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View Full Version : DRUDGE: Secret WALMART Survey Shows Inflation Already Here




JacobG18
11-13-2010, 06:29 PM
There might not have been a second round of quantitative easing, if Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke shopped at Walmart.

A new pricing survey of products sold at the world’s largest retailer [WMT 54.13 -0.21 (-0.39%) ] showed a 0.6 percent price increase in just the last two months, according to MKM Partners. At that rate, prices would be close to four percent higher a year from now, double the Fed’s mandate.

The “inaugural price survey shows a small, but meaningful increase on an 86-item grocery basket,” said Patrick McKeever, MKM Partners analyst, in a note. Most of the items McKeever chose to track were every day items like food and detergent and made by national brands.

On November 3, the Fed announced its much-anticipated purchase of $600 billion in Treasury securities. An effort to keep market rates low since the central bank’s benchmark rate is already at zero. The Federal Open Market Committee’s statement said, “Currently, the unemployment rate is elevated, and measures of underlying inflation are somewhat low, relative to levels that the Committee judges to be consistent, over the longer run, with its dual mandate.”

But since that statement, interest rates have actually gone up, backfiring on a Fed chief who wants his quantitative easing to spark inflation of 2 percent annually. A moderate amount of inflation would be considered good for the economy. The problem is that inflation is already running well above a healthy level, investors said, Bernanke is just not looking in the right place, like a Walmart.

“I suspect that when the Chairman thinks about reflation he has a difficult time seeing any other asset besides real estate,” said Jim Iuorio of TJM Institutional Services. “Somehow the Fed thinks that if its not ‘wage driven’ inflation that it is somehow unimportant. It’s not unimportant to people who see everything they own (homes) going down in value and everything they need (food and energy) going up in price.”

Next week, the government is expected to say its official measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index, increased at a 0.3 percent annual rate, according to economists’ consensus estimate. Core CPI, excluding food and energy, is expected to climb just 0.1 percent.

The biggest dollar increase in McKeever’s survey was on a jug of Tide Original laundry detergent, manufactured by Procter & Gamble [PG 64.33 -0.03 (-0.05%) ]. Both P&G and Kimberly-Clark [KMB 62.02 -0.13 (-0.21%) ] gave tentative forecasts for this quarter on concern they won’t be able to pass rising input costs on to the consumer. They may have no choice.

Prices of cotton, silver wheat, soybeans, corn are all up big this year. Cotton futures are up the most, climbing 90 percent so far in 2010. The price of silver is up 63 percent.

The purpose of McKeever’s note was actually not to be a commentary on Fed policy. The retail analyst is just trying to find out if Walmart is subtlety-increasing prices without decreasing foot traffic. A process he would deem bullish the stock.

“If the pricing dynamic is shifting, as our survey suggests, this would lend some upside bias to our sales and earnings expectations,” said McKeever.

Bernanke keeping interest rates artificially low is sparking outrage among central bank chiefs around the world, who feel the U.S. is essentially exporting inflation.

China’s CPI surged 4.4% in October, according to figures released Thursday, higher than economists’ expected and up from a 3.6 percent annual reading in the month prior.

Said EmergingMoney.com Founder Tim Seymour, “Bernanke definitely must not shop at WalMart in China.”


http://www.cnbc.com/id/40135092

KCIndy
11-13-2010, 06:30 PM
That's been obvious to me for some time now...

They went and raised the price of my Famous Amos cookies! :(:(:(

Dreamofunity
11-13-2010, 06:56 PM
Maybe they were just restocking, but much of the shelves were pretty bare today too.

awake
11-13-2010, 07:26 PM
The packages shrink and the prices go up.

james1906
11-13-2010, 07:38 PM
Anyone on a budget has noticed that the price of staple foods (meat, milk, eggs, bread etc) has gone up significantly lately.

Milk was $2/gallon about a year and half ago here, now it's about $2.70.

libertythor
11-13-2010, 07:59 PM
Mexico has been getting hit hard over the last few years.

A kilo of beans cost around 8-10 pesos in 2005. Now it is up to around 20 pesos.

A carton of 36 eggs was around 20 pesos in 2005. Now it is up near 40 pesos.

In other words, we have seen a doubling of many of the staple food items over the last 5 years.

Brian4Liberty
11-13-2010, 08:04 PM
Santitos Tortilla Chips have kept their price at $2 for several years. Just went to the store and they are $2.75. Just one example of a trend.

