I’ve been noting the cost of normal non energy items going up. I bought a candy bar the other day and when I asked the clerk why a snickers is $.98 he told me “the prices of everything are going up.” He’s right. It’s more obvious here in Hawaii where virtually everything has to be imported, but it is becoming more obvious throughout the U.S. consider the following data from Reuters Business News:
U.S. consumer prices soared 1.2 percent last month, the biggest gain in more than 25 years, as two big hurricanes led to a record surge in energy prices.
The storms also knocked down industrial output and dampened the spirits of U.S. consumers, reports showed on Friday. The storm-driven climb in gasoline prices propped up retail sales outside of autos, which fell as buyer incentives wound down.
The increase in the consumer price index was the largest since March 1980, the U.S. Labor Department said.
But outside of food and energy, prices were tame — rising a scant 0.1 percent for the fifth straight month and offering hope that broad-based inflation could be averted.
The steep energy price rise has pushed overall prices up 4.7 percent over the past year, the biggest jump since 1991.
A separate government report showed U.S. retail sales rose a lower-than-forecast 0.2 percent last month as car sales tumbled. Outside of autos, however, sales climbed a healthy 1.1 percent, partly reflecting the big gain in gasoline prices.
Mink Hippie and I are going to go to Costco today to get various this and that’s. I’ll let you know about any strange prices I may come across if any. But, for now, start paying attention to how much eggs, milk, meat, plastic goods, and other things cost. This sort of inflation could lead to the bursting of the proverbial bubble we have been hearing about for the past several years…