The feeling of things getting more expensive, while your income doesn’t increase, is the absolute worst

[Deleted member 17627]

Over the past year, I feel like I've seen a lot of things go up in price: video games, restaurants, streaming services, groceries, clothing, and so on.

And I mean, I get it, it's a pandemic and some of these places have to offset their losses somehow, but it really stinks when your own income isn't increasing at the same time with it. It's even worse when these changes are in effect even after a recession subsides, I felt this after what happened in 2008.

What makes me even more frustrated is how the quality of the product I receive doesn't improve with these price increases either, so I have felt so often lately that I just wasted my money afterwards. As a result I feel like I've gotten smarter with my money and don't engage with things that aren't necessities as often, but now I'm just bored with how my life has been this past year, all while being unwilling to try something new as I'm afraid of losing my money.

Anyways, disguised rant thread aside, anyone else feeling similarly?

 

[Officer Big Mac]

Yep. Rent goes up each year and that alone eats up a lot of my yearly pay increase.

 

[Humidex]

That's inflation in a nutshell. Impacts those on relatively fixed incomes the worst. It also encompasses a concept called shrinkflation, where to maintain the cost of a box of cereal (for example) at a certain price point, the manufacturer shrinks the weight of what is being sold.

 

[reKon]

What I get frustrated at when boomers and some others talk shit on younger generations even though major expenses like college and the cost of home ownership has been rising significantly over many decades while wages have not kept up.

 

[FliX]

Yep. Rent goes up each year and that alone eats up a lot of my yearly pay increase.

Click to shrink...

When we lived in Cali, our anual rent increase far outran out annual salary increase...

 

[Whipwhopper]

The power of inflation, baby

 

[AlexMeloche]

Homes where I live almost doubled since 2017. This is ridiculous.

 

[The Crystal Exarch]

Yes. Inflation has been absurd in Brazil since March, especially for foodstuffs and utilities. It feels like we're living in the beginning of the 90s again, before the reform of Plano Real, where you'd have changes of prices for groceries in the span of an afternoon. Fuel for cars and LPG for cooking has skyrocketed.

We haven't felt the true brunt of it in my household because we don't pay rent and both my dad and I have good stable jobs with benefits and all, but I began cutting back a lot on superfluous stuff like streaming, gaming, unnecessary clothing etc., in order to save up and have a safety net.

I'm scrambling to try and get a better paying job, my circumstances make it a bit difficult at the moment *sigh*

 

[FantaSoda]

It stinks but constant price increases can rarely work in your favor. One of the best parts of living in a small affordable city with a reasonable cost of living is that I can buy a house. I bought a house in a developing neighborhood and each year my house has been increasing in value, while my mortgage price has been locked in for years.

 

[echoshifting]

Forty years of wage stagnation, baby

 

[Lari]

As a brazilian I feel that on a molecular level.
And the price bars keep raising and raising in a frantic pace, while getting decent wages in my line of work is getting more and more difficult.

 

[meowdi gras]

Yup. Our household income is from disability. Despite yearly "increases", it hasn't come close to keeping up with inflation. It's getting harder and harder just to keep food on the table. If my ex-boyfriend hadn't started pitching in with some financial help over the last year, we'd be fucked.

 

[yyr]

It also encompasses a concept called shrinkflation, where to maintain the cost of a box of cereal (for example) at a certain price point, the manufacturer shrinks the weight of what is being sold.

Click to shrink...

This is the absolute worst. I can't stand this. Just raise the damn prices if you have to!

Yogurt cups used to be 8 ounces. Half gallons used to be half gallons. Almost every freaking thing has gotten smaller. That means to get the same amount of product you need to buy more of it, which means more packaging added to our landfills and overclogged recycling streams. We're buying more packaging and less product. How does that make any sense?

A few months back our prescription cat food company tried to do this too. Nope, that's where I drew the line. They no longer get my business. My cat shouldn't have to go hungry.

 

[SnakeXs]

Forty years of wage stagnation, baby

Click to shrink...

Seriously. "Why does this happen it's so frustrating". It's simple. Worker productivity has skyrocketed, worker pay on an individual basis and as a slice of the whole pie have not.

 

[Bigwombat]

Forty years of wage stagnation, baby

Click to shrink...

