Some quake at the mere mention of it, others don’t so much as bat an eye. And yet it affects them all.
Let’s take a look at some price changes as mentioned in the October 2014 Consumer Price Index report for the Western Region.
You can find this information on the Bureau of Labor Statistics page, and they’ve got lots of fun facts and info…and stuff you can throw back in the face of those that say things are just fine and dandy in America today.
That’s a joke, and the numbers prove it.
Remember, that doesn’t count food, either. The price of food rose 3.5% in the past year, and you can see that in things like eggs (up 8.3%) and beef (up 17.8%).
What else has changed?
- Alcohol has gone up by 1.4% in price;
- Rent has gone up by 4.1% over the past year;
- Electricity prices have gone up by 1.1% since last winter;
- Piped gas has gone up by 10.8% since last year;
- The cost of medical care has gone up by 2.2%, even with Obamacare.
The USDA has more information in their Food Price Outlook report for 2014-15. The results aren’t real good:
- Beef and veal prices are up by 17.8% since last year;
- Pork is up 9.8% since last year;
Switching back to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics PDF report, we get even more information on changes over the past year:
- Ground beef prices are up 18.6% from last year;
- Bacon is up 4.5% from 2013;
- Fish and seafood is up by 3.8% from a year ago;
- Milk has increased 5.9% in price from last year;
- Cheese is up 8.9% from a year ago;
- Fresh fruit has increased in price by 6.6% from 2013;
- Butter has increased by 29.9% from a year ago;
But why worry about these things? After all:
- TVs are down by 14.1% from last year;
- Jewelry is down 5% from a year ago;
- Laundry equipment is down 7.4% from 2013;
- DVDs are down by 9.5% from last year.
Overall, these numbers are alarming, or should be. But then you don’t have a lot of low-income people looking into these numbers, so who cares? Though…with those food prices especially, does it matter what income you have?
What will be done about it? What can be done about it? It’s global warming that’s causing those water disruptions, droughts, fires, and other things that disrupt our food supply.
That’s why it’s probably best we don’t talk about this, maybe just hope it goes away.
That way your kids can worry about it, and you can enjoy those Golden Years you were always promised.