Perhaps the increasing barriers to trade caused by COVID-19 disruptions, wars, etc. are having a similar, but more chaotic, effect that increased tariffs might have. When you (or a business) can no longer look for some combination of better and cheaper all over the world and get it reliably, that leads to higher costs.
Of course, some entities can find a way to make a lot more money out of it. For example: Ocean Freight Shipping Costs Are Driving Goods Prices Higher — ProPublica .
Yes, that would make sense for imported items. But the items hit with the highest inflation in recent months are US made/available. Food is sky high. Mainly from the US. Energy, also crazy. Mostly US available (choices of where how to drill/not drill, import or use reserves here can impact prices a lot) and housing is also something going crazy. That’s all US stuff. I think the basket of goods they use is are mainly US products.
In island nations, one pays a premium for everything. It’s totally logical. Costs increase due to shipping etc. So if I buy a new car and it’s imported from Japan/Germany, yes I can see inflation hitting that hard. But that’s not what this is.
Seems more domestic choices than international imports. Some things cannot be managed liked higher costs due to a worker shortage or issues with shipping routes. Others are very much in our court.
Much of food and energy is traded worldwide, so domestic pricing is not immune from what goes on outside the US. If prices rise high enough outside the US, producers in the US will be enticed to export rather than sell domestically.
Of course, energy is part of the supply chain for everything. In addition, many domestic products include some imported components (or use production tooling that includes imported components) and are thus affected by supply chain issues.
Most food we buy is local.
Everything is global if you put on that hat. My butcher (local) and farmer (behind my house) has no intention of selling out of the US. Both have raised prices a lot. That’s why it’s a good example. Yes, Italian Olive oil might change price. But the local stuff is a window into what’s happening here. So is energy. But one has to want to look at domestic production and options. And yes, I would say that energy is a component of all prices that’s why it’s so important to keep domestic prices in check.
Your local farmers buy fertilizer and use diesel that are commodities sourced globally. Both skyrocketed in price.
Maybe, but based on the smell. I think the farmer is buying some of the “fertilizer” from the cow farm next to him. I know my neighbor who has 10 acres is also into “natural processes” He uses local compost. We even give him ours, happily.
My local fruit market is paying twice as much filling their truck with gas this summer. They have to pass that cost off to their customers.
There’s a war 1/2 way across the world where people aren’t buying oil from the country who started that war. They are also destroying grain storage which will cause shortages and those prices to rise.
Farmers operate on a small margin. When the price of diesel, and the cost of food and the cost of medicine go up, they have to increase their prices.
Farm equipment has parts that are hard to find. The price of steel is up so any equipment they have to buy is more expensive.
Wood prices are soaring.
I could go on and on…
The price of the bs fertilizer may be increasing, if there is greater demand for it due to higher prices for other fertilizer. So can the fuel used for the farm equipment and getting the goods to the market.
Or they could be raising prices because they can still sell all of their production at higher prices, since their competitors’ prices are higher (which can include farms producing more industrially, or imported goods, even if you personally do not want to purchase the competitors’ offerings).
We hear our financial group at a group meeting tomorrow, and we have our individual sit down with our financial guy on Friday. I keep on top of having these scheduled - want to have financial guy meeting after the other so we can ask questions on how things pertain to us.
We don’t have any big purchases or big trips.
Down the road, will look to get a hybrid or electric car when they are off the ‘bleeding edge’. Our vehicles are 2016 and 2018; the 2018 is same model but gets 10 miles more per gallon (2016 is 4 WD and also doesn’t have the engine turn off/turn on at stop lights).
My brother has one of those high end electric pickup trucks coming soon (I think it was a 2 year backorder) that has a 400 mile range/electric for $75K. His wife thinks he is crazy but he earned really good money and is smart on his investments. He has no kids but spoils his two adult step-daughters (they call him Papa and really love him) - but it is all good. Family is important.
I believe our two DDs will keep their jobs and continue to do fine with their jobs. Will see what happens with interest rates and home purchase prices in their locations as time goes on. One’s rent is stable, but the other DD’s will go up a lot again, pretty sure.
At the grocery store, I am taking more time and making choices to keep eating well but not having too much money leaving the wallet. Cutting out some things that are not necessities but also cost more than I believe they are ‘worth’ for that grocery run.
Hybrid vehicles are pretty mainstream these days. Ford’s $22k MSRP entry-level vehicle is a small pickup with hybrid powertrain that gets 37mpg (Maverick). Toyota’s van (Sienna) only comes in a hybrid version with 35-36mpg.
It is true that most companies offering electric vehicles have greater availability at the high end. However, GM is offering the Chevrolet Bolt starting around $27k.