Yup. Freaking sucks. I started a new job in January and I make $200 less a week than I did last year. Some of that is having my wife on insurance but it still is a shock to the system.

These world altering events... it seems like a time that companies revaluate how much they pay people and it never seems like people make more afterwards

 

[EggmaniMN]

By the time I save up for a down payment, houses will be double the price and the payment will just be even higher to go with it. It kills every bit of drive I might have. Goals are pointless because it's impossible.

 

[Boy]

It's inflation. The value of money always gets less as time goes on. $20 grand today won't be the same worth 10 to 20 years from now. That's why it's important to invest instead some savings instead of just having it sit there.

The more we consume products> The more in demand the product will be>Companies then need to invest in more raw materials and hire more workers to help keep up the demand of the product, furthermore this leads to the price increase of production> which leads to price increase in product.

 

[dabig2]

It's definitely not just you and it's very much intended by the ruling class that this is the way.

Dollar’s Purchasing Power Drops to Record Low, Despite Aggressive “Hedonic Quality Adjustments” | Wolf Street

By wanting to increase consumer price inflation, the Fed in effect wants to decrease the purchasing power of the consumer dollar, to where consumers have to pay more for the same thing. Thereby it wants to decrease the purchasing power of labor paid in those dollars.

And that purchasing power of the dollar in January dropped by 1.5% year-over-year to another record low:

Note how the purchasing power of the dollar recovered for a few months during the Financial Crisis, when consumers could actually buy a little more with the fruits of their labor. The Fed considered this condition a horror show.

Click to shrink...

American capitalism survives thanks to the stolen wealth and labor of the working class. We're all still living in the era of Reaganomics, trickle-down, and bootstraps. And the wealthy class is protected by all levers of government, all so they can continue being the parasites they've always been.

 

[nopressure]

I effectively moved out London for this reason. For the price of a London flat, I live in a 4 bedroom house.

 

[Ionic]

This is also why I hate when people just bring up inflation with regards to prices of things going up. If wages for tons of people living on the margins are nearly stagnant while inflation marches on then their material living conditions go down. But so many people act like inflation is just a harmless naturality of the economy. And it's even worse when we talk about specific things in life increasing in price far faster than inflation. Rent/housing and education seem to outpace inflation like crazy and somehow that's just okay. And then some tone deaf jerk will say "just invest!" like everybody has any money left over month to month. Deferring to inflation as a justification for anything in this economy is just telling poor people to shut the fuck up. Low earning wages just don't keep up like they should, and benefits and worker protection laws get flimsier every decade. We have a new generation of workers who genuinely don't understand how little they're paid working in a now normalized gig economy. It's frightening.

 

[SnakeXs]

It's definitely not just you and it's very much intended by the ruling class that this is the way.

Dollar’s Purchasing Power Drops to Record Low, Despite Aggressive “Hedonic Quality Adjustments” | Wolf Street

American capitalism survives thanks to the stolen wealth and labor of the working class. We're all still living in the era of Reaganomics, trickle-down, and bootstraps. And the wealthy class is protected by all levers of government, all so they can continue being the parasites they've always been.

Click to shrink...

 

[Kraid]

It stinks but constant price increases can rarely work in your favor. One of the best parts of living in a small affordable city with a reasonable cost of living is that I can buy a house. I bought a house in a developing neighborhood and each year my house has been increasing in value, while my mortgage price has been locked in for years.

Click to shrink...

After years of struggling financially, we'd finally gotten somewhere comfortable. Then I got laid off twice in one year, the second layoff after I took a 35% paycut 3 months into the job, and could only find half time work for the next 6 months. I finally landed a new job, I'm waiting for my background check to clear. And in 3-4 years I'm hoping we can buy a house. But house prices are just going to continue to increase, while our rent and other expenses increase, and it all fucking sucks.

 

[Birdie]

That's why I don't want the minimum wage to go up because prices will go even higher 🥴

 

[Dennis8K]

The system works!*


* not for you

 

[Deleted member 17627]

Glad to see similar feelings but not glad at how common this is :/

 

[Kwhit10]

40% of all USD was created in the past year while Fed wants you to believe that inflation is still only 2-3%. Put you just need to look at the stuff you normally buy to understand prices are going way up on things.

