I am truly honored to have such an intelligent, well read, global audience. Therefore, I want to pick your brains and get your insights beyond the normal commentary. Are you experiencing any economic troubles as a result of the sanctions imposed on Russia. If you can, please identify your country or general area (e.g., Europe). Looking forward to what you have to say.
Also, be sure to read Andrei Martyanov’s latest, Larch’s Excellent Summary + My Video.
Before the pandemic a package of ground beef would cost 4.50. Yesterday it cost 8.50. Im in Canada.
In rural Alberta, on Saturday, regular ground beef was 3.99/lb. If your in major city, you should be looking for specials.
Slovenia , ground beef from 9€ per kilo. Gasoline 1.53€ per l or 6.12€ per gallon.
Dairy and meat products about 30% – 40% more expensive.
@ Old Hermet, I’m in Manitoba and that is the ‘special sale’ price. Regular over $6/#
Germany. Dairy products about 30% – 40% more expensive. Paid double for my heating oil – yet happy we dont use gas! Bread about 30% more expensive and so on.
CEO of Germany’s biggest bank Sparkasse, Mr. Schleweiss, was quoted last week saying that a German family of four (mom + dad + 2 kids) need a monthly income of 3.600€ to break even now.
Netherlands here.
Inflation stats 17% across the board. Energy prices will triple for most people. Electricity price increases are starting to catch up with oil/gas so the folks going green are quite pissed. Average income after taxes here is around 1500 and energy is going from 175-200 to over 500/month. Rental housing is 800+ so a lot of people are going to get crushed. There will be choices between food and heating.
Government solution of course is to print again massive amount of money which is even more inflationary.
Living in Canada for last 20 years (emigrated from Russia). Costs have gone up here, a lot among common goods and commodities (Lumber especially). A loaf of white bread (not imported) doubled in price (3$ to 7$) at least where I am, which is weird because Canada is top 5 wheat exporter. Bills have gone up as well, varies between 30%-50%. Fuel prices came down which surprised me but the good folks across the border are injecting from their strategic reserve so I assumed that’s what is affecting that, and because our government had to significantly cut tax on fuel.
It’s livable, I am somewhat of a long term planner (financially at least not tinfoil hat stuff lol) so it’s not terrible, but it’s not the same I can say for people at the poverty or just above line and if it gets worse it will hurt and that would destroy our middle class here (like the government cares anyways for all of Trudeau’s time).
I living In Canada too, Ontario specifically. You said is not terrible but for a family making less of 60K it is.
I live near the East coast as well. The “..it’s not terrible,..” wasn’t a broad brush, that’s just personal situation it’s not terrible for me….yet. For a family making 60k (together) will definitely have financial issues with the current economic situation in Canada. For Ontarians the fuel cost is on average 145-150 cents/L (just over $5/gallon), in the West coast and coastal provinces the fuel prices go as high as 200 cents/L.
2.24 a litre in nanaimo today oct 4th… food prices are much higher then a few months ago as well..
live in chilliwack b.c 2.29 litre milk is cheaper.
Retired civil servant living in SE, NY state. Trying to stretch my social security and small government pension ain’t easy up here where food prices are through the roof and gasoline not far behind.
I don’t know how retirees on fixed incomes can make it. Are you on propane for heating? I know someone who lives semi-rural about 30 miles South of Rochester, NY. Heats w/ propane. Usually spends around $3K to $4K per year on it. Tells me the cost has about doubled; that plus high property taxes and high grocery and gasoline bills. Electrical up too. Much worse than some other parts of the country b/c NY tacks on so many taxes – as price increases, taxes increase proportionately.
I got the hell out of NY almost two years ago when I saw a debacle coming with Joe Biden. Moved to the SW USA where you don’t freeze to death, you can own and carry guns hassle free, taxes are lower, etc. Working from home now (company pays if I need to travel). I’m saving $25K/yr easily with no lifestyle adjustment other than the move.
Hey Larry, here in Tn. in 2021 I was paying 2.50 per gal. diesel. Now 4.50 per gal. Of course the stores prices are up close to 100% increase due to inflation and the cost to do business. But we are blessed not to be dodging bullets, for now anyways. And it looks like we will be able to stay pleasantly warm this winter unless that squeaky fan on the heat pump decides to give up the ghost. But that’s what I do for a living so I guess I’ll be able to swap it out if it loses all it’s smoke.
At least you’ll have some job security. You actually know how to do something that benefits people. Stay warm.
Come to Florida. Staying warm is not as much a challenge. Of course, there is the risk of hurricanes.
Quit encouraging people to come to Florida. It’s too crowded already.
Depends on where in Florida you live, in Jacksonville where I have lived for almost 67 year I have been through only 3 hurricanes, but we do have a lot of yankees, LOL.
Thanks for the invite Larry. My wife is from the Philippines. She is headed back this Dec., for a break, leaving me with a broke ac unit 😉 I best stick around and get the thing fixed. But I am sure the thoughts of sunny Florida will be dancing in my head. Cheers!
In Vancouver Canada gas at the pump is $CAD 2.35 for a litre of regular (on average)
Everything else is going up.
Electricity and natural gas are still relatively stable – for now.
Groceries and general product availability is still OK. Of course, everything costs more now.
My guess is that Canada will be hit in the second wave of the financial crash.
Me I’m a expat ( ex military) from the USA living in Mexico 4 blocks from the beach. Life is good here. Yes a little increase in the food budget but everything else is normal. Mexico has stayed neutral in the sanctions game, which is quite remarkable considering she is the USA southern neighbor. Mexico was the country people were trying to get to during the covid lockdown.
PS I try to catch all your video podcasts with quests.
I live in an energy producing area of Canada and was once an energy regulator.
The mess in Europe, the stupidity of the sanctions and the experience of the truckers has raised energy prices and given a spine to our politicians and optimism to our people (at the provincial level). Our budget is in surplus and a soon to be new government promises to reduce spending and defy our Prime Minister whenever appropriate.
I understand the position of Mr. Putin and I despise Mr. Zelensky. I wrote in my substack about how the Nulands of the State Dept have torn off Ukraine’s historical scabs leaving, yet again, thousands to die for their evil designs.
The sad pain of Ukraine is very much to our benefit. Our province filled with fleeing Ukrainians a century ago. Here we go again with another “filling”. Perhaps not the feedback you wanted.
Here in India we haven’t suffered as much, thanks to deeply discounted Russian oil. Also, both Russia and Iran have invited India to invest in their oil fields, and if that happens, our oil import bill will fall further. Indeed, it appears that Russia has offered us some of its most productive oil fields for investment.
I live in Plano, Tx
Nothing directly related to Russia. I am feeling a lot of financial stress right now .
Perhaps it is indirectly due to sanctions imposed by USA.
I bought gas at $2.60 cents a year ago on bulk 300+ gallons for fuel barrel. Today that price stands at close to $3.79 in Iowa. A few months ago it was $4.75. We know they robbed the SPR for artificial temporary relief and political rigging for midterms. Food prices have doubled on meats and remain in an upward trend for veggies. Everything else is way up from a year ago.
We remain without parts for much of electrical industry (substation). We do rely on reliable and durable manufacturing (not Chinese junk). Those parts cannot be cheap and must be heavy duty for transformer outfitting. Battery, Solar, and Wind Generation are on the rise while coal is being dismantled. A warning to everyone: this is going to cost you dearly when it all comes home to roost. Coal is on demand. A small coal plant can produce 300 MW on demand. It would take 300 windmills turning 24×7 to produce the same amount at 10 mph wind. It would take at least 650 acres of solar to accomplish this and it would have to be nice and sunny for 3 days. The short answer is to be ready for blackouts and increased costs with less service. The government offers to pay huge amounts to subsidize this type of energy and the greedy scum in corporate utility board rooms can not see more than 5 feet in front of them. They don’t even care about their countrymen or own offspring. They want those subsidies and bonuses.
I sometimes drive past the Ivanpah solar farm when going between Los Angeles and Las Vegas and so was curious how productive it actually was, so I looked up the statistics in order to find out how efficient real world solar power is.
The plant covers 3500 acres for the three towers and their mirror arrays. The real power generation allowing for night time, low solar angles, cloud cover, is 110MW when you average it out over 365 days, 24 hours a day.
The plant also burns 1.2 million cubic feet of natural gas per year to keep the generators hot when the sun isn’t shining.
Good comment.
Hello Larry. Perhaps my comment does not contribute much given that Argentina is a unique case in the galaxy, we live in crisis, but going to the point, a greater impact on fuel prices has been added, due to the sanctions against Russia, today Here, eating a barbecue has become a luxury as well as something as basic for us as mate. I send you my regards.
Admittedly, I buy a lot of foods I can do without, but it seems like what $50 used to buy at the supermarket is now $80. I was away for a few days in the Midwest and I bought a Wendy’s single, sandwich only on the trip home, $5.99 for what used to be $3.49 not too long ago.
That said, I don’t know what it’s going to take, but we have to break the back of these neocons and the control they have over our foreign policy. It has been one debacle after another since Reagan gave them a seat at the table.
Great post! Yes the neocons like Nuland, Sullivan and Biden truly suck and must be removed from office. Break their backs and then some!
The US and the world is paying a very high price for allowing the neocons to get away with the 9-11 attacks.
Don’t leave out the FED – the enablers of the failed state of our hegemonic disaster.
Greetings, I am an asset manager using quant strategies to trade the current geopolitical situation in Europe.
Current open positions include put option positions and option spread positions in SPX and EWG ( German ETF).
Right now the equity and options markets are up since the Nordstream 2 sabotage event which provides an interesting counterargument to most of the commentary on this site.
If Germany succeeds in replacing Russian gas and oil without major disruption to industry and its counterparties in the banking sector, as suggested in current market activity, most of the analysis on this site will be proven wrong and my positions and my customer’s positions will lose money.
For more information on my firm see http://www.spreadhunter.com.
How will Germany replace Russian oil and gas?
They should be re-opening their three closed nuclear plants and planning to keep the existing three open for an indefinite period. Instead they are reluctantly deciding to keep two open till April.
But they are opening up coal power plants (and presumably coal mines). Crazy that a country with a Green party that has had some success, thinks that going back to coal is better than going back to nuclear.
And they will try and buy as much LNG as they can, at much higher cost relative to the pipeline natural gas. If they are mostly goin to replace the missing pipeline with LNG, that is going to give them economic pain even in the unlikely scenario they could find enough.
Would like to hear what they are saying behind closed doors because publicly I haven’t seen much concern from the government. But industry has expressed it.
How many years is it going to take to replace all that gas and oil, what is it getting replaced with – wind and solar, it sure isn’t nuclear; and which public companies go broke while that happens? What happens to the small companies with no backing from investors like you? Except you aren’t investing in any of those are you?
The German Small Cap Index (EWGS) is up 4.10% today. These companies receive funding from large firms and banks that believe the narrative of the mainstream financial press, namely, that Germany will find substitutes in a timely manner for the energy assets taken out by the Nordstream military strike.
Taking a position against the consensus is a high risk speculation. In my personal experience, the conventional wisdom is usually right. To limit risk, investors and speculators can use assymmetrical positions (small loss, large gain) and control the position size to a very small percent of the total portfolio. 1% of the total portfolio size would be a very aggressive position, in my view.
David, judging by the chart linked below, I think your and your clients’ money is quite safe.
https://t.me/azmilitary11/23412
Fact: Germany cannot replace Russian gas with any alternative source that has given them the competitive industrial edge for a decade. The markets are currently fueled by hopium, and when reality finally dawns, there will be a bloodbath. You can take that one to the bank – only I wouldn’t recommend Credit Suisse and Deutsche in that regard for obvious reasons…
https://news.bitcoin.com/trading-like-a-lehman-moment-credit-suisse-deutsche-bank-suffer-from-distressed-valuations-as-the-banks-credit-default-insurance-nears-2008-levels/
In the short term, Germany’s energy subsidy means the entire euro is subsidized for energy. It can be seen as a new qe and can lead to asset price rise and inflation. Short positions are risky.
Short positions are risky. One obvious solution is to not do them at all. An alternative is to put on trades with assymetric payouts and defined (not unlimited) risk, in small position size.
Me?
I’m gonna continue buying canned food, bottled water, water-filtration units, dental supplies, medical supplies, firewood, extra winter clothes, winter sleeping bags, etc.
Inside my home, in Southwest Connecticut, I’m already wearing a winter coat with the hood over my head.
I can’t afford to raise the temperature in the house, even though I have a fairly-good paying, working-class job.
I’m saving money for when it REALLY gets cold starting in November!
I’m expecting the price of home-heating oil to go through the roof in November after the election and after those controlling Biden complete the draining of the SPR.
It feels like we’re headed back to the 1800s style of living.
This winter is going to be really cold and snowy, the weather-warfare engineers, working on behalf of the NWO psychopaths, are going to see to that.
They just sent the Republican area of Florida a Cat 5 hurricane, weeks before the midterm elections, and a couple of weeks after DeSantis sent those illegal aliens to Martha Vineyard, too coincidental!
Since the morning of 9/11, it is just absolutely horrifying the level of suffering the NWO psychopaths, the real perpetrators of 9/11, have inflicted on the people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine, Libya, America, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, England and so many others!
And these are the same psychopaths that unleashed, on us, the gain-of-function Covid 19 virus and the Covid “vaccine”, which has killed and injured more people than the Covid virus killed and injured, all done to mind control everyone into obeying the NWO decrees and for the sake of Big Pharma’s profits!
All this suffering inflicted on hundreds of millions by a relatively small group of MEGA LOSERS like Soros, and Schwaub and a pathetic group of errand boys and girls like Biden, Truss, Macroun, Stoltenberg and Scholtz!
We really are in a war to save ourselves from these lunatics!
I find it hard to believe the Germans are gonna take what’s being done to them passively.
When the protests begin, if the riot police side with the German people, it’s over for Scholz and the other paid-off politicians that have done this to the German people!
So, I’m hunkering down for a long, cold winter.
God’s speed and protection to everyone!
I live in an off-grid and fairly remote situation in the Kootenays. We have two large gardens which sustains us pretty much year ’round but we do supplement with others for trade. We are in to as much of a parallel society as possible. However, we drive very little but gasoline has gone up about twice the price and now hovers around $1.90/Litre. Propane has increased by about 35%. I’ve stocked up my backhoe and truck with diesel and have all the gerry cans full of fuel for the coming winter. I’ve also stockpiled kerosene for the lanterns and of course, we burn wood for cooking, heating and hot water during the winter. I’ve purchased enough building supplies months ago in anticipation of building another complete house down below on our 27 acres plus I’m just putting the finishing touches on a log cabin I built from scratch. I dug a shallow well and we are getting water from it. The only thing I have to deal with before SHTF is to get a bad tooth pulled so it won’t bother me for hopefully a few years. We have also purchased e-bikes so we could move around a bit when we have little to carry. I’ve increased my ammo supply and have taken out tons of cash to have on hand in case of. I read not only your site, but several others daily so as to keep in touch with what’s going on on the “outside” world. I’ve dug a new patch of soil ready for planting grain in the future but for now, I’ve stocked up on over 250 lbs of wheat grain which we grind when we need it. I’ve also downed some dead trees and have ready to make in to mill for the house build next year. I’m working with other partisans in our general area but we are miles apart from each other and hopefully the communication grid won’t go down. Then I’d be back to taking a chance to go to their place to help them out. Once the snow’s hit, we really hunker down here on the homestead. Luckily, the two of us are hermits which helps when you choose this lifestyle. Oh, and I’ve decided to stop shaving this winter so as to add a bit of insulation to the chin this year. I’m doing a Chechnyan look in honour of those terrific fighters.
You have your priorities straight. I share your admiration of the Chechens.
Brilliant, both of you!
Larry, you are a regular on my RFA listening rotation.
ARW, hope to hear more of your yarns soon.
It has dawned on me over the time I listen to you, smoothie, Scott, ray…
that Joel & Ethan Coen better be taking this all in, and this goes for Roberto Rodriguez as well. If we’re lucky, well be alive to watch the long awaited sequel to The Dude…The Musical
Best to both, and thanks
I’m a mix of awe and envy, reading your post. Living in the UK, the paradox is that one would need an awful lot of money to live your lifestyle. Land with a property is enormously expensive here, and even if you can afford to buy some land without property you aren’t allowed to live on it. Plus you are never far away from some interfering local government official. We are truly a domesticated nation, and all the worse for it. May you have a good winter, safe and sound on your own land, and master of your fate.
Here in the Benelux(not far from shape…), this is my personnal situation but it may vary from person to person. Main question to ask: do you have a fix rate contract for electricity and natgaz? If yes(like me) you are totally untouched untill your yearly invoice at the end of March 23.(we pay every month a 12th of the evaluated amount taking in consideration your three last years of consumption, you can pay more if you wish), then during a normal year or you have to pay some additional amount or it is a refund if you paid too much by 12th).
But a big but, if you have a variable rate contract you already pay much more since april 22, sometime up to 10 x times more. Corporations, shops received crazy invoices: one exmple a bakkery near Mons simply went bankrupted as they used to pay let’s say 50.000 eur yearly, they got an energy invoice of…50.000 but monthly. Of course impossible to stay open. Means 6 jobs lost and life savings lost for a family business (85 years old, they survived WWII and multiple recessions, but here it is game over).Very sad, suicides may even happen for some?
Even worse for big industries which need a looooot of energy(steel, auto construction, chemical, fertilizers..), they have more cash in reserve but I’m not sure it is going to last very long, here they don’t go broke yet, they decreased the production or closed 2 or 3 days a week, meaning more jobs lost etc…less revenues in taxes for the govt etc..
Inflation is another issue and for everybody since february. We have reached 12 % in Sept.
We are quiet protected as the wellfare social system here is top notch: salaries, pensions, social benefits are automaticaly increased of the inflation level, 100 %.
But we are an exception (with Luxemburg as well), it does not exist in other countries even in France of course not in the UK and eastern Europe where they reached 24% inflation in one baltic state.
What do the political people?We received and will receive more checks of 100 or 200 eur monthly (winter only), they decreased the VAT from 21 % to 6 %, unions are asking 0 %.
They provided 40 % of the population (+-) with the energy ‘social rate’ which is really interesting, it is done automatically depending on your revenues, more or less a 40 % additional discount.
Strangely at the gas station(cars) the gas is not so expensive now as it was 4 months ago but it may change for the worse as eurocrats will implement an ‘oil cap’ on Russian oil(which I hope will fail), here we are big russian oil buyers(23 %) but only 5 % of their natgaz.
And I heard that OPEC + will decrease production though gas will increase soon.
For the moment as a summary: not yet a total collapse but it will be in 2023 as fix rate gas/electricity will simply cease to exist…hoping for a multi billions govt bailout like in the UK, Germany and France.
Macron did one clever thing (for once) eventhough France external debt will implode but later: he is bailingout everybody ‘bouclier énergie’ wich limit for 2022 gas-natgaz and electricity increase at 4 % only, but in 2023 it will be a 15 % increase (the rest is for the state debt, around 100/150 billions for 2022 and 2023).
Saw a report that the all EU could lose up to 5 or 6 trillions untill the end of 2023. Fantastic sanctions…this includes social costs, energy bailout, jobs lost= unemployment benefits, less consumption in the shops, less or zero trips for the holidays etc..poors will be poorer but very rich or rich people will lose little except if they are industry or shops owners.
Not to forget housing prices starting to slowly fall, people who hold stocks or bonds will have losses maybe catastrophic if any Lehman 2.0 in sight which is possible as Credit Suisse and DBank are almost collapsing tonight(cds reaching lehman level).
