Why is everything still so god damn expensive?

[Kingofkings1992]

The pandemic is long gone, so that’s no excuse. Going out for a sandwich at lunch? 20 bucks. New shirt? 35 bucks. New pair of pants? 30 bucks. Going grocery shopping? 100+ bucks. Filling up your gas tank? 50 bucks. Random medical bill for seeing the doctor a couple times for less than 30 minutes? 550 bucks. We spend most of our lives trying to earn money, and the world is designed to separate us from it.

[Syntosi]

Pretty simple really. Inflation. Part of modern economics relies on a steady inflation which means that prices increase year by year. The idea being that you should also get an increase in wage to keep up but we all know that this has not kept pace. Something, something, meme image:

But enough about Reagan and the GOP.

There is another concept to talk about, namely "Nominal rigidity" of for the purposes of this conversation "price stickiness". If, for the sake of argument we have an economic disaster like Covid19.. or 2008.. or the Dot com bubble.. or Russias Invasion of Ukraine.. or.. you get the idea. Whenever we have an event that temporarily causes prices to increase, even if its for a relatively short time, the prices will "stick" at that "new normal" and not necessarily go down afterwards.

Suffice to say, we have had a lot of "once in a lifetime" economic events recently. Most recently.. whatever Trump has been doing to the economy.. Each time this happens you are getting pushed further and further behind the curve of what the prices increases to VS what your current wage is. Good luck trying to get your wage to keep pace.

That is how things NORMALLY are. But right now is a bit special. You see, Trump is not just increasing inflation. He is destroying the "Natural order" of things. You could say its a good thing because Americas trade partners were screwing it over or whatever, dont really care what your personal politics are in this case. The fact remains, the current natural order of global trade that put USA at the top, is over.

At the end of "global trade" as we know it we also have to contest with the fact that the price we are used to pay for things were really cheap.. much cheaper than what they SHOULD be. This will result in two things. The obvious one is that certain items just can't be made as cheap anymore. The 2nd result however is more devious. Its easy to get caught in the grind of things but when you stop to think, maybe you find out that you could actually have been selling something for far more and people would still have bought it. Louis Rossmann talked about this recently if you want a real world example of it happening:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/xR2_eqNL604

He talks about it at around 19:28 which if the link works should already be starting there.

Anyways. This is how capitalism works.. or at the very least how the END of capitalism works. That is not to say that capitalism is going to end soon or whatever, but we are running into the major flaws of the system where to get back to a time where you can live a "normal" life there would have to be a major reset. Something that rips everything down and puts it back in a state where normal people can function in society again. And no, Trump won't be doing that.

[WindAtMyBack]

Prices always go up faster than they come down.

But bottom line is that the only way prices can go up, and stay up, is if people can afford it.

So stop spending $20 for lunch.

$35 for a shirt? Obviously you are rich enough to spend that much. Go get a shirt for under $5.

$30 pants? The last jeans I bought were under $10. Yes they were new. Yes they were good jeans.

$100 grocery? That entirely depends on how much you get.

$550 for a doctor? Then don't go to a doctor.

For all of the above, if you and others were not willing or able to pay it, they couldn't charge that much.

Then there is the high wages that everyone wants. Minimum wage type jobs paying twice minimum wage. Of course that will increase prices. Most of what you pay for things is labor. Labor goes up, prices go up.

[Kelley1]

Prices have not increased in relative terms. Prices are higher to the extent that the dollar has lost value.

[MzAsh]

It’s not going to go down. Only up. Increasing your income is a one thousand percent must.

[blackeagle007]

Watch, if income goes up, so will cost of living.

[Kingofkings1992]

I make pretty decent money. I make $32 an hour. Fuck me. I don’t struggle financially, but prices are just absurd. I’ll never be able to buy a house the way things are right now

[blackeagle007]

Even rent is high enough

[exitseven]

The Biden administration printed trillions of dollars after causing the price of gas to more than double. President Trump is bringing costs down but it will take time. everyone is quick to raise prices and it takes a long time for prices to go down. The price of gas is around 2.6/ gallon which is the lowest it has been since Trump's first term.

[Syntosi]

You do realize that the low cost of oil is an attack against USA right? Saudi Arabia and other nations extract oil at a cheaper rate than most American sources such as fracking so if they overproduce and lower the price artificially then they can drive American oil extraction out of business. Just something to think about.

[exitseven]

@Syntosi Biden stopped drilling on govt land and cancelled the Keystone pipeline project. This created panic in the energy sector so there was no investment in new wells. This is what made gs prices skyrocket. America was energy independent when Trump was in office and we had the lowest gas prices in decades.
New technologies enable America to extract oil for less money. I think that they make money above 50 dollars a barrel. Having it domestically makes America more secure and more efficient. It also creates a lot of good jobs.

[Syntosi]

Oh please. The land that Trump sold in his first term for oil extraction was never drilled either. Corporations does not want "drill baby drill". They want to control the market. If they drill more then their profitability drops because the supply increases.

And no. New technologies are not going to save the US oil sector when Saudi Arabia only needs like 3 dollars to extract a barrel of oil. Congratulations, you played yourself.. again.

[exitseven]

@Syntosi why was the price of gas the lowest in 40 years when we were drilling enough oil not to need the Saudis?

[Syntosi]

Never heard of supply and demand? Man you are clueless on how the global market works.

USA became a net exporter of oil long ago. That did not reduce the price of oil. Educate yourself.

[exitseven]

@Syntosi I look at results. Produce more oil and the price goes down.

[Syntosi]

But USA has produced more oil every year and the price went both up and down? Almost, like there is something more at play.. imagine that?

[Douglas1180]

This guy who thinks Putin is the president of the Ukraine and that men can get pregnant.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/gFPrVTFvH9I

[Cormac995]

Covid prices stayed the same because the companies just decided not to lower them back down and the economy took a hit on top of it. Add on the Trump tariffs and at this rate were headed for a depression.

[Sal_Monella]

Because the US government printed far too much money and caused inflation. A dollar US worth a few cents compared to when I was a kid.

[DrPepper12]

Capitalism is a bitch. A lover. A trip. A punch to the face. A soothing hug of consumerism & retail therapy...

[Alex-Snow]

It is not going to get any better I'm afraid

[Anonymous]

That's how life is. Get over it. Believe me I wish everything was free.

[Kingofkings1992]

I don’t think everything should be free, but why can’t things just be more affordable?

[msc545]

Keep voting for Trump and the right wing, and it will keep getting worse.

[Anonymous]

Maybe God is keeping things expensive for you because you are using His Name in vain,

[Anonymous]

Musk and trump... hello?

[Hellraiser1984]

Trump screwed up the economy not Biden.