The government, Fed and MSM continue to beat the no inflation drum. Except everywhere I turn, I see inflation. It’s almost as if they are lying to us.
A few months ago the package of almonds I would buy regularly at Wal-Mart suddenly shrunk in size, while the price stayed exactly the same. A 15 ounce bag of nuts was now a 12 ounce bag of nuts for the same price. Wal-Mart had just stealthily made a 25% price increase. A few weeks ago, I noticed the Slim Jim package that always included 28 sticks, now only included 26 sticks, for the same price. Doesn’t seem like much, but that was a 7% price increase.
Retailers and manufacturers are doing this with potato chips, detergent, candy, condiments, shampoo, vitamins, and anything else they get away with. I can assure you the BLS is not picking this up in their monthly bullshit report, and Janet Yellen doesn’t give fuck all about how many Slim Jims are in a box. She doesn’t worry about it as she eats caviar and drinks champagne at swanky Washington DC dinner parties for the elite. She knows when she steps down as Fed Chairwoman, she will reap $300,000 speaking fees at luncheons given by the Wall Street banks to pay her off for doing their bidding. The hoi poloi earning 0.15% on their life savings don’t pay as well.
I’m experiencing another example of non-existent inflation today, as I received my monthly PECO Energy bill. It captures my natural gas and electric usage. Here are the known facts:
Oil was priced at $80 a barrel last October. This October it is priced around $45 per barrel. That is a 44% decrease.
Natural gas was priced at $4 last October. This October it is priced around $2.29. That is a 43% decrease.
The BLS factors these decreases into the CPI and tells me my home energy costs are falling. I keep all my expenditure data in Quicken, so it is easy for me to find last year’s October bill. It was $164. The bill I just got was for $154. Wow – a decrease!!! But wait one second. My consumption of both gas and electric was down 15% over last year.
Last year I used 20 Ccf of gas versus 17 Ccf this year. Last year I used 905 kWh versus 782 kWh this year.
On an apples to apples basis, even without the 44% decrease in oil and gas factored in, my bill should have been 15% less than last year at $139. But instead it was $154, almost 11% higher than last year.
So, even though the price of energy has plunged by over 40% and I used 15% less energy than last year, my inflation rate was almost 11%. I wonder how the BLS will pick this up in their data.
The lies, disinformation, and propaganda will continue until morale improves.
Beware of significant shrinkage.
Yeah. Saw the tuna can size in the article you link now 5 oz when was 6. Remember when they were 8 oz not too many years ago? My wife was over in the U.S. visiting family this Summer (your Summer) and she noted the drastic change in packages too, also the quality (lack of) in most of the food at the stores, she could barely eat the stuff and she tries to eat healthy. Slow poison.
In New Zealand this occurs but less often or so it seems. Could be that when weight is in grams or volume in liters it is easier to notice?
On the tuna, you used to be able to get two very nice sandwiches out of a can. I noticed it was worse when it was 6 oz and the quality was lower and more full of water, I guess the 5 oz can contents slosh around inside!!
The major global corporate producer of chocolate in NZ (Cadbury) does this BS with sizes all the time and their stuff tastes like S*&t too (meaning some definite artificial tastes) The family owned and quality New Zealand Brand (Whitakers) has not done this. Their 250 gram slabs stay 250 grams but have gone up in price and the quality is top notch (best chocolate I have ever had, compares well with Godiva and Belgian producers). Their web site: http://www.whittakers.co.nz/ and FB: https://www.facebook.com/WhittakersNZ
“…is a 43% increase.” – Admin
Should be “decrease,” but I know you already knew that. Had to be a rare typo.
Despite my switching out my back french doors and all my windows with costly “energy star” replacements, one just can’t defeat the inflation. I feel so “deflated” just like my wallet…
” It’s almost as if they are lying to us.”
almost……..?????????????
After you apply their seasonal adjustment to those 12 oz. of almonds, they magically become 15 oz. of almonds, so it’s all OK, right?
My buddy says a happy ending is now extra. Fucking Fed.
Too funny… the wife came back from the grocery store today, and I noticed my favorite soup has changed packaging. Instead of 15 ounces (which was already reduced from 16) is now 14.2 oz.
I’ve noticed on packaged deli, such as ham or turkey slices, the weight used to be 16 oz but now many are 12 oz with about the same pricing. More sleight of hand in marketing.
Q: What’s the best marketing slogan ever?