Problem is the politicos (national, EU, NATo etc) as they invested so much not in money or weapons but their credibility, it can become the biggest lost of face ever if they lose. Their credibility and prostitution to the US will destroy them forever. Dangerous situation as they can only like neocons double, triple down untill….
At least you have beer. Best beer I have ever had the privilege of drinking.
My situation? Overall good as a cop in North Texas in a suburb north of Dallas, Texas. Not only do I have a stable job, the pay is increasing. Many factors for that increase. The main one from our city council is that to attract people who will be not inclined to corruption and violating people’s civil rights means $$$.
Now, for me personally, it’s a mixed bag. My family has only one income, mine. My wife long ago decided someone needed to stay at home. We did not send our children to day care. Some of our children are homeschooled. The only debt we have is our home mortgage which will be paid off in a year or two.
This all means that even though I do make good money, I do not own new or even newer cars. Most of my home repairs of which some are substantial is done by me and we don’t have the luxury to spend as we please.
If we don’t have the money, we don’t do it. We do not have credit cards.
Inflation has made things harder.
Stay safe. Glad you’re on the job.
Over 18.5 years as a cop. Law enforcement is my second career though. I was a software developer in the 1990s and early 2000s. I rode the dot.com wave and then got pinned under the water, almost drowned.
I do take my oath and responsibilities seriously. I was also a USN Electronics Technician 2nd Class, Petty Officer 2nd Class. Mostly reserve. Have medals for the Gulf War and the War on Terror due to a split enlistment.
My issue with Russia and Ukraine is only of a wider war that might turn into conflagration destroying us all or a large majority. I don’t hate either nation. This, if it was just between them or neighboring nations, doesn’t affect me or any other American. However, since our government has taken sides, we as Americans are affected. This doesn’t mean we blindly follow our feckless leaders. Not at all. We, meaning me too, have been there, done that. Nope, we need to all be realists on this and truly on all things.
Russia is not an enemy. Ukraine is not an ally.
Way I see it, you’re doing things the right way.
Be a simple kind of man – // more I live, more I realize how right my mama was, about a lot of things (and she was born n raised in a small town in India).
an American with no credit cards ? congrats man, very smart. I myself never ever used one.
Credit cards – another example of US hegemony. All the banks here in Australasia encourage their use ( they get a kickback), and also the govt. when covid scared everyone into contactless payments. Clipping the ticket on each and every transaction, even at a small %, generates huge wealth transfers to the large US credit card names. ( there are no others )
I had credit cards at one time. Got burned big time, huuugely.
Nothing like having 30k US dollars unsecured debt. Stopped me cold from becoming a US Navy Officer, granted they wanted me for intel.
After getting out from that, my wife and I swore them off.
In Natchez, MS. Currently, fuel prices (gasoline) are around $3 a gallon, got up to $5 a gallon in the Summer. Diesel has been above $4.50 a gallon for the past 2 years. Our economy runs off diesel fuel. The new low sulfur diesel and DEF requirements from the EPA is a disaster. Food prices have risen 10-20%. Ground beef has been $4.50 a pound (good ground beef, no lips, eyeballs or other parts) for the past 2 years. Chicken and pork have been the same.
Hey Larry — I live in the American colony of Australia. I’m a left-wing Yank who bailed on the U.S. along with my (now-ex) wife after Bush II and realPresident Cheney got re-elected in 2004. We were your typical peace-marching San Francisco hippie types who said “If Bush gets back in, we’re leaving the country.” So we did. Had to live up to our word. Too bad, because I spent the first four decades of my life being proud of being an American. It was a good culture when it was the “shrewd Yankee trader, git-er-done!” ethos instead of the whiny, entitled fecklessness of today. My conscience rests easier because I’m no longer paying taxes to the war machine. I’m ensconced in one of its ass-remora satrapies, fer sher, but I don’t feel responsible for Oz’s war crimes the way I did with the U.S.’s.
In answer to your question, I have not seen much economic trouble due to the sanctions. Petrol prices are way up, like $1 Australian a litre, although there are wild price swings every week due to the weird market dynamics (i.e. manipulation by suppliers) here. That’s similar to a $4-per-gallon increase in the U.S. An Aussie dollar is only worth ~65 U.S. cents these days, compared to 75 U.S. cents before the Ukraine war started. There’s massive disruption to economic flows worldwide, caused in part by the war, but it’s hard to pin it down to a single cause like the sanctions.
Nobody’s talking about the war very much. Average people don’t care. Doesn’t come up in conversation in my circles. To mention it amongst normies comes across as a clanger. The media parrot the propaganda line of “unprovoked invasion! Putin=Hitler! Ukraine is kicking Russia’s arse!” to the extent that it gets mentioned at all. Not just the Murdoch media, but the putatively left-leaning newspaper and on the government-run Australian Broadcasting Corporation news (which used to be more down-the-middle neutral like Canada’s CBC. Only that’s gotten worse as well. I lived in Vancouver during my exile, so I still pay attention.)
There’s plenty of food in the grocery stores, even though it costs 25% more than it did last year. People are back in restaurants, pubs and shopping on the high streets after the Covid clampdowns ended, although more than 100 people are dying from it in my state each week. Most of them are oldies, and the government has stopped reporting the deaths each day like it did when society still gave a rat’s about human life, so everyone is pretending that nothing bad is happening. They do that about a lot of stuff Downundahere.
In many ways, Australia is like a pretend country. Which I like! It’s part of the reason I immigrated here and got citizenship here instead of staying in Canada. Most people don’t take the Big Picture too seriously. They’re not self-important like Americans. It’s la-la land, Larry. When Bad Things hit, and they will, I expect Aussies will try to muddle through instead of getting violently over-excited. “She’ll be right, mate” and “Oh well, can’t be helped” are part of the national slacker ethos. At least I hope so.
Thanks for your good reportage. I differ from you in many viewpoints, and I’m a peacenik at heart, so it pains me to be on the Russian side in this conflict. But hell, Nazis are naff. America should stop giving them death machines, accept the “L” in this game, and mind its own farking business. Which they won’t, until the economic foundation of American and European society crumbles like a Sanibel Island beach house in Hurricane Ian. (I usedta live in Port Charlotte, so I can relate to that.) My hope is that the U.S. doesn’t decide to take “the Samson option” and pull it all down as the Empire is falling.
Your comment, as well as the others, is very salient and insightful. We need this kind of communication and adult dialogue. Thanks so much for sharing. Same to others.
Yep, I can confirm this summary as a native born Aussie.
I survive just under the “poverty line” on a pension for PTSD. I’m pretty Spartan, have a solar panels in subsidized housing so my utilities and housing costs are not that bad. No dependent spouse or kids either. The working and middle class is struggling and massive flooding after massive bush fires is not helping.
I would add that most of the price rises in Australia … we export most of our agricultural products, natural gas, etc and have massive cold stores … though the floods & fires have contributed is mostly price gouging and a fair bit of artificially created scarcity.
On the news media here in 2002/3 Scott Ritter easily got on our national broadcaster to provide his excellent insights, but he’d be pushing a large amount of shit up a very long hill to be heard anywhere in our MSM news cycle now. Since our illegal invasion of Iraq the ABC has gradually been neutered, the last three heads of which are all ex-Murdock employees. Our new PM referred to the ABC as a tool of “soft power” soon after coming to power.
The level of propaganda and oligarchic control here is now so bad Murdock’s cable 24/7 news is piped into every federal parliamentarian and senators office in Canberra.
Most people don’t care about and are generally ignorant of geopolitics and subscribe to the “Putin is bad MKAY. China is bad MKAY.” official narrative when it even comes up.
In Manitoba, Canada here. We have seen costs post-Covid skyrocket. Grocery is one issue, absolutely but it is also the variety and amount available. Baby supplies are almost non-existent.
But I also own a construction company and this is where I am watching things take off. Building supplies (Lumber) have no difference in price between Canada & the US anymore.
When sanctions started aluminium, soffit, valves, steel products, Siemens electrical products all started going on back order. Typical European systems for Automation have gotten scarce. Long, long lead times.
Our fuel? Syrocketed 1.90 CAD per litre, diesel $2.19 CAD per litre. That’s not sustainable. Food shortages are going to happen but more so in terms of affordability.
Shelves everywhere have holes in them. Nothing is packed densely on shelves. Medical supplies, and pharmaceuticals are harder to find.
Economically, with triple carbon taxation and sanctions – we are going to get hurt. Maybe not this fall, but soon. We are in a recession – and the divide between socio economic classes is growing. Our middle class is almost finished.
The labour market here is broken. We didn’t fill the gaps in the physical and trade sectors – and as a result, we lost businesses. With recession, the rest won’t hire for a bit.
We are resource rich, but we have pissed it away, and retooling back into it is,going to be hard without European industry. Our mining, energy, oil and gas all use Siemens, Schneider – not GE. So, we have a problem coming.
Hi Larry, (western) European living in Thailand for the last 9 years with my family. Here prices on some basic goods such as rice, sugar etc are subsidized by the gov, as the majority of the population is very price sensitive and would simply be unable to survive even moderate increases.
Diesel (also subsidized) is almost unchanged over the last decade. We saw a 10% increase since the SMO started, but that’s about it.
The Thai baht has dropped quite a bit against USD, so that affects imported goods, but it’s of little concern to us as we can find everything we need locally and Thailand is a major food producer/exporter. In terms of food security (and general security) it’s probably one of the safest corners of the world currently.
Our personal financial situation is fortunate, as we own our residence and have no debt and thus are not sensitive to interest rate hikes. What concerns us most at the moment is the risk for bank bail ins and other possible means for financial ‘resets’. For that reason we are looking at alternatives to/diversification from traditional banking.
I’m pretty dumb but I admire those who are intelligent like you. I want to know what you think about everything especially the following:
“Cirincione said that if Putin were to actually make good on his threat to go nuclear, it would not be a large-scale thermonuclear bomb attack, but a more limited deployment of tactical weapons — far more limited in scope but still a major and unprecedented escalation. And Cirincione said that the U.S. military response would not be limited to the battlefield. There would also likely be a sharp escalation in psychological warfare such as was used to unnerve Iraqi generals on the eve of the U.S. invasion of that country. “The U.S. was calling Iraqi generals in their home and telling them to stand down. And they did that for two reasons. One, to let them know we know where you live, right? Two, we can reach out and touch you,” said Cirincione, predicting that the U.S. might well adopt such a tactic in the Ukraine crisis.”
https://news.yahoo.com/expert-if-putin-uses-nukes-us-could-wipe-out-russian-forces-in-ukraine-211607717.html
Jim Giles
Radio Free Mississippi
Jeez man please read those speeches and digest those words before you make a common mistake of believing at first glance what is and is not stated.The only country to use and threaten to use is your very own. ( U.K. did attempt over Japan in 45 but technical and or weather or both made it a no go). It is the final curtain IMO of the globalist/WEF/Davos cabal West and the world looks bright soon as U.S ,U.K, E.U self deprecate and start over again .
“The U.S. was calling Iraqi generals in their home and telling them to stand down. And they did that for two reasons. One, to let them know we know where you live, right? Two, we can reach out and touch you,”
Only thing is that in the case of Russia, those roles might well be reversed as American generals and politicians are called at home by Russian intelligence and reminded of the risk they are taking messing with Russia.
I’m a private sector employee. Middle class. Gasoline prices have gone up here (I’m in Southeast Asia). Though still subsidized by the govt, the grade I usually buy has become unaffordable for me, so I switched to a lower grade. Two income household, no kids yet, so still manageable. One decision I made this year is to invest more in physical gold, as my trust in other vehicles has diminished. I did not get any raise for two years during the pandemic, but finally got one this year, so thank God. LPG price has also increased this year, but our consumption of it is relatively low, so still OK. My country recently floated the idea of buying crude from Russia, but given our history of being in the Western sphere of influence since 1966, I doubt that will happen. Sanctions scare the heck out of some government officials, not to mention the threat of being seen as veering out of the Western orbit. Can’t guess what covert actions will be hatched on some later day against us.
I pray for speedy recovery of Florida and other areas impacted by the hurricane. I hope things will be restored to normalcy as soon as possible.
The reinforcements are rolling in .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdtu0ssjcuU&list=RDCMUCPpqZa5BzBSakIt6JyWjkSw&index=4 … that whole playlist. I don’t think I would want to be on the receiving end. I wonder what is in the enclosed carriages.
The reinforcements are rolling in, so much for the hoped-for demise of the Russian Military by the delusional Globalist Agitprop who are staring at their end!
Bigger reinforcements coming into Ukraine through lviv from Europe that Russia has still failed to hit. Someone must have been paid well to look the other way.
Don’t drink
Don’t smoke
Don’t do drugs
Don’t buy processed canned or packaged food.
Yes I am a boring little tit but a happy little tit. The money I save when shopping and not buying “Shit” that l didn’t know l needed. Is used to see private doctors….fast….!
Boring little tits do not stand in long government queues.
But I still feel for the desperate people would die in government queues.
Note:
l also include white people Camel Toe Kamala. We are all created in Gods image skin tone is not mentioned, nor a preferred branch of Religion, just keep his word. Only despicable low rent politicians and nasty blue girls have caused the hell coming our way.
Recommend: The Cardiac Diet for life. You will soon feel clean inside and save money. Just sayin.
20+ years ago, I had dreams of working for myself, in my own business. I delayed doing it, until one day God kicked me in the ass, by bankrupting a company I had joined two months before. I wasn’t told the precarious state of the company when I accepted the job, from two partners who I later realized hated each other. Anyway, the lies I was told cemented the notion in my mind that I could not trust anyone in corporate America (and certainly not government) with my family’s future. So I went out on my own (agri-processing and sales) and haven’t looked back. Being in the agriculture food-chain, I have a front-row seat to inflation. I knew things changed for our economy for good, about 2 years ago, when customers just started accepting price increases, whereas before, every contract would come down to arguing about pennies. Everyone was faced with the situation, almost immediately: “pay up, or you won’t get anything at all.”
So my own economic situation is fine. Working in a commodity business is always riding a wave, which actually makes it fun – like an ever-changing puzzle. I work for myself, and have avoided growth-at-any-cost. I want my small-company employees to be like family, and have, thankfully, been able to work with the same people I like, and trust, for 20 years.
And above all, I have my independence
Over here in Austria food prices have exploded, gas is around $9 a gallon. Our company informed us the temperature of the work hall thermostat will be set at 60 degrees. Doesn’t sound that bad until you realize it’s was normally set at 70 and you still needed a jacket and long underwear to be comfortable. A lot of heat escapes when you open large garage doors.
The company I work for is really pushing overtime. You see overtime is not paid over here your hours are banked. I think they are doing this banking of hours to help cushion the blow of the layoffs that are coming.
Personally my wife and I will be fine. She’s a nurse and her family has a big farm. When I get layed off I will become farmer Mike.
Hi Larry:
In Singapore, before the pandemic a tray of 30 eggs was S$3.30. Now that same tray is S$6.85, that is 108% price increase. They did jump to S$7.50 but have settled to 6.85. I expect them to rise again once Brandon has exhausted the strategic petroleum reserves and the fuel prices rise again, not withstanding Opec’s decision to cut production in the future.
Cheers,
John
Ironically, I may be one of the few people who benefits from the current inflationary environment and energy crunch.
I live largely off of royalty income from shale gas wells on my rural properties. Whereas other complain that oil prices were at 14 year highs and natural gas prices are much higher than they were when a glut of shale gas came online and drove prices to exceptionally low levels a few years ago, I am resentful that prices are not even higher and natural gas markets are not globally integrated as oil markets are.
What’s worse is that pipeline infrastructure constraints here in southwestern PA have prevented the regional glut of natural gas from selling at anything like the Henry Hub prices in Louisiana. Our wells are much more productive than those in the Haynesville shale but there are only a few major pipelines that can carry this glut to market. Hopefully things will improve even further when Shell gets its new cracker plant open in Monaca, Pa.
When I watch Democracy Now and hear that Joe Manchin was unable to secure legislative relief to build a new pipeline that could have supplied northeastern markets and possibly even new LNG export facilities to serve Europe, it really irks me.
I feel bad for retirees and investors who struggle to innoculate their portfolio against inflation. So many of the “solutions” individuals gravitate to like gold/silver or bitcoin look like scams. At least t-bill rates and money market rates are increasing, but not nearly enough to keep up with inflation.
I am comforted to know that the bulk of my wealth is not in portfolio but literally buried in the ground in shale gas formations, many of which have not been tapped, as gas companies literally do only the bare minimum of drilling needed to secure their lease obligations when prices are low and the inventory of potential gas producing properties on which they own options to drill is enormous.
I see the dollar appreciating against other currencies but I have yet to see it influence prices at the Walmart, which is one of the few retailers which serves my quasi-rural ex-urb neighborhood. Common items like soft drinks, chicken wings, pasta, dishwashing detergent are much more expensive than they used to be. I am puzzled that so much of the talk is about the cost of gasoline. These aren’t major expenses for me but I imagine it has an effect for most of their shoppers.
Ironically, one of the unusual benefits of the pandemic for me was that when all the major outlet malls and shopping malls were closed I had no choice but to buy clothes like sweat pants, shirts, boots and sweaters from places like Target and WalMart. I found their clothes were so much cheaper, and close enough in quality to ordinary department store clothes that I no longer care to buy department store casual clothing. I’m too old to dress to impress anyone and good enough is just fine by me. But for some reason, I used to shop department stores out of habit. Not any longer though.
I’m in Hobart, Australia, and life here is good.
Natural Gas is increasing in price because the domestic price is linked to the international price. Luckily, it’s spring in this hemisphere, so our demand cycle is reversed to the heavy users in the northern hemisphere. I also have heatpump electric heating/cooling for those very rare days it’ll be needed before the return of colder weather.
Food prices are trending upward, but I attribute that to lingering Covid supply chain disruption. Fresh produce is plentiful (short supply chain), but a critical look down the manufactured goods aisles (long supply chain) hints at shortages – some products are being spread out a bit more or one variety is given extra space to hide the absence of another variety.
My economic situation was relatively dire a few weeks ago: a subpar tech bro EU salary in the Netherlands, a mortgage denominated in USD, and rising energy / food costs (>= 50% per unit).
Then Uncle Sam did me a ‘favor’ and blew up those pipelines. That forced me to move up my timetable to leave Europe and come home.
Everyone there in my social circle is still going out, partying and acting like nothing is wrong. It is something to behold. I feel sorry for them, almost, then I remember their irrational hatred of Russians is what got them into this in the first place.
I am in Minnesota. Have my own business designing and manufacturing replacement lights for microscopes. The OEMs don’t provide those parts for older microscopes. They want to force people to buy a new microscope for 10, 20 or $50K. I let them fix it to better than new for $500 to $1000. Seems like the worse the economy gets the better my business gets, or maybe its just that happy customers keep spreading good words about me. I do very little advertising.
The biggest issue for the company is availability of electronic components. This problem started during the Covid scam. Fortunately got warning that was coming reading ZeroHedge and being wary about Trump’s talk tariffs on China. I bought up inventor for some parts a year or two out, but the cost is low enough to not be a big issue. No loans required.