Also, some retirees do not drive much, and do not road trip, so a used short range electric vehicle that is likely cheap due to its general undesirability may be a cheap to buy, cheap to fuel vehicle for some retirees (and if they have two cars anyway, the other can be used for the rare longer drive).
I have no idea what “off the bleeding edge” means. We have a Toyota RAV4 prime, plug in hybrid SUV. Love it. We end up going about 45 miles before it switches to gas, so we’re getting 85 mpg right now. Feels great to rarely fill up your gas tank. Also got a $7500 federal tax credit when we bought it. Fantastic.
I was filling up my tank today (a rare occurrence) and this guy started talking about my car. I told him that we were getting 85 mpg, and he made a snide comment about us being able to resell it before the battery gives out. Kind of weird that people are still scoffing these vehicles because of dated concerns about batteries, it’s not really a problem anymore. We had a Prius for 13 years, no battery problems ever. Being on a fixed income in retirement, I really appreciate not having to shell out much for gas.
I really appreciate not wasting our time at a gas pump! As we get older, time becomes more precious 
(my excuse for wasting it on CC is that it is a social activity which might help to keep dementia at bay 
).
We have two Toyota Hybrids and we love the Toyota, but Toyotas have had hybrid battery issues, needing an expensive replacement. Though that has gotten cheaper as technology has gotten better.
They’ve also had small battery issues as well. That’s a fact and this includes the newer models.
Does it effect every Toyota? No, but the problem does exist. Fortunately, our cars haven’t needed the hybrid battery replaced.
When we bought our Prius, we had heard that we were going to have to replace our hybrid battery every five years. Never a problem. Minor issues with the small battery, but no battery lasts forever. Our Prime was first delivered in late 2020 and we supposedly had one of the first deliveries in North America, so I guess we’ll be a test case.
I never heard that about the hybrid battery, but I had my Lexus CT200 hybrid for 10 years and no issues. I hated getting rid of that car but it was low to the ground and not all wheel drive so not the best here in snow country.
I did replace it with a similar hybrid. 40 MPG in town.
Batteries in hybrid cars will deteriorate over time, just like all rechargeable batteries. However, the reduction in battery capacity in those cars isn’t going to be obvious to their owners because their cars’ gas engines will always kick in when needed.
I just started a new car thread.
We have not changed spending or plans much, though the strong dollar may hasten a trip to Italy.
ShawD had a major problem and inflation could hit her. ShawWife packed her up for a cross-country move and it all got loaded into the moving van. A day or two before the van was supposed to arrive on, she was notified that the van had caught fire and that all of her belongings had been burnt. So, she has to replace everything (except what she brought with her and what was in her car, which should arrive tomorrow or the next day). Some things that burned have gone up a lot in value (Canada Goose coat, for example) and some are irreplaceable (mid-century modern furniture from my mother’s house). Her renter’s insurance will cover some of it and she’s been getting a run-around from the shipping company (“Submit all of the information to the claims contractor. When we get the report, we’ll pay you.”) and its claims contractor (“We don’t do total loss. Call the shipper. They cover it.”). She didn’t have replacement cost insurance (she figured a few things break in shipping, maybe a box gets lost. We’ll see what happens.
“The bleeding edge” is an expression when something relatively new and often used with technology - so when prices come down once stuff is out for a while. Once can think about desk top computer prices when they first came out as an example - eventually prices came down and then could get more memory etc. Those first ‘brick’ cell phones.
The hybrid vehicles are becoming a lot more ‘standard’.
We haven’t bought a brand new vehicle since 2009. Since then we have purchased vehicles through Car Maxx. Our ‘current’ vehicles are 2016 (purchased in 2019) and 2018 (purchased in 2020). We don’t put on a lot of miles generally so have kept cars quite a long time. Exception was when air bags went off and insurance required replacing. We have not had hybrids due to our general thought that you really want that new due to new vehicle warranty.
I like hearing about not needing a new Prius battery replacement after so many years of driving. That is terrific. Also good to hear about the problem automaker battery issues.
I am thinking that as we gain more familiarity with hybrid or electric vehicles, we would replace our older vehicle with hybrid or electric down the line. Probably hybrid. If we were forced to replace one of our vehicles due to an accident, since we are retired we could share one vehicle while we make the decision on what to get gathering the facts with our situation and what is available/best choice for us.
The tax credit does help with the new vehicle sticker price.
Some areas of the country do have very high gas prices, and there are people that drive a good bit of mileage every week. Everyone did notice the higher prices filling up most recently.
I imagine people in Nevada are looking pretty exclusively at electric for future car replacement due to their laws - I believe 2025 is the ‘all electric’ requirement.