patrick.net

mell says

Fucked up

My mechanic says parts quality is in the trash! Had a chunk fall out of the casing of the two year old starter on my '96 Roadmaster less than a year ago. Last week, the same thing happened. Fixed under warranty, but had to pay for r&r. I'm getting tired of it. My friend who's in the electronics business says their quality is terrible, too.

Bitcoin says

those that hold cash and see investing as gambling lose big time during inflation.

During the boom of the mid-60's, the stock market kept flirting with 1,000 in 1966, but never got above about 940. There was a date in 1966 that it would take the stock market until 1983 to reach again due to the Great Inflation of the 70's. Securities lost 40% of their value during that time.

https://notthebee.com/article/can-we-talk-about-how-annual-inflation-just-hit-68-a-rate-not-seen-since-1982-?source=patrick.net

Can we talk about how annual inflation just hit 6.8%, a rate not seen since 1982?? 😬

The Biden "Presidency":

Americans working hourly jobs will be screwed the most. Inflation has gone up faster than their earnings and this will continue.

However those on government programs like welfare and the such will do quite fine. The guv'ment will continue to give them more and more money in their pockets and more and more vouchers to pay for everything ELSE they are not already paying for!

I drive by parking lots of businesses where people work like Amazon or UPS and look at the cars there. Hoopties compared to those I see on the news in smash and grab robberies!

Nuff said!

casandra says

Hoopties

I did not know this word.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hoopty&source=patrick.net

That's why I bought my new car recently. I usually buy low mileage used about 2-3 years old, but I noticed they were pricing them as much as new, sometimes more. I told my wife with inflation, it would likely be a lot cheaper to buy now than later. One of her friends couldn't even find a rental car when her own car was being fixed, and they were charging $200 a day for the ones available in Santa Cruz.

I managed to buy my vehicle new at standard MSRP, which was fine with me. The dealer already had signs for $3500 mark up due to demand, even on the car I bought, but gave it to me at the standard price. He said my model only came in one at a time and were always gone in a few days. Some car dealers are hurting for inventory on the best liked models. Some of it is the chip shortage which is leaving high demand models in short supply.

Ceffer says

I told my wife with inflation, it would likely be a lot cheaper to buy now than later.

They will be cheaper later.

Ceffer says

That's why I bought my new car recently. I usually buy low mileage used about 2-3 years old, but I noticed they were pricing them as much as new, sometimes more. I told my wife with inflation, it would likely be a lot cheaper to buy now than later. One of her friends couldn't even find a rental car when her own car was being fixed, and they were charging $200 a day for the ones available in Santa Cruz.

I managed to buy my vehicle new at standard MSRP, which was fine with me. The dealer already had signs for $3500 mark up due to demand, even on the car I bought, but gave it to me at the standard price. He said my model only came in one at a time and were always gone in a few days. Some car dealers are hurting for inventory on the best liked models. Some of it is the chip shortage which is leaving high demand models in short supply.

Just happened to me last week. The used with 20k miles were only $3-4k cheaper than new... not worth it. Some were obvious Uber Cars with 30-40k miles in just a year, and were still only $4k cheaper than new. Retarded to pay $29k for a 20k mileage 2019/2020 when the 2021 with no mileage is $34k.

Booger says

They will be cheaper later.

This guy says prices should go back to normal 6 to 12 months from now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsRoDkaFaWU&source=patrick.net

Sales are down despite prices being up. Before the chip issue there were a lot of non-car owners buying cars to avoid public transit due to covid.

My bet is prices will go down but who knows.

https://notthebee.com/article/whoops-the-white-house-chief-of-staff-tweeted-about-gas-prices-falling-the-same-day-that-the-bureau-of-labor-statistics-said-the-gas-index-rose-61?source=patrick.net

WHOOPS! Biden's Chief of Staff said gas prices are falling the same day the Bureau of Labor Statistics said the gasoline index rose 6.1% 🤔

Commodore Vanderbilt
Dec 11th, 2021 12:13 pm
It's really embarrassing when Big Government can't figure out how to communicate the Narrative™ in sync

https://spectatorworld.com/newsletter/why-wont-the-white-house-take-inflation-seriously/?source=patrick.net

Why won’t the White House take inflation seriously?

Answer: Because inflation does not hurt the leftist billionaires who fund Democratic corruption. Their stocks have compensated for inflation, and then some.

It's ordinary working people who get hurt by inflation, and the Democrats hate the working class with a passion.

https://babylonbee.com/news/psaki-vows-to-find-destroy-underground-lair-where-all-corporate-executives-meet-to-decide-to-raise-prices-simultaneously-for-no-reason?source=patrick.net

Patrick says

https://babylonbee.com/news/psaki-vows-to-find-destroy-underground-lair-where-all-corporate-executives-meet-to-decide-to-raise-prices-simultaneously-for-no-reason?source=patrick.net

Don't we have drones for that?

https://notthebee.com/article/wholesale-prices-are-up-an-insane-96-over-last-year-?source=patrick.net

Wholesale prices are now up an insane 9.6% over last year 👀

psaki is a total shameless liar and waste of time to watch her.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/84966?utm_medium=patrick.net&utm_source=patrick.net&utm_campaign=patrick.net&utm_content=body

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/12/28/here-we-go-kraft-heinz-tells-grocery-retailers-price-increases-beginning-2022-will-be-20-percent/?source=patrick.net

Also on local morning news.

https://nypost.com/2022/01/03/biden-says-he-found-out-from-family-friend-that-meat-costs-are-soaring/?utm_campaign=patrick.net&utm_source=patrick.net&utm_medium=patrick.net

Patrick says

https://nypost.com/2022/01/03/biden-says-he-found-out-from-family-friend-that-meat-costs-are-soaring/?utm_campaign=patrick.net&utm_source=patrick.net&utm_medium=patrick.net

I saw that. Next dems will try to set prices on common things, push to take over meat companies, maybe gas. Mmm where have we heard all this before?

