Inflation for dummies.

[flamin lib]

I’ve been a househusband since 2004 and as such have done all the shopping, cooking and cleaning for the household.

When I took this job the best deal on chicken quarters (drumstick & thigh attached) was .19 a pound for pre-packaged 10 pound bags. Whole fryers sold for .39 a pound on sale. Now the best deal on leg quarters is .39 and whole fryers are .79/pound on super duper sale. I first bought whole hams for .99/pound and short ribs for $1.29. Now you can’t get either for less than $1.99 on sale. I tried to keep meat purchases to under $1.19/pound. The same goes for vegetables, prices are basically double what they were four years ago.

Gasoline was under $2.00/gallon and now it’s over $3.00. My wife still has to drive to work. Utility bills are up an equivalent amount.

This is inflation, real inflation, the kind of inflation that real people feel.

I am personally tired of hearing that inflation is .4% a quarter or some other bullshit number.

[Habibi]

1. Thanks.

You're a good cook, I bet. I hang back from buying chicken until it's $1.99/lb for boneless and skinless breasts, which happens about every 4 weeks or so at my local stores. We get pork chops from BJ's for about 2.29/lb. These prices have been pretty steady for the past year, but I'm looking at getting cheaper cuts of chicken and pork as our income sinks. I would love to go vegetarian, but my husband would have a hard time with that, so I have to try to accommodate us both.

[flamin lib]

4. Never buy chicken cuts. Buy only whole birds and take them apart

yourself. It only takes minutes to separate the leg quarters and the breasts from the carcass. Breasts at $1.99 a pound? How about a whole chicken for .79/pound? The breasts go here, the thighs over there, the drumsticks in another place and the wings wait for the next game night. What's left goes into the stock pot and you have "free" chicken stock that freezes for months.

It's easy to dis-assemble a bird. With only a little practice you can have all the pieces in individual servings done in less than three minutes.

Now, a complete de-bone takes a bit longer but it'll impress the hell out of your dinner guests.

[Habibi]

5. You're absolutely right.

I should at least give it a try.

[Bozita]

2. Almost all government figures are now total bullshit.

Bushco has had seven fertile years to change the way the figures are figured.

[roamer65]

3. A great website is...

http://www.shadowstats.com

A lot of the stats are free. M3 money supply growth is around 16% now. Using the old REAL 1980 methodology for calculating inflation, we are nearing a 12% inflation rate.

It will get much worse folks, as the Fed creates more and more money.