Always Upwards

Upon reading this cheerful little note:

The economy sustained above-trend growth in the third quarter of 2023, with gross domestic product rising 5.2% year-over-year, greater than the 2.1% that was seen in the second quarter of this year. Analysts are mixed on recession predictions for 2024, with strong growth but persistent inflation leaving mixed signals of the U.S. economy’s strength.

Since Biden took office, costs have risen over 17%, while average hourly wages have only risen 13.6% as of November. The resulting price increases mean that families have to pay more than $11,000 in additional costs to maintain the same standard of living.

…I have only this to say:  with the exception of commodities-based products like gasoline where raw material costs are closely tied to the retail price, once prices go up, they never come down.

Seriously:  when last did you see the everyday retail price of grocery store products — to give the best example — get reduced?

Forget it.  Ain’t gonna happen.  And as for those products which keep prices stable simply by shrinking their size (e.g. chocolate), if you’re expecting the products to go back to their original size once inflation comes down, I have an Arizona rainforest to sell you.

And as for “average hourly wages have only risen 13.6% as of November“, people on fixed income (like me) haven’t seen anything close to that — 4.5% for us, and that was well over a year ago.

And then there’s this:

About two-thirds of households at the bottom 20 percent of the income bracket pay over half their income in rent and utilities.

In my case, without New Wife’s salary it would be 78%.

Ask me how I feel about all this.

Option A:

Option B:

Option C: