What's inflating in the U.S. basket?

[lektrode]

Re: What's inflating in the U.S. basket?

My wife and I stopped going to bars and restaurants some time ago. ....
...
noticed many of our friends trending the same path -- it's not like they can't afford it, but even they are starting to recognize the lack of value.

+1

never mind sitting there for 10mins or more waiting for somebody to ack ones presence, or having someone other than the waitperson come up and say "your waiter will be with you in a minute" and then just walk away - or have the bussperson come over an fill yer waterglass instead of the cocktail server - and then after all this (lack of) 'service' the expectation of 20% for a tip?

went to the cheesecake factory in SLC over the weekend (a fave both there and HNL, their chicken marsala is just about purrfect) - had called to see if reservations were req'd or available, "no, only about 20min wait" - got there 630pm and it was mobbed "55-60 mins" - gave up and went back to the lonestar steakhouse, almost empty, sat right down, had a drink and order taken within 5mins, had their 9oz top sirloin, was excellent for 14.50 with salad and baked... nears i can recall it was same price as last year...

all in all the US dollar goes a _lot_ further in SLC (and they're more appreciated too)

[charliebrown]

Re: What's inflating in the U.S. basket?

I take my wife and family out to eat twice a week, not because the food is great, but to give her a break from cooking and cleaning.
Most of the time it is fast food or casual dining so a meal for four is under $30.00. I no longer drink, unless it is a special occasion, where I will have one beer. At 5.00 a beer plus tax and tip drinking out no longer happens at restaurants.

And regarding quality, do you think you have a true gourmand with the finest ingrediants gingerly pampering and preparing your meal? Restaurants are businesses. I know, i used to work in one. Most of the time it is the same raw indrediants, Think sysco, don, ifp etc. and a poorly paid, over-pressured cook working on 5 meals at once.

I made my first stir-fried rice last week, not the best, but the next batch will be good. It is important to keep notes so you can keep improving.

[lektrode]

Re: What's inflating in the U.S. basket?

Thank You metalman.

Now the point is as clear as a bell.

+1

as we watch our savings evaporate...

here's another reason:

• FEBRUARY 24, 2012

'Stupid' and Oil Prices

Obama's Forrest Gump analysis of rising gas prices.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...995642182.html

'The American people aren't stupid," thundered President Obama yesterday in Miami, ridiculing Republicans who are blaming him for rising gasoline prices. Let's hope he's right, because not even Forrest Gump could believe the logic of what Mr. Obama is trying to sell.

To wit, that a) gasoline prices are beyond his control, but b) to the extent oil and gas production is rising in America, his energy policies deserve all the credit, and c) higher prices are one more reason to raise taxes on oil and gas drillers while handing even more subsidies to his friends in green energy. Where to begin?

It's true enough that oil prices can't be commanded from the Oval Office, so in that sense Mr. Obama's disavowal of blame is a rare show of humility in the face of market forces. Would that he showed similar modesty in trying to command the tides of home prices, car sales ("cash for clunkers"), or the production of electric batteries.

The oil price surge has several likely sources. One is the turmoil in the Middle East, especially new fears of a supply shock from a conflict with Iran. But it's worth recalling that Mr. Obama also blamed the last oil-price surge, in spring 2011, on the Libyan uprising. Moammar Gadhafi is now gone and Libyan oil production is coming back on stream, yet oil prices dipped only briefly below $90 a barrel and have been rising since October. Something else must be going on.

(yeah, in a word: E X P O R T S of motor fuels, EXPORTS? when our prices are going thru the roof? LIKE WE HAVE AN EXCESS OF SUPPLIES???!!! and whats he got to say about that: zip, zilch NADA baybee! )


Mr. Obama yesterday blamed rising demand from the likes of Brazil and China, and there is something to that as well. But this energy demand is also not new, and if anything Chinese and Brazilian economic growth has been slowing in recent months.

Another suspect—one Mr. Obama doesn't like to mention—is U.S. monetary policy. Oil is traded in dollars, and its price therefore rises when the value of the dollar falls, all else being equal. The Federal Reserve throughout Mr. Obama's term has pursued the easiest monetary policy in modern times, expressly to revive the housing market. It has done so with the private support and urging of the White House and through Mr. Obama's appointees who are now a majority on the Fed's Board of Governors.

Oil staged its last price surge along with other commodity prices when the Fed revved up its second burst of "quantitative easing" in 2010-2011. Prices stabilized when QE2 ended. But in recent months the Fed has again signaled its commitment to near-zero interest rates first through 2013, and recently through 2014. Commodity prices, including oil, have since begun another surge, and hedge funds have begun to bet on commodity plays again. John Paulson says he's betting on gold, the ultimate hedge against a falling dollar.

Fed officials and Mr. Obama want to take credit for easy money if stock-market and housing prices rise, but then deny any responsibility if commodity prices rise too, causing food and energy prices to soar for consumers. They can't have it both ways, as not-so-stupid Americans intuitively understand when they buy groceries or gas. This is the double-edged sword of an economic recovery "built to last" on easy money rather than on sound fiscal and regulatory policies.

As for domestic energy, Mr. Obama rightly points to the rising share of U.S. oil consumption now produced at home. But this trend began in the late Bush Administration, which opened up large new areas on and offshore for oil and gas drilling that are now coming on stream. Mr. Obama sneered at expanded drilling as a candidate in 2008 and for most of his term has done little to expand it.