RC2006 says

dems will try to set prices on common things, push to take over meat companies, maybe ga

I am not apologizing for those notions, no way. Hedonic-adjustments for inflation indices are part of a larger conspiracy of lies to paper over our declining standard of living. I get it.

That said, we eat way more meat than we should, and waste way more gasoline than we need for our economic activity. Whether we think so or not, these are discretionary expenses that we can easily, elastically, reduce, with no decline in our standard of living.

Here's two common expense thingees they ought to focus on: health care and education.

So far inflation hasn't impacted us that badly (yet) in our house. Gas is more, but thanks to covid we travel less, and drive less, not more, so its a wash.

I cringe at the thought of what our next fuel oil bill will be to heat the house though.

Food has gone up noticeably but month to month it's not a huge expense. Our two biggest monthly line items are the house and childcare which are fairly static.

After almost two decades of near zero interest rates, we all knew the free money Era would end at some point. Part of me is surprised it took this long. I'm not convinced if this inflation is good, bad or indifferent. It depends on how severe it is and for how long.

There are always trade offs. I suspect the Fed will be forced to raise rates to combat this inflation surge. That means a better yield on my savings account which has been insultingly low, not that there is much in there.

Question - since inflation is seemingly here to stay, how are you adjusting your investments accordingly?

RE: greaternycdude’s question

In financial planning, one of the reasons to stay somewhat invested in stocks even though you may be retired is specifically to keep up with inflation.

If you’re not retired you can continue to invest for capital appreciation in retirement accounts as you have been (my assumption).

I’m retirement age but I want capital appreciation still, so I have a higher stock allocation than most “advisers” would recommend. I don’t care because I have sufficient income for my needs and even some desires ;)

What a retired person theoretically needs is income and just a bit of capital appreciation to combat inflation.

I’m not making any changes, but if the Democrats lose the House in 2022, I want to be in stocks then for shit sure.

clambo says

one of the reasons to stay somewhat invested in stocks even though you may be retired is specifically to keep up with inflation.

I've read that German savers who had bonds, CD and whatnot were completely wiped out by the Weimar Inflation. Does deposit insurance like FDIC really matter when something like that happens?

The German stocks did not keep up with the Weimar Inflation. They lost something like 80% of their value vs other currencies. But that was still better than the cash and bonds which lost 100%. Gained it all back after the crisis abated.

I don’t worry about a repeat of Weimar history in the USA.

However, if you are worried about the loss of value of the US dollar, you can buy a Swiss stock ETF.
FLSW. I own a little bit of this Franklin ETF.

I will never buy gold, silver, BTC, etc.

The problem is that there are not very many Swiss stocks in the index, so it’s not very diverse.

clambo says

I don’t worry about a repeat of Weimar history in the USA.

Neither do I, but one similar to that of the 70's would be pretty bad in any event.

7% inflation number was released today, and the markets sloughed it off.

The problem in the 70’s was largely the Arab oil embargo (took revenge on the west for arming Israel).

After the embargo, they raised the price of oil.

As an investor I am more curious about interest rates rather than inflation.

But, I could end up being fucked since I am not working anymore.

rocketjoe79 says

7% inflation number was released today, and the markets sloughed it off.

That was a signal/prod to the stupid money to keep buying stocks because if you just sit on the sidelines you’re going to loose value. All so the smart connected money can realize more gains from the stupid pumping, and stop the music at some yet undetermined time.

Got to figure out how to get the elite signals to not get smashed on investments and take the gains…

https://notthebee.com/article/inflation-hit-a-crazy-7-in-december-the-highest-rate-since-freaking-1982?source=patrick.net

That's the highest in 40 years.

If gov admits 7 it must actually be much higher in metros in reality. Massive money creation like 6T (for now) is primary factor. The cycle should be in early stage before all 6T get into the system. Way too much money chasing too little existing goods. It could eventually leads to recession. What a corrupt and crazy govs around.

https://notthebee.com/article/retail-spending-in-december-was-1800-lower-than-projected-because-of-inflation-and-i-dunno-i-think-that-13-trillion-we-printed-since-the-start-of-the-pandemic-might-have-backfired-a-bit?source=patrick.net

Retail spending in December was 1.8% lower than projected because of inflation and I dunno I think that $13 trillion we printed since the start of the pandemic might have backfired a bit

Someone put a note on my car this past week asking me to call them if I wanted to sell. I drive a less than pristine '98 Civic. Seems that speculation is driving used car market. As long as we keep chasing bubbles, instead of investing in honest economics, we will continue to see recessions/depressions and people will continue to lose their shirts. Look for or create goods or services people really need. Stop being greedy and chasing get rich quick schemes. The lack of moral integrity in our current economic system has directly led to the last two years.

Retail spending was lower after the free government cash slowed down and people were recently forced to pay the rent.

clambo says

people were recently forced to pay the rent.

LITERALLY HITLER!!!!!

Inflation is not Xoe Bridens fault, nor his duty, says Xoe and his loyal propaganda outlets.

Hitler finds out about his gas price increases:
https://youtu.be/50fZu8ARSyg?source=patrick.net

https://notthebee.com/article/inflation-is-a-whopper-burger-king-dominos-dennys-all-shrink-their-value-menus-in-response-to-bidenflation?source=patrick.net