Orwellian Inflation Reporting

I have been racking my brain, trying to figure out why, oh WHY my finances seem to be in worse and worse shape. I have felt this slow, insidious drain from my pocketbook, yet the snapshot inflation numbers that are released as headlines tell me things are fine: inflation is just 2% over the decade or 3% over the last year, or heck, even a cheery 0% reported just last week. I should feel bolstered by this news, but I don't, I just feel befuddled. The whole business of inflation reporting seems rather Orwellian. All I hear from people around me is how inflation is low!

The truth is, it's not and I've been pulling my hair out, trying to tell people that, "No, it's not at 2% or 3%...depending on the item, it could be 10% or 22%!" They just look at me like I'm crazy and wrong, because they heard on news inflation was low. So they just believe it and don't bother to look up the super simple to verify information for themselves! Ugh. Boo.

Now, there are all kinds of ways to report inflation, and oodles of easy-to-find, free information available. A quick trip to BLS.gov shows that it's not so tough for the average Joe to look up inflation rates broken down by various items, excluding others, etc. In fact, the redesign of the CPI press releases slated for April of 2012 look promising in terms of readability as well as new interpretations of the information. But getting there requires knowledge that the information exists, as well as a little patience and confidence digging through the data.

But if there is a reason you should feel a bit more cheery, it's because I dug through the data on your behalf. My husband even drew up this nifty little infographic for you to meme about Facebook if you are so inclined towards truth-spreading. No copyright infringement here - I give you "Teh Permission" though links are appreciated.

Let's dig a little deeper into the numbers:

Inflation increases since a year ago (Dec 2010-2011) US City Average All Consumers. As you read, ask yourself how much you buy that particular item. Also, since I live in Michigan, I included some Midwest figures as well:

• Food at Home up 6% 
• Food away from Home up only 2.3% 
• Cereals/Baked Goods up 6.1% 
• White flour up 15.6% (Midwest up 22%)
• Whole wheat bread up 10.3%
• Chocolate chip cookies up 7%
• Meat/poultry/fish/eggs up 7.9% 
• Ground beef up 22.8% (Midwest up 15.9%)
• Sirloin steak up 14.9% 
• Bacon up 9.4% (Midwest up 26.2%)
• Bologna down -11.3% (lol!)
• Chicken up 4.7% (Midwest 16.5%)
• Dairy products up 8.1% 
• Whole milk up 7.4%
• Cheddar cheese up 10.1%
• Ice cream up 14.6%
• Fruits and vegetables up 2.3% 
• Apples up 5.9% (Midwest up 15.1% - huh? We're the apple capital!)
• Potatoes up 14.1%
• Sugar and sweets up 3.8% 
• Sugar up 9.3%
• Fats and oils up 13.5% 
• Household fuel oil 14.3% 
• Motor fuel 10.3%
• Water/sewage/trash collection up 4.7% 
• New cars up 3% 
• Used cars/trucks up 4.2% 
• Medical care up 3.2%
• Tuition/childcare up 4.6%
• Educational books/supplies up 5.2%
• Apparel up 4.6%

Le sigh.


It bears mentioning that inflation is a tax. It's an informal, approved by no one, tax. As Henry Hazlitt wrote in the great (free via Mises.org) book and here, excerpt, What You Should Know About Inflation, 

Inflation, to sum up, is the increase in the volume of money and bank credit in relation to the volume of goods. It is harmful because it depreciates the value of the monetary unit, raises everybody's cost of living, imposes what is ineffect a tax on the poorest (without exemptions) at as high a rate as the tax on the richest, wipes out the value of past savings, discourages future savings, redistributes wealth and income wantonly, encourages and rewards speculation andgambling at the expense of thrift and work, undermines confidence in the justice of a free enterprise system, and corrupts public and private morals.

The Not So Frugal Financier

I'm kind of ashamed to admit it, but my food expenses have spiraled out of control. I think it started as soon as I had my first child. I decided we all needed to eat better to live longer, etc. I also began to tell myself it was okay to opt for the convenience of prepared foods (read: chef made in the fancy stores, not boxed and frozen), shopping at one store out of convenience instead of finding the best prices at a few, as well as eating out more due to being to tired to cook, etc. Well over a year later, I took a look at my food bill, and it shocked me. So I asked around to some of my other organic food loving moms to see if any of them had conquered their food bills and I found a lot of them fed a lot more people, still cooking very healthfully, on a lot less. Usually around $100-150/week.