 

[Malleymal]

I see this... I have money in my savings, but it is not really worth what I need it to be. I am thinking about just putting some into the stock market and letting it work for me.

just don't know where to start

 

[LebGuns]

What I get frustrated at when boomers and some others talk shit on younger generations even though major expenses like college and the cost of home ownership has been rising significantly over many decades while wages have not kept up.

Click to shrink...

My gf's dad bought his first house on minimum wage... can you even imagine this today??

 

[Brinbe]

Ontario is simply fucked. Even homes in smaller cities far outside the GTA are becoming majorly unaffordable which is not good at all.

At least there are some options in the states.

 

[Liquid Plejades]

Ontario is simply fucked. Even homes in smaller cities far outside the GTA are becoming majorly unaffordable which is not good at all.

At least there are some options in the states.

Click to shrink...

Yeah I feel you. I'm in Toronto and this issue has been really stressing me out lately. I'm 99% leaving the city as soon as I finish university. What's worse is it's not just Toronto but all the regions surrounding Toronto are skyrocketing in price. I believe what's happening is people are selling their homes in Toronto to move out to "the country" and some foreign investor buy it and sits in it or demos and redoes the house and sells for 2x. That family who sold the house now buys a house in Hamilton or some regions like that. It's been happening so much that now home prices everywhere is ballooning because of this sort of transaction. I know it's anecdotal but I am a teacher, and out of the 16 families I had in my classroom last year, 11 have moved out of Toronto so far and another one is in the verge of selling. Heard many, many similar stories. Their homes go in the market and sell within a week, and since they are all in my neighborhood I've seen them either just be sitting vacant for a future condo development or bing redone.

I don't even know where I would move to since god knows what prices look like in 3 years when I obtain my degree. Shits terrifying.

 

[Boondocks]

There's really only two solutions
1. Make more money
2. Live cheaper-this includes developing new interests in how you use your spare time. You do not have to spend money to have a good time.
Reading, making things, bird watching, writing, playing ball, beekeeping, fishing, biking, volunteering, learning to make physical art, gardening, music, cooking etc, etc

 

[Baji Boxer]

40% of all USD was created in the past year while Fed wants you to believe that inflation is still only 2-3%. Put you just need to look at the stuff you normally buy to understand prices are going way up on things.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, problem with inflation is that what we typically define as inflation doesn't fully translate to real world effects on the ground. When used in communicating the state of our economy to the public it's an extreme oversimplification. Kind of like using u-3 unemployment as our official unemployment rate and not communicating any other measure.

 

[Deleted member 46493]

I see this... I have money in my savings, but it is not really worth what I need it to be. I am thinking about just putting some into the stock market and letting it work for me.

just don't know where to start

Click to shrink...

There's a good Investment Era |OT| somewhere. You'd probably want a long term index fund or something, but don't forget to keep some for emergency savings.

 

[reKon]

My gf's dad bought his first house on minimum wage... can you even imagine this today??

Click to shrink...

I cannot...

But it if were the case today, I'm sure there would be people accusing them of getting government handouts to help them purchase a home that they do not deserve and then complain that they will be taxed to make up for it.

 

[reKon]

40% of all USD was created in the past year while Fed wants you to believe that inflation is still only 2-3%. Put you just need to look at the stuff you normally buy to understand prices are going way up on things.

Click to shrink...

This is a misleading statement. There are important differences between the M0, M1, and M2 to take into account when talking about inflation.

 

[turbobrick]

As a result I feel like I've gotten smarter with my money and don't engage with things that aren't necessities as often, but now I'm just bored with how my life has been this past year, all while being unwilling to try something new as I'm afraid of losing my money.

Click to shrink...

I minimized unnecessary purchases in my life a while ago, and found its better to wait and save up for something nice rather than buy more low quality junk. Even if you spend the same amount of money, having less things but higher quality, is better than a lot of cheap things.

With inflation and stagnant wages, you have to plan more for what you use what little money you have.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

Being in the Vancouver area, having rents skyrocket in the past decade has been awful. And it reminds me of that one "fuck you, got mine" poster here (I won't give names as it's not worth the ban) having the nerve to tell me my hometown isn't for me anymore and I should just leave. I have never wanted to punch someone through the internet so badly.

There is a temporary freeze on rent increases because of covid. That's the kind of thing the government should have been doing before instead of selling out its citizens to rich people.