Patrick Henry
11-13-2010, 08:08 PM
This is impossible. "The Bernanke" is worried about deflation and is an expert on the great depression. :sarc:

Seriously though, I have noticed staples going up in just the last month. I am afraid things are going to spiral out of control. I sure hope I am wrong.

libertythor
11-13-2010, 08:09 PM
Santitos Tortilla Chips have kept their price at $2 for several years. Just went to the store and they are $2.75. Just one example of a trend.

This is exactly what the establishment wants, and many will herald it as a victory over obesity. Every time I see some BS alarm piece on obesity in the MSM I know that they are promoting their secret desire to create food shortages and make it harder for an individual to feed himself without government assistance.

speciallyblend
11-13-2010, 08:21 PM
food has been rising for yrs already. Where have these people been? these people are like 4-5 yrs behind the times!!

james1906
11-13-2010, 08:22 PM
This is exactly what the establishment wants, and many will herald it as a victory over obesity. Every time I see some BS alarm piece on obesity in the MSM I know that they are promoting their secret desire to create food shortages and make it harder for an individual to feed himself without government assistance.

Yeah, but fresh fruits and vegetables are too damn high.

libertythor
11-13-2010, 08:25 PM
Yeah, but fresh fruits and vegetables are too damn high.

They definitely are at the big union supermarket chains. Amazingly the non-union large Asian and Hispanic supermarkets actually have inexpensive vegetables. At the Northgate Supermarket in San Diego they sell three pounds of tomatoes for a dollar, while at the Albertsons they charge almost a dollar for two tomatoes.

KCIndy
11-13-2010, 08:50 PM
Yeah, but fresh fruits and vegetables are too damn high.


This is exactly what will be cited by the Obama administration when then enact price controls and begin the process of socializing the big grocery chains. Think I'm kidding? Who would have thought it would happen to GM, Chrysler, most of the major financial institutions, the health care system....

It will be done "for the good of the children" of course. :rolleyes:

james1906
11-13-2010, 08:52 PM
They definitely are at the big union supermarket chains. Amazingly the non-union large Asian and Hispanic supermarkets actually have inexpensive vegetables. At the Northgate Supermarket in San Diego they sell three pounds of tomatoes for a dollar, while at the Albertsons they charge almost a dollar for two tomatoes.

I shop the Asian and Hispanic stores too. I've noticed the prices jumping there as well.

Vessol
11-14-2010, 12:44 AM
Everyone is noticing price increases these days, even the most asleep idiots. My roommate brought it up recently, I took it as a chance to teach him about fiat money and inflation. I was surprised with how much he listened to me and how he actually agreed, which isn't normal when we talk about politics.

HOLLYWOOD
11-14-2010, 12:52 AM
The packages shrink and the prices go up.
^^^^^^BINGO!

Anderson Cooper and his AC360 Show covered this and he kept denying products have inflated and the government is correct on their data.

A bunch of US joined the live chat with absolute valid positions and justifications in posts that inflation has been hitting US, and added the FEDERAL RESERVE facts, etc.

Every single post from 5 of us were censored by CNN... but allowed numerous posts of BS from their Boot lickin fans.

So tired of the Propaganda and Public Relations Firms of the Obama Administration and the Liberal Socialist Democratic Party hacks and Federal government in general.

Pauls' Revere
11-14-2010, 01:07 AM
From Commanding Heights and the Weimar Republic

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/ess_germanhyperinflation.html
All money is a matter of belief. Credit derives from Latin, credere, "to believe." Belief was there, the factories functioned, the farmers delivered their produce. The Central Bank kept the belief alive when it would not let even the government borrow further.

But although the country functioned again, the savings were never restored, nor were the values of hard work and decency that had accompanied the savings. There was a different temper in the country, a temper that Hitler would later exploit with diabolical talent. Thomas Mann wrote: "The market woman who without batting an eyelash demanded 100 million for an egg lost the capacity for surprise. And nothing that has happened since has been insane or cruel enough to surprise her."

With the currency went many of the lifetime plans of average citizens. It was the custom for the bride to bring some money to a marriage; many marriages were called off. Widows dependent on insurance found themselves destitute. People who had worked a lifetime found that their pensions would not buy one cup of coffee.

Pearl Buck, the American writer who became famous for her novels of China, was in Germany in 1923. She wrote later: "The cities were still there, the houses not yet bombed and in ruins, but the victims were millions of people. They had lost their fortunes, their savings; they were dazed and inflation-shocked and did not understand how it had happened to them and who the foe was who had defeated them. Yet they had lost their self-assurance, their feeling that they themselves could be the masters of their own lives if only they worked hard enough; and lost, too, were the old values of morals, of ethics, of decency."

