Being a to the bone cheapskate, I’m diligent about checking prices, ingredients, country of origin and weights. I’m noticing prices on all kinds of things going up, and none going down.
Examples.
Bag of cat food, brand I usually purchase, went up a dollar from last month.
Simple faucet defuser, a two bit item, $3.28 at Lowes.
Basic oil change, with a coupon, $19.95++ Last year I could get it done for $9.95.
Air filter for my vehicles, for years $2 - $4, now $9.00++
Replacement windshield washer nozzles, cheap ass plastic, $14.00++
Quart 10-40 oil, $2 to $5
Size and brand of shoe I always buy, up $15 in six months.
Decent, not crap, duct tape $5 a roll.
Disc brake replacement pads, from around $6 to $15 in a year.
Even the junk yards, excuse me, recycle yards are getting high. Pulled two exterior mirrors off a wrecked Contour and paid $20 each for them. Also paid a $2 admission fee just to walk on the place.
Try not to buy “Made in China” but sometimes that is all you can find. All Chinese stuff seems to taken a huge jump.
Food? Packages that were 16 oz are now 12 - 14 oz, and a higher price. Stuff on the very top or bottom of the islands used to be much cheaper. Still is less, but not by much.
It is inflation, which, to me, is another form of taxation. Some is supply and demand, but most is brought about by monetary policies. We are paying off all that toxic debt for the banksters. Your opinion may differ.
6 comments:
That we are, and don't go buy potato chips... same size bag, less chips, damn near TWICE the price...
I have a friend that owns a body shop.
The fees he pays and the cost of the hoops he has to jump through because of the EPA has put him in the place where he's thinking hard about closing his doors......doors that 15 employees walk through six days a week.
Paint jobs that were once a few hundred bux now costing in the thousands. And yet his profit is lower now than it has ever been.
What others call profit is in actuality his income.
While politicians will brag they haven't raised taxes when actually, they have increased the cost of items via the many fees in the cost of doing business.
I have many camping friends and they'll tell you that while the politicos claim no raise in taxes, fees have gone up in many county and federal park lands but yet the services in those parks diminish.
It's only going to get worse WSF, as the "fees" for operating O-care rise with each passing day.
Family gathering tomorrow and I'm bringing several food items. Since I rarely buy or eat potato chips, imagine my shock as I shopped.
You are on the money. We have a small taxpayer revolt going on in this county. The commissioners, by statute, couldn't raise taxes for a pet water project so they called it a "fee" and tried to ram it through. We now have a local version of the Tea Party.
Start a small business today? You are braver than I am.
I sometimes get scared about what's going to end up happening when the people who produce income/jobs/do actual work get tired of supporting everyone who doesn't and then they just... quit.
We are so far beyond sustainable that it's truly frightening. Grocery prices and the prices of everything else are astronomical.
And we're truly being taxed to death. Shit, they don't even try to hide taxes and fees anymore.
Ami. My only answer is vote with your pocketbook when you can and prepare for hard times.
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