Of course gas and food costs are a lot higher, but not much of an issue yet. Empty shelves at the store are irritating. There is always something available, but often not what I want. Lat time at Target, No peanut butter that I want. Saw someone else searching for jelly he wanted. I said “looks like we’re back in the USSR” He said “Yeh, not much on the shelf”
Great Lakes area U.S. Bought a ham radio from Sweden back in March. Got caught in the sanctions BS and FEDEX wouldn’t deliver the radio because it was made in Russia. Took four months to get them to ship it back to the shipper and get my 1,400 USD refund. Drawing cash out regularly to get it out of the banking system while I can. All prices are up especially food and energy. Locked into 5 year contracts in the spring for natgas and electric so hoping they don’t get cancelled. Stocked up and building like minded community. What else can be done? The pox on the current admin and the deep state.
Food wise I focus on getting “protein and fat” when it’s on sale (ex. meat). Don’t see eggs and cheese on sale and they have doubled in price in the last year. Gasoline historically drops (with some lag) when the price of oil drops. But not now! In AZ gasoline has stayed up for weeks, while the price per barrel of oil has come down. I make my own sour dough bread (organic) and can still get organic flour but the price is about 25-50% higher than 12 months back. In general, for household and hardware items the shelves are stocked but prices are up 25-100% for everything vs. last year.
Living and doing business currently in Switzerland.
Food prices have gone up and down for quite some time. About 50% of food is imported and thanks to the overvalued Swiss Francs these prices are kept in check somewhat.
Switzerland imposes a compulsory health insurance coverage on indiviudals. Premiums go up by 12% for my wife and myself next year. Mainly due to Covid-19 costs.
Electricity will be hiked by 46% in the place I live and 49% in the town our company is located for 2023.
Gas and diesel have gone up by about 30% over the course of the past few months.
My local restaurant has hiked prices by 7% in the last month alone to cover costs.
I’m a company owner with a few specialised employees and trade in steel into and out of Switzerland from France, Italy and Germany. Been doing that for decades. Our business has become rather slow due to high steel prices.
Most of our customers slow down production as they are unable to pass on the high costs of input material and energy to their customers in full. This brings quite a few of last-minutes order cancellations.
Credit insurance coverage has become hard to come by as of late. Premiums increase by up to 30% for massively lowered coverage.
Insurance premiums for company’s compulsory disability insurance and risk insurance part of compulsory pension scheme go up by 40% for next year.
I travel on a daily basis on business in Switzerland, France, Germany and Italy. Mostly by car because of off-the-beaten-track locations of our customers and suppliers. Covering about 5,000 km per month. My monthly travel costs have increased by 28% over the last six months. Mainly due to gas and much higher hotel charges.
62 y/o Disney carpenter (union,) full time 3rd shift. B/c 3rd shift work is mostly entertaining and rewarding so I don’t plan on retiring for another 15 to 20 yes. I live in the mountain bike capital of Florida- Ocala, so when gas goes up I have to drive slower. Semi rural, no real hurricane threat. Prices at Publix are likely the same as yours, meaning I hit Aldi once a week.
Not the world our fathers had, but maybe we’ll see the end of neo-cons and neo- liberalism.
France here. As a “local public servant”, i’m among the “privileged” with a protected status. as such i’ll be one of the last to be fired. My country has also set a tariff “shield” which artificially limits the rise in prices and inflation for no, but as in any communist country, this is only a sweet illusion which won’t last. As for the situation with Russia, many fools imagine being on a crusade against the Russian barbarians without trying to ask themselves too many questions. a somewhat easy amnesia reminiscent of the worst periods of covid.
I have a small software business. I author and publish a couple of sophisticated financial games (Wall Street Raider and Speculator) that I sell globally, to sophisticated investors or people interested in learning about corporate finance, stocks, options, and other derivatives, with about 60% of my sales outside the U.S., mainly in English-speaking countries and western Europe. Virtually no sales, ever, in Russia or China. Sales began trending down somewhat about 18 months ago, but in September they inexplicably fell off a cliff, down over 50% from what has been normal for years. It’s an inexpensive game, but I suspect there is a lot of belt-tightening going on everywhere, and non-essentials like computer games are likely to be one of the first things a lot of people cut back on when they are having a hard time putting food on the table and keeping the lights on.
The war in Ukraine does have a direct effect on the US When you send money to Ukraine that this country does not have then you can understand that inflation is a monetary problem.
Eventually, the war will affect the oil industry and the price of this commodity will increase. When the oil industry is affected then there are a lot of products that will go up in price.
Russia will come out of this war stronger and the US/NATO cabal will be weaker.
It looks like we are entering a multi-polar world and the uni-polar world is dyeing away.
As a veteran of Viet Nam I can’t wait for this change to take place.
I am an American dual citizen living in Yakutsk, Russia. Here is the Economic Situation in Yakutsk, Russia as of October 2022.
According to the Central Bank rate, the RUB/USD rate is 57.57 rubles to the US dollar today.
Gasoline prices have been pretty stable. The 95 octane gas is being sold at 57 rub/liter . At today’s exchange rate, this works out to be $3.75/gallon. For 92 octane gas, the price is 56 rub/liter, which is equivalent to $3.68/gallon. Diesel fuel can be had for 66.5 rub/liter, or $4.37/gallon.
We went to one of our favorite supermarkets, Max Market, here in Yakutsk, which does have the widest selection of products, especially imported products. We can still buy flour tortillas, corn tortilla chips, and even corn tortilla taco shells, but these are actually being produced in Russia, so it is not an imported product. Authentic Mexican food, or even Tex-Mex food, is not something that most Yakutians would know how to prepare, so I find it surprising that tortillas have become popular in Yakutsk. I don’t know how the locals are using them, but obviously there is a demand for them.
There is no shortage of either fresh meat, sausages, or frozen meats in Yakutsk. Beef, pork, chicken, fish, young horse, reindeer are all readily available in Yakutsk.
Butter, cheese, milk, and every variety of dairy product is also in plentiful supply. The price of milk various depending on the brand and fat content, but the 1.5% fat product that we usually buy is still available at 96 rubles/liter, or $6.57/gallon. In Moscow, milk averages around 86 rubles/liter, or $5.89/gallon. So while milk products are plentiful, the prices are rather high as compared to the USA.
Coca-cola products, Pepsi products, Dr. Pepper, and specialty products like Arizona iced teas are still available. Coca-cola and Pepsi products are still available everywhere, but other western brands are only available in a limited number of supermarkets in Yakutsk.
The usual 0.5 liter bottle of Coke or Pepsi is about 140 rubles, or $2.53. Prior to the SMO, I think the same bottle would have cost around 70 rubles, so the price has basically doubled. The larger bottles of Coca-cola all seem to be imported from China, and the labels are Chinese labels. This would suggest that the stocks of Russian produced Coke products may be running down now, but obviously, there are still ways to get these products in spite of Coca-cola having pulled out of the Russian market.
Our larger household goods stores are also well stocked. Toilet paper and other paper products are readily available in a variety of brands and qualities.
Colgate toothpaste is a popular brand in Russia, and it is not in short supply. According to the labels, most of the Colgate toothpaste seems to be imported from Belarus.
Head and Shoulders shampoo and other Proctor and Gamble products are still available in Yakutsk. A wide range of other western brands are also available.
Bourbon is still available in Yakutsk, but there are not as many brands being offered now, and in some alcohol stores, it has disappeared completely already. I talked to the staff at one of the larger stores that still has a variety of bourbons, and I was told that they can no longer get it, so when what they sell out, that will be the end.
Bourbon is not so popular in Yakutsk in any case. Russians drink vodka and cognac as their main strong spirits, and these are in abundance. Scotch whiskey is more popular than bourbon, and there still is a good selection of scotch whiskies available in even smaller alcohol stores.
I have not visited the Burger King, KFC, Subway, or Cinnabon stores recently, but as far as I am aware, they are all still in operation and doing well.
I also have not looked into the clothing stores in the past couple of months, but as far as I know there have been no closures of the stores with western brands that were operating here in Yakutsk.
Priviet Pete,
My sister in law is from Omsk and visiting there right now with my 4 year old niece.
She says things are fine except no one is happy about the reserve call up.
Hope you are well,
Gunny
Spokane, USA
The partial mobilization is probably the number one topic here in Yakutsk. Yakutsk has a population of just under 300,000, and 3,300 reservists were mobilized from the city. The city has organized collection points for food and clothing to be sent to the guys who have been mobilized. There is a rumor that the mobilized guys need to provide their own ammunition as well – which I find hard to believe, but maybe is true. There were definitely problems locally with the mobilization, with people who were not eligible being called up. I have heard that these guys who should not have been called up, but were called up, apparently have to pay out of their own pocket to get back home, but I can’t confirm this.
Food, Fuel, and housing costs are the drivers in Daniel Boone (John Galt) country, but home prices are definitely falling now. Personally, I’m fine since my 30+ year line of work seems to still have fairly high demand… at least if any DoD/ Industry leadership wants to try and make good decisions… which I’m convinced they don’t anymore. Everything is a pre-determined narrative now, just like your analyst/ops description a few days ago. Big things are AI, ML, remote, Auto-ID, and cyborg, all of which are enemies of humanity. The evil reptiles trying to take over the world are betting on these technologies, and we’re paying for it… paying for our own future destruction. Insanity.
Toronto, Canada
1) interest rate on my credit line was 3.50% in 2020, it’s now 6.5%
2) grass fed minced beef was $8 CA per pound in 2020, it’s now $16 CA
3) my investments in stocks are down 25-30% (this worries me the most)
4) grocery bill has increased about 20%
5) gasoline hovers between around $1.50 per litre (diesel has gone through the roof)
6) toilet paper has tripled in price since 2 years ago (yes even at Walmart)
The only thing that has remained mostly unchanged in Toronto, is flour, milk, eggs, these staples hasn’t gone up in price that much.
Quebec, Canada here. I would advise you to change your portfolio to energy and some commodities before the stock markets really tank!
Live in California a conservative. Getting hammered pretty good here. Gas 6.80. Im retired and the wife works for a Aerospace/ Defense contractor. Our house (in the desert) is paid for and we financial good standing . We also have a place in Santa Ana and that area sucks. Our biggest concern is having the NEO’s blow everything up before we can enjoy ourselves.
All costs are up including food so we learn to eat somewhat cheaper.
I live in rural Norway and work in a road construction company. Even though we are an energy rich narion, gasoline and diesel is up 30% and electricity is up 500% in some regions. Interest rates are on the way up and food prices too, even though the inflation is driven by energy prices.
I have a fixed price om electricity, I have just refilled my firewood storage, last summer I got a fixed rate on my bank loan and I bought 120kg floor (at 1/3 of todays price) and a large stand mixer. Thus I think that as long as I keep my job, me and my family will do well enough.
Why did I do all this? I had been following “alternative media”, not “alternative reality” as found in MSM. I knwe somethong was brewing, something big.
Oh, that is true, I also brew my own beer. Reminds me that I shoukd replentish my storage of malt and hops.
Going to the brothel. A blowjob gas gone up 150%. The inhumanity.
Things have gotten harder for me in the Intermountain West, USA. My wife grew up in Ukraine and right now her family minus her dad is with us. Have my own young family and only wage earner for everyone. Has been a ton of OT for me. Been working 60s since March and on track to do that till least year end. I make a good wage in software but I still feel the inflation and extra costs. Steady march up in prices have stung but could be worse, I could have relocated to Kiev years ago! As an aside the software industry is still doing pretty well. Some pull back but fairly strong in Western USA still. I know guys who are going more and more remote as well.
Always appreciate your website contributions to sanity! Have much experience with Ukraine, and am totally disheartened by my Ukrainian friends who will not accept the U.S. is driving the disaster in Europe and Ukraine! In Montana: good indicator of so many things increasing-3lb Kirkland coffee at Costco was around $10, now about $15! And pet food for both cats and dogs, directly affected by transportation costs, is up about 35-50%. Gas of course way up, and will be again, natural gas for heating expected to rise substantially for winter heating, and farmers and ranchers, stressed by drought conditions, are getting hammered by fertilizer, diesel, and transportation costs, which we expect will begin to show in prices and food shortage in the spring, 2023! Those are all affected by the sanctions.
Hi Larry,
I am in a very unique and fortunate situation.
I am now 63 and collecting social security.
I also am a full time/live-in caregiver for an 86 Y/O Korean war veteran here in Spokane.
I will also be his hospice caregiver when we get to that point.
I have done this type of work since 2004.
I get room/board and a monthly cash stipend so I am saving money and buying supplies of all types, especially canned hash, silver coins and used FURS on Craigslist.
FURS will save your tail in a cold winter and people give them away nowadays.
Gas today is $4.49 for 87 octane unleaded and everything in the grocery store is a minimum 15% more than last October.
The Goodwill store in my area is stripped bare almost.
Be well,
Gunny
Spokane, USA
#GardasilVaxKilledJessica ~ 12/16/1993-12/24/2013
I live in Ghana, Africa. I rear Catfish in ponds.
The greatest challenge I face now is the with the spiraling cost of feed! When I started three years ago, the price of a 20kg bag was GHC70, today the same bag cost GHC288.
I have never in my life experienced the type of galloping inflation that we have today.
That is a very good/cool profession.
I hope the best for you and yours.
I’m in NZ retired, on our local pension. With the wife that’s $700 a week. Of that $300 goes on food and booze, $100 on local rates, insurance, and another $100 on power, gas, Internet. That leaves $200 for the rest, like doctors, dentists, vets, petrol, cars, entertainment.
Basically there’s no slack so it gets topped up by savings. If inflation runs at 20% in 5 years life gets tough as the savings will be worth nothing. That’s why I bought gold. Luckily we are also freehold on the house and debt free. As I had no faith in our currency a chunk of the savings was used for mortgage deposits for our children and repayment of their student loans.
Is it getting tougher? I do the shopping and there’s definitely large price inflation for basic food. If this carries on there will be pain.
My shop has seen a drop off in orders ,I think most people just dont have the money anymore ,I can usually tell the mood of the country by orders …when they get afraid like in April of a Nuclear war or interest rates or you name what “major” news story is popular ,the people get worried ,the News networks all just lie ,I check the local auction house and you can tell lots of shops are closing ,its just quietly done and that’s that .
The really weird thing though is while everthing is way more expensive, the price of a 90lb bag of portland cement is the same price since 2003 ….that I dont get unless it’s some type of strategic material that’s price fixed ,I know welding gas is .
Retired Dual Citizen Living in Small town/big village in the Alps ( think Heidi meets Sound of Music )
The locals are mostly small farmers and sturdy tradesmen. What many of you might think is prepping is for these people simply wise and frugal living. Wives and daughters still cook and bake and can real food. Husbands and sons chop firewood all August and Sept. Grandpa and Grandma live out back in a little cottage. Grandpa makes money on the side with his homebrew Schnapps. Church on Sunday, then big Sunday luncheon. Debt is abhorred – ‚remember when poor Uncle Josef went bankrupt ?‘ (Back in the 1930‘s)
Prices are out-of-control, I reckon anything imported or energy intensive 2x since 2020.
The locals saw this economic crisis coming back in late 2021, so they aren‘t surprised. The‘ll cut back by not taking a 3 week vacation to the Maldives next year. ( yeah – they are all silly prosperous even though they look like country bumpkins )
Live in S. California, refinanced the mortgage at the bottom (fixed 15 yr) and grow almost all groceries (and chickens) in the garden (water bill and electricity is high).
Am periodically down in the Port of LA/LB area – the largest ports in the western hemisphere. Before covid, there were lines up trucks for miles down the 710 and forklifts and cranes everywhere working even at 2 in the morning. Since Covid its mostly a ghost town. Still. The supply chain logistical screw up hasn’t cleared – Brandon just makes the freighters wait off Baja. Was there last month – only a few cranes on the east side doing anything. Everything else looks like permanent lunch time.
Trying to start manufacturing on a trailer line for the oil and gas industry. The base trailer now costs $3500, three years ago it was $2000 at Tractor Supply. I checked Alibaba, I can order 10 delivered for 800 bucks each from China direct. Naturally, the Tractor Supply trailer comes from China. Sure must be a lot of hands in the middle. Know other manufacturers who can’t source o-rings – Airgas says its impossible to find a mid-sized pressurized gas tank and I have been trying to source one for a year now. Certain specialized gases used to take a few weeks, now take months. I guess 10% the workforce is continually out for covid and systems are too lean to adapt. Employee problems with covid are recurring – losing a few weeks here and there – one got long covid, and never came back. Recruiting was a nightmare and costs a lot of money (before I could just advert on craigslist.
This inflation is supply chain collapse driven – and IMO the Fed knows sh-t on how to respond (you cant print oil) so I am confident our bankster leaders will screw the pooch well and good – many parallels to what I have read of the last days of the Soviet Union – but with no safety net.
Gasoline is 2,20€/liter. Electricity is about 0,60 cents/kWh. Food is very expensive here in Finland.
“Of all the horrors of the beginning of the war, none appeared to the people so
than the sudden debasement of money, because it stirred up everywhere
stirred up spiteful passions, and discord in families,
hatred and indignation between creditors and debtors,
hunger, poverty, beggary and immorality.
It turned respectable citizens into gamblers, drunkards and
and servants, hounded preachers and schoolteachers out of office,
brought wealthy families to the beggars’ pole, plunged all the regiment
in hopeless confusion and threatened the inhabitants of the towns with starvation.
country, threatened the inhabitants of the cities with starvation.”
Gustav Freytag – Pictures from the German Past
Sounds familiar. It’s just unfolding.
Prices in general went up by may-june however, except from some transport strikes at that time it hasn’t been too bad.
Last 3 weeks (september) I starting to notice that agricultural jobs are getting scarce, people complaining fertilizer too expensive. Usually december to march are bad months for agriculture, but no september.
For some type of potatoes price went from s/. 3.00 to s/. 5.00.
Rent price went from s/. 200.00 to s/. 210.00 last month.
Local transportation cost (bus) still stable s/. 1.00
Im from Peru-South America.
Although things are somehow stable Im expecting to see how things will change soon, because the price of oil(international) that went down from U$ 124 (by june) to 76 last week, is set to go up to maybe U$ 200 in a matter of months.
US Federal early retired ex-pat living in Zagreb, Croatia. I’m raising my wonderful 16 year old diabetic son who is a Croatian citizen through my ex-wife. She’s a doctor in LA, so our deal is she pays for his school and travel; and daily expenses (rent, food, etc) are my responsibility. “Free” health care for my son, I pay $80/month mandatory. Besides my son’s diabetes we are in great health. I’ve given up drinking, for financial, health and role-model reasons so that’s a big savings. We try to eat like blue-collar Croatians, so lots of fresh vegetables, fresh meat and pasta.
Food costs are going up quickly, and there is real fear about what may be coming. I keep a significant amount of USD on hand for emergency purposes, i.e. get out of Dodge in a few hours. We rent a small furnished apartment so no way to really stock up; we do have a year’s worth of insulin that we constantly rotate, and the ex-wife is intentionally in a position where she can get a year’s worth immediately if we have to bug out.
Croatia has always been a small fish surrounded by sharks so they have to be flexible and try to stay ahead of the game – but this situation has the country on the ropes. I worry about my friends and neighbors because even in pre-COVID times, pay was low and work uncertain. They join the Schengen Zone and the Euro Jan 1st, everyone knows this is the absolute worst timing – but again, small fish without a choice. I don’t have a car, so not sure of gas prices.
Hope that was helpful.
Pozdrav iz Slovenije 🙂 Hi Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia (BiH) have comparable prices of food even though in BiH wages are half of that in Croatia and Slovenia.
Hello Larry. I live in Madrid and around here, the effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict have not yet been felt. Basic foods have risen 20% or so and fuel for cars is close to 1.80 euros/litre, which is a lot for an average salary of 18,000 euros/year in Spain. The media sells the same narrative about Putin to explain that everything bad that happens to us is Russia’s fault, and, reinforced by the European football season that anesthetizes everything. When the real pain comes in 2023, I fear that I will see the same situation that Venezuela had at the end of the 90’s = looting and serious social conflicts. Spain does not have economic reserves to deal with the crisis that will come in 2023, it will be the law of the street.
“You will no longer possess anything.” … Klaus Schwab (WEF). Germany and he is right.
Reporting out of Munich, Germany: People I know are are mostly well-off or government-fed University professors or PhDs working for Big Pharma – and don’t feel the sting of inflation yet. Most of them are pro-vaccine, anti-Putin liberals, yes, the old shit that the purportedly most educated turn out to be the most ignorant and brainwashed (and even fascist when oush comes to shove for them) bunch. They certainly are aware of the increase of prices but complacency and, when it comes to energy, flabberghasting ignorance, dominates. I personally know a couple, she a physicist, he a professor of chemistry who absolutely lack even the most basic tenets of how essential a constant flow of energy is for Germany. When the US blew up the NS pipelines I was thrown into a state of mental paralysis for the consequences for my country are simply beyond what I was ready to imagine. There are a few likeminded guys but the majority of Germans is energy-agnostic. They will learn it the hard way, in one of the coming winters, what it means that our “governement” won’t protect the country but even help those transatlantic sociopaths to implement the mordern verison of the Morgenthau plan.
When Victoria Nuland said “F*** the EU” she meant it – as a foundation of US policy.
In Germany you were (Not you personaly) hellbent on shutting down those NPP`s.
Here in Slovenia which has 2.1mil citizens,we have one NPP and one block, and there was a plan laid back in 2016 to build another block as late as 2030 ,but got reckt because of Bruxelles.
Late last year that plan was back in game and is now a priority, and date to buld it was moved backwards to late 2025. We need to be self-suificient,but not by building more wind turbines but NPP`s
South Africa. Largely pro Russian. Though some mixed feelings about Russians because of Angola war so some more pro west.
Economy was not great before war and is not great now but that’s more to do with failed government policies. Losing businesses, corruption, crime. Weather is a problem. Jobs are hard to get. Some imports harder.
No one here knows what to do about western sanctions. The feeling is one of resentment and helplessness against the West and that the future is in BRICS and with Asia.
Africa is giving up on the West, they are exhausting whatever goodwill they had.
There is a feeling that if Africa Asia and South America can get their acts together we can get the Western noose off our necks. So definitely excitement for a new future free of western dominance. Proud that South Africa is at the heart of it for Africa.
Also some very small hope that the ordinary American will see the damage it’s gov is doing and stand up and kick them out. Unlikely. As they are easy to divide internally and placated with other peoples money. Plus they always give their gov a free pass on overseas wars.
So generally yes things are tough but hope is there for the future if west loses and exits Africa and Africa steps up to join Asia (including Russia) in alternative systems.
In addition all IMF loans now come with condition African countries can’t subsidise fuel and some basic foods. This itself is a type of sanctions built into a loan. So things will get worse.
So while West can cheat and print fake money to subsidize fuel and gas, the Americans and Europeans say Africans and Asians are not allowed to do it even though their illegal sanctions and COVID restrictions most brutally targeted at Africa that had the least COVID deaths, are why Africans are borrowing from the IMF run by the West. No choice. It’s their system.
China lends too but not with crazy conditions designed to impoverish countries and destroy the middle class and they have stopped lending much.
A key priority in Africa is to replace IMF and western loans with Asian ones if possible.
Being both Western and South African, I can’t see a good outcome here. The world is miles apart and the ordinary person in the West moves further from truth and reality every year. They just can’t cope with reality. And that makes it a dangerous world for everyone.
Here in the Netherlands, people have been posting their new utility bills online and monthly bills have been going up 3x or 4x. We still have some gas reserves in Groningen and in general are less dependent on Russian gas than some other countries, but still… markets. We are at the mercy of spot prices thanks to the liberalized gas market these days. I’m not expecting serious food shortages over the winter — we have a big agriculture industry here — but when spring rolls around the planting season begins… wondering how that will go with skyrocketing fertilizer prices. The farmer protests seem to have quieted down because the gov seems to have very quietly backed down on their insane plans, thankfully. Finally, the Ukraine cheerleading madness of the spring and summer has largely abated; though the media isn’t discussing it, awareness seems to be spreading that the situation there is turning into a gigantic debacle.
Let’s not forget that what we call “TEOTWAWKI” was everyday life in 1870. Just 150 years ago.
No toilets, no electricity, no cars, no dental drills, no cell phones, TV’s or PC’s…etc.
Fire, Furs and Food is what got mankind through the last 10,000 years.
Be well,
Gunny
The price of piped Russian gas was $8 for one million Btu, it’s over $30 per million Btu for the Europe landed LNG from the US (the price varies for each country, is never lower than 30 bucks).
The regeneration of the Western world economies after WW2 happened thanks to two key economic engines – an abundance and relative cheapness of fossil fuels and the creation of credit, the latter was overdone by the end of the last century leading to a near financial meltdown in 2008 both in the US and the UK, many financial institutions and banks are still recovering from it.
The oil&gas as the predominant primary energy has been under attack by the Green fruitcakes for at least two decades, investment in the oil&gas industry got curtailed (only Qatar drilled for new gas holes in the last 5 years), funds were directed towards solar and wind, as it’s turning out a massive disaster compounded by the West refusal to buy cheap Russian oil&gas.
It may seem ironic but the neocons’ control may implode this Winter by the growing discontent of the European plebeians, the rising inflation, the inability o people to heat their homes well, the large immigration numbers (many of the arrivals illegal) could lead to a social convulsion never seen in the West since WW2.
It’s arguable but there is an analogy with the fall of communism in the East last century, when Gorby began the loosening he didn’t expect the whole edifice to crumble, but it did, there was no single institution, no segment of the people that wanted the regime to carry on except some of those that gained from the communist construct more than they contributed to it, the members of the communist party.
A similar condition exists in the West today even though many people are reluctant to express their dislike of the woke imbecility publicly, all that’s needed is a spark and the regime disliked by the majority will get swept away, the build back better will collapse within months, as it should for at least one good reason, the hugely unequal distribution of income and wealth.
I grew up in a Soviet Union republic , lived through 1990s, now live in mid America. Things are a little expensive here but nothing compared to my experience in 1990s when I saw 1000% inflation in one year , energy blackouts, shortages of food, uprisings, etc. After collapse, my family and friends are all end up in different countries not by choice, but nobody in Ukraine. My family and fiends say that what is going between Russia and Ukraine affects all surrounding regions, but still not bad, manageable. In Russia major inflation on foreign made products and services, but they have plenty of food, cheap gas and oil. Putin told them, not direct quote: you might not have latest Apple phone or fly for European vacation, but you will be warm and not hungry. By the way, I went to University in Kiev briefly in the late 1990s, even then I knew it was a banana republic, and internal civil war will break our sooner or later between West and East Ukraine, and it woukd all depend on middle Ukraine. US will not have what I had in 1990s, because it is self sufficient with one of best developed agricultural industry in the world, large agri lands and good climate across country. But EU is in big trouble , they might have the 1990s, it will be ugly, Edie Hal Europeans are spoiled and not used to live in 3rd world conditions.
I was in small scale house development in London. In 2019 fearing a noticeable decline in shares and property I thought I would sit out small to moderate crash. I dug a metaphorical hole in the ground and climbed in, thought I might do a bit of global travelling : ) Since then everything has gone so much worse than expected but not imagined. Personally I’m in a very solid position and should be in good position to capitalise on a falling market, depending upon how far and how it fast it falls and if the UK will continue to exist when this is over.
It was a scary decision especially as the financial market continued to expand but I’m a slow moving creature and I’m happy that regardless what comes I am in the best position to face it.
I am thankful to people like yourself Larry who tirelessly work to attempt a illuminate the truth which is endlessly undermined by the complete BS that Western politicians and stenographers publish. I’m not a prepper, not that it appears they are wrong.
I live in Lisbon in Portugal. Prices started to rise before February this year. Postage is more expensive. There are rises and falls in the price of fuel and adjustments in the price of energy. House prices continue to rise. Inflation is between 9%-10%. Due to the sanctions, certain agreements that would benefit trade were suppressed, such as the sale of wine to Russia.
As our country remains under IMF surveillance, the economic situation has not changed for about 10 years. There are immense weaknesses in education, health and housing. In my city we still haven’t managed to end the homeless. The state is relegating that role to the church and goodwill associations.
Sweden:
People generally are concerned but not alarmed. Unlike many countries in Europe we are pretty self-sufficient for survival. Not part of the Euro (EMU).
Stores are filled with goods. Prices are up, but in no way serious.
Personally, self employed retiree with savings in precious metals and crypto. No worries there!
I’m in London, UK. Energy bills have just gone up another 25% for me, total increase of 70% over the last year. Milk is up about 25%, chicken about 50% over the last year. The media is starting to prepare people for the possibility of energy shortages over the winter. Financially the UK is not in a good position – first we spent around £500bn (all “borrowed” of course) on the covid response, then we enthusiastically helped the US blow our head off with this Ukraine idiocy and the loss of gas supply. We have a bunch of complete idiots in charge and it looks like the markets have just told us our national credit card is maxed out. Someone on the radio was talking about “managed decline” yesterday. It seems to me we’ve already had the managed decline – over the last 100 years – and now we’re beginning the unmanaged decline.
Hi everyone, I’m from France, I travel to Germany also. Here in France we have more and more students coming to the Army of Salute for free food. For people living in social housing, they have decided to stop the heating and not to restart it at least before November 15th. In Germany when booking even a 150 $ per night hotel, you should carry your extra blanket with you because the room won’t be heated above 18°C.
However, I don’t see any uprising coming. The government have succeeded into making people so depressed that they just hope to survive through the next 2 years. The propaganda also still work with average people telling you that all the Russian soldiers have left their homeland, and that Putin is so worried that he puts lots of make-up and that his referendum is sham. Of course, when you ask them about Biden talking to dead people live on TV or about the totally legal referendum that made Kosovo independant or Palestine and Golan Israeli (irony there), of course, they tell yes but it’s not because there were errors in the past that we shouldn’t change…
I don’t know about the USA but I think they will overcome their difficulties and find a way to modus vivendi with Russia/China/India. The only thing that won’t change is that Europe is USA’s lapdog and it will be cooked and eaten if there is nothing else for dinner for Uncle Sam.
Not yet. As a retired civil servant I have a decent pension. House paid for. My hobbies are cheap – golf $40. Minnows are cheap. Most expensive thing I bought this year was Apple Watch Ultra for $800 to try and get in shape. Since I retired I gained 75 lbs 225 to 300. Im 6’6″ so I still fit into 38″ pants but my heart is feeling it. I’ll get $2200 Social security in 10 years to add to my pension so as long as .gov holds think I’ll be good.
At this point in my life all I care about is health. Want to get back to 50 resting HR instead of 90. Eat better stop drinking etc. I dont wanna be one of those dudes who face plants in golf course from a stroke or heart attack or have a counter full of prescriptions.
So find that a good idea that you talk about the economic situation worldwide here and that interests me a lot! Many thanks to Larry for the good idea!
I like to report from Switzerland. (Translate from German to English with Deepl, so I apologize if it is not perfect).
Briefly about me, I am 59 and a self-employed tax consultant for 21 years. I have a good 30 corporate clients, ranging from a very small one-man business to a large US industrial corporation, where I hold the CFO function for a Swiss company of the corporation. Therefore I have a good insight into the Swiss economy. I certainly belong to the better middle class here. I have no children and my wife works full time and earns relatively well as I do.
At the moment, Switzerland seems to me like another island in the Europe-wide economic chaos. If we didn’t hear and read the news here, it would seem as if everything was fine. Compare it with a weather report. Here, the sun is shining with a blue sky and a few clouds. But you can see dark storm clouds gathering all around. Think is a good description of here.
Switzerland has one big advantage and that is that we have our own currency, which is known as an escape currency, like the USD. That means there is still a relatively large amount of money flowing into Switzerland from EUR countries at the moment and the CHF is benefiting from that. We have very low inflation, currently a good 3.2%, and in September it even declined very slightly. Since we have to import a lot, mainly almost all raw materials, this helps us to keep inflation low. Our export industry adjusted to a strong franc a long time ago and produces mainly niche high-tech products, where the high prices can largely be passed on. We also still have a lot of orders on hand that are being worked off from the Corona crisis. I see this with my US customer. The order books are still full. But, importantly, there are few new orders coming in. This will be felt massively from the middle of next year. That’s how it will be for many. I have customers from IT software companies who are also already feeling a certain restraint among their customers and new orders are being postponed in some cases or cancelled altogether. That, too, will only have an impact next year. Everyone is living off the order backlog today. You read in the newspaper that online mail order companies are making much less sales. You also hear that consumption is already being curtailed in some cases due to savings. That, too, will only be felt to a greater extent next year.
Tourism will be massively affected next year. This has already been felt to a greater extent this year. Much could be made up with domestic tourists. We were on vacation in St. Moritz for a week in August. That was visited as always, but is also a customer layer that does not feel it. It is striking, in the past you had many Russians there, they are now of course completely missing. Before Corona, Switzerland had a lot of Asian guests, especially Chinese. Since Corona, they have also been completely absent, which has had a massive impact on tourist areas in particular, as well as on luxury stores like those in Lucerne and Interlaken. But we were also much in the mountains for day trips this summer. Everything was full, no longer as blatant as before Corona, but everywhere very well attended. What is striking, practically only domestic tourists. Much less Europeans and just no Asians and no Russians.
Personally, I do not feel the losses so far. Well, gasoline is minimally more expensive (per liter from CHF 1.60 to a good 2.00). Food is minimally to more expensive. But basically it does not hurt in any way, in contrast to other European countries. The price shock should come for many next year, then also the inflation should then also massively increase. We have annual tariffs for electricity here. That is, the whole year remains the same. Next year, electricity will be increased by a factor of 1.5. Gas by a factor of 1.6. For our household, this will amount to CHF 3500 per year. For us this is easily bearable, for others with lower incomes it will be hard. A worker earns around 5000 and if he has to pay 300 more per month, he will feel it extremely. Likewise, the health insurance due to Corona and its effects will increase massively next year. For an average family, the disposable income is likely to fall by up to 500 per month. Wage increases are around 2% under discussion. So a good 100 for a family. There will still be a shortfall of 400 and this will be clearly felt in consumption.
You also have to take into account that Germany is the most important trading partner for Switzerland. If they are in bed with the flu, it will also cause a severe cold in our country.
Basically, you can say this year rather small impact, but next year it will hit and also in our country the standard of living will fall more massively. Would compare it to the 1970s. I still remember that time very well. There we had car-free Sundays to save gasoline. I would expect something similar here next year. We’ll see and hope it doesn’t get quite as bad as feared today. But yes, looking at everything, we are going to go through a very tough decade. Many will be hit harder, others less so. So our hope here is that we’ll come through better here in Switzerland than others. We’ve been lucky enough to do that several times, as we were in World War 2.
Chris from German-Switzerland.
I live in the middle of Western Europe, so I know what might be in store for us in the coming months. I have a fair amount of coin in the a bank, so while I see the effects of inflation, I’m not yet feeling the pain of not being able to afford the things I want, much less the things I need. That’s not entirely true: I’m currently waiting what is currently estimated to be two months for the motor and actuator that lifts my driver-side door window. Oh, and a lot of my free cash is in a European bank, so who knows how long it will be mine.
My wife tells me we need to conserve nat gas to save money: I tell her they are rapidly debasing our money, so why not stay warm today while the money still has some value to actually buy gas that is still there.
My genius boss told me he bought €1,000 worth of firewood. I told him I bought a saw and a couple spare blades for €15. The funny thing is that he owns a small forest. I live next to it.
People ask if I will move back to the US. I tell them that after seeing High Chancellor Biden’s reprise of the V for Vendetta speech, that Uruguay is looking good. If it’s good enough for the Bush family …
Slawa Ukraini … the rest of us be damned.
I live basically paycheck to paycheck since I went pension route not 401k or roth but can’t you protect you dollars with money market? Damn I’d be terrifed if I had to play part time stock broker, My borther lost like half his retirement in 2008.
Ouch. Money market funds offer little actual protection beyond the creditworthiness of the paper they hold (it’s not all govvies) and the creditworthiness of their sponsots. One of the UK MM funds I invested in institutionally “broke the buck” back in 2008, and I was faced with liquidation at pence on the pound or taking the underlying paper into my portfolio. I did the latter, but it took some of those issues a couple years to regain full value.
Keep physical cash on hand (while cash is available), and hope the full faith and credit of your government isn’t fully trashed by its leaders.
UK is a mess but this is a confluence of several events turning into a crisis which backfiring sanctions are but the cherry on the cake. Brexit has lead to transport and distribution problems, many empty shelves in supermarkets, long term problems in the economy vis a vis 2008 still working its way out, high inflation and rising interest rates now topped off with self inflicted enormous rises in energy costs in both domestic and business sectors due to sanctions. Govt has bailed out the public to keep 130% rise in gas/electricity prices due this month and in January down to a minimum but this cannot last forever and has cost £100 billion borrowed, UK has horrendous debt, government and private, about $3 trillion government debt on a $2.5 GDP. New government is basically fire fighting day to day, markets volatile and the GBP is clinging on for life. Hard winter head, UK is not energy secure – although only marginally in the Russian fuel cycle – it takes electricity direct from France and gas from Norway both of whom have refused extra assistance having their own domestic provision problems. Norway recently raised its prices significantly. This was the stupidity of the Europeans dispensing with fixed contracts for energy and trying to control spot prices. John Helmer has written about this
http://johnhelmer.net/whos-to-blame-for-the-gas-shortage-rising-prices-in-europe-its-the-european-union-stupid/
We now have the same mentally deficient idiots running this country. We produce all the food we need, but it’s now going up with inflation. Wheat should be no problem, but that doesn’t seem to matter. Todays news is that our energy regulator is allowing profit to the companies to be over 67% & our yellow spinner Government let’s inflation run rampant. All corrupt & controlled by the international banking cartels. Low interest rates to increase house prices, then drive up rates, crash the real estate market & allow the wealthy to buy at a discount & raise rent rates.
In Japan. Just received a letter this week notifying me my electricity bill is set to double.
UK: In the last year my standard of living is going down significantly as all bills are up, petrol is up and everything in general is up significantly. I am an engineer semiretired and run a small company. If it wasn’t because I work for the Energy industry that carries momentum in these difficult times I would have closed a while ago. Conservative and imcompetent government for you (Cameron, Boris and now Liz…)
Hi larry,
This will be my first comment ever.
I live in Portugal and things here are getting worse.
The overall mood of the people is grimm and the talks of the regular citizen go about that in the next few years things are going to get worse.
The main complains are about the cost of living, particulary food and fuel, althou the rest is going the same trend.
Fish is up 20% on average since January (some are up almost 70%);
Meat is up 20% (some are up almost 50%);
Fruit is up almost 20% (some are up almost 40%).
The trend is accerelating, these increases are taking pace now.
Draconian measures are going to be imposed to save energy overall, like in the rest of europe.
The government already passed laws to deal with the issue, so its real.
Housing prices are insane.
The city i live in, a T1 (one bedroom), its 750 euros rent.
The minimum wage in Portugal is 740 euros and the estimated number of people being payed that amount is around 2 million out of a 5,5 million workforce.
