Inflation -- SMH -- Happy Valentine's Day -- February 14, 2023

Note: the post on the GO-Ron Viall wells has been completed and will now be updated if/when things change.

Updates

Later, 2:41 p.m. CT: link here.

Original Post

Back to the inflation story.

Here's how CNBC reports inflation, January, 2023, in one chart. 

When a reader sent me that link, my not-ready-for-prime-time reply:

You know, I go through that chart and I shake my head. Seriously.

That’s what JPow is worried about? Seriously?

We start with eggs: avian bird flu with a bit of farmers price gouging, but hardly “true inflation” due to government spending. Regardless, it’s not as if eggs even affect my overall monthly spending, considering I just ordered another Lego set for $169, which totaled $183 with sales tax [regressive sales taxes are a bigger problem than the price of eggs].

Then, butter. I buy a $6.00-tub which lasts a month.

Fuel oil? Are you kidding me? That’s a state choice forcing folks to use fuel oil for heating when coal and natural gas are dirt cheap.

And it goes on and on. So a chicken that cost $8.00 last year is now $8.80. OMG.

But here’s what’s important to me:

Televisions, a big ticket item, down 13%.

Computers, another big ticket item, down 6%.

Beef steaks and bacon, down. And folks will spend a lot more on beef and bacon than eggs, butter, and lettuce. In fact, most Americans could give up lettuce for Lent and not even miss it. [In fact, in many urban areas, lettuce is not even available to the folks living in the "inner city." Or at least that's what I'm told.]

If this is the worse CNBC can come up with, I would say I’m in pretty good shape. Even rent is a non-issue for me. I’m a senior on fixed income — that’s how the analysts classify me — and even if my housing doubled I could manage. 

Unless I missed it, healthcare wasn’t even on the list, and as a senior/Medicare, healthcare is practically free. Folks on Obamacare should have it so good.

I can’t believe how good we have it.

The Ukrainians should be so lucky. The Syrians and Turks should be so lucky.

What Americans should really be upset with: presidents paying $0 in federal income tax; Buffett paying way less than me as a percent of income for federal taxes (and that’s grossly understating the travesty); and, Bakken millionaires who can’t underwrite universal free school lunches.

Folks are nuts -- Ms Huckabee is correct: it's now a battle between "crazy" and "normal" but I'm wondering who the "crazy" folks are.

My grandfather raising sheep in the worse land in the US while his sons were fighting in WWII would really shake his head, and then he would hitch up three horses to plow his few acres of god-forsaken South Dakota prairie and get on with life, leaving exactly $0 to his children. I doubt he even knew what CPI was or what it meant.

From what I can see, market forces could manage this just fine without JPow’s help.

 

Much more could be written.

Not proofread: there will be typographical and content errors.

The chart: