The Inflation & Cost of Living Complaints Thread

[Bounce000]

17 minutes ago, Hogs and Podz said:

I read some of the posts here... I feel for everyone going through a very tough period in Canada and many parts of the world.  Personally... The covid pandemic was the final straw for me.  I was so disappointed with our government and a lot of our citizens through that time.

I decided to sell my house and move to Central America.  To be completely honest.... It was the best choice I could have made.  Simple way to live.  Way less stress.  Money goes so much further and the people here know how to stay together in a crisis.  It's far from perfect... There are many challenges here too... Just different.  Anyway, I'm much happier now.  But I made some sacrifices in order to get here... Namely, I'm further away from my kids and best buds... However, they're coming down this way cause it's bleeping beautiful!!!!.... Something to think about.

I’m considering a move to Central America as well. My wife is from El Salvador so we have family and friends there for support. The only draw backs is lack of hockey, the language barrier, and someone with tattoos on their face could decapitate me.

[Hogs and Podz]

11 minutes ago, Bounce000 said:

I’m considering a move to Central America as well. My wife is from El Salvador so we have family and friends there for support. The only draw backs is lack of hockey, the language barrier, and someone with tattoos on their face could decapitate me.

I understand... But truth is, if you're not a person that puts themselves at risk (getting loaded and stumbling around down an alley at 3 in the morning or buy drugs off some sketchy local)... We as North Americans have been feed a bunch of fear news news about the 3rd World countries our while lives.  It's way safer than we've been lead to believe.  As far as learning a bew language.... Why not?  It ain't easy but it's super rewarding.  Since your wife is el Salvadoran, you'll have all the support you need.  I'm in Nicaragua... On the outskirts of a surfing/fishing village.  Live the lifestyle here.  Don't get me wrong, there are dangers... You just have to be smart about it.  It's more to do with unfamiliarity.... It takes time.  

Edited September 19, 2023 by Hogs and Podz

[Taxi]

17 hours ago, Bounce000 said:

I wish a bought a house in 2007 instead of being in grade 10. 

That's what you get for going to Starbucks that one time. You could have used that money to buy a house.

[The Arrogant Worms]

18 hours ago, Hogs and Podz said:

I read some of the posts here... I feel for everyone going through a very tough period in Canada and many parts of the world.  Personally... The covid pandemic was the final straw for me.  I was so disappointed with our government and a lot of our citizens through that time.

I decided to sell my house and move to Central America.  To be completely honest.... It was the best choice I could have made.  Simple way to live.  Way less stress.  Money goes so much further and the people here know how to stay together in a crisis.  It's far from perfect... There are many challenges here too... Just different.  Anyway, I'm much happier now.  But I made some sacrifices in order to get here... Namely, I'm further away from my kids and best buds... However, they're coming down this way cause it's bleeping beautiful!!!!.... Something to think about.

I could never be that far away from my son.

 

But that's me.

[Hogs and Podz]

11 minutes ago, The Arrogant Worms said:

I could never be that far away from my son.

 

But that's me.

Fair enough... Each to his own.  Both my kids are in their mid and late twenties.... Both amazing humans.  I am very proud to be their Dad.  But to the point of this thread.  Both if them are very challenged to get ahead in the current economic state of Canada.  Unless land is handed down to them... They will most likely be renting for most of their adult lives.  I couldn't afford to help them in that area and my land was to small in order for them to build on mine.  Now however, I have 4 acres and lots of room for them both and their future families.  It's a sacrifice... And I miss them both, but I know at least, if the economic climate continues as it is in North America, I'll be ready to help them both.

[Warhippy]

3 minutes ago, Hogs and Podz said:

Fair enough... Each to his own.  Both my kids are in their mid and late twenties.... Both amazing humans.  I am very proud to be their Dad.  But to the point of this thread.  Both if them are very challenged to get ahead in the current economic state of Canada.  Unless land is handed down to them... They will most likely be renting for most of their adult lives.  I couldn't afford to help them in that area and my land was to small in order for them to build on mine.  Now however, I have 4 acres and lots of room for them both and their future families.  It's a sacrifice... And I miss them both, but I know at least, if the economic climate continues as it is in North America, I'll be ready to help them both.

Looking in to Belize myself.

[Playoff Beered]

On 9/18/2023 at 12:08 PM, Shift-4 said:

No offense Hip but I doubt this statement is accurate. My company is in the midst of deploying a digital channel for financial transactions. It's running at a deficit with no expectation to be profitable. A lot goes on behind the scenes to make sure these transactions run smoothly. I have no doubt landmark are recouping costs to deploy the service. If they are smart they will have margin on those fees, but it won't be pure profit.

Sidenote: movies generally suck nowadays. Easy solution to save the $1.50

 

On 9/18/2023 at 2:14 PM, Shift-4 said:

I'm inside this type of thing. Trust me, it's not 8 cents. Automation is expensive. If you want to gripe complain about markup on popcorn and cola.

The payment system is already in place though, they're not "deploying a digital channel for financial transactions", only adding more fees to an online purchase for movie tickets.

Edited September 20, 2023 by Playoff Beered

[Gurn]

On 9/18/2023 at 1:14 PM, Barnstorm said:

Fuel, maintenance and commuting time become a negative factor for many that try to distance themselves. The cost of an extra 50 miles each day over 30 years is nothing to sneeze at. 

Plus the time 'wasted' during the drives.

Few years back I has a brief chat with a new hire catering attendant on the ferries, about commuting to and from.

I'll use the current wage for an example. Indeed.ca web says a Customer service att. makes $25.42 per hour. 

25.42x 8 equals  $203.36. Problem is he had a 45 minute each way commute so $203.36 /9.5 equals $21.40

But if you consider in the cost of

gas-and that hasn't gotten cheaper   100 klicks a day 6-10 litres used- go with 8. 8 times 209.9 is  $16.79 per day in fuel

203.36- 16.79 =186.57    divide by 9.5 equals $19.63

Insurance-to and from work  more than 15 kilometres used to be expensive, I don't know about now.

Extra repairs, tire wear etc.

That 25.43 job doesn't look all that great now.

figure that out as a daily cost and subtract in from the 203.36, then divide by 9.5 and a good financial argument could be made for working at almost anything that was within a 2 mile radius from his dwelling.

 

 

[Shift-4]

9 hours ago, Playoff Beered said:

 

The payment system is already in place though, they're not "deploying a digital channel for financial transactions", only adding more fees to an online purchase for movie tickets.

You're right. It is in place. And it is expensive to maintain.

They are playing catchup. Some jerk in finance (like me) said 'hey we offer this service, it's costly and we need to recover those costs'. Boom - fancy fee.

[Warhippy]

1 hour ago, Shift-4 said:

You're right. It is in place. And it is expensive to maintain.

They are playing catchup. Some jerk in finance (like me) said 'hey we offer this service, it's costly and we need to recover those costs'. Boom - fancy fee.

OK but let's break it down even more.  How large is the team to maintain this service?

Now, counter that to how much employment expenses are saved because this is not handled by people.  Those kiosks in place in theaters to buy tickets or snacks save how much in employment wages?  There's no question if they are only charging $1.  They are making serious profit off of it based on cost savings elsewhere.  because aside from simply maintaining a system already in place; which by and large works fairly seamlessly aside from some occasional maintenance those costs are already paid and it's just an additional charge like your bank deciding to charge you an additional 25 cents a month just because

[Ds4quality]

On 9/18/2023 at 5:32 PM, Hogs and Podz said:

I read some of the posts here... I feel for everyone going through a very tough period in Canada and many parts of the world.  Personally... The covid pandemic was the final straw for me.  I was so disappointed with our government and a lot of our citizens through that time.

I decided to sell my house and move to Central America.  To be completely honest.... It was the best choice I could have made.  Simple way to live.  Way less stress.  Money goes so much further and the people here know how to stay together in a crisis.  It's far from perfect... There are many challenges here too... Just different.  Anyway, I'm much happier now.  But I made some sacrifices in order to get here... Namely, I'm further away from my kids and best buds... However, they're coming down this way cause it's bleeping beautiful!!!!.... Something to think about.

My question is, what happens to home prices in Central America  when wealthy North Americans are buying up property? The price of housing is going up in many Latin American countries, and locals now have to compete with foreign money.

Sound familiar?

[Ds4quality]

Dbl post

Edited September 20, 2023 by Ds4quality

[Warhippy]

13 minutes ago, Ds4quality said:

My question is, what happens to home prices in Central America  when wealthy North Americans are buying up property? The price of housing is going up in many Latin American countries, and locals now have to compete with foreign money.

Sound familiar?

Numerous nations in Latin/Central and South America have strict paths to residency and home purchasing.  It is not as simple as you buy you can apply which is nice.  Numerous north americans don't have what it takes to buy in smaller latin american or south american nations due to the language issues and the lack of amenities.  Canada would do well to enact some of those laws or laws like that of Australia and New Zealand

[Taxi]

21 minutes ago, Warhippy said:

Numerous nations in Latin/Central and South America have strict paths to residency and home purchasing.  It is not as simple as you buy you can apply which is nice.  Numerous north americans don't have what it takes to buy in smaller latin american or south american nations due to the language issues and the lack of amenities.  Canada would do well to enact some of those laws or laws like that of Australia and New Zealand

Currently Canada is doing the exact opposite. Over 1 million new Canadian residents per year and no plan to house them. Archaic zoning laws that prevent building new homes. We already have a massive shortage and all levels of government are doing nothing to make it any better.

[Warhippy]

9 minutes ago, Taxi said:

Currently Canada is doing the exact opposite. Over 1 million new Canadian residents per year and no plan to house them. Archaic zoning laws that prevent building new homes. We already have a massive shortage and all levels of government are doing nothing to make it any better.

I've gone over this in another thread.  There is literally zero answer to the housing issue that doesn't immediately crater our entire economy.  It's been a near 30 year march to this point.  Canada needs to enact immediate laws similar to New Zealand/Australia in regards to real estate and residency.

More so for when the housing sector does tank, because it will; because it has to as the government will interfere and when that happens the governments at both provincial and federal levels need to enact laws that prohibit a run on for purchasing by corporations, developers and limit or cap property ownership at 3 homes per citizen (grandfathered) 

I say this because the moment our housing sector loses 30% of its value or more, it will still be to expensive for the average person but for those who have engaged in the financialization of our housing sector and have contributed directly to the insane increases we have seen; this will turn in to a buying spree which will only patch and then hyper inflate the bubble as it exists.

[Shift-4]

1 hour ago, Warhippy said:

OK but let's break it down even more.  How large is the team to maintain this service?

Now, counter that to how much employment expenses are saved because this is not handled by people.  Those kiosks in place in theaters to buy tickets or snacks save how much in employment wages?  There's no question if they are only charging $1.  They are making serious profit off of it based on cost savings elsewhere.  because aside from simply maintaining a system already in place; which by and large works fairly seamlessly aside from some occasional maintenance those costs are already paid and it's just an additional charge like your bank deciding to charge you an additional 25 cents a month just because

I will get back to you with a detailed response based on my experience.

It's a shit day in my world today, this week, month.....

[Warhippy]

7 minutes ago, Shift-4 said:

I will get back to you with a detailed response based on my experience.

It's a shit day in my world today, this week, month.....

Hey.

Chin up tits out my dude.

It's been hard as hell for I think everyone.  You're not alone but it will pass.  My wife and I are living with 2 teenage daughters and 2 cats in a renovation that is affecting 1200 sq feet of a 1644 sq ft home.  We're on week 4 with school starting last week and it's been HELL.  But it's almost over.  If we can survive this, you'll survive too and we'll all get on with the start of the season together knowing that these online charges are utter garbage and just pad the bottom line at the end of the day 

[Warhippy]

Don't like inflation?

 

Ha, well get ready baby.  Deflation is coming!

 

Definition: When the overall price level decreases so that inflation rate becomes negative, it is called deflation. It is the opposite of the often-encountered inflation. Description: A reduction in money supply or credit availability is the reason for deflation in most cases.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/deflation-risks-interest-rates-1.6971279

 

As Canadians celebrate this month's fall in food prices and politicians join the national sport of shaking their fists at grocery store owners, it might be time to listen to a gloomier prediction, if just to help prevent it from happening.

After a two-year bout of inflation — when price rises peaked at eight per cent, groceries climbed at more than 11 per cent, and the cost of housing left well-paid professionals feeling poor — it is natural to be nostalgic for the days when everything was cheap.

"People hate inflation. Hate it," said U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday. "That causes people to say the economy's terrible."

Powell was announcing that the central bank would hold interest rates steady — contrary to the advice of some, including OECD chief economist Claire Lombardelli.

He insisted that a soft landing for the economy remains a primary goal for the Fed. And while getting inflation under control comes first, Powell repeatedly said a long and strong series of rate hikes has given the central bank the luxury of moving slowly to avoid breaking things. 

But just as three years ago, when most analysts assumed inflation was unlikely or impossible, a new minority view is a warning about its evil twin: deflation.

Where economists differ from many of us is when we think that a general decline of prices is a good thing. Most economists say that while disinflation — the fall of inflation toward some reasonable level such as Powell's two per cent target — is an unmitigated good, an actual decline in prices across the board, deflation, is perilous for the economy. 

You shouldn't ask for it. 

There are several reasons, but essentially, while economists see a little bit of inflation as a lubricant to help in the necessary process of price adjustment, deflation is like putting sand in the gears. 

The prospect of falling prices encourages consumers and businesses to put off purchases because they will be cheaper if they wait, sucking money out of circulation in the economy. 

Bank of Canada deputy governor Sharon Kozicki said this week in her Regina speech, rising interest rates have a similar effect. 

"Instead of purchasing something now, you could earn interest on your savings, make the purchase in the future and end up with some money left over," she said. But with deflation that reluctance to spend becomes even more widespread.

alling prices also mean companies must cut costs including wages or go broke. While workers will put up with wage hikes slightly below inflation — as we have seen over the last few years — wage cuts stoke anger and are difficult to impose, often leading to contraction and mass layoffs.

According to Gary Tanashian, an analyst with a large following for his newsletter Notes From the Rabbit Hole, the current Goldilocks state of the North American economy — where things are not too hot and not too cold — is unlikely to last through 2024.

Tanashian is one of those who think the surge in interest rates needed to battle soaring prices has been overdone and that its lagging effects will turn "Goldilocks into a deflationary liquidation," he said, writing on the market website Seeking Alpha.

But he also hedges his bets, saying the result might only be stagflation — an unusual combination of a lifeless economy and steady inflation — or some other gloomy outcome.

[Master Mind]

On 9/18/2023 at 5:14 PM, Shift-4 said:

I'm inside this type of thing. Trust me, it's not 8 cents. Automation is expensive. If you want to gripe complain about markup on popcorn and cola.

No kidding. I could buy a year's worth of popcorn/cola from the grocery store for the amount it costs at the theaters now.

 

And that's after the stores marked up their prices too.

[Gurn]

Is it just my local Freshco, or are store shelves getting empty?

Been  a couple of months since I've seen any house brand Chicken Rice Soup, and now the other varieties are thinning out.

4 freezer display units empty. A lot of the main isle shelves have reduced depth to the inventory, only 3-4 deep of stock.

[ronthecivil]

1 hour ago, Warhippy said:

Don't like inflation?

 

Ha, well get ready baby.  Deflation is coming!

 

Definition: When the overall price level decreases so that inflation rate becomes negative, it is called deflation. It is the opposite of the often-encountered inflation. Description: A reduction in money supply or credit availability is the reason for deflation in most cases.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/deflation-risks-interest-rates-1.6971279

 

As Canadians celebrate this month's fall in food prices and politicians join the national sport of shaking their fists at grocery store owners, it might be time to listen to a gloomier prediction, if just to help prevent it from happening.

After a two-year bout of inflation — when price rises peaked at eight per cent, groceries climbed at more than 11 per cent, and the cost of housing left well-paid professionals feeling poor — it is natural to be nostalgic for the days when everything was cheap.

"People hate inflation. Hate it," said U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday. "That causes people to say the economy's terrible."

Powell was announcing that the central bank would hold interest rates steady — contrary to the advice of some, including OECD chief economist Claire Lombardelli.

He insisted that a soft landing for the economy remains a primary goal for the Fed. And while getting inflation under control comes first, Powell repeatedly said a long and strong series of rate hikes has given the central bank the luxury of moving slowly to avoid breaking things. 

But just as three years ago, when most analysts assumed inflation was unlikely or impossible, a new minority view is a warning about its evil twin: deflation.

Where economists differ from many of us is when we think that a general decline of prices is a good thing. Most economists say that while disinflation — the fall of inflation toward some reasonable level such as Powell's two per cent target — is an unmitigated good, an actual decline in prices across the board, deflation, is perilous for the economy. 

You shouldn't ask for it. 

There are several reasons, but essentially, while economists see a little bit of inflation as a lubricant to help in the necessary process of price adjustment, deflation is like putting sand in the gears. 

The prospect of falling prices encourages consumers and businesses to put off purchases because they will be cheaper if they wait, sucking money out of circulation in the economy. 

Bank of Canada deputy governor Sharon Kozicki said this week in her Regina speech, rising interest rates have a similar effect. 

"Instead of purchasing something now, you could earn interest on your savings, make the purchase in the future and end up with some money left over," she said. But with deflation that reluctance to spend becomes even more widespread.

alling prices also mean companies must cut costs including wages or go broke. While workers will put up with wage hikes slightly below inflation — as we have seen over the last few years — wage cuts stoke anger and are difficult to impose, often leading to contraction and mass layoffs.

According to Gary Tanashian, an analyst with a large following for his newsletter Notes From the Rabbit Hole, the current Goldilocks state of the North American economy — where things are not too hot and not too cold — is unlikely to last through 2024.

Tanashian is one of those who think the surge in interest rates needed to battle soaring prices has been overdone and that its lagging effects will turn "Goldilocks into a deflationary liquidation," he said, writing on the market website Seeking Alpha.

But he also hedges his bets, saying the result might only be stagflation — an unusual combination of a lifeless economy and steady inflation — or some other gloomy outcome.

 

 

They will lower interest rates if it slows down. You have to be old age Japan with a low birthrate and no immigration to get deflation.

[Warhippy]

42 minutes ago, ronthecivil said:

 

 

They will lower interest rates if it slows down. You have to be old age Japan with a low birthrate and no immigration to get deflation.

So....you're saying Japan has affordable housing

 

Interesting

[Warhippy]

59 minutes ago, Gurn said:

Is it just my local Freshco, or are store shelves getting empty?

Been  a couple of months since I've seen any house brand Chicken Rice Soup, and now the other varieties are thinning out.

4 freezer display units empty. A lot of the main isle shelves have reduced depth to the inventory, only 3-4 deep of stock.

Someone mentioned that stores are having a harder time getting some goods right now but only because producers are slowing down due to pricing and employment issues so making less.  But I've also heard that some grocers are intentionally throttling product labels to ensure that the higher price items are available without their having to spend as much to bring it in; or their own labels are getting better shelf placement.

 

Judging by things, the truth lies probably in the middle

[ronthecivil]

11 minutes ago, Warhippy said:

So....you're saying Japan has affordable housing

 

Interesting

LOL no....

 

But yes, if we have a housing crash, who knows what other problems it causes!

 

If we don't, we get the existing problems were all familiar with.

[Warhippy]

1 minute ago, ronthecivil said:

LOL no....

 

But yes, if we have a housing crash, who knows what other problems it causes!

 

If we don't, we get the existing problems were all familiar with.

The housing crash I think is inevitable because it is at the point government intervention is inevitable.

 

Will be interesting to see who holds the pin to pop the bubble