All this while we are the least depended country in europe of Russian gas, we import 93% of our gas from other sources, namelly Africa.
Personally, im playing safe, very few debts, only minor consumer stuff, no credit cards and im well aware of how bad things are and will be soon.
I also keep very little money in the bank and grow some food in my yard.
You, Martyanov and the Duran (among others) are a oasis in the desert.
Keep fighting the good fight.
P.S. – Im proud to say that Portugal have the only political party, in whole europe, that refused officially to listen to that despicable declaration of Elensky in the national parlament.
The Portuguese Comunist Party, refused to listen to that maniac and left the parlament the moment he started to talk.
The media campain that followed was vicious and some offices were even attacked and vandalized after.
I’m in rural Taiwan, and gasoline is $3.60/gal, essentially unchanged for the past several years. Natural gas and electricity are unchanged too. Food prices have gone up around 30% on average.
This will likely change rapidly, though, when the US manages to provoke China to action over her wayward province.
Czech Republic here. The situation is becoming dire and will only get worse. Gasoline prices are about 1,5€/liter, a 30% increase. Inflation is officially 17%, but prices in shops went about +50%, and about 80-100% increase when compared to pre-COVID values. Energy prices are skyrocketing, and the government subsidizes them in a fashion so people won’t get too angry. Companies are going bankrupt.
Czech Republic doesn’t have oil and has almost no gas (historically, those have always been imported from Russia), and even the storage containers and the gas that is stored therein are owned by foreign companies. Even if we ignore that for the moment, the containers cannot be emptied too much or there might be structural damages that can destroy the container. Czech Republic produces electricity cheaply, but most of it is already sold to other countries and Czech people buy electricity for premium prices. The biggest electricity producer here is from 70% owned by state, but the government claims they can do nothing about the situation because it would affect “minor stockholders” which are mostly from multinational USA-based companies.
The official representatives include anti-Russian fanatics who bet the farm on the outcome that Russia loses in Ukraine, Putin will be replaced by a pro-Western puppet, Russia will disintegrate into a resource Klondike for the West and Czech fanatics will be rewarded like a loyal USA lapdogs they are. You guys here know better than me how likely is such an outcome. The rest of people here with the power to change anything are either incompetent or intimidated by the fanatics, various EU bureaucrat officials, thinktank “advisors”, USA soft power agents and hysterical mass media pundits (these categories often overlap). Anyone who proposes an attitude towards Russia that is not a vitriolic hatred is badmouthed and pursued as “Kremlobot”, “desolate”, or “Putin’s roach”. And “fascist” and “racist”, of course.
Many people are fed up. There were a couple of mass protests, in Prague alone, about 70 000-100 000 people demonstrated. It won’t change anything. Power does not lie on the streets, it was taken from Czech Republic years ago and unless globalist grip lets go and Brussels will lose influence, it will only go downwards for the people here.
And then there’s Ukrainians. A lot of them, tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, who came in February when SMO began (Czech Republic has about 10 million Czech population who is getting old and has no experience with conflicts). Some of the Ukrainians returned or moved, many stayed. Nobody knows how many remained and it’s not welcome to ask questions like that. They are getting the “übermensch refugee” treatment form the officials. Quite a few of them are wealthy, a lower to middle management level in original UKR oligarch hierarchy. Many are experienced mafia thugs. They are lying low and/or surveying the field at this moment but will move on to their business soon. The police and army will be told to “go soft on our poor suffering brothers” by the officials.
Best visit the Czech Republic soon, when it’s still a relatively civilized country and before it will be turned into Banderistan 2.0 hellhole in a few short years.
Portugal here.
Our politicians are in outright panic mode even though Portugal barely imported Russian oil/gas and our Winters aren’t harsh.
Why are the panicking?
1- Interest Rates.
When you owe 130% of GDP, any 1bps increase brings you an inch closer to colapse. Our socialist government had to cut 1bn EUR of welfare/pension system payments beggining in 2024. The social unrest surprised no one. They did it because they have no choice
2-Inflation
There is no hiding anymore. People are living significantly worse in 2022 than in any period of the last 8 years (take into account that Portugal was under IMF oversight until 2015). The government (socialists) gave a one-time 125EUR inflation-relief package that did nothing to appease the populace
3-Emigration
Portugal is no country for young people (like me, I’m 29). Poor, stagnating and with high taxes. Everyone is leaving or has a plan to. It will further colapse our social security system
4 – Tourism
Portugal will either die or survive due to tourism. It represents a big chunk of our GDP. How many Northern/Central European tourist will Portugal have when they can’t even heat their homes?
5 – Germany
As with any Southern Europe country, our deficits are simply financed by the German taxpayer. Bundesbank just warned of a high chance of recesison in the last quarter. Our government knows very well if that happens and ECB does not print money, we shut our doors in less than 6 months
6 – Myself
I own a high % of my savings in gold, have no debt and I am qualified enough to emigrate (which I will). That’s the only hope, because Europe and the Euro are toast.
Caro, tens filhos? Se não tens … emigrar é o melhor! Se eu fosse mais novo e sem filhos estaria a caminho da América do sul.
Claro que teria também sempre a opção de rumar a Leste …
get out of europe fast man, at your age you have little excuses not to.
I’m in Louisiana and am, all glory to God, fairly wealthy, debt-free and so able to absorb the surges in food prices and whatnot. My employees less so (a relatively small number); as such I’ve pretty boosted everyone’s wages by the rate of inflation plus 5% and plan to keep doing so. Which is inflationary in and of itself but people gotta eat. And again, I’m able to do this as I’m talking about maybe six people. The price of gas is now below $3/bbl, which helps a lot. Retirees who have any portion of savings/annuities in stocks are gonna be hiring, although there should be a sort of rebound in Q4.
Australia,
living on rural land, running a few cattle, heaps of firewood, cheap house to heat and cool, great neighbours, most on the same page re what is going on. Comfortable financially, minimal debt, practical skills, trade background, money in the bank, cash on hand. Our 20 yo son is about to have a kid, rental property is unaffordable for him on 1 income, he is living free in the cottage on his partners brothers place. He has a trade and good sense, he will be ok.
I had an interesting conversation with a former collegue yesterday about the problems of finding competent labour to conduct industrial insurance restoration work. He had a bit of an “oh shit” moment when I pointed out that the potential workload could increase dramatically due to the loss of support in the way of replacements and spares for European manufactured machines, like printing and food processing and packaging equipment.
On the plus side it might be time to toss in my farm labouring gig and return to the tools. I could see a 5 fold increase in my hourly rate. The down side (isn’t there always on of those) is that I have to leave my nice comfortable rural existence and go work in places with wall to wall camera surveillence and 5G cell phone pollution everywhere and take the risk that I dont get stuck there during the next bullshit health scam event or when the shit really hits the fan and the crowd goes a little bit feral. That and my extendable sticks and like minded mates will not be within easy reach.
The stocks inthe supermarkets are erratic, prices are going up and packages sizes are shrinking, fuel is twice the cost it was last year, local govt fees are increasing, housing prices are ridiculous and the real estate agents are complaining there is no stock. Rural land prices have gone ballistic, a block my employers were leasing sold without being advertised for 80% more than my employers offered the owner when he told them it was for sale.
Poland, a uniform worker. My financial situation is stable but…. Everything is more expensive: fuel, electricity, gas, building materials, housing and rents, not to mention food. Official inflation exceeded 17%, but this is an understated data. The prices of building materials are three times the prices of two years ago. My mortgage went up by over 80% and another hike around the corner. Large coal shortages that cause concern until the coming winter. I have a strange feeling that she will be very severe this season. A very large handout for people from Ukraine and a large part of people around me are against such action. Only again, in contrast to this, does Rusophobia win in the majority of cases. The people here really got it planted in their genes, I guess. Worse in the private sector, because I assume that 2023 will be a struggle for survival for many employees, and in this context, I bet protests in Warsaw this winter. I apologize for my level of English. Regards
From Portugal here.
Cant really tell the difference because my family is kind of self sufficient. We plant potatoes, tomatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, have some goats etc.
The things we generally buy, those are up from 20 to 100%. Does not generate a great amount monthly though.
In the MSM news they keep telling inflation is 9.1% but VAT collected has grown 24%. So … If you are reducing spending but the VAT keeps expanding it is not normal that inflation is just 9%.
Energy prices are not that far up has one reads about central Europe. I also have solar installed but when i see my electric bill and 60% of the energy comes from natgas i come to the conclusion that this could suddenly reach the level of Germany for example (I’m paying 0.16€/kWh before taxes.
Sooooooooo, not really bad but perhaps very difficult for the general Joe wich I know I’m not … But hey, a lot of assaults in the region. Great thing I don’t trust FIAT money!
Texas USA. Bottom line, inflation AVERAGE, to include food, gas, utilities, housing, insurance, all BASICS, is 16% average, not that 8.9% garbage MSM reports. And getting higher. All having NOTHING to do with Russia, sanctions, supply & demand, or transport. It’s Central Bank made and Fed manufactured monetary madness. And it will kill us all. We have had 11 (11!!) attacks in 2022 alone in our food supplies ( mysterious “fires” everywhere, explosions of fertilizer plants, chicken “flu” wipeouts etc). The Central banks are doing exactly what they did & voiced in the Chile days, so proudly… “we’ll make their economies scream”…
Having been a long foreign resident of japan I have witnessed this country turned into a US vassal state and it doesn’t look good. This discussion has come up elsewhere and is sometimes hard to detect because it is a subtle transition but Japan’s government is turning fascist. That should come as no surprise considering Japan answers to the US and its current crop of politicians are more concerned about their salaries than they are about preserving anything that was once Japan.
The Japanese government is going broke and will continue to increase pressure on its citizens to pay up even if it means traffic fines for the most trivial of reasons. The government of Japan has now authorized the arrest of people who do not pay fines. This is usually the direction governments take when they are dependent on collapsing central banks.
Japan’s introduction of the My Number that many Japanese reject is alleged to have come out of the offices of Japan’s finance minister Taro Aso who studied the German model. Central banks play a huge role in why governments go fascist as seems to be the case in Japan with the BoJ. It looks as though the only way Japan can stave off bankruptcy in many of its cities is to allow foreign tourism back in bringing in hard currencies.
Currently, the Japanese government’s balance sheet shows a negative net worth of 592 trillion yen (US$4.3 trillion), with the governments authority to collect taxes existing conceptually as an invisible asset. That leaves the door wide open to send the police in that stand between Japanese citizens and the government to harass citizens for revenue. Alcohol sales are dropping and this is affecting tax revenue. SO what does the Japanese government do? It goes on a campaign to encourage Japanese citizens to drink more alcohol. Then just today, a partially drunk man was accosted by a motorcycle cop when the man attempted getting into his car to drive away. It’s like, wtf man?
Russia’s Vladimir Putin stated Japan is occupied by the US. That of course is well known but to hear it coming from Putin puts an entirely different meaning on “occupied.” North Korea under Kim Jong-un Chum Chum immediately picked up on it and launched a missile over Japan as if threatening the US.
The US dollar is clobbering the Japanese yen going from ¥110 to ¥147 since March, 2022 which effectively prohibits Japanese from traveling overseas. We ordered some hydroponics equipment from China and had the rate been at around ¥110 or so the total costs would have been around US$2580. The same systems now cost US$3660. Many young Japanese have had it with an increasing suicide rate especially among young women. Those young Japanese both single and married, are going to countries like Australia working their sending money back home to their families. Wages haven’t moved in Japan for 20 years.
It is grinding to a halt in Japan and getting worse as I observe it. Japan didn’t even make the list of the top 20 countries to retire in. And two weeks ago a Japanese man opposed to having a state funeral for Abe Shinzo immolated himself in front of PM’s Kishida’s offices in down town Tokyo over.
(living in Hamburg/Germany)
People who bought a home in Germany in the last 4 years face an ugly situation. First of all they seem to be well-situated: they financed at 1%-2%. What’s bad: this also meant that prices were high. In the coming years there won’t be many possible buyers for their properties since maintaining the high prices at >3% isn’t possible for those who haven’t built already. Otoh there is also a huge price increase for everything related to construction. In Germany you are supposed to have at least 20% capital and normal conditions are years fixed rate + paying back the principal (min 1.5% now, this can be set by the Bundesbank). It is extremely unusual in Germany for a bank to sell the mortgage, so it stays with the bank.
When you ask for financing your expenses for living are calculated. With 10% inflation and rising costs for a mortgage and rising costs for construction most germans who don’t have a home already will never get one. Their savings will be eaten.
Most people in Germany have never experienced inflation in their life.
Plus a steady stream of ‘refugees’ who get a right for an appartment (paid by the state) you get the perfect storm: no energy, no housing (for newcomers) and rising costs for everything.
Germany was the nation of engeneers and it still is (in some places) but a lot of people nowadays have no connection to basic math. Detoriation of education since a long time.
Many people in Germany are ’employed’ in the ‘migration industry’. That’s everything related to giving services to (mostly) totally unskilled people like teaching german, how-to-apply for
money from the state, etc. so I don’t expect any change here. It has become too big.
Looks like a perfect storm.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not predicting a melting of housing industy. Those who own a home won’t sell if they don’t have to. But there will be some people who have to do that in the future.
What nobody is talking about: Germany is a nation of emmigrants. Skilled people leave. One-by-one.
Plenty of cheap big homes in Saxony and North Eastern Bavaria
We’re in Northern Alabama. After a lot of serious analysis, we moved here about 5 years ago. After the 2020 elections and I realized who was going to run our country, I figured that we had 5 years before the crash. I’m thinking now that it will happen in the next year. We made our house and life style as resilient as possible. Learned to grow food. Collaborated with a local church and taught them how to have a community garden. This was the second year and it boomed in spite of the drought. House is as energy efficient as possible. Used the last Biden stimulus to put in a well. Got everything out of the markets. Increased our own food preservation to where we’re at four years of food put up. Got a hybrid vehicle that gets amazing fuel mileage. Got our first chickens the other day. Not optimistic about the short term, but I want my family to be around to watch how it comes back.
Central PA, here. Vietnam War Navy Vet of the Security Group Command whose family served with the Marines on IWO and Saipan, Army Air Corps in the Aleutian Islands during the Midway feint, Army in the Philippines WWII, Navy on a Carrier, and Air Force weather watch during Korea. Youngest son, a Navy Flight Officer in a Jet Squadron grounded which has been a year since the COVID Crap as the Thing’s Regime in DC wants Woke perverts instead of Warrior Patriots. That hurts the most!
Until that Regime is removed nothing, repeat, nothing will change. Right now, I consider Russia to be God’s Instrument for that change which is why I support and pray for them, especially those in the Donbass persecuted since Nulandistan forced on them 8 years ago after a validly elected government favorable to Russia was overthrown by a morally bankrupt government that wants to control anything and everything it touches, leaving disaster wherever it goes, see Afghanistan being the latest being an act of War Mongering cowards who care about nothing but their own personal fiefdoms, the common good be DAMNED!
As for the economics, I’m 76 in poor health getting close to the end. My respiratory over the counter meds I need went from 5 to 50 dollars last I looked. Was in shock! Barely making it on Social Security and a small pension. Still waiting on my Tax Refund from 2021 tax year which I filed in March. Money unbounded for the UKES but NOTHING for us!
I’m sad but I’m a fighter for God, Family, Country in that order and I’m doing everything that I can to put out the real news to my mailing list from coast to coast, my social media on GAB and GETTR, and the feedback I get from reposting tells me that my message, which is YOUR message is getting out, Larry, God bless and keep you always! Thank you for everything that you’re doing toward that end and people like you.
Putin’s last big speech said it all when he condemned the moral rot over here as Satanic which is right on the money, saying we’re not going to be like them, PERIOD!
Canada, Eastern Ontario. Winter is coming early this year, two hard frosts already. A 10lb bag of yellow potatoes is 7.00. We should be seeing discounted new crop potatoes for 3.00 a bag but none yet.
Wood stoves and wood boilers are selling like hotcakes, seems like firewood is the most desired fuel around here.
Everything is up in price at the grocery store, we’ve had some relief at the gas pumps with gas around 1.50 a liter(6 bucks a gallon! that’s supposed to be a deal!)
We’re starting to see more empty stores again, the only places that seem to be opening up are cannabis stores and tatoo shops. fak!
Thanks Larry!
Not answering to the theme proposed by Larry, but I have to say, seeing the way the word “communist” is used by commenters here who mention it, my advice to communist parties would be to drop both the word communist from the party’s name and communist symbols from your publicity, but keep everything else, ideology, policy, manifesto and political philosophy (just don’t mention Marx or Lenin).
Call it instead, idk, “the new rabbit party” or something and people won’t know you’re communist. They may even vote for you, thinking you’re hip and on the edge.
We’re in Airstrip One. Both semi-retired (we have our own company that we are winding down and so largely working when we choose). Prices rising generally. Petrol (‘gasoline’) around £1.70 per litre (down over last two weeks mind) but diesel £1.86. We own our small place in a small village, don’t drive much, don’t ‘lifestyle’ much and so for now at least able to watch the approaching tsunami with bated breath. If the banks collapse we’ll lose our pensions of course!
Feel very lucky overall.
Then there’s Liz Truss.
QK
Great idea an a great response from readers.
I live in Ontario, Canada and it is fascinating to see how prices differ across Canada. Gasoline yesterday was $1.35 per litre and my wife and I spend almost $400 per week for groceries. But the food chain we have to use is a 24 hour type and is more expensive. I think the bread prices are up because of our Globalist prime minister is threatening farmers with fertilizer reductions and the wheat prices are in fear mode. And central bank policies.
We might recall that Globalist want a global population reduction so attacking agriculture ups the starvation rate for the 2030 Plan. I keep wondering why more people do not understand that Globalism is a political movement that has captured so many governments in the West. Deindustrialization is another goal – does that explain some of European woes?
All of this, of course contributes, no, accelerates inflation on top of central bank over printing….
I have known this would happen for twenty years because I study monetary history. This really is a reset, but now it is one with steroids.
FWIW,
L.
….my wife and I spend almost $400 per week for groceries……
My wife‘s household budget is 650€/month, that includes 3-4 nice restaurant dinners. We eat exceedingly well at home – on figure $125/week
Moved to a farm in rural SW Virginia 4 years ago with the intention of becoming as self sufficient as possible. We barter, we grow – without chemicals and fertilizers but still notice price increases – seeds are way up, so are repairs, parts etc. 5-year plan was to move to working the farm with a team of horses instead of diesel-dependent tractors but now it became a 2-year plan. I am from former Yugoslavia and had the privilege and luxury of growing up in a country with a leader such as Tito was.
I can see all the downfalls of the West – the debt, the rampant hypocrisy, the colonial attitudes, the priorities at home and abroad all screwed up, the disrespect for everyone else in the world unless they sing our songs, the fake freedom and democracy mantra while corporations loot our citizenry and our citizenry loots itself morally and financially.
I lived through the civil war in Yugoslavia and to all people who cheer on wars – well, until you have lived in one as a bystander, you don’t know what misery is. I was 15 when it started and waking up one morning to find out all your good life is gone, that is an experience nobody wants.
In that direction, I would not want to live under the Chinese/Russian boot anymore than I would like to live under the neo-con crazies’ boot – we should keep in mind that they all have their faults and that America was once a great country – something we should strive to revive. Many of my neighbors and I disagree on politics but many of them are very good people, willing to help when something breaks or teach when I don’t know something so we just don’t talk politics! It is still a rural/farming community and that helps, I could not imagine living in the city again.
