contact you and say, “look I’ll give you $500 for that widget.” You accept and the next month you’re still only able to produce around 200 widgets. But this time you realize that the inflection point for your price has changed. If you want to sell out of all your widgets at the best price point you need to increase your price for said widget to $500. Pricing out approximately 800 of the people to where only 200 can afford/are willing to spend that much money for your widget.

THAT allows you to increase profit so that you’re able to increase production so that you have more widgets to offer. But increasing production takes time.

Furthermore, are you even going to be willing to increase production? Why wouldn’t you? Because you realize that the demand that was created due to the stimulus was ARTIFICIAL. Which means when that stimulus money runs out and those people no longer have that free cash, the demand for your product will decrease back to what it was before and you’ll be stuck with brand new production facilities that you can’t use because the artificial demand for your product no longer exists.

And I didn’t even get into what the effect of increasing the cost of all supplies that you use to create your widgets will do to the price you have to charge.

 

As for my claim on the rate of inflation:

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

We MUST outpace inflation with our interest rates. It is LITERALLY the ONLY method the government/fed has of combating runaway inflation. When your inflation rates are climbing, if you don’t get your interest rates above the ACTUAL inflation rate you will devolve into hyper inflation. And then we’re all ****ed.

We are already at 17-18% inflation. You let that actual inflation rate get above 25 or 30 and you won’t be able to stop it. It won’t matter if you increase interest rates to 100%. You will NOT be able to stop it. And hyper inflation ends with you eating your dog to survive… if you’re lucky.

 

I would think relying on foreign oil to the point we can no longer produce enough internally to supply ourselves is a much greater threat to our way of life and national security..

Bottom line, we should be creating good jobs and building new refineries and bringing them online refining domestic crude. When technology advances to the point they can be reduced, then do so! But don't put national security "Energy" in the hands of potential enemies! You can't fight a war without fossil fuels, our military might depends on combustion technology..

 

are you referring to the Trump shutdown and reopen guidelines

how many states have met Trump's reopening guidelines, and on what date?

 

It's not just people who can afford Starbucks (gag) that buy hamburger.

This is what so many people just aren't getting. Yes, there has been a rise in wages, but the inflation of basic necessities has eaten that up and then some.

I just about spew my coffee (basic Maxwell house, thank you very much) every time some genius claims the economy is doing so well. Personal debt up billions in the last year. Inflation up a reported 9.4%. Really? More like 25% not even accounting for fuel.

We (not just the US) are in a very precarious situation. Shipping billions of dollars overseas is pushing us ever closer to the edge.

 

My point exactly in why we shouldn’t rely on it for everything else. We could easily have switched to other sources of power a long time ago and keep fossil fuels for only limited applications, such as war fighting. But no, we caved in to the fossil fuel energy lobbyists and “stayed the course”. Now oil supplies are becoming more energy intensive to harvest, giving us less and less net energy yield, and we are STILL completely dependent on it for everything. We have shot ourselves in the foot because we have been brainwashed to think it is the only real way to get energy. We have only been taught that because it makes the oligarchs rich, and perpetuates the conflicts that make them even richer as wars get fought over the “black gold”.

 

Early reopenings at a high positivity rate.....the main reason why we were the only country who had a Summer Covid Surge/Wave.

 

Nonsense!
Living in a illusionary bubble will not make unrealistic tech discoveries happen any faster then the evolutionary time needed for advancements.. Clearly you haven't taken in to account the amount of energy we need to live comfortably in this country..

You and I will be long dead before clean renewable energy takes the lead from fossil.. Technology, advancements and discovery will grow in TIME. Till then we are slaves to time

 

Yup the old leftist saying, "One for me and one for me and one for me". Damn them folks that can't afford either, right