Inflation here? gas/grocery prices just continue to climb (5 Viewers)

[efil4stnias]

I thought it was you last year who said they’d been playing with an expensive Wilson ’Steam’ or ‘Blade’ or somehting? Must have been some other Northshore -dwelling, Egg Roll House-eating insurance guy.

Yeah no Wilson here ..head type s and it's egg roll house INSURING insurance guy lol

 

[CapitalCitySaint]

 

[brandon8283]

Thats WHY i can afford $200 racquet- im driving a 12 year old car with no note lol ( btw -- i play with 2- 3yr old Head Type S racquets- both of which i bought used for $75 a piece lol )

I paid less for my 2008 Mitsubishi Eclipse that currently has 144k on it than I did for my Samsung QN90a.

Priorities.

 

[brandon8283]

No I'm not , but it is record highs and inflation highs ever in this country , again , the thread sounds like everyone is complaining about the extremely increasing high rate of inflation . I can't recall that happening in 2020 . < ( people complaining about the price of gas , food , etc. ... )

So what policies have the current administration enacted that led to this current inflation problem?

 

[Eeyore]

As a Longshoreman member, I hear about what's going on in terms of supply shortages from over seas.

The ports in L.A. and Long Beach don't have a bunch of space. They're heavily populated, developed, areas. Unloading ships isn't as simple as hooking containers up to a crane and removing them. There's nowhere to put them. It also isn't as simple as just dropping a container onto a random truck and sending the driver on his way. Even if it were there's the traffic issue. This isn't a quick fix. It began at the beginning of the pandemic when traffic from overseas was halted. Especially traffic from China. Those ships sat offshore, waiting. Then more came. They waited too. Still waiting. Just for different reasons now. Eventually the mess got too big for our facilities to handle. They can't be expanded because there's no space. It's going to take time. There's talk about bringing in the national guard. For? Are they going to threaten the Longshoreman to work faster? Are they going to magically make space? Are they going to do a better job than the logistics companies at coordinating the trucks with the cargo? Are they going to force the retired truckers to un-retire to drive? Are they going to resurrect the dead ones?

Prices will stay high until supplies are, once again, abundant. This is part of the whole capitalism thing that a segment of our population loves to beat their collective chests about but has no understanding of how it works.

Lots of stuff = low prices

Not much stuff = high prices

It's working as designed.

It doesn't seem to stop a lot of blow hard politicians from running their mouths and pointing fingers.

I read that the governor of Texas thinks that Houston is the solution. Because, you know, Houston is right next door to Los Angeles and Long Beach. The last that I heard is that their warehouses are packed full of steel nfrom South America that isn't selling because somebody levied tariffs of $250 per ton as well as quotas that limit how much can be sold per month/quarter.

We need to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., even if it's mostly automated.

Even better. Stop buying so much stuff.

 

[dtc]

As a Longshoreman member, I hear about what's going on in terms of supply shortages from over seas.

The ports in L.A. and Long Beach don't have a bunch of space. They're heavily populated, developed, areas. Unloading ships isn't as simple as hooking containers up to a crane and removing them. There's nowhere to put them. It also isn't as simple as just dropping a container onto a random truck and sending the driver on his way. Even if it were there's the traffic issue. This isn't a quick fix. It began at the beginning of the pandemic when traffic from overseas was halted. Especially traffic from China. Those ships sat offshore, waiting. Then more came. They waited too. Still waiting. Just for different reasons now. Eventually the mess got too big for our facilities to handle. They can't be expanded because there's no space. It's going to take time. There's talk about bringing in the national guard. For? Are they going to threaten the Longshoreman to work faster? Are they going to magically make space? Are they going to do a better job than the logistics companies at coordinating the trucks with the cargo? Are they going to force the retired truckers to un-retire to drive? Are they going to resurrect the dead ones?

Prices will stay high until supplies are, once again, abundant. This is part of the whole capitalism thing that a segment of our population loves to beat their collective chests about but has no understanding of how it works.

Lots of stuff = low prices

Not much stuff = high prices

It's working as designed.

It doesn't seem to stop a lot of blow hard politicians from running their mouths and pointing fingers.

I read that the governor of Texas thinks that Houston is the solution. Because, you know, Houston is right next door to Los Angeles and Long Beach. The last that I heard is that their warehouses are packed full of steel nfrom South America that isn't selling because somebody levied tariffs of $250 per ton as well as quotas that limit how much can be sold per month/quarter.

We need to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., even if it's mostly automated.

Even better. Stop buying so much stuff.

This 100% and when you get a little further into the story, you'll see that another huge part of the delay and pricing issue is, again, straight out capitalism.

Trucking companies don't seem to even care about increasing the number of truckers on the road. They're killing it. Why would they increase their costs by increasing wages and investing in new plant and equipment when they're as profitable as they've ever been?

Every solution to the "problem" of backlog requires some company to sacrifice for the greater good rather than to maximize their profits and in a day where Gordon Gecko is considered a hero that's simply not going to happen.

And, as you said, all the people out there ready to die on the wall for the free market and capitalism sure seem to be overlooking the live look at a "free market" we're getting right now.

 

[saintmdterps]

Thats WHY i can afford $200 racquet- im driving a 12 year old car with no note lol ( btw -- i play with 2- 3yr old Head Type S racquets- both of which i bought used for $75 a piece lol )

Yup. I've got a 13 year old Prius with 192k miles, so I drink beer that costs 11-12 dollars for a 6 pack. Buy a new car and it's back to Natty Light suitcases.

 

[HoustonSaint68]

We need to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., even if it's mostly automated.

Even better. Stop buying so much stuff.

