What would you do faced with 50% inflation?

[Terri9630]

Thats one advantage of living where I do. If anyone tries to follow me home they will be easy to spot. I live 90 miles out and anyone who follows this far would be insane. Our county is large with 4 permanent Leos, a livestock inspector, a game warden and an occasional state trooper. The sheriffs office has said everyone needs to be armed so they can deal with problems because they WONT be there before cleanup starts.

 

[Curmudgeon]

A youtuber (Homestead Heart) just did a video warning city and suburb ladies about getting robbed in the parking lot for your groceries. May be seeing more of this stuff because of prices going up. I did have someone follow me in the little amish store today, surprised me because he was pretending to need a cane. Not from here. Followed me out and told me he liked what I was wearing. Went away when he saw husband glaring at him. Still, faking cane use is something to watch for. He could of easily used it as a weapon. Creepers.

Women/women and children need to be extra careful. Around here it's not so much getting robbed but more toward a snatch and grab of your child, and if a mom is young and pretty, the mom too.

The store we shop at is right next to I94 is a prime target of these traffickers. Michigan, last I knew, ranked #2 in the nation for snatching young girls for the illicit sex trade. More than once females have been approached at that location.

I have made it a practice to watch young gals and their children when on their way to their vehicle, that is when it happens most times, your child gets snatched while you're distracted putting groceries in the trunk.

I have drilled it into my daughters heads to put the kids in the vehicle and THEN the groceries, and surprisingly they listened. My youngest has actually approached other young females in a store parking lot telling them the same thing. It's really amazing how many people walk around blissfully unaware of their surroundings.

Armed robberies are getting popular here too.

 

[Curmudgeon]

Anyone else seeing these prices on chicken?

19.03 for 14 chicken wings.

Deli meat is crazy. 13.00 bucks a pound reg price. There was only one deli item under 7 bucks a pound, and that was bologna. Every other meat and cheese was no less than 7 a pound.

 

[Neb]

Anyone else seeing these prices on chicken?

19.03 for 14 chicken wings.

View attachment 76984


Deli meat is crazy. 13.00 bucks a pound reg price. There was only one deli item under 7 bucks a pound, and that was bologna. Every other meat and cheese was no less than 7 a pound.


View attachment 76985

That is more than a buck a wing!

God blessed me when he made bologna one of my favorite lunch meats it appears.

Ben

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

3 scrawny little whole chickens in a bag, 3-4 lbs each, cost $39.65 here.

 

[angie_nrs]

I went to the local grocery today and bone in chicken breasts were $1.99 per # everyday price (no sale).

I went to WM a couple of days ago and they had deli chicken for $3.89 per pound. I was amazed! I got 3 pounds of it for salads, lunches and one for the freezer.

 

[Amish Heart]

Well, Clem, you can raise chickens for less than that, I know I do, too. I don't buy wings, so I haven't checked prices, but that's just crazy. I buy drumsticks and put wing sauce on them. I got chicken breasts for the same as Angie at our Kroger store.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

Feed is $22.00 an 20 lb bag and going up. It is also limited now since the flood. Fortunately, I stocked up for my hens for the winter before the roads were washed out. I still pick up my feed limit every two weeks to make nice with the neighbors.

I was whinging about how much it cost me to raise 100 meat birds this summer. They were close to six months old when I had time to butcher them. Now packages of my chicken breasts would run me $60.00 at the store. Inflation is making my laziness pay off.

They lost 640,000 chickens in the floods. I am so thankful for my hens now too. Eggs are still not available in the stores. I think something like 40,000 hogs were killed as well, so pork is also unaffordable . I bought a full beef and a sheep last fall to go with my 100 chickens and boy is that paying off now.

 

[Curmudgeon]

That is more than a buck a wing!

1.36 each to be exact. I can go to a local restaurant and buy a meal of wings with the trimmings for under 10 bucks, er..........at least I used to lol.

 

[Amish Heart]

Wow, $2.20 a lb for feed, and you have a limit. Can you grow something for chickens to eat? I try to give as much home grown stuff so I can feed less of the stuff I have to buy, although wintertime is a hard time to do that.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

There is not much I can do about the situation at the moment. Nothing can be produced until summer. Even then, this is not a grain producing province. It is a forest province. I am having to take a few years to create a working garden as well. On top of that, we had drought last summer and participated in the heat dome game. Who knows what will happen next summer.

I am further down the SHTF road than you all, and just have to keep working through it.

I have more than enough chicken in the freezers so it is just a matter of keeping ten layers and hatching a few replacements. I cannot keep the 60 or so that I am accustomed too.