In early 2010, he proposed to open some new areas to drilling but shut that down after the Gulf oil spill. According to the Greater New Orleans Gulf Permits Index for January 31, over the previous three months the feds issued an average of three deep-water drilling permits a month compared to the historical average of seven. Over the same three months, the feds approved an average of 4.7 shallow-water permits a month, compared to the historical average of 14.7.

Approval of an offshore drilling plan now takes 92 days, 31 more than the historical average.

And so far in 2012, an average of 23% of all drilling plans have been approved, compared to the average of 73.4%.

Oh, and don't forget the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have increased the delivery of oil from Canada and North Dakota's Bakken Shale to Gulf Coast refineries, replacing oil from Venezuela.

The reality is that most of the increase in U.S. oil and gas production has come despite the Obama Administration. It is flowing from the shale boom, which is the result of private technological advances and investment. Mr. Obama has seen the energy sun rise and is crowing like a rooster that he made it happen.

Mr. Obama yesterday also repeated his proposal that now is the time to raise taxes on oil and gas companies, as if doing so will make them more likely to drill. He must not believe the economic truism that when you tax something you get less of it, including fewer of the new jobs they've created.
***

We'd almost feel sorry for Mr. Obama's gas-price predicament if it weren't a case of rough justice. The President has deliberately sought to raise the price of energy throughout the economy via his cap-and-trade agenda. He is now getting his wish, albeit a little too overtly for political comfort. Mr. Obama has also spent three years blaming George W. Bush for every economic ill. If Mr. Obama now feels frustrated by economic events beyond his control, perhaps he should call Mr. Bush for consolation.

can you say: oil price induced R E C E S S I O N ?

shur you can, that way we can have even more QE, so his buddies, his biggest contributors last time around - the manhattan billionaire bankers club - can get even fatter...

[doom&gloom]

Re: What's inflating in the U.S. basket?

it has gotten to the point where we can invite guests over, ask them to bring the wine or dessert, and ALL of us can eat a great home-cooked (by me) meal with a main dish of steak, pork of chicken breast design for far less than all of us going out without friends to dinner somewhere. AND it tends to be so much more fun too.

One of our last dinner "parties" we brought out a bunch of wine he had taste-slected in WA wine country, and everyone really loved the wine. Botttles of the same in a restaurant would have been 2x+ or more each.

Dinnerout is far less fun than dinner in when you have friends over -- especially for the wife as I do all the cooking and cleanup!

[doom&gloom]

Re: What's inflating in the U.S. basket?

it's all part of the one-year business cycle as Jim Puplava likes to say...

[jpatter666]

Re: What's inflating in the U.S. basket?

I made my first stir-fried rice last week, not the best, but the next batch will be good. It is important to keep notes so you can keep improving.

Awesome! Just made our first stir-fried rice tonight -- my wife commented that it was better than most restaurant stuff and this was our first time!

[Shakespear]

Re: What's inflating in the U.S. basket?

Just made our first stir-fried rice tonight

Stir-fried method is great because you can run with you imagination what to put in. Everything cooks fast so it is a great way to cook.

[Kadriana]

Re: What's inflating in the U.S. basket?

Stir-fried method is great because you can run with you imagination what to put in. Everything cooks fast so it is a great way to cook.

I do stir fries a lot in the summer when I have a big garden. Sometimes I'll throw in an egg from one of my chickens or just some left over meat from the fridge. Cheap and yummy way to use up leftovers.

[charliebrown]

Re: What's inflating in the U.S. basket?

you live in a great community, don't let it get away.

[wayiwalk]

Re: What's inflating in the U.S. basket?

I'm glad my mom forced me to learn how to cook back when I was in elementary school....but let's see who can top this:

Now that haircuts have reached the $12 - $16 range, last fall I bought a barber's electric razor ($35), and my daughter has been cutting my hair for the last 5 months, basically every other month. I'd let my wife do it, but she struggles hanging pictures on the wall straight and I'd rather not take any chances.

Face it, guys hair cuts are very straight forward and easy. I pay her $4 for about 30 minutes work, I save myself the trouble of getting in the car a driving to get to where I'd get it cut, and also waiting in line there, too...

The 3 boys in our family haven't opted for the experience, as the oldest goes for "mop top" still, the middle has had one but is going for longer hair, and the 4 y.o. said, NO and that was that.

On top of that, if she gets good enough to cut hair efficiently, and if she does go away to college, she can always bring a razor with her and do hair cuts at the dorm, it's a nice way to make some easy pocket change.

[don]

Re: What's inflating in the U.S. basket?

Way back in our relationship - more like pre-dating - I had my future wife over for dinner. I cooked in a wok. Later she told me how impressed she was. (MEGA, take note.)

[davidstvz]

Re: What's inflating in the U.S. basket?

My haircut is so easy I could almost do it myself. I just shave the top with a 5 and the side with a 2 and blend. The blending part is the hard part. And cleaning up the edges around back. The perils of bachelorhood.

Also, does it count as an inflation of the cost of driving if the cops are out and about writing more tickets? I've gotten 2 in the last year. The last before that was in 2003. Also, I noticed that 40% of the DUI arrests in the paper today were "naked". That's DUI only. Usually it's 90% DUI + some other infraction that presumably triggered the stop (speeding, failure to maintain control, wreckless driving, improper turn, you name it).

[doom&gloom]

Re: What's inflating in the U.S. basket?

you live in a great community, don't let it get away.

unfortunately we are getting tired of the PacNW weather, and visions of FL are floating thru my mind.