Inflation is picking our pockets of our extra cash
By Josh Resnek
Inflation is one of those things we read about and don’t tend to pay much attention to … until it begins to hurt us at the cash registers wherever we shop.
Everett is not immune to inflation.
Consumers here are finding this out in their everyday lives.
Gasoline prices are off the wall compared with this time last year.
Prices are up all over the city and the region and in the nation everywhere at least $1.00 to $1.50 per gallon.
For drivers and consumers, this is a gaggle.
Forgetting about the higher gasoline prices, how about food prices?
We have watched and seen and felt our money evaporating at the supermarkets where we shop.
At McKinnon’s on Broadway prices have inevitably risen.
A pound of lamb is more than $20.
A pound of sirloin is in the $15-$20 range.
Bread, milk and other staples have risen by as much as 20% during the past six months – and prices are showing no downward motions.
Everything is soaring upward.
At Demoulas in Chelsea, their basic scali bread which cost about $2.40 one year ago, has risen to $3.49 at last look.
Milk is nearing $4.00 for a gallon.
A 12-ounce bottle of Coke is $2.19.
It is the same at Stop and Shop where a small handful of tomatoes goes for anywhere from $3.50 to $6.00 for the tomatoes you really want to eat.
An avocado costs $1.50.
Double Stuff Oreos are at $3.50.
Government efforts to head off the rising inflation are not easily enacted and don’t always work.
The president recently announced that the US would take 50 billion barrels of oil from the national stockpile and distribute it into the marketplace.
This will cause the price for gasoline to fall as the marketplace will be flooded with gasoline.
However this won’t happen until well after Christmas, and then, who cares?
Right now, your money is being stretched to the breaking point like an elastic.
What to do?
You can sell your home and make a small fortune only to find you have nowhere tom move that can be afforded.
You can sell your used car at a huge profit right now only to find you cannot afford to buy another one, and certainly not a new car because the sticker prices are shockingly high.
The government can raise interest rates to stop so many new cars being bought, which brings down demand, which causes prices to drop – but then the economy can get very sick without growth.
There is not much that can be done except to keep your powder dry.