2024 Election

"When these companies raise the price of beef, bacon, wings, orange juice, cereal.... It's a choice. They choose to stick it to the consumers."

Because I don't feel like having a ridiculous grocery bill when I'm only feeding myself (I'm in Arizona), I've been shopping at Target for the last couple of weeks and have noticed that a number of food and staple items have tags showing a permanent price drop, usually in the 15% range. I don't know how long ago those prices have gone down, but having the comparisons on the tags indicates that Target wants to be seen as more consumer friendly than some of their competitors.

There was a candidate who wanted to breakup monopolies and address price gouging consumers. You didn't want it.

Get ready for a bumpy ride.

When these companies raise the price of beef, bacon, wings, orange juice, cereal.... It's a choice. They choose to stick it to the consumers.

A value meal at fast food costing $10-15 those places are either making billions or covering product loss.

When a single Snickers bar costs $2,50.... When a box of 48 at Sam's is like $55-60, big profits are being made.

You can argue inflation until your blue in the face with the libs in here. You will NEVER get through because all they believe is some internet reports that they like. Even if they just left whatever store they shop for whatever product and paid 30% more. They won't see it because they were told it isn't really true.

@fun: did you see the article about the FBI catching an ISIS supporter with plans to carry out a 911 style attack on U.S. soil? Apparently they have only been watching him since 2017.... glad they did wait too long.

@Sn , we have . Used to be we could buy the party bag of Lay's chips for 3.99 now it is 6.99.we are hit hard .Gasoline is still 2.49 under Trump it was 1.79

I think Wayne's problem with inflation is that he lives in Florida... LOL. Honestly haven't seen major increases that I have noticed here, nor have people I associate with.

Well Slo we are part time Dutch citizens and they have a social medical program . You pay 51% income tax 28% sales tax and then buy a health care policy on income. Yep you might pay 50. A month but you might pay 345. With their illegal immigrants it is going up all based on income

"Everyone of these examples is far, far greater than 2%. The average is 65% inflation"

Might wanna Google the definition of average. That would mean everything went up 65%, which we know is not true.

Keep voting for big corporation, big business, and high medical costs. Same ones who want to dismantle Obama care and regulations on medicine and capped costs.

My mom spent several months in the hospital in Canada and our biggest expense was parking.

The nation needs leadership in crises like these but did not get it with the COVID pandemic but 45 didn't want to let the nation know the facts and take decisive leadership.

What a fucking Joke and Lie.

I hear the exact opposite about state health care. But I will ask. I have friends from Australia and Canada here in the States. I'll find out

" from what I hear, it doesn't work in any of those countries."

It seems to work better. healthcare is cheaper in all of these countries and health outcomes are better.

How inflation works.
2019 hotdog $1.00

2020 hotdog $1.25 (25% inflation)

2021 hotdog $1.50 ( 20% inflation)

2022 hotdog $1.55 ( 3% inflation)

2023 hotdog $1.60 (2% inflation)

2024 hotdog $1.75 (9% inflation)

The hot dot still nearly doubled, no matter what the numbers say.

"There is absolutely nothing any government could have done"

That's really a stupid statement. The nation needs leadership in crises like these but did not get it with the COVID pandemic but 45 didn't want to let the nation know the facts and take decisive leadership.

"And from what I hear, it doesn't work in any of those countries."

Sources please?

I have yet to see people in any of those 32 countries say, "Gee, I wish I could pay more to have healthcare so I can make healthcare and big pharma execs wealthier while getting worse coverage."

Have you?

~Scamp

"So your postion (sic) is that if food is too expensive, stop eating. LOL. Let them eat cake!"

What an idiotic statement and a complete misrepresentation of what I posted. We eat VERY well, thank you. We just don't buy crap food that is highly processed and overpriced. We buy mostly organic foods and rabbit is a great cook so we have fresh meals daily and eat leftovers for lunch. We don't waste food like most people and we don't play the victim as you like to do, blaming everyone else for your lack of self-control when it comes to overspending.

"As far as shopping around, I could do that too and get most everything cheaper, but you get what you pay for."

