Are prices like this everywhere?

[MossRoad]

What's really surprised me is gas was only $5.81/ gallon in Honolulu last week.

How much was a gallon of milk?
When we were there about 12 years ago it was darn near $10.

At night, we'd sit on the deck and watch the barges of goods come and go. Everything is by ship or air. Pretty amazing logistics.

 

[Oaktree]

Diesel still $5 + around here.
It’s trending back up again.
I get the reason for it, but why punish people who have no alternative EV to drive? Like what are people using diesel equipment supposed to do?

Cost of running an EV are going up once electric rates catch up. In our state they more than doubled as of Aug. 1. Keep in mind that in many states electric rates are state-regulated, and increases need to go thru several layers of bureaucracy.

Someone mentioned fuel and the last week here we go again!

Picture taken today…

Premium self-serve 6.95 gallon!

$3.24 where I live.

What's interesting is that the difference from regular to premium in the photo ultrarunner posted is only 30¢, here it can be close to $1.

Gas prices are all over the place around here, ranging from $3.2x to $3.7x for regular, saw one station the other day (that always has high prices...only station in that town) that was getting $3.99!
Diesel in the mid $4s, with off-road being a quarter or so less.

 

[2manyrocks]

Gas here in Mid Tn $3.08, but diesel is $4.79. Once the draw down from strategic reserves ends in Oct., I wonder where gas prices are headed then.

My local tire shop mounted and balanced four p235 75/r15s for $60 about a month ago, but the shop is underpriced relative to everyone else.

 

[Dftodd]

How much was a gallon of milk?
When we were there about 12 years ago it was darn near $10.

At night, we'd sit on the deck and watch the barges of goods come and go. Everything is by ship or air. Pretty amazing logistics.

Buddy, I don't wanna talk about the food bill for a week out there

I knew it was gonna hurt the first night we got there and went and ate out.

$5 for a can of sprite, $15 for a draft beer.

I had a burger and fries, wife had popcorn shrimp and fries. Two fountain drinks of sprite. $110 with tip same dinner would have been $30 here.

Ate breakfast the next morning at a different place. That's where we found out they were charging $5 for a can of pop. Obviously no refills. Breakfast was $85.

We started getting breakfast at a convenience store after that, but it was still between $25 and $45 if we bought extra bottles of water, ect.....

And became really selective where we ate after that. Food trucks had the best prices.

 

[Snobdds]

Diesel still $5 + around here.
It’s trending back up again.
I get the reason for it, but why punish people who have no alternative EV to drive? Like what are people using diesel equipment supposed to do?

Pay it. Charge more.

This is not hard to understand.

 

[Snobdds]

The consumer is holding up. Prices will come down when the consumer stops buying. That probably won't be until 2023 sometime. People still have access to credit, and are using it to fill the gaps now. Once that credit is maxed out, activity stalls and we go down and fast.

That also means job losses.

The fed needs to stop yo-yoing these interest rates. In economics, there is a thing called the natural interest rate. It's the rate at which it neither expands nor suppresses economic activity. Nobody knows the exact rate at the exact time in a economic cycle, but it's between 3-4%. If the fed would just keep rates around this natural interest rate, we would not have these high and lows speculative and depressive patterns. This is taught in basic economic classes. It's like these PHD's forget the basics and try to out smart economic principles.

This next recession/depression is going to hurt those that don't have liquid assests that can't get converted to cash fast.

In 2021 holding cash was dumb, in 2022 holding cash is what is needed to do. Economic cycles should not be this short.

 

[5030]

Probably walking on thin ice here (Mossy, don't spank me please) but nothing will improve and energy prices will continue to climb and food prices as well, until we get a regime change in DC. Simple fact.

 

[5030]

I might add that I'm thankful my 2 Kubota M9's are really efficient users of diesel. I've increased my end product cost to compensate for the increased fuel cost (and I will decrease the price, if and when fuel costs drop as well). My customers have no issue with it as they realize the input costs have climbed appreciably.

Least I'm not wasting fuel doing regenerations on a T4 final engine. That 'wasted' fuel' is doing actual work. I'm all good with that.

 

[Snobdds]

Probably walking on thin ice here (Mossy, don't spank me please) but nothing will improve and energy prices will continue to climb and food prices as well, until we get a regime change in DC. Simple fact.

Don't worry just blame it on me...I'll take the banning. I'm already semi-banned.

 

[5030]

The consumer is holding up. Prices will come down when the consumer stops buying. That probably won't be until 2023 sometime. People still have access to credit, and are using it to fill the gaps now. Once that credit is maxed out, activity stalls and we go down and fast.

That also means job losses.

The fed needs to stop yo-yoing these interest rates. In economics, there is a thing called the natural interest rate. It's the rate at which it neither expands nor suppresses economic activity. Nobody knows the exact rate at the exact time in a economic cycle, but it's between 3-4%. If the fed would just keep rates around this natural interest rate, we would not have these high and lows speculative and depressive patterns. This is taught in basic economic classes. It's like these PHD's forget the basics and try to out smart economic principles.

This next recession/depression is going to hurt those that don't have liquid assests that can't get converted to cash fast.

In 2021 holding cash was dumb, in 2022 holding cash is what is needed to do. Economic cycles should not be this short.

I watch economic indicators concerning credit card debt versus pay back and credit card debt has reached an all time high because people are using plastic to bridge the gap between their liquid assets (cash on hand) when purchasing items like food and fuel.

