The Cost of Living
You know this already, if you pay attention to how much you are paying for things, but inflation continues to climb. The report released last Friday showed inflation hit 6.8 percent last month compared with the year before…that’s the highest rate in 39 years. It’s also the sixth straight month of greater than 5 percent inflation. Even the Biden Administration admits that using the phrase “transitory” to describe it is no longer valid. It’s going to be here for a while.
Some say we shouldn’t make a big deal because the same period last year was during the heart of COVID. Except I don’t recall prices being lower during the heart of COVID…they were the same or a bit higher. Now…far higher. And as one person noted, that 6.8 percent level is the official government figure…and the folks who present those numbers have incentives to understate things if at all possible.
While 6.8 percent is the overall level…here are some truly astounding increases year to year:
Gasoline at 58 percent higher; used car prices, 31 percent higher; and hotel rooms are costing 26 percent more.
A good steak now is 25 percent more…also costing you 25 percent more are your utilities. It’s one thing to change what meat you buy because of cost…but far harder to change your utilities.
Bacon costs 21 percent more, pork generally 17 percent more…but I don’t see Iowa’s tops-in-the-nation pork producers getting any of that.
Furniture has gone up by 12 percent, bicycles by 9 percent…and for some of us, a real crimp in our day…coffee is 7.5 percent higher.
Now, think for a moment how much your income has gone up this year. Yeah…that’s what I thought.
