patrick.net

In 1967, the Big Mac debuted at the princely sum of 45 cents. That seems like a joke to us by 2020s pricing standards, but McDonald's execs actually fretted over the sum, since, at the time, a basic drive-thru hamburger cost just 18 cents. As of this writing, the average price for a modern Big Mac varies by state, with diners in Austin, Texas paying $4.36, and Big Mac lovers in Seattle paying $7.06. Driven by inflation, the average price of a Big Mac has swelled by 141% in the last five years, which is extra disappointing when you consider that, if it were adjusted for inflation, the 1967 price tag of 45 cents translates to just $4.23 in today's dollars. Unless you grab a Big Mac on the lowest end in the Lone Star State, you are likely paying significantly more for it today.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/the-price-of-a-big-mac-when-it-debuted-in-1967-is-laughable-today/ar-AA1KzWZv

It seems the word is out to talk up inflation. Pick you start and end dates carefully and be sure to use spice words like "explodes," "surges," "skyrocketing," "spiked," etc. Gee, with this looming hyperinflation the Fed should actually raise rates.

HeadSet says

Gee, with this looming hyperinflation the Fed should actually raise rates.

There won't be hyperinflation.

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annual inflation as per PCE remains steady below 3% and is currently 2.6% , however PCE minus food and energy (called core PCE) is at 2.9% :-/

https://www.bea.gov/data/personal-consumption-expenditures-price-index

Truflation another closely followed calculation of annual inflation is at 2.16%

https://truflation.com/marketplace/us-inflation-rate

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-11% Animal protein:

Less trash bags:

10oz is now 8oz:

No longer big:

Lint rollers as well:

Haagen Daz reduced the quantity by sneakily moving up the bottom of the container.

rocketjoe79 says

Haagen Daz reduced the quantity by sneakily moving up the bottom of the container.

Lots of stuff like that going on lately.

Trader Joe's had a very good Ethiopian whole bean Arabica coffee, but lowered the quality in the last year to the point where it's painful to drink. Same packaging. Pretty sure it's now Robusta, which tastes like rope.

https://www.lavazzausa.com/en/recipes-and-coffee-hacks/difference-type-arabica-robusta-coffee

Grok gives me $29.71 for the current melt value of 5 silver quarters.

Silver was highest in the 1980s on January 18, 1980, when it reached a record high of \(\$49.45\) per troy ounce

If you're into arbitrarily picking dates, try the current value based on that start date.

Ooooooooooops, you've lost buying power because of the 3.09% inflation rate. Not a little loss, but generations of wealth if you had bought enough

Silver would have to be trading at $194 per ounce just to break even on an inflation adjusted basis. .

"Trade silver by weight among ourselves as currency". What a bunch of crap. We'd be looking at our currency being devalued against foreign currency for over 45 years. US citizens would naturally be drawn to foreign currencies.

Misc says

Silver would have to be trading at $194 per ounce just to break even on an inflation adjusted basis.

True if you did not dollar cost average and bought silver each year over the last 40 years. Instead, you would buy all of your silver in 1980 at its last all time high price.

Same circumstance if you bought all your shares in QQQ or some technology fund in late 1999 and had to wait at least 16 years to break even.

What is your forecast for silver and gold ? Will they drop in price next year as the fiscal condition improves of the US federal government ?

When investment advisors say things like long term investor or use it for diversification. They are peddling inflated crap.

If we change monetary system to silver, then yep what would happen is a massive buy at an inflated price that would take a couple of centuries to unwind.

As for gold/silver we are in a speculative bubble right now. The last time for gold prices this high was 45 years ago inflation adjusted. Silver we got a ways to go there. Just because prices are high doesn't mean that they can't go higher.

The way our current monetary system is structured there must be an ever increasing amount of dollars or credit. Otherwise the system cannibalizes itself because of people "saving" and because of interest. If the federal government cuts back on increasing debt issuance, then the private sector must make up for it. Generally this is done by increased mortgage debt. If the Fed doesn't get interest rates down to where they should be for the private sector to increase debt, then Trump has pretty much stated that he will use the Tariff surplus to send rebate checks out to Americans, thus increasing the Federal debt.. Thus, this would keep the system from eating itself. s

The speculative fervor can be ended whenever the banks want to by them simply asking the commodity exchanges to increase the margin rates for the metals. Most metals traders are heavily leveraged and billions upon billions of forced sells drives down the price of the metals instantly. I habe no idea how streched the banks will let "investors" get. Yes, it's all rigged.

Misc says

We'd be looking at our currency being devalued against foreign currency for over 45 years.

Silver will never go to zero, but the dollar will.

Patrick says

Silver will never go to zero, but the dollar will.

People's debts are not denominated in sliver, but in dollars. There is a single very small silver mining company that keep a portion of its profits in silver. All the other thousands of mining companies sell 100% of what they mine for fiat. Don't take it from me which is superior take it from the people who do it for a living.

Misc says

If the Fed doesn't get interest rates down to where they should be for the private sector to increase debt, then Trump has pretty much stated that he will use the Tariff surplus to send rebate checks out to Americans, thus increasing the Federal debt.. Thus, this would keep the system from eating itself.

Yeah, just the prime rate is usually 3% higher than the Federal Funds rate (FFR) which FFR is around 4.5% now whereas it was 5.5% back in 2024.

But guvmint reported inflation is around 2.7% so the FFR should be around 3.5%.