Also, the Canadian dollar going back to shit has been real fun with $60 games becoming $80 games overnight. And now there are $90 games coming?

 

[Squarehard]

That's inflation for ya.

 

[Brinbe]

Yeah I feel you. I'm in Toronto and this issue has been really stressing me out lately. I'm 99% leaving the city as soon as I finish university. What's worse is it's not just Toronto but all the regions surrounding Toronto are skyrocketing in price. I believe what's happening is people are selling their homes in Toronto to move out to "the country" and some foreign investor buy it and sits in it or demos and redoes the house and sells for 2x. That family who sold the house now buys a house in Hamilton or some regions like that. It's been happening so much that now home prices everywhere is ballooning because of this sort of transaction. I know it's anecdotal but I am a teacher, and out of the 16 families I had in my classroom last year, 11 have moved out of Toronto so far and another one is in the verge of selling. Heard many, many similar stories. Their homes go in the market and sell within a week, and since they are all in my neighborhood I've seen them either just be sitting vacant for a future condo development or bing redone.

I don't even know where I would move to since god knows what prices look like in 3 years when I obtain my degree. Shits terrifying.

Click to shrink...

Exactly right. It's unworkable long-term.

 

[colorblindmode]

Haven't had a raise in 6+ years due to budget freezes. feels bad man

 

[OptiveLink]

My parents used to tell me about how they bought a nice piece of land for half of one of my father's bi-weekly paycheck while he was in the military. (The other part would be spent partying on the weekends)
Also that I have no excuse to complain about money nowadays cause if they could do it so can I.

haha I'm never owning a home

 

[Weiss]

Very often I feel like I'm never going to achieve even a slim measure of the financial security my parents did.

I wouldn't even know how to start.

Like I think it's hitting me. I'm never going to be wealthy enough just to have a home and enough comfort not to worry. I'm going to work until I can't anymore then die alone, and all that time I won't even be able to make myself feel good doing it because all my money will be going to utilities.

The only impact I will ever bring to the world is that I made someone already fabulously wealthy hoard some more money they won't live long enough to use either.

 

[Ernest]

Also, Also, inflation has far surpassed income/wage growth as well.


Here...

Adjusted for inflation, that's about $38 in today's dollars. I would say a concert like this, now, reserved seats in the 12th row, for one of the biggest bands in the world in their prime, would be a little more than $50, not to mention all the service fees tacked on these days.

But the biggest thing is that 500% inflation, which incomes have definitely not kept up with.

 

[dhlt25]

yep it's frustrating, everything from housing to transport to food prices have been going up nonstop. Yet the feds have their fingers in their ears and keep on singing no inflation. Such fucking BS, the way they can pick and choose what's in their inflation calculation is so disingenuous

 

[Croc Man]

What's particularly annoying in UK is council tax typically rises by 4.9% each year, wages don't. It's based on property prices so if you're renting a shitty flat/room in a good area you pay more. Then rent goes up too. You're basically paying more twice based on the value of property you're priced out of ever owning.

Despite this council services are cut because social care needs it all so you're paying more for less.

Thats before all the other rises. Especially if you commute.

 

[TeenageFBI]

Forty years of wage stagnation, baby

Click to shrink...

This right here. We're all being boiled alive.

But fuck unions, amirite?

 

[Birdie]

I'm lucky so far my rent went up alongside getting promoted at work...

But god if it goes up again this year I'm screwed.

 

[chaostrophy]

Forty years of wage stagnation, baby

Click to shrink...

Yep. Wage stagnation is the real problem, not inflation. Inflation is just easier to see, like if you see the prices that everyone pays for things going up, but just think that you have a particularly crappy job because you haven't gotten a raise in years. But there are actually enough people who haven't gotten raises in long enough for it to be a systemic problem.

 

[Ernest]

Yup, when cost of living goes up FAR more than wages (for most do), things turn to shit.
Tuition, rent and home prices certainly exceed inflation by an unreasonable amount.

 

[Bman94]

I've come to the grim reality that if I want to ever even think about moving out of my parent's house I would have to get a second job and work that several days a week just to survive because shit is so expensive. And I won't make any decent money into my career until I literally put in like 15+ more years into it and that shit is so depressing.