Totally on board with this. I admit to being one who over-bought into the benefits of globalization. Everything has its seedy underbelly, I suppose.

 

[HoustonSaint68]

And, as you said, all the people out there ready to die on the wall for the free market and capitalism sure seem to be overlooking the live look at a "free market" we're getting right now.

Well, I agree that you have to take the bad with the good but that doesn’t mean the system is completely broken. Now if you’re talking about people who are advocating unregulated free market capitalism, then I get you. But one could just as easily argue that regulated free market capitalism has raised more people out of abject poverty than any other economic system in human history — with the related impact of more quickly advancing democracy. Let’s not be too quick to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Totally on board with this. I admit to being one who over-bought into the benefits of globalization. Everything has its seedy underbelly, I suppose.

there should be someway to bake longterm impact costs into 'disposable' purchases

 

[HoustonSaint68]

there should be someway to bake longterm impact costs into 'disposable' purchases

Yeah, but the problem is who does it and how. Leave it to corporations and the money will just find its way back to shareholders. Leave it to government regulation and you’ll end up with a result similar to a sushi chef working with a chainsaw.

I’m personally skeptical of any tools much more refined than age old tariffs and subsidies - government just needs to do a much better job on implementation policy.

 

[dtc]

Well, I agree that you have to take the bad with the good but that doesn’t mean the system is completely broken. Now if you’re talking about people who are advocating unregulated free market capitalism, then I get you. But one could just as easily argue that regulated free market capitalism has raised more people out of abject poverty than any other economic system in human history — with the related impact of more quickly advancing democracy. Let’s not be too quick to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I don't think the market is completely broken. What I think is that capitalism is not a moral or political system. It's a method to provide for the exchange of goods and services. Markets do not make decisions nor do they provide a moral foundation for society. Markets allow people to trade one thing for another. Capitalism is simply a means to an end, but this society is so filled with idiots who think in binary terms and who have been conned by one political snake oil salesman or another that we can't simply realize the simply truths I mentioned above.

But to be clear, the market is fine as long as it has training wheels and a structure within which things like our current situation can be addressed without allowing society to be cast into shambles because one group's interests allow them market power which crushes the rest of us.

And, you mentioned globalization which is a whole other topic, but yes, too much of anything is too much. We essentially sold our souls for cheap Chinese plastic crap. We printed and borrowed money for tax cuts for rich people and put off inflation by exchanging that cheap chinese crap for American jobs and, as a consequence, our ability to make our own stuff. Like Masks. 30 years ago, a pack of razor blades made in CT cost more than they do today. Now we don't make them here and so we pay less, but we make less. We have broken construction down into so many specialized pieces that nobody can actually make aything without 25 other people and we are dependent on our freaking enemies whose interests are diametrically opposed to ours. Hell, we are borrowing from our drug dealer in order to get cheaper drugs instead of making them ourselves and here we are.

Shipping companies are making record numbers delivering far less than the market demands, but to increase their capacity will cut into their bottom line and all we hear is "Go Brandon" as if Biden has anything to do with our failure to deal with the pandemic that set these things in motion 18 months ago.

 

[itztime]

Yup. I've got a 13 year old Prius with 192k miles, so I drink beer that costs 11-12 dollars for a 6 pack. Buy a new car and it's back to Natty Light suitcases.

Ha, that’s me, I drink those expensive 6 packs. I lived off the cheap beer in the younger days, now it’s time to enjoy, though I gripe to a buddy of mine about the price and he always reminds me of what he drinks and the price, a 6-pack of “fat” Natty’s @ ”Dolla” General are 5 bucks.

 

[Eeyore]

This 100% and when you get a little further into the story, you'll see that another huge part of the delay and pricing issue is, again, straight out capitalism.

Trucking companies don't seem to even care about increasing the number of truckers on the road. They're killing it. Why would they increase their costs by increasing wages and investing in new plant and equipment when they're as profitable as they've ever been?

Every solution to the "problem" of backlog requires some company to sacrifice for the greater good rather than to maximize their profits and in a day where Gordon Gecko is considered a hero that's simply not going to happen.

And, as you said, all the people out there ready to die on the wall for the free market and capitalism sure seem to be overlooking the live look at a "free market" we're getting right now.

Good point. If trucking companies expand, what will they do when the crisis is over? They'll have too much capacity and a state of hyper competition will be created that could bankrupt them all. Similar to deer living in a small wooded area that can support ten deer. If they breed there won't be enough food to go around.

 

[dtc]

Good point. If trucking companies expand, what will they do when the crisis is over? They'll have too much capacity and a state of hyper competition will be created that could bankrupt them all. Similar to deer living in a small wooded area that can support ten deer. If they breed there won't be enough food to go around.

I hate to keep saying this, but we, as Americans, are generally too stupid, too greedy and too shortsighted to see the forest for the trees.

OMG look at gas prices. Gas is too high...., but finally my oil people are making money. The people don't care about Ida or the fact that a year ago oil cost more to store than produce and so production stopped.

We whine about how much stuff costs, but then fight any attempt to regulate anything.

You want stable oil prices? Regulation does that.

The pandemic was an enormous shock to a fairly efficient system. Instead of going to the mall, we ordered from Amazon or anyone who would deliver to our doors. Hell, my country club has had the best 18 months for dining in 30 years because they deliver now to the area within 3 miles and do more food business than ever and when the whole thing started they thought they'd be crushed. Membership is up 100 members in 18 months all due to the pandemic. FedX, UPS and USPS are busier than ever delivering coffee from places we never heard of 18 months ago, but can click online and get it in 3 days.

It's going to take another year or so to work out the shock assuming we don't collapse the economy because of the very free market inefficiencies inherent in our system that most of the complainers support ignorantly and to the death.