 

[elkhound]

 

[Supervisor42]

OMG! They cut their interest rates from 15% to 14% !!!?
Is Jimmy Carter up there?
Ours have been bouncing off of 0% for over a decade.

 

[Neb]

OMG! They cut their interest rates from 15% to 14% !!!?
Is Jimmy Carter up there?
Ours have been bouncing off of 0% for over a decade.

Cutting rates is the wrong thing to do.

Inflation is too much money chasing too few goods.

Higher interest rates vacuums money out of the system.

During the Carter era 17% was practical because the US debt to GDP ratio was lower than it is now. 17% now would increase the amount of of the US budget beyond what is required to fund entitlements like SSI.

Gird your loins!

Ben

 

[Supervisor42]

Cutting rates is the wrong thing to do.

Inflation is too much money chasing too few goods.

Higher interest rates vacuums money out of the system.

During the Carter era 17% was practical because the US debt to GDP ratio was lower than it is now. 17% now would increase the amount of of the US budget beyond what is required to fund entitlements like SSI.

Gird your loins!

Ben

Our rate has been that low since they had to crank it down that far to get us out of the recession of the Oshama years when nobody was buying anything.
But fear not, the fed will be cranking up interest rates soon to 'curb' inflation.
If you want to be getting a loan, you best be about doing it; and don't get an ARM.

 

[Neb]

Our rate has been that low since they had to crank it down that far to get us out of the recession of the Oshama years when nobody was buying anything.
But fear not, the fed will be cranking up interest rates soon to 'curb' inflation.
If you want to be getting a loan, you best be about doing it; and don't get an ARM.

Yes but see what @bkt wrote about getting out of debt.

"
A man can not serve two masters.
"

When in debt we are slaves to that debt.

Ben

 

[Supervisor42]

Yes but see what @bkt wrote about getting out of debt.

"
A man can not serve two masters.
"

When in debt we are slaves to that debt.

Ben

Yes. And I have enjoyed being 'debt-free' for years (except what I 'float' interest-free on CC each month).
But we will end 2021 with a little over 9% inflation.
This means that anyone with a 4.5% loan, will pay back the same dollars they borrowed with ones worth 9% less, effectively negating their borrowing costs.
On the flip side, a lot of retired people with money in financial mutual funds will foot the bill.
This is why interest rates will rise with inflation.
And we all know the circular domino-effect that happens next.

 

[Neb]

Yes. And I have enjoyed being 'debt-free' for years (except what I 'float' interest-free on CC each month).
But we will end 2021 with a little over 9% inflation.
This means that anyone with a 4.5% loan, will pay back the same dollars they borrowed with ones worth 9% less, effectively negating their borrowing costs.
On the flip side, a lot of retired people with money in financial mutual funds will foot the bill.
This is why interest rates will rise with inflation.
And we all know the circular domino-effect that happens next.

Yes but...

The cycle has been broken previously. That is good news.

Reagan cut taxes and that reduced the friction on the economic machine of the US.

Reduce the drag and let the machine and let it rev up.

Freedom in many ways is the lubricant that could let us avoid making a bad situation worse.

Ben

 

[Supervisor42]

Yes but...

The cycle has been broken previously. That is good news.

Reagan cut taxes and that reduced the friction on the economic machine of the US.

Reduce the drag and let the machine and let it rev up.

Freedom in many ways is the lubricant that could let us avoid making a bad situation worse.

Ben

We should have a shot at that about 3 years from now... to start the repair process.
The question will be, how deep of a hole will we be digging out of, and how old will we be when we finally reach the surface?
Don't know about you, but I don't have that many 8-year spans left to throw away.
If I was 25, "just tough it out" would be no big deal.

 

[Rick]

As a single guy I consume a lot of premade foods.
Uncle bens rice packs now at $1.98 per.
1 year ago they could still be found for 1.48
"Chef Bombay" Indian style ready made TV dinners now at 4.98 !
To feed myself with them I usually add some tomatos (value maybe 50 cents) and a bag of uncle bens rice ( 2 USD) for a total cost of $6.50 .
For that price I might as well go to Taco Bell and buy a 10 pack of tacos.

