I just canceled all my subscriptions to afford rent increases. No more chatGPT, Suno soundcloud, MidJourney, AWS, etc. I've basically just looked at my account and cut anything that doesn't return a positive revenue. I even scaled back to minimum car insurance. Seriously, my rent went up $100/mo and I covered that by cutting subscriptions. I'll be jogging in the snow and utilizing rate-limited free AI stuff but that's fine.
I just want to get a feel for how the economy is playing out for other guys. Like I almost never can afford steak anymore and my local grocery store stopped carrying most beef cuts. To make things worse economically I've been growing a bunch of fruits and veggies at my rental house, making us buy less. It's just a few dollars here and there in savings but if everyone does it then prices will crash, which seems to be happening with things that grow well where I live.
Lone_Ranger 2 1mo ago
Greedflation is a retarded concept for people that don't understand economics.
Inflation is real - it is caused by debasement of the currency.
“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon” is a quote by the renowned US economist Milton Friedman. Friedman made this statement famous after giving a speech in India in 1963.
Friedman's statement is based on the quantity theory of money, which states that prices increase when the money supply increases faster than output. This is because when there is too much money in the economy, price levels increase due to excessive credit demand.
Do you know why we keep having inflation? Because the average joe doesn't understand inflation. You can never beat an enemy you don't understand. And if you are talking about 'greedflation' then its clear to me that you don't understand inflation even a little bit.
Inflation is caused by governments expanding the money supply. How difficult is this to understand? What part of "quantitative easing" do you not understand??
Our governments (UK and USA) told us they were going to start printing shit tons of money, and we voted for them, and they did it.
And now we're all scratching our heads and wondering about inflation??
The general population is actually clinically retarded.
whytehorse2021 1mo ago
OK, let's call it price gouging then. If inflation was 8% during the pandemic, why did everything go up 100%? Especially essentials like housing, food, gas, etc. If there was some kind of shortage why didn't prices come back down after the shortage was fixed? There are a number of lawsuits that are ongoing or have resulted in settlements because of this. Corporations conveniently blame money printing but they're actually just ripping everyone off and gaslighting.
Lone_Ranger 2 1mo ago
Thats just the thing.... inflation didn't 'go up 8%' if 'everything went up 100%'
Do not see the issue here? The gov is in charge of the Fed. (or Bank of England in the UK). The gov is essentially marking their own exams, because they get to report inflation.
If you still believe 'official' figures about inflation, then I have a bridge to sell you.
The very fact that you think 'inflation went up 8%' but that prices went up by a different amount tells me that you don't understand inflation. Holding all other factors constant, this is an impossibility.
There is no shortage of anything. Shortages are only possible in a market with price controls.
Do you believe that there is a 'shortage' of rolls royce cars? no. because if you have $600k, you go into the shop and buy one. No shortage.
The only shortage that we have in the west is a shortage of people that aren't retarded.
Intrepid_Place53900 1 1mo ago
agreed LR
Prices for living "food, utility, housing",etc has gone up like 35% over the last 3-4 years. Fuck what the govt posts what inflation is, this is the reality.
Now, they say inflation is down, I believe that, prices are not "going up more as fast".
However, those prices over the last few years remain. It's costing everyone about 35% more to live than 4 years ago.
That, is the real issue. And the Govt caused it.
whytehorse2021 1mo ago
There were shortages: toilet paper, car chips, housing, etc.
financehardo420 1mo ago
I live in a lower cost of living area in Midwest. What happened for me in my main source of income was that cogs was essentially cut in half nationwide and profit margins were also cut in half; while turnover stayed the same or even shrank a bit.
As a result; significantly less fun coupons for me. Barely been able to add anything to my savings lately so I:
1) stopped eating at fancy restaurants. Call it cope but dropping $60 + tip on a steak that was for sure not grass fed/finished is kind of a scam. I can get grass fed and finished steaks at farmer market for under $20/lb and cook it just as well.
2) learned to shop around a bit. ie a thing of organic strawberries at my Whole Foods type grocery store is like $7 but if I go to a bigger chain grocery it’s more like $4. Instead of buying my pasture raised organic chicken breast @ $12/lb I buy rotesserie chickens from the grocery store for like $8.99 (could even get it for just $5 if I went to my local Sam’s club or whatever).
3) no more crazy spending at the bars; toned it down a lot and only go out x1 night a week.