A: Lather, rinse, REPEAT
On the tuna cans and other inflation, check this article out form 2010!!
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/07/29/tuna-shrinkage-cans-now-five-ounces-more-expensive.html
Honey, They Shrunk the Tuna!
Gone are the days of the six-ounce can of tuna for $1—tuna fish purveyors have been reducing their can size and upping their prices, leaving buyers and sandwich lovers outraged. William Sherman reports.
Major tuna fish companies have quietly downsized cans from six ounces to five over the last year, and consumers are paying more for less of the lunchtime staple enjoyed in more than 70 million American households. Chicken of the Sea, Starkist, Bumble Bee, Progresso, and Genova began putting 16 percent less tuna in slightly smaller cans over a year ago, but because of inventory, the larger cans were available in many major metropolitan area supermarkets until recently, according to several producers.
Canned fish joins a list of dozens of products downsized with no price reduction over the last decade, including cereals, coffee, toilet paper, and even mayonnaise.
“This shrinkage has been going on for years and it’s outrageous,” said a mother of two. “I remember when you could make three kids sandwiches from a can of tuna, but that was a while ago.”
During the last 18 months, Snickers King Sized Bars went from 3.7 ounces to 3.29 ounces, Lay’s Classic Family Size Potato Chips shrunk from 16 ounces to 14 ounces, a package of Bounty Paper Towels thinned out from 138 two-ply sheets to 128 two-ply sheets, and pints of Haagen-Dazs ice cream are no longer pints, but 14 ounces.
“This shrinkage has been going on for years and it’s outrageous,” said Jane Fleetwood, a mother of two who lives in New York City. “I remember when you could make three kids sandwiches from a can of tuna, but that was a while ago.”
Following the tuna can timeline, more than 10 years ago, it came in seven-ounce cans, then were diminished to 6 ½ ounces, then 6 1/8, and now a flat five.
Americans bought 1.5 billion cans of tuna last year, according to AC Nielsen data.
Fish company spokeswomen said the most recent downsizing was due to rising prices for tuna, first canned in 1903, and competition, although it is unclear which company cut the can first in the most recent episode.
Pam Becker, a spokeswoman for Progresso, said, “In order to better align to the current category package sizes, we did move to a five-ounce can for Progresso, making it easier for consumers to compare our brand with other national brands of the same size.”
Amanda Rozier, a spokeswoman for Chicken of the Sea said, “Chicken of the Sea followed its competition and industry in the reduction of package sizes.”
The tuna companies declined to discuss price, which for consumers varies from store to store.
But Robert Ivers, vice president of Fairway Market, which annually sells more than 400,000 cans of tuna at its five stores in the New York City metropolitan area, said the canners all raised their prices over the last 18 months.
“They dropped the size and they raised the prices, and some of that increase we had to pass along, but not all, because we’ve decided to make smaller margins of profit,” he said.
“A year ago we were selling Bumble Bee solid white for $1.25 a can; now it’s $1.66. Genova used to be $1.66 for a five-ounce can; now it’s $1.99,” said Ivers.
Meanwhile, serving sizes on most producers’ cans are listed at two ounces, baffling some consumers, who find it hard to conceive of a two-ounce tuna sandwich.
“It’s a double whammy for customers,” said Ivers. “I have a 9-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son, so now what do I do? I put in extra mayonnaise.”
And, he noted, canned salmon is not exempt from the trend.
“Same thing happening there,” he sighed.
Still me posting but on a different computer so that it why the icon changed I guess
Good lord this stuff has gone up, 8 five ounce cans of solid white albacore (I wonder if it is still as good as it used to be?) is now $21.99 on Amazon (
The last time I was buying this stuff regularly it was 8 oz cans so that would be 5 8 oz can equivalent and you could get an 8 oz solid white albacore can of tuna on sale for $1.65 or so (always less than $2 or less than $10 for that amount of tuna) in Louisville, KY. So, as time flies as you get older,let’s assume that was 15 years ago (I’m 55 now), that is 100% to 200% increase in price ion 15 years or so and that is assuming the quality is high while nice big chunks. I remember it going down hill in that aspect and that is why I stopped buying it.
Interesting, switched back to my icon after I corrected a typo in my email
And get this, the damn cans don’t even contain 5 full ounces of tuna!
“A settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit alleging StarKist Co. under-filled some of its 5-ounce canned tuna products in violation of state and federal law. If you purchased StarKist tuna, you could be entitled to compensation from the class action settlement.