 

[Rick]

PS: I am near debt free right now also.
I did not want to buy a house since my specialized job needs high mobility and I cn never know where I will be in 2 years.
But I am currently in Florida a place people flee to and a collapse of the real estate market in hard to imagine here.
And right now mortgage rates are LESS than the real inflation.
Also maybe this might be the time to treat myself with a new truck.
My credit is the best its ever been (close to 800 FICO store) and despite car prices being so elevated I like the idea of turning fiat dollars into tangibles especially if my loan will be paid with inflation value dimished dollars.
This is what I been looking at for a new vehicle:

 

[Rick]

PS: I am near debt free right now also.
I did not want to buy a house since my specialized job needs high mobility and I cn never know where I will be in 2 years.
But I am currently in Florida a place people flee to and a collapse of the real estate market in hard to imagine here.
And right now mortgage rates are LESS than the real inflation.
Also maybe this might be the time to treat myself with a new truck.
My credit is the best its ever been (close to 800 FICO store) and despite car prices being so elevated I like the idea of turning fiat dollars into tangibles especially if my loan will be paid with inflation value dimished dollars.
This is what I been looking at for a new vehicle:

A new 2022 Pathfinder is also in play:
(Both the Frontier and the pathfinder are equipped with Nissans fantastic and essentially unbreakable large V6 engines and Nissan new 9 Speed automatic. That same transmission that is in the V8 powered full size Titan.. so you know it will last forever in a mid size vehicle with a V6)

How long can we still get non electric (relatively) large internal combustion engined vehicles?
And a RELIABLE vehicle with a lot of room and capability that doesn't suck gas like your uncles fullsize is also a good thing from a preppers perspective.

 

[Rick]

PS: Also these modern cars have REALLY GOOD headlights.
What my strategy has been until now, is to buy good used 4x4 SUVs with strong motors and put in new stronger bulbs like the PhillipsXtremevision (no blue tint just a halogen bulb that is brighter than stock) and give them extremly comprehensive maintenance and even prophylactic replacement of known problem parts to achieve near new reliability.

I own a 2008 pathfinder 4x4 with the (rare) 5.6 L V8, that has near new reliability due to years of extreme maintenance (regular replacements of belts and hoses, radiator replaced prophylactically, tires replaced every 4 years while they still look fine to catch them BEFORE failure, all fluids replaced more frequent than Nissans schedule, only high quality batteries replaced BEFORE they fail, bulbs replaced BEFORE they fail, brake pads replaced a bit early, shocks/struts replaced BEFORE they fail, bushings replaced after a few years, headlights polished clear as soon as they show signs "fogging" etc etc etc)

Engine consumes no oil at all at 174,000 miles even after/during hard +fast highway road trips in high summer, at near 100F.
(of course its near worthless as a trade in due to 13 years old and 174,000 miles, as everyone in the business assumes it will be a poorly driving, near-wreck, at that age and miles..)

Recent pic taken within a day of new springs all around.

 

[elkhound]

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-...ns-american-households-paying-3500-additional


For example, between November 2020 and November 2021, the bottom 20 percent spent $309 more on food, $761 more on energy, $476 more on shelter, $390 on other commodities, and $224 on other services.

Meanwhile, the higher-income households spent an additional $961 on food, $1,824 on energy, $1,607 on shelter, $2,144 on other commodities, and $1,100 on other services.

That could mean, based on 2020 total consumption expenditure data, that the bottom 20 percent of income-earners saw their consumption expenditure increase by 6.8 percent to $2,160 per household, while the top 5 percent saw an increase of 6.1 percent or roughly $7,636 per household. Middle-income earners also saw an increase of 6.8 percent, or roughly $4,351, as per the data.

 

[Spikedriver]

@Rick I would hold off on the Nissan. The power train in the Frontier is new, that V6 just came out last year, and relatively untested. It may turn out great, or maybe not. Frontiers and Titans seem to have had a spotty reliability record.. Too soon for me to be comfortable with that purchase. I'm a big fan of the Toyotas, or failing that Fords trucks. I would not touch a Dodge or Jeep with somebody else's hand.

 

[Spikedriver]

Has anybody looked riding mowers lately? I was killing time in the farm store this morning, and a Cub Cadet 30 inch rear engine mower was $1900! Just a couple years ago you could buy those for 1200. The inflation bug is hitting hard...

 

[Rick]

@Rick I would hold off on the Nissan. The power train in the Frontier is new, that V6 just came out last year, and relatively untested. It may turn out great, or maybe not. Frontiers and Titans seem to have had a spotty reliability record.. Too soon for me to be comfortable with that purchase. I'm a big fan of the Toyotas, or failing that Fords trucks. I would not touch a Dodge or Jeep with somebody else's hand.

