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To: Oblomov who wrote (58827)	1/17/2001 5:17:18 PM
From: pater tenebrarum	Respond to of 436258

the food price increases are hidden...instead of raising prices, they reduce the amount per package. i know of a private survey of Texas department stores that puts annual inflation of a big basket (some 250 items) of convenience goods and foodstuffs at about 11% over the past year. and i believe it...because my personal recurring household expenses budget (in Europe, where inflation is NOT hedoned away, and is lower than US inflation using official data) also rises at a 10% annualized rate. regarding shelter, consider that rents and RE prices are exploding in all the high density population areas, like NY and California. so if we were to construct a per capita average for the entire nation, it would definitely beat BLS numbers by a wide margin. remember the recent remarks out of California, Arizona and a few other states that on the federal level, salary and wage increase stats were lowballed by about 50%? same holds probably true for all other politically unpalatable data as well. anyway, as mentioned earlier, the k wave winter should take care of that.

To: Oblomov who wrote (58827)	1/17/2001 6:30:31 PM
From: Joan Osland Graffius	Respond to of 436258

Oblomov, >>here in the Midwest, shelter prices are going up only 2-3% per year. Also, I'm not sure that I agree that food prices are "rising sharply" in price. Grocery store food prices, at least at the stores I frequent, have remained within a rather narrow price range for 9 or 10 years. However, restaurant food prices have undoubtedly risen quite markedly over the past decade, due in no small part to the tight labor market. Where in the Midwest do you live? I live in a suburb of Minneapolis and rents and home prices have increased significantly. The value of our house has gone up over 10% per year during the last 5 years, however I expect this to take a hit if we get a good recession. The problem is our real-estate taxes are based on these ridiculous prices so guess what else has gone up 10% per year. I have some friends that have seen rents go up 30% this year alone. I don't know where you buy groceries but we are seeing a good 10% per year increase. Take a look at the weight of the things you are buying. Have you bought a tenderloin lately, up 20% in the last year. The heating bills are up 100% for each unit we use this year. Gasoline for our cars has gone up 30% this year. I notices that one of the potato chip companies this week decreased the content by 20% and kept the price the same. The story goes on. At our house we are fortunate and can handle these increases but there has to be a bunch of people hurting. Joan