Inflation is Dead:
Prices for food are not up. Not where I live--
the grocery stores where I shop are throwing the
stuff out, and frequently mark down items. Now I
can shop at a trendy grocery store that marks
everything up...but I can go to an older store
where the working folks shop, you would not
beleive the prices I pay. Food is as cheap as
it has ever been.
Prices for gasoline are not up much
(and gas is a bargain in America).
I pay $1.30 and can drive 400 miles on
a $20 tank of gas. Adjusted back into
1960 or 1970 bucks, gas is cheap! And the
US consumer pays next to nothing compared
to the Europeans and the Japanese.
Consumer durables--I guess this would include
Cars and Camcorders etc. Cheap cheap cheap.
I can get a nice new safe, reliable vehicle for
$15k and a they are giving away used cars.
Reliable transportation can be had for two grand.
I can get a camcorder with professional features,
editing, amazing resolution for $600. Much less
and a much better machine than what they were selling
a few years ago for three times that price. This
is true for most electronic items. A decent computer
that will run Windows and office software can be
had for $500, awfully cheap. And I can get internet
service for free--and I do use a free ISP as my
backup.
Lessee, what else do I consume? Ah, enough.
There is no inflation.
I do see a little wage inflation, at least you
hear about groups demanding pay hikes. But when
I drive by the hundred fellas downtown looking
for day labor jobs, I do not feel like unemployment
is too low, as Greenspan would have you believe.
I am happy to report that there is asset inflation.
My house is worth twenty grand more than what I paid
for it three years ago--that is 7% a year, which seems
pretty good, but not outrageous.
My stocks are way up...but I'd like to think that was
good stock picking. Ask my in five years where I am,
and we will know if it was clever stock picking <g>. |