As far as serious impact – with high inflation we are seeing our purchasing power go down the toilet (as well as savings – if you have $$$ in the bank, it is now $$$-10% just by inflation itself?). I do not play the stock market just like I don’t go to the casino, they are equal to me so no exposure there, thank God.
Keep up the good work!
We retired from the US to Hungary in 2009. Our income is in dollars and the Hungarian Forint is the currency used here. When we moved the dollar was 150 HUF now it is 420 HUF today but fluctuates a lot. This has helped us to offset the impact of this inflation which is the highest in Europe and a direct result of Hungary being punished by the collective west for its stubborn refusal to support (as far as practical) the insane sanctions against Russia in support of Ukraine who punished ethnic Hungarians similar to ethnic Russians. So, Hungary has an axe to grind as well with Ukraine.
The costs here have gone up to insane levels of over 100% on most things but it depends on what you want to examine. Gas and Diesel are capped by the government at 480 HUF per liter but I bought 5 liters of gasoline yesterday for my lawn mower and it was $7.40 (650 HUF/l). Food is mostly where I see the increases though. In general, things are easily over 100% higher especially things produced in Germany. Hungary is an agricultural nation but most is exported and we are forced to buy produce grown outside Hungary. Locally produced things like meat and chicken are still not inflated. However, some things like Eggs are now 95 HUF each, butter 1,250 HUF, bread also 1,250HUF, sugar is now 750 HUF, vinegar is 1100 HUF, etc. So, many things are at least double. Our electricity is now 100% increased from 40 HUF/kWh to 80 HUF/kWh. Natural gas is up 700% not sure exactly how much as we are still waiting on the bill. I have cut our gas consumption nearly to zero and shifted to electrical heating and our large Kandelo (German-style ceramic fireplace). The electricity s not all that bad and is now roughly 20 cents/kWh which is still low in the US. One other big thing I am seeing is shrinkflation. Butter used to be 250g/pkg but is now 200 grams. Sour cream used to be 1 liter but is now 850 grams for a higher price. This makes it difficult to figure out the real increases which are likely higher than I am stating if you take into account the smaller packaging. I am also seeing meat (especially chicken and pork) infused with injected water to increase the weight.
I work for a Fortune 100 company (insurance sector), senior management. I make plenty of money, am well respected and my job is very secure (some specialty knowledge and skills). Company is doing very well. My wife got bored (empty nesters) and went back to teaching grade school. She loves the children and wants to give by enriching their minds. She’s good at it; very dedicated. Financially, we are in fine shape. No debt (no credit card balances, no car loans, home owned free and clear n a good neighborhood). That said, I am appalled by what things cost these days – the essentials like food, housing, gas, utilities. I can’t imagine how a family starting out or working lower lower paying jobs can make it. I’m also appalled by my 401K performance this year. A lot of savings up in smoke.
What I wanted to contribute to the discussion is that “burn-out” and “fatigue” have become hot topics at work. People are stressed. Many aren’t frugal and spend as much as they make; more money = fancier lifestyles. They’re also watching their 401s get clobbered. Even though they have nice 6 figure incomes, inflation is hitting them hard. Then there is ambient stress from the 2020 riots, election, crime increases and covid lockdowns, ubiquitous work from home arrangements the war in Ukraine and, if you ask me, the hyperbolic ever present fear mongering politicians and media telling lies that don’t correlate to our experience and instincts – gas lighting causes the target stress.
People are really feeling it. Angst is everywhere and it is giving rise to a serious psychological epidemic. I know for a fact that across the country psychiatric medication prescriptions – from “mood stabilizers” to anti-psychotics are up by 25% to 40% (depending on region of the country). Also psychiatric and substance abuse admissions, rehab., etc. Domestic tranquility is not ours anymore. I filled up my car the other. As we all know, it costs a lot. The gas pumps have some stupid audio/visual programming that was blasting hysterical mainstream media at me as I stood there. I was trying to checkout a young lady at one of the other pumps w/an extraordinary figure while the gas pump was hooting at me about the “criminal” Donald Trump’s legal problems and then Putin threatening to disintegrate us all w/ nukes. Ruined the eye candy. Sometimes it’s the little things that add up over time. Humans were not designed to ingest a steady diet of high speed fear and hate. The techno masters are trying to kill us in every way possible. It’s an assault on our senses and sensibilities on all fronts.
I think the population is going to reach some mass breaking point at some time in the future. They will release pent up angst, turned to rage, in a frenzy. That or just become stoned drunk medicated zombies. Neither outcome is good.
The techno masters want the latter. All I know for fore sure is that this is not sustainable.
Eric Newhill, I’m astonished that hasn’t happened already. I was very troubled that, during Covid, even many of those who saw through the public-health humbug from the start, merely grumbled and acquiesced to outrageous, illegal lockdowns – even after it became clear the lockdowns had nothing to do with the virus.
My hope – which grows more faint every day – is that people who share our views will revolt after all. There’s an excellent chance that many who oppose us will wind up in the medicated zombie camp.
jmj59,
I am surprised too. It is clear to me that the democrats control the rioters of 2020 and unleash them as needed. So they don’t count. I have friends from all walks of life as I have worn many hats (I’m 58 and only started in big corporate land in my late 30s) and I just have a lot of interests and a fairly open mind. My liberal friends are happy and hoping for more handouts. Establishment conservative friends, I’m discovering, are just fat, lazy cowards. They have theirs and, sure, they bitch and moan about kooky woke stuff and Biden and the FBI/DOJ, the economy, etc., but, at the end of the day, they just dismiss it all as a one-off aberration that will go away with the next election, IMO, because to take it seriously means they’d have to stick their necks out and that might be dangerous. They could lose something and/or get hurt. Of course, they all hate Putin and want to spare no expense eradicating him and Russia generally, damn the blowback. They’re crazy about that. Like a death cult or something. Trying to explain things to them just gets me labeled “crazy” and dangerous. The only ones that give any thought to rising up are my veteran friends; not all, but many – especially combat vets. Also, farmers, truck drivers talk the talk. Don’t know about the walk part. I think many are waiting to see if we have fair and power altering midterms; kind of am myself, but very skeptical the trajectory will change regardless of gets in office.
Something I wrote a while ago trying to think about why nobody cares
https://patrickarmstrong.ca/2018/01/30/nobody-cares-about-the-news/
Excellent. Thank you.
“The ones who don’t bother to watch “The News” don’t care, and those who do watch “The News” don’t care either. ”
Yeah, it’s just fluffy social currency – not stimuli for deep discussion on issues or meaningful participation in a govt for, of, by the people
South America.
Situation is worse but not acutely worse. I would say
And the fuel things: gasoline, diesel and kitchen gas up over 50 pct which pushed the inflation.
The usual “normal” inflation index is up by some 30% and daily supermarket items up 40
to 50 pct this year. Guess that the other big factor is still that Covid backlog.
Greetings from Russia. I’m an IT guy living in a provincial city north to Moscow. In spring we had a panic buying at ridiculous prices. After things calmed down we found food prices increase about 30% and even more for the imported products. Same for home appliances and furniture. Prices stalled since then. Gasoline and diesel stay the same as in February, about $0.85/litre ($3.24 per gallon) for a 95 octane. Guess these are unofficially regulated.
We moved to a new condo not long before SMO and were particularly hit by building materials prices, these are up 50-100%. Utility bills went up at official inflation rate at July and will increase once more in December. So far we are pretty sure that the lights will be on and natural gas will flow into homes.
Regarding job security I hope for the best. I work for a German company which serves other European companies. Many of these stopped operations in Russia in spring and this put company into a tough position financially. Layoffs are inevitable, but management set a priority to save essential staff and IT professionals are hard to find nowadays.
Western companies are doing whatever they can to stay in Russia. They “exit” Russia in PR and balance sheets by “selling” subsidiaries to a local management, and continue operations. I hope my employers’ customers will return soon under another names. McDonald’s near my place had reopened recently and as crowded as usual.
What I personally noticed is that increasingly I have to use VPN to access some basic websites, like technical documentation. The Internet is falling apart. That is worrying.
My wife used to watch cheap Ukrainian TV series. They shot plenty of them, all in Russian language, and they were entertaining. The production suddenly stopped.
Opinions here are divided on mobilization call. For these who lost jobs, especially in smaller towns, this is the way to feed their families. Ministry of Defense promised to pay recruits about 5 to 10 times the salary they used to have if they sign up. Definitely a deal for many. Others worry about their lives in that Ukrainian mess and try to push off.
I live thirty minutes north of London.
Last year 250 g of butter cost £1.05.
Now it costs £2.05.
Petrol at our local supermarket station is £1.62 per litre, down from £2 in July, but still up by approximately 30% over last year.
We have had letters from our heating oil and electricity providers; heating oil is expected to be 25% more expensive than last year. The electricity bill will be somewhere between treble and quadruple last year’s. That’s the killer for most Britons.
My husband and I are in agreement about finances and debt. Our house is paid for and we chose to forgo a holiday this year in order to sock money away for the winter energy bills – it was obvious what was coming.
We have a small (a quarter of an acre) spinney and the children collect, chop and stack wood for our fireplace. Yesterday a neighbour knocked on our door and asked if he could trade vegetables from his allotment for some of our wood. This has never happened before. We have gotten a lock for the woodshed. 🙁
People are worried about bills this winter. The slogan here is “Heat – or Eat”.
Our new PM is a clown, more concerned with cosplaying Margaret Thatcher than with listening to ordinary Brits.
Thanks to all the others who posted their situations.
This is a GREAT way to get a FEEL around the world, thank you all for sharing your experience. As a semi retired Floridian Libertarian, I am so thankful for the contents by Larry re Ukraine. Gas is quite reasonable for the moment at $3.20/gallon, groceries are up 40% average from 2021, and real estate is WAY up in pricing due to a lack of inventory in desirable neighborhoods. One noticeable trend, it seems like very few businesses are able to retain the same employees for longer than 2 mos, there is a sense of unease and everyone is trying to stay ahead of the inflation and uncertainty. Re Ukraine War, believe it or not, many I have spoken to are on the same page as people on this board. No one really care for it, just want it to end now before more bloodshed and suffering.
I live in rural Virginia with a lot of small farm based businesses, some who are my friends and neighbors. I expect that I will be trading with them when the economy and dollar crash. I hope. The war in Ukraine has had no discernible effect on my economic life. Economic instability and the current round of inflation were already in full swing. The dollar completely detached from the gold standard since 1971 and is now being printed ad infinitum with the unsurprising result that inflation is on the rise. This is economic reality stepping in to clear out all the bad investments that were made as a result of the printing of all this funny money and the political manipulation of the interest rate. How bad this correction will be is anybody’s guess. But it is taking place. With each new correction it is more difficult for the Federal Reserve to hide the monetary and financial chaos. It’s like getting a drug addict hooked on methadone to relieve him of his addiction to heroin. He will eventually die or be slave to his “doctor”.
UK here.
I’m blessed in that I was brought up in a kind of quasi-wartime atmosphere (in the 70s/80s), and my mother knew how to be extremely frugal. In fact, frugality was approached with the kind of creativity that made it fun. Being frugal in some ways meant that we could splurge on the things that mattered – books, tickets to the ballet, concerts, riding lessons. The scrimping was taken to extremes when my parents divorced and life got very tough.
So, even though energy costs have rocketed during the year, we are used to doing without, and are still maintaining our practice of living carefully so we can spend money on the things that make life worth living. I gave away my car, as I knew that I wouldn’t be able to afford to run it, but I don’t care anyway as I’m happy to walk everywhere. We’ve been having cold baths and doing without heating for a very long time. Now we’ve started washing most things in the bath, and buying lots of blankets and hot water bottles. I’ve also been busy buying up top quality wool and fur garments from eBay, as I’m sure that I won’t be able to afford good quality new clothes in the future. But we have never had credit cards, are debt-free and I own my house (and a flat in London) so we are far better off than most.
I live in Ludlow, a very beautiful market town in Shropshire, which is a major tourist draw for the local area. I would not be at all surprised if towns like this end up benefiting from the relative impoverishment. Fewer people will be able to afford what they think of as ‘proper’ holidays (going somewhere hot with a pool), but they will still want to spend a bit of money on days out. In the last few months, Ludlow has often been packed with tourists, even as people complain about the cost of living rising.
Food-wise, we are 100% carnivores, and buy our meat 100kg at a time from a butcher we know who has his own herd. Miraculously, the meat has not risen in cost, probably because the herd is grass-fed. We are buying a load this month that should hopefully last us until February. Even if the price of our food doubles, we are prepared for that and can cope. Being 100% carnivore is a surprisingly cost effective way to eat – it is amazing how much money people waste on condiments and poor quality food with few nutrients. I’ve never spent so little money on food as I do now. Plus I no longer go to the dentist as eating only meat has totally cured my gum disease, and we have never been in the habit of going to the doctor. We have been able to cut down to an absolute minimum the things that we actually buy – we don’t even buy toothpaste (salt works just as well).
I’m just extremely grateful that we are a) not in a city b) living in a town with very low crime rates c) in a rural, agricultural area d) with a life that is simple but intellectually rich – for which we partly have to thank you, Larry, and others like you.
Re: meat. I live in Rural Pennsylvania, USA. I have a farmer-friend with 100 head of beautiful black angus cattle. So I get meat cheaply. What’s ironic is – he can get all the grazing land he wants, for free. Elderly land-owners, with no children at home, want to keep their land clear – so they offer it to my friend to graze his cattle. His problem – he can’t grow his herd because there’s few operations left to slaughter the cattle. The US meat industry is dominated by a big oligopoly, and the Federal Government, in the name of “food safety” has regulated small slaughterhouses nearly out of existence. Add in that it uncomfortable and dangerous work, and those small slaughterhouse operators that do exist, can’t find labor at any wage rate.
Life in suburban NW USA. Gas ranges from 4.90 to 5.60/gal. Inflation is uneven but everything is more expensive. Seems a grocery run has gone from $180 for everything to about $240. Electricity bill was $55 but is that because the dryer does not work–we dry clothes outside. The oven in our electric range went out and got a combo electric griller, air fryer, bake which uses much less energy. No AC. We had two cars but one broke down and sold it for scrap. Saw a picture of NSCAR parking in KT lot filled to the brim with new Ford pickups which cannot be completed because a shortage of electronic parts. Live smaller. But also, remember inflation on pet food. Seems about 15% so far. And no, I am not getting rid of my pets.
I have a cycle tourism business on Gran Canaria Spain, bookings are down and one Belgium family cancelled saying “we have an economic crisis in Belgium”. Either it will be very busy here as it might be cheaper than staying in Europe to pay heating bills or no one will come because they have no money.
We live about 45 miles south of Perth Western Australia. Diesel is about Aus$2.05 to $2.10 per litre. This is because the previous government let lapse the fuel rebate as a sweetener to the economy but which is now on the way back which will make diesel around $2.30 or so a litre. Our house has 24 solar panels on it which basically means we are self sufficient for electricity, given the amount of sun we get, even in winter. Most of WA is like this as well. Inflation is noticeable with about a 10% increase since 2020. The government would like us to think it is less but as I said, it is noticeable. What surprises me is the cost of a good steak. One that used to take most of the plate cost $25 – $30 a couple of years ago. Now it is over $50. And this in a state that supplies a hell of a lot of Asia with beef!
As other correspondents from Aus. have explained, most people here toe the government line of Russia bad, us very good. As a satrap of the good ole US of A this is to be expected though to us who dream of an independent and non aligned Australia it is galling to say the least. However, given the fear of our neighbourhood that is present in this country I don’t expect those dreams to be realised, not within my life at least.
I love your site and respect you mightily, along with those erudite and educated folk such as Scott Ritter, Col. Douglas Macgregor et al within the US of A. I am amazed at seeing the problems present in your country which your leaders don’t even pretend to try to address but instead pay homage to those in your society whose lives are dedicated to death. Boggling! And this is while Putin is busy creating a solid society based on traditional memes which resonate within Russia. Says it all, really.
I’m from northern Brazil,
We’ve had a lot of trouble since Dilma (2014) screwed up our economy and was screwed back by politicians e the media. The whole political system is in a black hole with the pandemic and Bolsonaro’s dumb@ss ministry.
The war itself caused some rise in fuel and food prices, but they were already soaring.
Since Biden became president of the USA Bolsonaro stoped being the yes-man he was under Trump and things despite still being shitty for most of the people, his populist measures helped a little bit… most analysts think next year all the economic hell will break loose in the country because of what he’s doing to secure reelection.
Your take and your numbers on Brazil aren’t right.
The economy in Brazil is performing remarkably well (lower inflation and higher economic growth than most of the other top large peer economies in the world, whilst running a fiscal surplus despite an election year – first government to do so in the history of the republic in 133 years!). Also, thanks to Bolsonaro’s wise foreign policy and neutral stance re Russia, the country has just imported large quantities of diesel from Russia at very favourable terms, which further eases pressure on energy and food prices.
The Finance Minister has done an excellent job despite facing inumerous internal and external obstacles. Many important reforms have been passed in parliament, unemployment is at its lowest level in 15 years and the country is the 3rd largest recipient of foreign direct investment in the globe (hardly an indication of an unattractive place to invest, don’t you think). If Bolsonaro wins, Brazil is set to continue to grow. It is obviously a large emerging market with collosal historical social/economical problems and COVID, disruptions to global supply chains, severe droughts and the Urk/Russia conflict have certainly affected the country. But in all fairness, Brazil is performing quite well compared to other places right now.
Also, the current Bolsonaro administration is a bastion against globalism and the woke mob. He is ferociously targeted by the msm (national and foreign), decant artists, Hollywood, narco gangs, powerful corrupt public private lobby groups as well as the US of A and its continuous meddling (Biden, CIA, etc). Victoria Nuland was in the country a few months back in anticipation of our general elections (mere coincidence, hun…?!)
Sadly the world has a complete wrong picture of what is happening in Brazil and Bolsonaro is definitely on the right side. There is a lot at stake in Brazil’s elections this month and it’s effects will be felt across the world. Hopefully Bolsonaro will win.
Hello Larry, here in Brazil, we suffer as in many countries with high inflation. we stabilized our inflation in the middle of the 90’s decade, now we have the highest inflation of the last 20 years. What caused this problem is the price of fuel, gasoline, which increased by about 40%, reaching almost 3.50 U$$ per liter (I converted it for you to have an idea of value) and now it has dropped a little. Food in general, the production chain is more expensive and the devaluation of wages in general. The country today is ideologically divided and I believe that this also affects our economy, we are having very tough elections here, with a conservative wave. I believe that the Ukrainianization of Brazil has begun. a hug.
This isn’t true about Brazil. Check your facts and stop lying.
Brazil has recorded deflation over the last three months thanks to the impeccable management of the economy by the current Bolsonaro administration (that’s right, prices of petrol, energy and food have consistently gone down over the last quarter). Taxes have also been lowered and the country is set to record lower inflation and higher economic growth than most countries in the world (China included).
Also, the current elections are about freedom and the rule of law under Bolsonaro or caos, corruption, mismanagement and globalism under former president Lula, who was “miraculously” freed from a long prison sentence and counts with the direct support from Biden, Victoria Nuland and the rest of the leftist gang of the US of A.
For the sake of Brazil, of individual liberties and of a just multi-polar world, Bolsonaro must win the election.
