Yeah, I did that. Was at AT&T before that, Sprint before that. That is exactly what I do. Compare with friends. And yes, they will lose money at first to get people in. Will be going to T-Mobile shortly. Will get Netflix for free and $155 for 4 lines tax included. Don't like the smaller carriers as they have spotty coverage according to friends.
Let's take the "global" issue of inflation and bring it down to an item we are all familiar with, eggs. Let's say the average dozen eggs some 3 years ago was $3.50. And now they are $4.50, up $1.00 or 28.6% in 3 years. That computes to a compounded increase of 8.74% per annum. What caused it? Has demand increased more than supply? Has demand remain constant while supply has decreased? Lots to look into here. But here is another factor. Money. It is the "exchange", the "trade" as we say in real estate. Property X traded (sold) for $. There is more paper to trade in the past 3 years than before. Make sense. More money in system devalues the so called paper money which in turn drives up the price. Next lesson. Board game Monopoly. Pass Go, get $200. Land on say Marvin Gardens, buy for $50. Change the game a bit. Pass Go, get $2000. Will Marvin Gardens (a limited supply of one) still be $50? No, it will sell on the open market say for $500. But in the open market, the rental rate of MG will also go up...from say $5 to say $50. Inflation is caused money supply. When Obama entered office the Nat'l debt was $9 Trillion. When he left it was $19 Trillion. It is now over $31 Trillion. Let me go one step further. By My Memory: 50 Years ago, the Nat Debt was $400 Billion with a USA population of 205 million or about $2,000 per person. The Nat Debt per person is now close to $95,000. Hope this makes some kind of sense. BTW- I had an Econ prof eons ago who would reduce global and national economics into the few students in the class to make it understandable.
Actually, there isn’t “lots to look at” when it comes to eggs, and you somehow glossed over the primary (and well known) explanation. Egg prices spiked in 2022 because of a huge avian flu outbreak. Which caused the culling of 10’s of millions of hens, resulting in drastically lower supply of eggs and even some empty shelves when it was at its worst. According to this 29% less supply from year to year. Maybe it got lost in the noise of other post-pandemic “supply chain” problems, but eggs as a commodity had a very specific issue. Avian influenza outbreaks reduced egg production, driving prices to record highs in 2022
It’s also worth noting that egg prices are now DOWN 18.2% year over year according to the link in post #108, the largest food item decrease on the chart… a complete failure of Joe Biden’s evil plot to deprive the working man of omelettes.
Speaking of omelets. We can afford it but we have curbed our eating out considerably because $15 for an omelet or $10 for 2 eggs, toast and potatoes just feels like a rip off considering the drop in egg prices. I know there are more components to pricing prepared food however i don't ever recall breakfast costing the similar amount to a small steak at outback.
Even assuming the worst inflation and the most expensive “pasture raised organic free roam vegetarian fed” eggs cost <$1.00 per egg. For average priced eggs probably <$.50 per. So basically a couple bucks to make an omelette. So yeah, pretty much you are paying for the convenience and the service, paying their rent, utilities, etc. There’s not many breakfast places around that are good enough to justify high prices. I always liked Flying Biscuit in Gainesville. Diners like that - I enjoy the good ones. But an omelette isn’t something I would ever order, because frankly it’s just too damn easy to just make an omelette and squeeze some oranges. I like eating out to try things I wouldn’t or couldn’t make.
got the new Chik Fil A sandwich & a small tea today. $10.69. I also saw a bald Eagle & a bear in my hood.
Same. If we go out for breakfast now I'm getting something off the wall that I'm too lazy or unskilled to make. We do enjoy going out for breakfast rather than other meals but as I've said, the value isn't there anymore even accepting ambience and convenience as an accepted part of the cost. Throw in $7 for two coffees and it gets up to what used to be dinner prices pretty easily.
People paying their bills don’t care man. Just remember “it’s the economy stupid”, and when your neighbor loses his job it’s a recession when you lose your job it’s a depression”. Now I’m not saying we are headed for high UE but the Fed wants to see job market that isn’t so tight. Last quote “don’t fight the Fed”.
I see we found another guy here who can't figure out the savings on bigger ticket items that you occasionally buy might offset a 12 cent increase in the price of flour...
His data isn't even current ... eggs are down 18% in today's report, year over year, and I bet they've been trending down for a while, that kind of change doesn't happen overnight. You guys need to stop complaining about how bad inflation was a year ago and move on with your lives.
Lol Inflation from 1/2/3 years ago has an additive effect it’s doesn’t just vanish because a few items drop in price. There hasn’t been any impactful deflation when comparing to 3 years ago. You just want to cherry pick data points and say look it’s only 1% above the target “quit bitching, it’s non existent”.
It’s not just flour man, the “savings” on that TV doesn’t negative the cost increases across the board in just about everything. Guess you don’t get out much.
But that's the point ... it's not "everything" ... a lot of things went up, some went down, it worked out to 3% over the last year ... those are facts.