According to the StarKist tuna class action lawsuit, which was filed in February 2013 by plaintiff Patrick Hendricks, federal law requires 5-ounce cans to contain an average of 2.84 to 3.23 ounces of tuna. However, Hendricks alleges that 5-ounce cans of StarKist tuna only contain an average of 2.81 to 3.11 ounces of tuna.”
http://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/open-lawsuit-settlements/103952-starkist-tuna-class-action-settlement/
While admittedly better than nothing, check the S*^t they want you to eat if you are prepared for a “lights out” emergency. If you look at the ingredients in most of the stuff they recommend you get HFCS, GMO, poor fat choices, poor quality milk (unless that powder is from organic cows), etc.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/pdf/emergency_food_pyramid.pdf
A few of the comments on the “tuna” now being sold as solid white albacore per the amazon link I posted above. Yeah, this reminded why why I stopped buying it years ago…
No Longer the Same Product
By musicfan on July 10, 2012
32 of 37 people found this review helpful
I grew up eating Starkist tuna. It was my favorite above any other brands I tried. This is not the same tuna it was before.
I noticed a decline in quality for some time. The tuna had a stronger smell. There was often nuclear-orange glowing color on top of the tuna. The size of the cans got smaller. One can used to yield a few sandwiches. Now you have to open at least two cans for two people. When you drain the liquid out, the lid goes so far down because there isn’t as much tuna as there used to be. But that isn’t the worst part.
I noticed this year that every can I’ve opened has had some sort of sludgy gel-like goo surrounding the tuna. I touched it to see what it was like and it feels like grimy slime. I wondered if this was a bad batch (we usually buy lots of cans at a time) or some sort of new way they are packing it. I looked it up and saw others were finding the same thing in their tuna. I tried eating some of it after getting most of the goo off. But it did not taste very good. I now regret eating it at all after reading the following.
Apparently the company was once owned by Del Monte, but was sold to a South Korean tuna company that was hoping to get into the American market. For what reason? To poison us? Seriously, I can’t imagine what they put in these cans. I also read that they refused to provide records to the FDA when asked. That can’t be good. Why is this stuff still on our store shelves? Why are American companies selling out to foreign ones all the time? Americans are finding it harder and harder to afford groceries. We don’t want to spend our money on trash products. I will never buy Starkist again unless it one day makes its way back to American hands. There is obviously something wrong with it. Just look at it and smell it next time you open a can. It’s no longer the tasty tuna of yesteryear. It is now tuna bits in slimy, tuna-flavored sludge water.
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Something is terribly wrong with this tuna
By Stasia A on November 24, 2012
20 of 22 people found this review helpful
Look, I know. It’s fish. Fish have bones. I worked for over seven years at a large and well-known fish processing plant, and was born and raised in a fishing community. I know my fish bones. Starkist Solid White Albacore is consistently full of bones. Little bitty sharp flecks speckled throughout cans of mushy goop. I know that sometimes, you’re gonna get a bone or two, maybe even a scale. But every. single. can. has multiple, sharp little bones. I’m writing this review because I just tossed half of my sandwich away, after stopping FIVE TIMES (in half a sandwich!) to pick out those annoying bones. I find myself picking more of this crap out of my teeth than enjoying the tuna. Why do most other companies not have this problem? I even find store-brand albacore to be consistently better quality than this stuff. I’ve barely touched on the fact that this stuff is not “solid” in any way. I hit a little chunk at one point, when I was mushing at it with my fork, but it seemed like a mistake, you know, like how brown sugar clumps up on you over time?
I pay extra for good tuna. This is not good tuna. I will not be buying again and I do not recommend it.
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Worst solid alacore tuna ever
By MARK COZAD on June 13, 2012
23 of 26 people found this review helpful
This is bad tuna, can’t say it any better. It’s flavor and smell tend to be very strong, not what you expect from the top of the line tuna they make. The chunk light they make is slightly better. 1 in 4 cans actually are solid albacore, the other 3 are made up of mush, I can’t even call it chunk style. I don’t eat tuna in salads or sandwiches, I eat it out of the can. When I buy solid albacore, I expect that, this brand can’t be trusted to give quality time after time. DON’T BUY.