Get your facts right little fellow, trying to sell Bozo the clown policies as it’s some accomplishment. The 2 month deflation is due to the lack of purchasing demand, which is terrible in economic terms, our GDP has been falling for the last 6 years, go to the World Bank website and compare the DATA! Bolsonaro’s regime is head each day towards a Authoritarian Theocracy were the evangelical right is calling the shots. We are back on the UN’s map of hunger, 30 million Brazilians facing food insecurity, eating less then two meals a day. How shameful for a country that 8 years ago was the world’s 6th largest economy and relegated today to around the 13th largest.
Good try on spinning this one, giving our clown president props for having done nothing, absolutely nothing, except him and his three sons raiding the public coffers…between the 4, they have purchased 105 pieces of real estate (apartments, houses, offices, etc..) being 52 where payments were made in cold hard cash, never went through the banking system, just funnelled cash, nothing moe, nothing less!
Your poor arguments and comments aren’t worth my time.
——————————–
But I will provide some additional information on Brazil for the benefit of others here.
Here are a few FACTS about the current situation in Brazil. I kindly invite Larry and those from his well-read and investigative international audience (who are keen to learn more about the true state of things in Brazil) to investigate and confirm for themselves:
* Price of gasoline per litre (USD 0.87 on average, that’s right 87 US cents for a litre. Taxes on petrol have been written off by the government;
* Energy utility bills 30%-40% lower than at the start of year. Taxes on energy have also been written off by the government;
* Latest annual GDP growth estimate: 2.8%-3% (higher than most other major economies, including China);
* Unemployment: 8.9% (lowest level in 15 years); and
* Brazil is running a fiscal surplus on an election year (first time in 133 years since Brazil became a republic).
The truth is that Brazil is fetching much better than most countries in the world right now, despite a global pandemic, major disruptions to supply chains and the Ukr/Russia conflict.
There are no systemic issues with energy and/or food supplies as is the case across other countries in South America and increasingly around the world.
As a senior economist and an enthusiast of economic development, I can say that the economy is being extremely well run by the current administration. In fact, it is truly revolutionising and fascinating to witness its positive tangible effects.
This is the truth and I again invite all readers here to search and verify for themselves.
On the political front, there will be decisive elections soon and the current president Bolsonaro stands on the way of Brazil falling back to leftist thugs and international globalists.
His opponent, Lula (the criminal gansgter who was “magically” released from prison to run against the current president) is backed by no one less than: Cuba, Venezuela, Argentina, Colombia, Nicaragua, the US of A, the EU, Hollywood, powerful narco groups, public & private corrupt lobbies, national & foreign msm, by the world’s globalists and the woke mob (the worst of society, really). This should enable the readers here to figure out who’s side Lula is on and what is best for Brazil and for a multi-polar world in general.
Best wishes!
I live in central México, and if I didn’t know about the SMO and the slow collapse of the EU, I wouldn’t know from the world around me. México is experiencing slightly higher than normal inflation, but it’s broad based. I bought 204 liters of LP gas this week, and its per unit cost was less than it was in February!
Sweden: food prices are up by more than 10 % (half a kilo of butter is 7 dollars, up from 3 dollars), interest rates are up, and real estate prices are clearly on the way down. In rental apartment negotiations landlords demand a 10 % hike. This will affect many low-income households severely.
Energy prices are through the roof. Sweden is divided in four energy sector areas (1-4). In the southernmost areas 3 and 4 energy prices are souring through the roof, and many house owners will need to leave their homes. Monthly heating bills during the winter may reach thousands of dollars.
The municipalities are beginning to discuss tax hikes. We already have around 25 % VAT and around 32 % municipal tax here, so the burden on households are overwhelming. Some retired people are already looking through the trash to be able to pay their bills. Gas prices are around 3 dollars per liter, so filling the tank of your car costs 150 dollars.
During the winter the energy companies warn about rolling power outages throughout our cities. People will probably be disconnected from the power grid for hours, maybe on a weekly basis, to save electricity.
Here a link to Nord Pool, the Scandinavian energy market (prices are in EUR/MVh):
https://www.nordpoolgroup.com/en/Market-data1/#/nordic/table
Correction of two typos: 2 dollars per liter of gasoline, 100 dollars for a tank of gas, and prices on Nord Pool in EUR/MWh.
Inflation in The Netherlands.
Consumer product prices are 17.1 percent higher in September 2022 compared to September 2021.
I buy all my food from farmers bicycling 2x (10 till 25) kilometers back and forth from the city where I live.
It´s still much cheaper there.
By focusing on numerical prices we completely overlook the cheapening of the products that no doubt will be used to disguise inflation. Consider a pair of socks: you can always substitute in a cheaper synthetic fiber, reduce the threads per inch, or simplify the method of weaving.
How will government statisticians then calculate the inflation in a pair of socks?: by looking only at the price or will they actually ‘hedonically adjust’ for the poorer quality?
There is a good reason why ‘cheapening’ will become the new normal: most consumers don’t know or care very much how products work or what they are made of. They only notice prices, sizes, prestige, and colors.
By the way, “shrinkflation” is different from the cheapening I am talking about.
I’m in Manitoba Canada. Just outside of Winnipeg, province’s capital.
The price of EVERYTHING has jumped significantly in the last couple of years and in some cases, months.
Grocery shopping is a horror show now. The price of food is astronomical, especially if you’re seniors on a fixed income.
Trying to get medical prescriptions filled is also becoming difficult. The pharmacy will over give maybe a week’s worth of meds and tell you to ‘come back’. Then you’re paying for another dispensing fee.
We don’t have gas service to our home, strictly electricity. Just sit and shake our heads. Costs over $100 for hubby to put gasoline in his small pickup; although the last few days have seen prices sort of dropping.
Everything has increased in price, store shelves are not like they used to be, more empty spaces. Hope we don’t have a cold winter here.
Hi Larry,
Being a Dutch free-lancer who is normally skipping the summer holidays because of my profession we’ve now been taking a small autumn break in Dieppe, France. Well, this year 2022 is a memorial year for remembering the fateful August 1942, when Canadian commandos tried to get ashore at this Normandian coast. We saw newly refurbished monuments in Dieppe, in Pourville-sur-Mer and in Mers-Les-Bains, with the flags of Canada and France waving solemnly. With regard to Russia, sanctions and Ukraine I noticed that in Dieppe Russia Today, Sputniknews, Russian RT and Vesti are being blocked (but they open in Tor browser). The Diesel costs 1.70 Euro at Auchan hypermarket (about 30 Eurocents per liter cheaper than Diesel in Germany). Inside Auchan we noticed that 1 croissant costs 1 Euro. In Aldi supermarkt croissants cost 39 Eurocents a piece, which raises the question whether supermarkets are not overpricing their goods. Our apartment in the middle of Dieppe is still normally priced (45 Euro a night) as is the dinner in Flunch (Plat du jour for 8 Euro + Vegetables/ rice/ french fries/ sauces additions for free).
In Belgium the meals at Lunchgarden (the Belgian version of Flunch) cost 13 Euro and Diesel 1.85 Euro/liter.
We were worried whether October would bring nice weather in and around Dieppe. Happily there is little to worry left.
Delivered under the transom early this morning: it was a cassette tape. We made a transcription. Much mumbling, frequent pauses, stuttering, malapropisms but this was what we recovered. Some letters have been redacted for purposes of rational security.
———-
Yes, I am JR Xiden. Yes I am The JR Xiden xxxxxxx of the xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx. Yes I have a grown son named xxxxxxxxxr. Yes, my XP is Xamal Ye Xairus.
I think things are great. Maybe some folks need to tighten up a little, drive less, shop less, stop thinking about a future. Just for awhile. Education is great in our country. People still want to come here. Just look at our xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx. What? Can you repeat that? Oh, that. Well, regarding that, what I have to say is it has nothing whatsoever to do with my policies or the policies of the xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxy . What? Them? Listen. Listen to me and listen carefully. People complaining about that are, are, not right in their heads, in their minds. Something is wrong with their brains. Ok? Do you understand what I just said? Ok fine. You understood.
Here in the UK, an 800-gramme loaf of baked-in-store supermarket bread was £1 back in February, as was a four (imperial) pint jug of milk. Now the bread is £1.20 and the milk is £1.55. Those are the key price items that all the supermarkets try to match each other on. Other things have gone up about the same.
In general, food here is relatively cheap. Supermarkets are still giving surplus stock away to ‘food bank’ charities, and customers buy extra and leave something for them too.
Hi! Peter from Sweden. Before the SMO 1 kilo of tomatoes cost about 1 Euro/dollar (10SEK). SEK is swedish crowns. Now it is 5 Euros/dollars (50 SEK). Local tomatofarmers is shutting down because of the high energyprices. 211231 1 kWh cost about 1,25 Euro/dollar, now it is 4 Euros /dollars and raising. This is because the gouvernment (still in place) choose to shot down 2 perfectly working nuclear powerplants. The gouverntment im talking about is socialdemocrats and the greens. These idiots must have been misled by Soros, Schwab and other not neo- but old n a z i s trying to create the 4:th reich. Thay all have a beef with Russia.
This is not correct.
Tomatoes were 35 SEK/$3.5 before the SMO and are now maybe $4 but I bought for $2.5 the other day. Tomatoes have never been $1 per kilo in Sweden the last two decades.
Painting a picture more ugly than reality doesn’t help. It’s bad as it is.
in Jan a 30pack of cigarettes cost 148NOK
now it is 169NOK
50grams of tobacco up 20NOK since jan.
Food prices go up a few NOK ever month since Feb, sometimes it goes up several times a week.
Vegetables, rice and pasta is up 10-15% at my shop.
Per
Norway
Larry this is the link to our GOV.si site of Statistical Office. Its in English.
https://www.stat.si/StatWeb/en/Field/Index/2
Hello from the Czech Republic, I confirm what MIKE wrote. We have a government of mobsters (personal experience) who want to please those behind the big puddle. many people already have problems today. Salaries do not move much and the prices of food and fuel for people are up to double, for companies it is even more expensive. Many businesses go bankrupt or move away. However, our government will buy the overpriced F35 and Leopard. Instead of buying back shares of electricity producers and returning prices to normal economic levels.
The important thing is to stop killing people, which some people won’t like.
I had to laugh at the misery:
https://necenzurovanapravda.cz/2022/10/po-zverejneni-jeho-miroveho-planu-zverejnili-ukrajinci-obrazek-elona-muska-v-poutech-a-ukrajinske-uniforme/
We have a saying: do the devil good and you will be rewarded with hell
In English it is said to be like this:
Bad people reward your good deeds toward them with bad deeds toward you.
Hi from Spokane, USA.
The Czech Republic had the most beautiful woman in the world as Miss Earth 2012.
Her name is Tereza Fajksová.
I hope all of you are doing well in that beautiful country.
Gunny
USA
Larry! A-6NimitzGuy here, circa 76-82. My up-Nawth home is near Seabrooke, N.H.. Down there is my joint in New Port Richey, Gulf Harbors off 19. I thought my deal down there was SCREWED, then the storm turned NE. Tragic for them, but God bless us all, face it, when it’s headed for you, you wish it could be anyone but you. Human condition. The Saker got screwed, but sez he found a deal to help for a bit.
Up here, hamburger is 3.49, but I can’t get standing rib for under 15.. Down there, they say hamburger is 6+ at Publix, which has ALWAYS been 30% higher than up here for everything. But I’m well set, so far, much better set than many others. Soshe, investments, 401, all that shit. Larry, what is the surface around your pool, under the lanai? Mine’s slippry-ass bricks. Yours looks like something solid.
Anyway, we both give thanks, I’m sure. Thanks for all your work. And shouts to Saker, Martyanov and a few others. I met a lot of spooks in my career down in DC. You guys were the good ones.
I live in the UK. I’m very worried, inflation on goods that matter, ie food is much higher than the “official” figures. I’d say closer to 20% or even higher
very concerned about the cost of fuel, domestic and car
concerned about the effect on mortgage payments by interest rate hikes
our government seem incompetent to the point of deliberate sabotage. the probable replacement Starmer doesn’t look much better
the announcement thatvone pipe of NS2 is undamaged and that the other is hopefully repairable is a small glimmer of hope. but I doubt our “leaders” will avail themselves of it
not happy or optimistic at all
The strength of the $US has effected every country. The US has made payment of $US debt difficult.
Lublin, southeast Poland.
Milk, from 1.99 to 3.99
Bread bun, from 86 grz. To 99 but also smaller in size.
Red meat, from 19 zl a piece (150 deko) to 26 for the same size.
Mortgage; from 950 zl /monthly to 1.500 zl. Monthly.
Surrounded by people that before a minimal opinion in favor of negotiation or criticizing the govt for giving Ukr expats benefits and using them for political purposes or breaking strikes, you receive an avalanche of insults or the same old oligophrenic motto of: ‘Pro – Putin tool’. Is an asphyxiating environment.
Farmer in Greece. Fertilizers and pesticides prices up 200%. Electricity (necessary for water to be pumped out of wells) up 300%.Not making this shit up.
Used to pay 0,15 € per kw the price this summer was approx 0,40 €. Goverment subsidies covered around half the cost of that price increase.
Meanwhile demand has almost collapsed. We sell our products (oranges, apricots and olive oil) at cost prices just to cover our expenses.This situation is not sustainable in the long run.
I’m 62. I live in New Mexico, where I rent an apartment in a tiny town. I have a low-stress job as a medical contractor with the border patrol. (I worked ER for years, but gave up on it because of all the outrageous govt-imposed BS.)
My job and my property are spread across three big western states, so gasoline prices have hit me harder than anything else. But I make decent money, and otherwise my needs are simple, so I’m doing fine.
I’m not a big or picky eater, but I have noticed my biweekly grocery bill is up maybe 20% since Pedo Pete first defiled the Oval Orifice.
I sure enjoy my Russian Standard vodka, but the local store doesn’t carry it. I assume it must be super expensive now, if available at all.
I got interested in the former USSR about 2012. The 2008 crash had wiped out my IRA so I pondered retiring someplace cheap, like Georgia (the republic). That’s on the back burner for now.
The crash also left me leery of the stock market. I’ve put most of my eggs in the real estate basket, along with some gold, guns and lots of ammo. Soaring property values have helped me lot recently, though I can’t retire just yet.
I’m in AlfredRusselWallace off-grid prep mode, but not as far along as he is, and not in the Kootenays. I own two houses in Colorado – one in a small farming and ranch town on the western slope, the other in an even smaller mining town in the high country. I also have a few acres in my native Texas.
I have a cozy RV parked on the Texas site but I’m going to put a cabin there eventually. It’s a promising zombie-apocalyse redoubt – remote, rugged and defensible. It’s on a small spring-fed lake, so there’s year-round water. You can swim comfortably from mid-March to Thanksgiving, so heating will only be an issue during freak storms. I invested in a solar generator that will cover most of my energy needs. The woods are full of deer and wild hogs. I reckon I can learn to garden.
The high-country house has promise too. It’s only about 1200′ sq so my new wood stove heats it nicely. Avg overnight low in January is 5*F so that’s important, if the grid goes away. I’ve got lots of survival rations and ammo stored there.
I guess it just depends what time of year it is and which property I’m closest to, where I’ll run when the balloon goes up.
My dilemma is, I refinanced both houses in 2020 and locked in super low interest rates on my mortgages. Do I sell the western-slope house, and use the proceeds to pay off the high-country and TX mortgages? I’d own both properties free and clear and would never have to worry about the bank taking them.
Or do I just keep making payments, since the interest rates are now waaaay below the rate of inflation?
W Krakowie (Polska) w najtańszych sklepach sieci Lidl albo Biedronka, ceny wzrosły średnio około 25 procent. Cały czas idą w górę!
W Krakowie (Polska) ceny w najtańszych dyskontach sieci Lidl albo Biedronka wzrosły o 25 procent i cały czas rosną
Central Germany here, prices for normal groceries up from 50€ for my normal shopping cart to 90€. Filling the car from 60-70€ to 120€. Our natural gas bill for heating the house jumped from 140€ to 360€ and that is probably not the end of it. Like almost all Germans we are desperately trying to get hold of a wood burner before the winter but there are no craftsmen to install them and as this is highly regulated you cannot do it on your own. So, we will probably freeze like a lot of others. – Anyway, I still doubt it will be that bad. Should it really come to it that people are freezing at home I am pretty sure that the government will be swept away by mass protests not seen since 89. – Maybe that is exactly what the Great Resetters are after ? One funny thing that struck me as strange: In spring we were told in the MSM that rapeseed oil and sunflower oil were scarce “due to the Ukraine war”. Suddenly no more oil was found on the shelves, or only at ridiculous prices. I found this extremely funny, given that the sunflowers of last year´s Ukraine pre-war harvest would have been the ones to be found in this springs oil bottles. I happened to be in France at that time-and there was no oil shortage at all. I bought lots of olive oil from Spain at that time- no problem at all. And no stories about oil shortages in the French media. The same thing, but reverse, was mustard. The French obviously have been told this late summer that mustard was off. When we tried shopping there recently, empty shelves, no mustard neither in Auchan, nor Carrefour, nor Leclerc. In Germany no mustard shortage at all, which led me to the suspicion that this is not a supply issue but a script. Different staples go “missing”, supported by a greek tragedy style choir from the MSM which leads to panic buying which then in turn causes the real supply issue. That´s how it happened with toilet paper and kleenex last year.
It is very interesting what you wrote, in Poland such a commodity that was lacking was sugar. I wonder how such a “script” looked like in other countries.
It’s interesting how people say inflation pre and post SMO.
Inflation was substantially up before SMO but now it seems that people just think Russia Ukraine conflict is why stuff costs more.
In that sense, the West gov has success covered it’s dirty tracks. Most of this would have happened with or without SMO. But it’s better when politicians can blame others. It’s very hard to now look back and say, wait a minute…
Manitoba here and rest of my immediate family are in Alberta Canada. Family are ethnic Ukrainian but from the progressive democratic side of the political fence.
Very serious inflation on food basics going on. A decent Sunday homecooked supper for family and a few friends costs around $100 CDN and that is shopping at the local Co-op.
Consumer debts loads due to the housing bubble and rising interest rates are corroding incomes. Cable/Internet/Phone/ at a basic level around $245. No frills wireless services from Fido $77 for 2 phones and two tablets. Gas $1.895 per litre for regular. Loonie vs US Greenback $0.74. Local foodbanks are oversubscribed. Provincial/Federal social disability payments approximately $1065 a month. Minimum wage $13.50 rising to $14.15 in April 2023.
Being honest with the facts. Arithmetic is value neutral.
Political leadership in Canada is just as shallow and empty as it is everywhere else these days.
Near Cambridge, England: diesel for the car today cost £1.96 per litre. We are retired and my extra income from software royalties has finished so we depend on State Retirement Pensions and our Occupational Pensions. Both are fully inflation-protected according to the Consumer Price Index. Unfortunately our principal occupational pensions come from the same pension scheme so if it gets in a bit of trouble we shall be in lots of trouble.
Increases in the cost of food we have take in our stride so far. The heating bills have been a worry but the government has decided to protect us from some of the increase in prices and lay the burden on our grandchildren instead. Our own grandchildren live abroad, partly because of their parents’ dislike of high rates of income tax.
Of course if DOTUS gets us all blown up in a nuclear exchange none of this will matter much.
The key problem is with the electorate whose whims the politicians monitor with focus groups and opinion polls. QE to infinity? Of course. Net Zero? Certainly. Lockdowns and handouts? Yippee. Provoke a Russian War? Go right ahead.