A little impulse control and I’ve been able to survive the economy without hurting my savings.
whytehorse2021 1mo ago
Yeah it seems like everyone is cutting back. I think all these gov't stats are just reflecting the 10M new "visitors" they let into the country.
benzino 1mo ago
Also am. The recent breakup also helped me save a lot of money - no longer going to 1, 2 or even 3 restaurants in a weekend, and just paying for one! The whole global economy is going through a tough period and saving/ living below your means is easier than making more money.
If you use Netflix/ amazon or subscriptions like that, I suggest Stremio (look up how to download add ons for it). It's basically P2P torrent but designed similar to netflix. Has all the movies/ shows and saved me from paying money to Hollywood child molesters
MyBoyJob 1mo ago
Yeah I do multiple things. I cook all my food from scratch, not that hard. No prepackaged crap. If I see meat on sale I will buy a lot of it and freeze. Dates are usually just a drink or two. No splurging unless she is invested. Sometimes just play fetch with her dog in a park or something.I’m changing my own oil and brake pads. I’ve cut almost all media out of my life, it’s all fag garbage now. Thankfully I bought a house and I’m shielded from large rent increases, which is probably just because of the millions of illegals they are allowing to cross the border. I’ve become quite handy. Rewired some electrical and installed my own HVAC system. If you’re not stupid you can get all the info you need from free ChatGPT and YouTube tutorials. The most important part of clothing is fit and general styles. Found some clothing items from unknown brands on Amazon that fit well and are stylish, probably all coming from the same Chinese factory as well known brands.
whytehorse2021 1mo ago
Yeah I did the food thing during covid when they jacked prices on all processed foods made in China. I go to the goodwill outlet store for clothes. You buy them by weight.
Kloi 1mo ago
I quit going out to eat years ago, outside of travel, specifically because prices went up, portion size went down, along with quality.
I'd rather spend $13 on a 16oz steak than get a burger and a drink for $25. I'm in and out of the kitchen in 20 minutes with dishes done.
whytehorse2021 1mo ago
Yeah, the last time I went for local fast food it was $11 for a cheeseburger. I just told the cashier they priced us out and we left.
SwarmShawarma 1mo ago
Fortunately I'm a low maintenance and all I need is ass, gas and grass (outdoor). The Rare film from the torrent, since all the shit is woke anyway. Music from soulseek, but I dont even have time tolook up the new stuff.
All in all I came to the conclusion that saving can become like threading a water and saving at some point is having a limited effect and an income HAS to increase.
Since the people that do not work die on a toilet while taking a dump, I think starting a work at any age is the same as doing it earlier.
Vermillion-Rx Admin 1mo ago
I'm going to disagree on the "greedflation" part because it's inflation for the food.
As for those digital products yes. I cancelled a bunch of my digital subscriptions. There is no way digital costs that much to distribute. The digital markup in my opinion is absolute greed from these companies.
whytehorse2021 1mo ago
Well I know ranchers and they say they're not getting a dime more for beef despite retail prices doubling. I go online and see I can buy a half cow for about $5lb processed and packaged. Bacon has the same problem. At the end of the day it's pork but for some reason it costs way more than pork. Maybe even double the price. I mean I can just tell you that food processors have a monopoly so it's greedflation.
Everything else has returned to pre-pandemic prices when it comes to food. I know truckers and they say they aren't making any money so shipping costs are way down. Gas is pretty far down. I mean we can't really point to anything that would inflate food prices. There's no shortages. We have 10 million new visitors to provide cheap labor.
MyBoyJob 1mo ago
10 million visitors that all eat food and live in houses
No-Stress-Cat 1mo ago
I live on the east coast. Food prices here are still inching upwards and have not gone down, but the size of packages have. I'm having to do smaller shops during the week for basic necessities instead of the usual stock up. I'm also buying the store brands instead of the usual brands because shit's just still too high.
whytehorse2021 1mo ago
Keep on keepin on. Eventually their warehouses of overpriced stuff will have to be liquidated. At first it will be sales but ultimately it will be premanently lower prices.
Lone_Ranger 2 1mo ago
Nope. Prices are not going lower.
Prices will increase.
The only question is this: will the price of your labour increase as well, or not?
whytehorse2021 1mo ago
No we're seeing deflation now in durable goods. Companies have run out of backstops like shrinkflation, cheaper ingredients, layoffs, etc. Now they have to worry about things expiring unsold if they don't lower prices.