Brother, you triggered my soapbox
No offense, please bear with me:

I am going to put it out there: Nissan is the preeminent manufacture of 6 cylinder gasoline engines on the planet.
Ever since they started putting them into cars+ pickups in the 50s, they have never had a bad 6 cyl gasser.. Never, ever. Unlike Toyota and Mercedes and GM and Ford etc. never.
L28 , RB20, Rb25, RB25DETT, VG30, VE30DE , VG30DETT, VQ20DE , VQ30, VQ35de, VQ40de, VR30DDTT etc etc etc
Never a bad one in 60 years.
Also the transmission in the Frontier and Pathfinder is that new 9 speed auto based on a Mercedes design.
It was originally designed to be used in a V8 fullsize pickup.
So it can be expected to last forever in a V6 mid size application.
Frontiers in the previous gen beat the Tacoma recently n most reliable mid sizer and the tacoma has a weaker engine
Toyotas are great products. And overall may be more reliable than Nissans (not in engines though!)
but the human Brain is very bad at assigning a nuanced value to risk benefit calculus.
For example for the (high due to good rep) price of a used 2015 Tacoma you can get a 2019 Frontier with a fraction of the miles, that due to being so much newer will actually be more reliable (never mind that they have more powerful engines and superior frames).
This is the toyota tax on the market.
Chrysler products for example, yes may be less reliable than the equivalent ford product.... but since the rep is out there the used car value are so far apart that you can afford a much newer (for example) dodge charger used vs the same sedan from Ford, which may actually make it more reliable.

I currently own a Xterra with 163,000 miles on it.
Doesnt burn a drop of oil in 5000 miles ( my usual change interval)
Even when I run it hard at high speeds in summers.
I ran this engine in a german summer ever month at 100mph for most of a trip from Stuttgart to Berlin, 400 miles each way with hills and no speed limited travel 3/4s of the way.... even then did not use any oil.
My current VK56de V8 in my pathfinder has 173,000 miles on it.
Even though it was clearly used extremly hard by the previous owner( he towed so much with this vehicle that when I bought it, both rear wheels bearings needed replacing, one of the rear springs was broken, both rear shocks were done).
yet the engine uses not a drop of oil.
The other month I had a 7500 mile oil change interval on it.
No oil was used and the oil still looked quite good (which tells me no blowby)
And the transmission still shifts as new.
Also this engine has not just forged crankshaft but also forged rods and forged pistons plus is a closed deck engine, has 6 bolt main bearings (!) and standard Titanium valves(!).

Try to get that in any Toyota and Mercedes product and you are talking $100,000 plus vehicles only like Lexus LFA or MB AMG or S class.
Yet in Nissan, you can get this level of engine goodness in any new or used Armada, Titan or (discontinued) V8 Pathfinder.
Just amazing vehicles.

yes for some model years with Xterra Titan, Frontier there was the threat of SMOD (bad gasket in radiator mixing fluids between tranny and coolant which would break the transmission) but its easily addressed prophylactically ( improved rads available form dealer and elsewhere for as little as 100 bucks) and Toyota and MB had the same problem with some of their models in the early 2000s.

 

[Spikedriver]

@Rick I would disagree, not based on Consumer reports or anything like that, but on observation. I don't know about the new 9 speed - it's too new to have any long term knowledge about, so I won't criticize or praise it. Same with the new 3.8 engine. I do know that when the Titans came out, a few of the farmers tried them and they were so bad that literally every one I knew dumped them. The 5.6 was powerful but didn't hold up, the transmissions blew out under farm work, and they rusted out fast. The Frontiers were better - you see the kids driving a fair amount of them here. That 4.0 held up pretty well. The old automatics they used for years weren't real strong and Nissan was always behind for interior comfort for some reason. I wanted one - I get a special deal from Nissan through my job. Dealer cost, all incentives, and the top finance package regardless of credit score. But in testing them, they came out at the bottom of my list.

Now, the old Nissan hardbody trucks were some of the best ever made. Those things were unkillable. Slow and rough, but sturdy as hell...

 

[Rick]

Not sure what these farmers supposed to have done. In the middle east people use the VK56DE to run sanddunes and turbo charge them to 700hp on stock motor or 1000 hp with upgraded bearings.
The only way to kill these motors is a) never change the oil (takes along time though) or b) a stuck open injector (rare) or most commonly c) ignoring a catalytic converter engine code.
eventually if that is ignored too long the cat will disintegrate and back pressure will send ceramic particles into the engine destroying compression... but this is something that can (and does) happen to literally any engine when bad cats codes are ignored for too long.

 

[elkhound]

friends of family said they usually get a whole prime rib for holidays but this year the price for it was over $300 so that got skipped this year.

seen this and thought i put it here.