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These other reviews aren’t kidding, it’s disgusting now
By 2Dogs1Bowl on March 24, 2014
6 of 6 people found this review helpful
I’ll upload some photos when I get around to it, but suffice to say the two large cans I opened tonight were repulsive. They smelled like crab meat that’s been sitting around on a hot day. It was a grey mush with no resemblance to the pinkish, solid albacore I’ve been getting from StarKist since I was a kid.
Two cans, both gross. I had to run out to the local supermarket and grabbed some store brand albacore instead. Before I tossed the Starkist I snapped some photos I’ll post when I around to it. You can’t get the smell from photos but you can see the clear difference between StarKist and a generic SuperFresh brand.
Another poster commented that StarKist was sold to a Korean company. I looked it up and this happened in 2008 (and Heinz owned Starkist before 2002). We usually buy whatever albacore is on sale but we eat it monthly, so either the changes were done recently or we just didn’t happen to buy StarKist brand for 6 years (very unlikely).
We didn’t know about the problems but there’s all kinds of things on the Internet, 60 Minutes coverage, FDA problems, and so on. Well, now we know.
Yep, you can bet the ranch that when someone comes out with New! Improved! packaging, it really means less product for the same price.
Annnndddd,,,,when they can’t hide it, prices go up by the day. The half and half I buy went from $1.58 to $2.08 in the past year.
Didius seems to be very upset about his tuna.
Iska, your “buddy” told you?
It must all be part of the hedonistic adjustment, yes 12 ounces, but you will enjoy it as much as 16.
There is no inflation. Debbie Wasserman Shultz told me so.
The tuna controversy.
The EPA in combination with the USDA and the UN, have effectively shut down ALL American canneries on the East Coast.
There is now ONE. The fish must be sent OUT of country to be processed.
Lied to about EVERYTHING.
And so many applaud when those lying to us, beat the shit out of us too. Makes sense to me.
ps, right after Fukishima, like within two months, the USDA STOPPED TESTING for radiation.
Don’t you people GET it?
To believe ANYTHING they tell you is to support our own future, broke, painful, deaths.
ps, did you know that Russia requires NO vaccinations and their birthrates are higher than ours? Nope, you didn’t, because it is next to impossible to get the information. Took me hours and hours using alternative search engines to find that they don’t require them.
In the “free-est” country in the world, we are being kept from information. It’s, apparently, for the children.
Another reason to prep–hedge against these hidden inflations. I still have dozens of the 30% larger coffee cans. Seeing the packages that they are currently selling now in the store ( at the same price) but with tricky handles carved into the packages and artistic curves to hide the smaller packages–makes my morning coffee even tastier.
If you have the space to store items–toothpaste, shampoo, size of TP rolls–all get smaller and smaller. You will always need and use these items so buy bulk now–it is NEVER going to be cheaper ( except for maybe a brief deflationary period before a hyper collapse.)
Unfortunately this argument is based on a common misconception – that utilities providers profit from swings in the spot market. Most utilities have made their energy (gas, power) purchases well in advance based on their expected customer base and do not benefit much from the drop in the spot market (only used to meet under-hedged load).
That being said, does anyone know of a good source for long-term price data on a wide variety of goods? I’ve been looking but the best I’ve been able to find is either short term (3-4 years) or very limited data (gives average price for beef or chicken without referencing weight)
BigStupid
So I should expect my windfall savings at a future point in time?
It is possible, nowhere near as much as you’d see in the spot market – the hedges generally have a pretty solid margin above LTA in favor of the seller. Here in AB we’re in a down market (about 1/2 the LTA on pool price) and our contracts 3 years out are nowhere near this level of discount.
General rule of thumb with utility retailers – the fixed rate contracts are a scam (they often include a claw-back clause if the contract is actually in your favor at the end of the term).
Hi Admin, Damn right, I love me some good tuna 🙂
Related story: While there is incredible sushi in New Zealand (more Japanese and Asians than the U.S.) beware of the cheap tuna sushi: They used tuna from cans in it, I kid you not! Then I found out this is common in other countries on this side of the world. Anyone else know from experience? They do have the kind with the raw high quality tuna but you have to be sure you know what it is before ordering.
TE: Thanks, did not know about the canneries in the U.S. or the Russian non-vaccination requirements (good for them).
Per Amazon reviews, apparently Bumble Bee solid white albacore is still what it was 20 years ago, anyone know?
So somebody gave me a thumbs down on the Cadbury comment. I used to like it too so it is sad that they are part of the globalist machne.