Here's the inflation-adjusted price of gasoline every years since 1978 to 2021.

[5030]

My state is doing the same here, except I believe that it's going to be $850. I'm not sure where the money is coming from but it's an election year...

It's coming from you (and me) in the form of excess funds from paid taxes. States like the Fed exist and run solely on taxes.

 

[ovrszd]

I have it on good authority that our current little issue with inflation is temporary. Just ride it our folks. Put your money into something secure like Bitcoin and you will be amazed at how things work out. There sure are a lot of folks stuck in the old way.s..buying useless gold and silver.

Well stated.

 

[5030]

I am so old that yearly tuition for engineering at the best university in Canada was $600. In the third and fourth year it jumped to $800. Books were $150-200/year if you bought new ones.

Of course in our 'wonderful state', with a huge budget surplus, Whitless would never try to offset fuel cost. Hell, she cannot even fix the roads. Drove to Lansing yesterday to the University Club for Easter Brunch with the family and Amy and I were appalled at just how bad the roads were. Was like a bombed out runway all the way to Lansing on I-96. Lots of lumpy cold patch in the big craters, heaved frost strips, car parts laying everywhere along the medians, terrible.

23 north to Ann Arbor is especially bad from Milan to the 94 Interchange. I used to think that I 80 on PA was bad years ago, I 80 was a table top compared to 23 North.

What a joke....on us. She need to go away and we need a Governor who can actually manage the infrastructure properly.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

So that explains it. I knew something was going on. I went in the gas station the other day and said I got $5.00 worth of gas. The clerk said That'll be $26.82 please.

 

[5030]

Well stated.

Problem is the 'money' is basically worthless today and certainly not getting any better, only worse. So you invest in stuff like Bitcoin but in the end you have to convert to a negotiable currency like Federal Reserve notes to have spendable income, but they are worthless so what did you gain... Nothing.

Me, I'll stick with precious metals. One, I have physical possession and not some piece of paper that says I have something and two, while they may not accrue value at a high rate, they are pretty stable. Bitcoin isn't. Gold, Silver Palladium and even copper are stable investments today and I physically hold them.

 

[Fixastuff]

Problem is the 'money' is basically worthless today and certainly not getting any better, only worse. So you invest in stuff like Bitcoin but in the end you have to convert to a negotiable currency like Federal Reserve notes to have spendable income, but they are worthless so what did you gain... Nothing.

Me, I'll stick with precious metals. One, I have physical possession and not some piece of paper that says I have something and two, while they may not accrue value at a high rate, they are pretty stable. Bitcoin isn't. Gold, Silver Palladium and even copper are stable investments today and I physically hold them.

What world do you live in. I make and spend "worthless" money everyday, seems like everyone else I know does the same thing. Don't you have to convert your precious metals to "worthless money" in order for it to have value? Or do you go the store and plop a piece of palladium down on the counter, lol.

Food, bullets, water and tools beat having gold/palladium/copper if there is a true collapse.

 

[Ken45101]

The inflation adjusted stuff is pretty telling for sure.

I get pretty sick and tired of older folk talk about prices of things back in the 60's-70's like there is something wrong with the prices today.

Like back then, they could fill their tank of gas, grab a soda and snickers all for $5....today that cost $50.....they think that is absurd....
But its worth pointing out that back then....$3/hr was a good paying middle class blue collar gig. Just about like what $30/hr is today...

All we did was shift the decimal point one place to the right over the last 50 years. IF you was a union blue collar trade worker.....you were no better off then than you would be now doing the same work. Same with any white collar management position.

While you are correct, inflation decimates long term savings. $500,000 saved up in a retirement fund won't pay many bills 20 or 30 years after retirement.

 

[MossRoad]

Your wise and knowledgeable MIL sure seems to think they compete against each other. She drives right past the closer, more expensive ones to reward the cheaper ones.
I actually do the same thing, and notice many of my neighbors do the same.

Even if Sunoco owns all the gas stations in my town, each franchisee posts what price he wants. The expensive ones dont last.

Heck, Im just glad we still have the freedom to chose in this country. I chose to reward people who sell for less and still feel good I’m helping a nearby business.

Now you're just being weird. She's fixated on saving a quarter.

And if you're spending two dollars to save two dollars (and forgetting about the wear and tear on the vehicle) no wonder you're often complaining about the state of things.

 

[plowhog]

Put your money into something secure like Bitcoin and you will be amazed at how things work out. There sure are a lot of folks stuck in the old way.s..buying useless gold and silver.

Perhaps you are joking. But if you are not:

1. Fiat currency has value because the government that issues it has the power to tax (such as property tax.) That underlying power allows the creation of a fiat currency of value.

2. Gold has been a standard and store of wealth or value for centuries. It has value for that reason, also has desirability and is used in jewelry fabrication.

3. Silver is an industrial metal. Lots of it mined, lots of it consumed. It's desirability as an industrial metal causes it to have value.

Sooooo .... why does Bitcoin have value? As far as I can tell, it is because a very small minority of people have agreed it has value. That minority happens to be .... bitcoin owners.

Since bitcoin is new, we haven't seen it stand the test of time. For example, holders of fiat currency are now starting to get some return based on interest. (Yes, inflation of course is wiping that out.) But it is at least a return.

How much interest is your bitcoin paying these days?

Bitcoin Risk-Reward Calculation is Being Upended by Rising Rates

(Bloomberg) -- A funny thing happened to Bitcoin as interest rates started to rise: trading volumes went way down. Now market-watchers are grappling with the implications and what a world of less-loose monetary policy means for digital assets.Most Read from BloombergUkraine Update: Mariupol...

finance.yahoo.com

 

[MossRoad]

Agree with most of that.

How about higher education? (except Purdue, which is amazing and seems to defy all universities)
I see that as higher than the 7-10 “rule”

It's not just Purdue. ALL state colleges in Indiana are reasonably priced.