Yep, and I now have better coverage for less for my homeowner and car insurance policies through USAA.

YMMV if you are too lazy to shop around.

~Scamp

<p>"<span style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:open sans,sans-serif; font-size:14px">Did you know that 32 out of the world's 33 developed nations have Universal Healthcare?"</span></p>

<p><span style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:open sans,sans-serif; font-size:14px">And from what I hear, it doesn't work in any of those countries. </span></p>

"As far as healthcare, nothing is free. Someone, somewhere has to pay for it. I don't want anyone paying my way."

If only some country, somewhere in the world would give universal healthcare coverage a try to see if it can work...

Did you know that 32 out of the world's 33 developed nations have Universal Healthcare?

And if you guessed that the United States is the only developed country without UHC for all citizens, give yourself a gold star, and a dunce hat.

~Scamp

<p>"<span style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:open sans,sans-serif; font-size:14px">I blame Trump for downplaying the pandemic, even ignoring it as long as he could."</span></p>

<p><span style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:open sans,sans-serif; font-size:14px">People in America were free to take any action regarding the pandemic. If someone wanted to take precautions, they didn't have to wait for the government to tell them to do so. There is absolutely nothing any government could have done.</span></p>

"From what I have seen, inflation is WAY higher! "

The post COVID inflation was a global phenomenon. I blame Trump for downplaying the pandemic, even ignoring it as long as he could. I blame Biden for not taking enough measures to mitigate the resulting inflation. In any case, it was not as severe here than in other countries.

Now I fear that inflation will return and possibly worse. Trump's plan to increase tariffs and for mass deportations will mean product and service shortages and labor shortages which means more inflation.

<p>"<span style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:open sans,sans-serif; font-size:14px">Dining out: Down 3.8%. Maybe we are eating out less now that I am retired, I didn't expect it to be lower."</span></p>

<p><span style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:open sans,sans-serif; font-size:14px">We are eating out less too. We had to stop eating out as much because of the increased cost. So your postion is that if food is too expensive, stop eating. LOL. Let them eat cake!</span></p>

<p><span style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:open sans,sans-serif; font-size:14px">I have Cox Cable too. I've gotten no extra services or speed increases. Just an increase in cost. </span></p>

<p><span style="color:rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:open sans,sans-serif; font-size:14px">As far as shopping around, I could do that too and get most everything cheaper, but you get what you pay for. </span></p>

I've kept detailed budgets for years so I went back to 2018 and compared it to my current, 2024 spending through October.

Groceries: Up 11.6%

Dining out: Down 3.8%. Maybe we are eating out less now that I am retired, I didn't expect it to be lower.

Health Insurance: Mine has actually gone down since 2018 because then it was through my employer and was ridiculously expensive, now that I am retired I pay less through the Marketplace .

Home internet: Up 15.3%, but then I also added a security camera and increased the speed of my Cox Cable account.

Here are a couple more.

Homeowners Insurance: Down 29%. I shop it yearly and while I paid more in 2023 than in 2018, I switched in 2024 and lowered it to less than I was paying in 2017-2022.

Car Insurance: Down 12.8%. It pays to shop!

Bottom line, my total expenditures for 2024 (adjusted to include November and December projections) vs 2018 are up 2.4%, and that includes spending $14,000 more on travel this year than in 2018.

It pays to keep an actual budget and strive to stick to it rather than overspend and then blame the president.

~Scamp

<p><a href="https://www.swinglifestyle.com/profile/lookup.cfm?usercode=54168088">_rabbit_n_scamp_</a>,</p>

<p>I'm not blaming any one person or entity. My point is that I don't care about the numbers you are posting when the real world numbers that affect me are so much greater. You and others are saying that someone won an election because they did a better job of marketing and brain washing voters. That's ridiculous! You think that lowly of the American people as a whole? Sure, there are some impressionable and low intelligence voters, but not enough to sway a national election. We vote based on our personal experiences and what we see in our day-to-day lives!</p>

<p>As far as healthcare, nothing is free. Someone, somewhere has to pay for it. I don't want anyone paying my way.</p>

Exactly Wayne.. !!!