Problem with that is, the finance charges on most credit cards is tantamount to legalized loan sharking and people that are maxing out their cards will be financially indebted to the credit card issuer forever and if they don't make the minimum payment (which is the forever part) their credit gets ruined.

I don't play that game. My credit card (which I use quite a bit) gets paid in full every month. Credit card companies make it (profit) many different ways, from portal fees imposed on merchants to finance charges imposed on consumers as well as late payment fees. Heck of a game and the consumer is on the loosing end of the stick....

 

[jyoutz]

Gas here in Mid Tn $3.08, but diesel is $4.79. Once the draw down from strategic reserves ends in Oct., I wonder where gas prices are headed then.

My local tire shop mounted and balanced four p235 75/r15s for $60 about a month ago, but the shop is underpriced relative to everyone else.

Probably walking on thin ice here (Mossy, don't spank me please) but nothing will improve and energy prices will continue to climb and food prices as well, until we get a regime change in DC. Simple fact.

The fed chair continues across regimes. The current fed that is jacking with the rates was appointed by the past regime.

 

[Snobdds]

I watch economic indicators concerning credit card debt versus pay back and credit card debt has reached an all time high because people are using plastic to bridge the gap between their liquid assets (cash on hand) when purchasing items like food and fuel.

Problem with that is, the finance charges on most credit cards is tantamount to legalized loan sharking and people that are maxing out their cards will be financially indebted to the credit card issuer forever and if they don't make the minimum payment (which is the forever part) their credit gets ruined.

I don't play that game. My credit card (which I use quite a bit) gets paid in full every month. Credit card companies make it (profit) many different ways, from portal fees imposed on merchants to finance charges imposed on consumers as well as late payment fees. Heck of a game and the consumer is on the loosing end of the stick....

Don't pay off a credit card in full each month, leave some balance. Building credit costs money and if you pay off a card each month, you're not building credit. You need to have some credit outstanding to build credit.

Dave Ramsey has actually made a lot of people dumb...

The better way to build credit is to take out a personal loan and put that money into a money market. Then make the minimum payment to keep a credit balance on yourself ongoing. Only borrow an amount you can pay off in the next 12 months, like 3 grand. Just keep doing this every 12 months and you will have a credit score of 820+. You will make back those finance charges on the low rate you get on a big ticket item.

 

[jyoutz]

Don't pay off a credit card in full each month, leave some balance. Building credit costs money and if you pay off a card each month, you're not building credit. You need to have some credit outstanding to build credit.

Dave Ramsey has actually made a lot of people dumb...

The better way to build credit is to take out a personal loan and put that money into a money market. Then make the minimum payment to keep a credit balance on yourself ongoing. Only borrow an amount you can pay off in the next 12 months, like 3 grand. Just keep doing this every 12 months and you will have a credit score of 820+. You will make back those finance charges on the low rate you get on a big ticket item.

Good advice for young folks. Most of us here have decades of credit history with mortgages, etc…

 

[MossRoad]

Probably walking on thin ice here (Mossy, don't spank me please) but nothing will improve and energy prices will continue to climb and food prices as well, until we get a regime change in DC. Simple fact.

I guess you could take that discussion to the front porch, since you know the rules.

 

[MossRoad]

Don't pay off a credit card in full each month, leave some balance. Building credit costs money and if you pay off a card each month, you're not building credit. You need to have some credit outstanding to build credit.

Dave Ramsey has actually made a lot of people dumb...

The better way to build credit is to take out a personal loan and put that money into a money market. Then make the minimum payment to keep a credit balance on yourself ongoing. Only borrow an amount you can pay off in the next 12 months, like 3 grand. Just keep doing this every 12 months and you will have a credit score of 820+. You will make back those finance charges on the low rate you get on a big ticket item.

Who needs credit when you have cash?

Seriously. Borrowing money at a rate higher than what you're earning in a money market coupled with the loss of value from inflation to try and build a credit score is bad advice.

We've had zero debt since 1995. Yet our credit scores are outstanding.

 

[MossRoad]

We have a kid that just paid off their master's degree, has a nice car, lives in a nice townhouse duplex that they rent, has two years of rent saved in their bank account, a decent ROTH IRA balance for the age of 29, and makes just $35K per year. How is that possible?

How about paying as you go, live below your means, etc.? What a concept.

 

[Snobdds]

Who needs credit when you have cash?

Seriously. Borrowing money at a rate higher than what you're earning in a money market coupled with the loss of value from inflation to try and build a credit score is bad advice.

We've had zero debt since 1995. Yet our credit scores are outstanding.

Because you get to write off the interest. Duh.

You get to write off interest on mortgages, interest on investment properties, student loan interest, business credit card interest etc...

 

[Snobdds]

We have a kid that just paid off their master's degree, has a nice car, lives in a nice townhouse duplex that they rent, has two years of rent saved in their bank account, a decent ROTH IRA balance for the age of 29, and makes just $35K per year. How is that possible?

How about paying as you go, live below your means, etc.? What a concept.

It's never about how much you make, it's about how much you save.

 

[2manyrocks]

Except that you can't save very well when inflation is eating up the value of people's savings.

Am I the only one who doesn't like having a former lawyer for investment bankers as chair of the Fed when all of his predecessors for the past 40 years were ph.d economists with substantial experience working directly in economics?

 

[MossRoad]

Because you get to write off the interest. Duh.

You get to write off interest on mortgages, interest on investment properties, student loan interest, business credit card interest etc...

You don't get to write off the interest unless you pay more in interest than the standard deduction. DUH!

That's $25,900 for a married couple filing jointly for 2022.