It isn’t hard to believe our economy isn’t at its best. The government boasted that our current rate of inflation is 2.5%. I’ll never pretend to understand how inflation is measured – if it involves our government, I’m sure it’s complicated. How I measure inflation is directly linked to how much money (if any) is left in my bank account at the end of the month. Not knowing for sure what inflation means – other than paying attention to how much (or little) my budget buys, I did a little research on that thing called Google, and I found this simple definition:
Inflation is a gradual loss of purchasing power reflected in a broad rise in prices for goods and services over time. The inflation rate is calculated as the average price increase of a basket of selected goods and services over one year.
After reading this definition, I couldn’t help but wonder what the basket of goods is that our government uses for calculation. Then I realized that the prices of most goods took a huge jump in prices toward the end of 2021 when COVID was starting to wind down. Thinking about that, I wondered what the inflation rate was in 2021. To my way of thinking, the rate had to be high because that seems to be about when prices started rising rapidly.
During my trips to nearly any kind of store, I’ve been waiting for prices to start lowering, but haven’t noticed many things going down in price. What’s disturbing to me is if my Social Security check goes up 2.5% in 2025, I’m going to lose more buying power, because 2.5% isn’t anywhere near enough to make up for the rising prices since 2021.
If I were to pick one item from our local grocery store as an example, I would pick beef. I am, and have always been, a meat and potatoes kind of guy, but when hamburger is about $7 a pound, and steaks are over double that, beef has become a treat that isn’t in our home often.
Beef isn’t alone when it comes to high price increases. Dairy products and many others have joined the ranks of “expensive”.
Let’s be honest: it has become nearly unaffordable to purchase a meal from a fast-food restaurant, and I blame more than higher-priced products for the increase in the prices at the drive-up window. I’d point to the increase in minimum wage as well. I know some in our government bragged about the increases in minimum wages, but the government should have realized companies would simply pass the increase along to the consumer.
Just last week, a popular topic on the television news stations was the longshoreman strikes. One news program told us the average dock worker makes about $100,000/year – the workers don’t think that’s enough and want an increase to $177,000. That increase alone is more money than I made in any year during my entire career. The strike has been postponed until after the upcoming holiday season, but something we can all count on once the workers get their new contract is higher prices for a lot of imported goods.
Where will it end?
I guess I have to hope and pray the cost of golf balls doesn’t get out of hand, so I can keep playing that silly game I love so much.
Have A Good Week!