So, this is going to be my goal, similar to this link that was passed on to me, to do a $400 Grocery Challenge. That is, $400 in one month of spending. 

I already know this will need to involve:

• Not shopping entirely at Whole Foods
• Planning meals better
• Reusing ingredients in the fridge and cupboards instead of always buying new ones!
• Forcing myself to eat the things in the fridge first instead of dreaming about what else I could buy and make
• Making and packing my husband's lunches
• Not buying any sweets or packaged snack food
• Maaaybe making my own bread? I don't know, I have a hard time figuring out if there are savings in terms of the cost of store bought vs. the time it takes to make the bread yourself
• Not freaking out if I go slightly over
• Eating veggies first. I notice if anything is going to get thrown out in my fridge from going bad, it's usually a vegetable.

I'm a bit overwhelmed, and I'd love tips from anyone who has tried making such a change...I'm going to begin by seeing how long I can go without heading to the grocery store, as well as taking an inventory of things I already have on hand and begin recipe-making with the items I've already bought. Then I'm going to research the least expensive meats/seasonal fruits and veggies and find recipes that complement those. 

Why Do Pregnant Women and Parents Annoy You?

I was checking out the common search terms that bring people to my site and discovered there were more than a few searching for things like this (actual screenshot from my site stats):

I did, at one point, write about The Annoying Pregnant Girl Syndrome, in which, by simply being pregnant you tend to truly having nothing else to talk about because you are sick as a dog, big as a house, and the baby eats your brains in utero so you forget things like words and entire subjects you mastered in third grade. That will tend to make any pregnant woman annoying to people who formerly knew her as a fun, coherent, and non-sloth-like gal.

Anyhow. I notice this must really be a problem. Pregnant ladies and mommies, do we bring it upon ourselves? Or is there a small, loud faction that really ruins it for the rest of us?

I should make a note here. I consider Facebook to be the same thing as my living room. If you accepted a friend request, or I accepted yours I operate under the assumption we both agree that I am allowed to say and post the things that I would say and share with people who come over for coffee or dinner. That is, I will regularly talk about the things going on in my life, which currently have overwhelmingly to do with babies. And economics. So if you know me in real life or on Facebook as a "friend," chances are you'll hear a lot about that. Otherwise, I tend to keep the baby talk to a minimum everywhere else. And even if you are in my living room. Darn. Maybe it's all Facebook. Anyhow...

Okay. But what is it about pregnant women and everyone else that actually propels people to perform Google searches about their plight with someone pregnant they find annoying? I want to know more. Readers, searchers...what is it? Without being nasty and mean, I want to honestly find out why pregnant women annoy everyone else.

In my own experience as a pregnant woman, I know people tended to get very annoyed with me for walking slowly, not realizing I was pregnant, but then still being annoyed once they saw me, like I shouldn't be out and about if I'm going to have to walk so slow. I got a LOT of dirty looks in grocery stores or malls. Everyone else was so freakin' worried and hurried about their own business, the slow, ungraceful lumber of the town preggo was the last straw for them!

So...what else is it? The advice-giving? The complaining? The "I Invented Motherhood Since I've Been a Mom for 2 Whole Days" thing?

I admit I'm guilty of all of the above to some extent, though I'd like to think I'm conscious of not being the annoying pregnant girl, and these search terms are certainly a good reminder to be ever-vigilant against being annoying. And I'd wager it's not so much about being annoying, as it is being exclusionary and dismissive of the needs of others being so focused on one's own needs and the needs of the baby.

For example, not listening and interrupting with quips about how the baby just kicked, sorry! I'm sure that can get old to the patient friend or colleague who thought she'd do you a favor and take you to lunch. Talking ad nauseum about the all the nausea you experience is just not appealing nor all that relatable to someone who's never been there. Forcing Discussing your birthing/parenting philosophy, with someone who didn't ask is actually pretty rude and intrusive, no matter how nice and informative you think you are being. 

I don't know!? I definitely want to hear what is making people search for these terms...