The fledgling Nazi party, whose attempted coup had failed in 1923, won 32 seats legally in the next election. The right-wing Nationalist party won 106 seats, having promised 100 percent compensation to the victims of inflation and vengeance on the conspirators who had brought it.

Copyright © 1981 by George J. W. Goodman. All rights reserved.

They knew the economy was turning around when the price of eggs dropped.

fj45lvr
11-14-2010, 01:14 AM
gee who would have thought.


LOL

Matt Collins
11-14-2010, 10:56 AM
Inflation happened long ago. Inflation is defined as the increase in monetary supply (or the printing of more dollars). Prices rising is the result of inflation, not the same thing as inflation.


It's an important distinction to understand.

nate895
11-14-2010, 11:05 AM
Inflation happened long ago. Inflation is defined as the increase in monetary supply (or the printing of more dollars). Prices rising is the result of inflation, not the same thing as inflation.


It's an important distinction to understand.

However, rising prices can create a spiral effect in terms of inflation. If the currency is inflated and prices rise, then whoever is in charge of the currency will print more to make up for it, prices will rise again, causing more inflation, and so and so forth. That's how hyperinflation happens as opposed to just high inflation.

JustinTime
11-14-2010, 02:02 PM
The only food I buy are steaks and craft beer, steak has increased noticably lately and beer has gone up. Bell's Third Coast Ale, which I admit is only stocked by one place in my area, has nearly doubled. A year ago it was $9.99 a sixpack, and now its $17.99.

Yeah yeah, I know... but its a necessity to me.

But like I said, its only sold in one place around here and it may just be the owner charging what the market will bear. Cant blame him.

teacherone
11-14-2010, 02:08 PM
you buy a six pack for $17.99?

jesus--- america deserves what's coming...

EndDaFed
11-14-2010, 02:29 PM
What sucks is it's hard to tell how much the rise in cost is due to inflation vs. demand vs. energy scarcity. It's the 70's all over again but this time it's global. Before it was the U.S that peaked in oil production and started to devalue the currency. Now that we have reached global peak of oil production every nation worth mention is inflating their monetary base. The next few decades might suck horribly bad. At least China had the sense to grab up most of the world's rare mental supplies. Those will be highly valuable as their economy moves away from fossil fuels.

moostraks
11-14-2010, 05:27 PM
What sucks is it's hard to tell how much the rise in cost is due to inflation vs. demand vs. energy scarcity. It's the 70's all over again but this time it's global. Before it was the U.S that peaked in oil production and started to devalue the currency. Now that we have reached global peak of oil production every nation worth mention is inflating their monetary base. The next few decades might suck horribly bad. At least China had the sense to grab up most of the world's rare mental supplies. Those will be highly valuable as their economy moves away from fossil fuels.

And the peak oil argument begins in 3...2...1

:D

Kylie
11-14-2010, 05:58 PM
I found a receipt from the Walmart down the road that was a few years old. I had bought toilet paper, paper towels and trash bags. Cost: $18.53.

Compared it to the one I bought last week. Cost: $37.00.

Shit is gonna get out of hand soon. Just wait until you can't buy toilet paper.

Brian4Liberty
11-15-2010, 12:59 PM
...at the Albertsons they charge almost a dollar for two tomatoes.

And they are genetically modified to resemble Styrofoam in flavor and consistency (ok, maybe more like a melon rind of some kind).

TheBlackPeterSchiff
11-15-2010, 01:32 PM
Dont need a secret survey, I could have told them that.

Krugerrand
11-15-2010, 01:36 PM
You silly people. You're looking at the wrong products. Our government will tell us if there is inflation or not. And, products which have rising prices, are excluded from the inflation index to protect us. Think of the children!:rolleyes:

Cdn_for_liberty
11-15-2010, 02:08 PM
you guys got it all wrong. it's those evil rich capitalists at Walmart raising prices to boost revenue.

Inflation doesn't exist. If it happens, the great Messiah could just put price controls on everything and everyone will be fine.

JustinTime
11-17-2010, 08:21 PM
you buy a six pack for $17.99?
jesus--- america deserves what's coming...

We're talking about high quality beer here, not Bud or Duff or some cheap piss.

What do we deserve, and why would some people wanting high quality products make us deserve it? If the economy does collapse, are you going to call for banning the purchase of 'luxury' items?