I’m located in Maricopa County, Arizona. I’m on a pension, retired after 28 years in the government. I moved from Nevada five years ago to get away from Democrat controlled Las Vegas. (Gallego is my Congressman) Well, that hasn’t worked out so well. As far as economics go, I’ve paid off all my variable interest credit cards, stocked up on dry goods, planted out mature fruit trees, and have a flock of chickens. I’m still working on getting the garden going, but lately have been doing all the necessary repairs on my vehicles. Fuel/food inflation is putting a damper on my budget, but I can cope….Meat is a luxury and going out to eat is no longer an option. All my spending goes into stocking up on necessities and future home repairs etc. No vacations to Baja Mexico, or dive trips to the Marshall Islands…Meh…I would like to explore Uruguay as a possible ex-patriot location, ala Doug Casey. My neighborhood isn’t exactly the best. I noticed bums, addicts and criminals congregating in my local park. Local PD does their occasional sweeps, but they trickle back in. I miss Sheriff Arpaio, the valley was safer when he was in office. Now we have the woke police, scared of their shadows. The Cartels had Arpaio booted out, he was bad for their business.
I’m from the Czech Republic. I’ll tell you an absolute tragicomedy. The Czech Republic is the largest producer of electricity in Europe. We produce electricity from two nuclear power stations built under the Communists and from gas and coal-fired power stations. The producer is the joint stock company CEZ, which is 70% owned by the state and 30% of minority shares are owned mainly by American banks. The production price per KWh is CZK 0.80, (USD 0.035). But because of our EU membership, CEZ cannot distribute the electricity it produces directly to Czech consumers, but to the “electricity exchange” in Leipzig, Germany. There, CEZ sells electricity to its customers, including its own division “CEZ Distributor” at the EU market price. “CEZ Distributor” adds its margin to the purchase price and I, as a final consumer, pay 10-12 CZK for 1 KWh. This is a 1 500% profit for CEZ. Our government doesn’t want to do anything about it, because firstly, they receive more money (70% shareholding), for second then we citizens pay VAT on the higher price and fot third because it is afraid that minority shareholders will trigger arbitration disputes. So, the Czech Republic are the biggest electricity producer and at the same time we have the most expensive electricity in Europe.
Feeling dumb fat and happy here in Ottawa: good govt pension no debts.
Prices inching up but not enough to hurt us personally.
Have complacent feeling that Canada will be hit less than most given that we are significant producers of energy, potash and food. Ontario energy is 58% nuke (yes all that remains of our post-war technological abilities is CANDU reactor) 24% hydro so that should get us through better than some others.
So counting on my good fortune to get me through my remaining years on this planet.
Glad I have no children/hostages to fortune. I don’t think it’s going to be much fun in the West. Suspect that we will be on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain this time around.
Hi Patrick. Any conclusions about midwits?
Still thinking. But one conclusion is that the midwit simply does not see the difference between an IQ of 115ish and 140+. For example, the midwit thinks that what he thinks is what everyone thinks: there are things that he doesn’t know but what he thinks he knows he believes to be 100%. While the truly intelligent realise that what they know is the tiniest fraction of what there is to be known. Vide Newton: “I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” The midwit has no conception of the truth of that statement whereas the truly intelligent gets it immediately.
Thanks Patrick. Sounds about right.
Seems to me that Midwits could benefit from a good dose of humility. As you say, the truly intelligent, at minimum, realize their limitations via the power of superior ability to reason. The average and below average face, and come to accept, their limitations through life experience. Midwits are just clever enough to insulate themselves in protective bubbles in which they can avoid the consequences of their limitations. There is a character flaw component involved in the development of midwittery.
I got a hoot out of that final post on your blog about meditating on midwits – though was sad to see you retiring from writing posts. I get it though. I cover myself with a double layer of pseudonyms and misdirections as to my true identity. A pissed-off midwit can – and often will – seek revenge against anyone who threatens their “genius”.
Best regards,
Eric
I live along the Wasatch Front (Salt Lake City area, Utah). Most of the inflation here is related to the pandemic measures – PPP money and Employee Retention credits along with broken supply chain issues.
Housing prices exploded here and went up much faster than during the 04-07 housing boom. We did not have lockdowns in Utah and construction went crazy even with exploding lumber and material costs. Starting about 12-18 months back, companies everywhere started raising salaries and wages to retain and attract workers. Inflation, like everywhere else is noticed in every product you buy, but it is not extreme. The biggest cost now is housing and if you don’t own a home and have to rent, you are paying a lot more. Utah is in an economic boom with construction everywhere and highrises going up in Salt Lake City. If ou have a good skill set, your wages are going up and demand for workers is strong in every business type. Housing prices, like most other places in the US is pushing young people out of the American dream of home ownership forever.
In Washington State gasoline was about $3.49 – $3.89 per gallon. Now is $5.10 per gallon. That’s the big change for me.
Smaller issues are in supply chains. Many items locally not available, or spotty availability. Some empty grocery store shelves which I had only ever seen in my life when I visited the old Czechoslovakia under Communism.
Food prices have risen of course due to domestic inflation rather than the whole Ukrainian fiasco.
We’ve been fortunate all told…so far.
Don’t use to much energy and food, plus I live in a swamp.
The swamp was bad during the Trump years but got considerable better when Biden too office. Now, we have every swamp creature in abundance.
Saskatchewan. I work in wastewater, so I shall comment a bit on that, as my attention is there rather than on living expenses. A 4″ x 2″ Schedule 40 PVC saddle T (one drills a 2″ hole in a 4″ pipe, then puts the T on the pipe, and then threads in the 2″ pipe; North America uses iron pipe size for PVC) used to cost $75. It went up to about $250, before falling to $140ish.
PVC now costs about half as much as iron, for the same schedule/size, i.e. up by 2-3x. My understanding is that fracked oil contains less heavy molecules, so less asphalt and plastic. Road repair and development seems to have slowed down.
The Russians slow approach and limited numbers has caught up with them.
Ukraine is slapping them all over the front line, attacking them at the rear. Huge amounts of land taken.
Commentators like Martynov are ignoring all of this and pretending it’s some clever strategy which is bullshit.
It is what it is.
I would be interested in Larry’s current view now as he was in the Russia has this camp.
Sorry. It’s A huge Fck up and third rate command from Russia, late reinforcements and too few BTG units they are being hit by recently NATO trained troops and nAto troops. Zero lateral thinking and urgency. Zero ability to react to impose yourself on the battlefield.
US is clearly coordinating on ground using satellite and doing a brilliant job. Hands up. They have supported Ukraine and got Russia right where the US wants it. Cut off from Europe and increasingly most of the world, retreating and looking weak, once Russia is effectively beaten on the field which it looks like it will be, reinforcements are too little too late, strategy is poor, commanders being changed like underwear, then other countries will fall in line with sanctions.
The lazy way the Russian leadership fought this war when it was there early on for the taking is showing up good now. A million uniforms were stolen and apparently no one knows where they went. It’s unfortunate Russia remains so corrupt.
All the hard work by brave soldiers now scampering back to save their asses and try to narrow the defensive line. Yet Putun and non military experience Shoigu who did not get his position on merit have their heads up their asses.
I call bullshit on commentators like Martynov who say US can’t fight and Russia has best army in the world. I had been somewhat persuaded by people like him, living in Florida yet apparently experts on current Russia.
Poseidon and all their subs easily seen from satellite. Their hypersonics are impressive but they wasted the Fck out of them and should have taken out infrastructure much earlier.
To allow your enemy to reinforce, resupply and come in so close, to kill civilians, risk soldiers and morale is one huge Fck up.
So it’s getting clear Putin does not play chess. He is just a bit of a coward with too many corrupt friends in high places and no actual desire to see this through. His commanders are quite shit too.
Russia got this far on the backs of dplr LPR Chechen and cossack fighters and it had betrayed all of them.
No wonder there are protests against Chechens fighting this war.
The 5d chess bullshit has fallen apart. That Russia is only fight economic war with clever strategy also bullshit.
Russia looks weak, is weak.
The US clearly also has inside lines there.
The West may well bring down Russia, so much for their ‘best in the world ‘ million Nan string, according to Martynov army that has not been able to mobilise in 7 months and is hiding under a sheet somewhere.
7 years on in Syria US controls the most lucrative parts, Israel bombs at will, Russia just sits there and let’s it happen to scared to directly counter the west.
That same shit show carrying on here.
No doubt the added BTG will reinforce rear and stabikise some kind of line but what a joke of a bullshit operation.
I kept waiting for these wonder weapons and great tactics and they never came. Will they come. I doubt it. The Russians are not that capable unfortunately. But let’s see. Until then I will avoid reading people like Martynov who clearly have zero objectivity and have predicted everything pretty much wrong.
I guess your being paid well. Now eff off.
Grow up child.
Unfortunately, I am leaning toward agreement, Ash. Two weeks. If Russia doesn’t show its true awesomeness, then no longer leaning. Rather full agreement. Russia stinks at military and plays drunken poker and not even 1D chess, let alone 5D. They’re just blundering bumpkin idiots and cowards.
That was a little harsh, from me. Merits explanation – “Cowards” b/c unwilling to defend the oblasts that voted to join them. If unable to defend, they should have discouraged the referenda. Also, apologies for going off thread.
It is idiotic and cruel to have a referendum in an area in which (or near which) you are in retreat. The Ukrainians savage some of the people (“Russian collaborators”) in any area they reconquer, and will be even worse in an area that voted to join Russia.
Ash, thanks for your personal, boots on the ground, economic status report. Great contribution to the discussion. (sarc)
If you have to know economically I’m doing fine thanks to God, despite the costs rising, pretty much across board, but many people around me are not.
However the US has signed a law that can unilaterally allow their president to impose sanctions on anyone and anything in Africa if we don’t kiss their feet and stop all trade with whoever they tell us too, ie Russia and no doubt chins, plus take their expensive weapons and destroy our economies…etc. all mining and energy related projects with Russia they demand we stop.despite our being in BRICS.
So you may not get it. This war was Africa’s only chance to break free of exploitation and domination by the US and Western Europe. But then you probably know nothing about what your countries are doing in Africa so keep worrying about the price of milk.
The people who were so confident in a smooth fast Russian victory seemed to miss how much NATO was going to help. Martynov still doesn’t see it. In his piece linked above he says “The Ukies have lost forever Mariupol, Kherson, Melitopol, all of Lugansk, 65% of Donetsk”. Besides the ridiculous idea of claiming someone has “lost forever” a percentage of an oblast, he completely ignores what is happening on the front lines right now. The Russians are in retreat almost everywhere and he still is sure “they got this”.
Ash,
A counterpoint.
https://www.thepostil.com/kharkov-and-mobilization/
I live in the middle of nowhere Wyoming. Literally 100 miles to the nearest stoplight.
Everyone is moving here. Every builder is booked 2 years out. Very unusual but we see house construction projects starting now – maybe 30 days to the first snowfall.
There is natural gas fracking operations around here. things have been quiet for the last couple of years. But although nat gas is higher priced than it’s been in 15 years, the producers here are not investing to expand production – only to maintain production.
Most of the operators here are smaller outfits. They can no longer get capital due to ESG and banks wont lend to them due to ESG. But I suspect even if they had capital, they would not be anxious to expand. Expenses are too high. Can’t find the labor. Just enjoy the high prices and make good profits.
Prices are up of course, but we just turn the thermostat down and burn more wood to keep it comfortable. I installed solar last year, not because it makes economic sense but because the anti-production religion that is dominant in the US means the grid will become less and less reliable.
For meat, this time of year, just go out and kill it.
I’m older, retired. I find it easy to spend less. Stay home, read, walk, think. Waiting for the snow to get out cross country.
The only worry is how all the people moving here will change things. Of course we’ve had 3 mild winters. When we have a normal winter, some of these folks may leave.
Everyone here owns at least 1 AR. Many people carry even though there is little need to. Most people leave the doors unlocked. Elected a new Sheriff who pledged not to enforce any future medical emergency regulations. During covid, most people did as they pleased. Wear a mask if you want, but I’m not going to. Nobody ever asked me to
In Ethiopia, increments are: gazoline 83%, reinforcing steel 110%, average food price food well over 40%.
The market is floating above our heads.
Insane sanctions are the major driving forces. Western political class Wasted the West, gnawed the Rest.
Your country has the best coffee in the world. I used to drink gallons of it. That said…
The poorer countries in Africa are going to suffer the most with this insane world energy policy. I will pray for your country.
In Ethiopia, increments are: gazoline 83%, reinforcing steel 110%, average food price well over 40%.
The market is floating above our heads.
Insane sanctions are the major driving forces. Western political class Wasted the West, gnawed the Rest.
In Hawaii the average increase in prices from a year ago would be about 20%. Gas $5.40 a gallon, cauliflower $7, bread $6, Milk $5. Cost of car rental has gone up over 100% ( covid/Biden did that), general services ie. basic mechanical over 100% in last 2 years ( mechanics now charge $130 an hour), but the biggest change is in rents- they just keep going up. 1 bed apart $2000m a month. The house I rent is $4000 a month which was expensive 2 years ago but below average now. But can’t really complain when you live in such a nice place, at some point only the very wealthy will be able to live here, on Oahu, Maui, Kuai anyways, the big island is cheaper but the local savages are really aggressive and hate white man haha.
From Southeast USA. Combined household income of around $100k. Smallish three bedroom/2 bath home. 3 kids.
I have $20 in my checking account and $2 in my savings. Yes. I typed this correctly. It is currently Tuesday. I get paid again Friday. But thank goodness all our bills have been paid for October. Living paycheck to paycheck and have drained all my savings to survive.
God forbid one of us gets sick and have to miss a single day of work. We would be screwed. Lol.
Bueno, se que es dificil. Vivo en Mexico y lo que se esta viviendo hoy, no es nada.
En Los 80tas y 90tas vivimos con inflaciones a veces hasta de 3 digitos.
pasamos de un dolar a .0125 pesos por un dllr (1976) al de hoy de alrededor de 20 pesos.
Por eso los mexicanos ni chistamos. (la guerra economica que le hicieron a Mexico fue terrible. pero aqui seguimos)
Hi Larry. I live in Canberra, am ex-military and live of my pensions. I say pensions plural as I also get some of my late wife’s pension plus a Veterans Disability pension. Generally I’m reasonably well off – own my own house (no mortgage) and car .
How have things affected me (or Canberra in General)? During the pandemic lock-downs etc, some things were in short supply (ie dunny paper (aka toilet paper), and certain imported foodstuffs etc) – there was some increase in prices; following the imposition of sanctions on Russia a lot of prices, especially on imported stuff shot up. One product I buy (imported from USA) seems to be rising at the rate of $AU1 per week – getting to the point of won’t buy again and will look for cheaper alternative.
As an indicator – my average weekly main shop pre-pandemic was about $AU80-90; during/after the pandemic about $120; now in the range $AU160-180 – and I haven’t changed my buying habits (yet). Fuel is expensive hovering over the $AU2/litre – at one stage was as high as $2.30. I only refuel about every 2 to 3 weeks (but still feel the pain) so don’t get to see the day-to-day prices.
Overall though, a lot of people I know are feeling the pain. I think its much deeper than people (including the Government) realize.
I am a Canadian – although my mother is British and probably half of my surviving family lives in the US. I am now 76 and have a tiny pension, certainly not enough to live on in Tokyo where I am so I continue working. I came to Asia back in the 70s, giving up a Fulbright to Harvard for a PhD to work as a stringer during the Vietnam War. Quickly gave that up! And went to Japan via Korea. Japan was much safer. For years I have worked in the PR business. I am a writer, consultant, and voiceover artist. I do a lot of things. I’m on the autism spectrum — “high functioning”–with both ADHD and Asperger’s — which I hid for many years. Dyslexic, dyspraxic, dyscalcula, dysgraphic, dys-this; dys-that. But also a polymath, which makes me seem smarter than I am. LOL I have worked for every major company in Japan and every major ministry — most recently Toyota and the Foreign Ministry. But jobs are few these days. Fewer with COVID. Fewer with the economy. Prices in Japan are high with a 50% decrease in the value of the yen. So, it is not easy. It seems likely that there will be a global recession as Roubini et al have predicted. The US is delusionary. At ALL levels – including the economy. For now, the “system” holds. But it cannot do that forever.
Well, food is costing me $500 a month more at least. Due to a wheat allergy, my loaf of bread is up to $100 a loaf at Publix. ($9.99) I did buy a lot to store some items during the pandemic and in anticipation of inflation but that will only last so long.
Hurricane Ian only messed up my yard and broke some stems on my bell pepper plants. So no expense was lost due to Ian like I had from Irma. ( $8k in damage then) I am not far from Tampa but I am a couple of blocks from the coast if one ever comes my way. They just never seem to.
I already lost my job due to Covid back in 2020. I had to travel around the country at conventions and trade shows. I haven’t gone back to it because I don’t want to be in crowds full of mRNA vaccinated around me. So that income is gone but I mainly drive locally so I don’t have to fill up often. For now, I have some other passive income but I will need to look come January or freelance something I can do remotely.
I wanted to ask Larry what he thinks of Patrick Lang. I noticed he had been a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity but had leftover policy differences. I was wondering what those were since his Russia content on his blog is very anti-Russia and pushes the narrative of how Russia is being destroyed, is losing, and Putin is suffering discontent at home.
I thought I typed $10.00 for the loaf of bread. $100 is a typo folks. I even use Grammarly and it wasn’t caught. Sorry folks.
Pat Lang is a disgrace. Lost his integrity and surrendered his blog to his Lithuanian buddy. Very sad.
YOUR economic situation.
MY economic situation is thus.
NO mortgage,NO Car note, NO student loan debt.
Says alot, right?
You asked.
In Athens Greece, my latest power bill
first 600kwh @ 11c per kwh
next 400kwh @ 50c per kwh
next 200kwh @ 80c per kwh
and there’s about another 10c+ per kwh in taxes (green tax, privatization tax etc.)
this is over a 3 month period, average consumption 400kwh. the average greek household burns 5-600 on a salary of 700/month… do the math an it’s not pretty.
I see much moaning in this thread on how it is and how far it shall go? Some years ago we started networking with all manner of awake and positive people of all ages and all capabilities here in a part of rural England. We all have our own specific knowledge , experience to list but a few and is not exhaustive by any means, mycologists, medics, herbalists , game keepers, carpenters, technicians , hydro technicians , preppers, survivalists, butchers,nurses, ex military, thieves and vagabonds etc etc etc.. ALL welcome , we interact , we talk (web free and phone free) we meet , we eat , we survive ..Do what you need to do and stop moaning !
You are moaning right now, silly boy. Stop moaning.
for comparisson, before nov of 2022 the average price was 5c per kwh no matter the amount.
I’m getting out. The ocean from the beach has pulled back and while most everyone else is picking up the newly revealed sea shields and star fishes, I’m getting to the high ground! Cuz I know the Tsunsmi is coming. I’m going to Paraguay. There’s a White Russian (as opposed to Red Russian Revolutionary) connection to Tsarist General Bedayev who went there in the late 20s or early 30. Help the Paraguayans beat the Bolivians in the Chacó War.
When/if the USA collapses and possibly breaks up with blood in the streets Mad Max style, Paraguay will hardly notice. Right now one can live very well on $1k/month. That May change when the dollar crashes, but until then… And after the smoke clears I can, like my Russian grandfather before me, go back or go somewhere else.
https://youtu.be/BaMQOzj6yLU
Or
https://youtu.be/SbfR0FCtpjs
Or
https://youtu.be/U_vP4qZ70d0
Or
https://youtu.be/HOVwvPSIQrs
I live in Poland and I suppose that prices are two times or more higher than they were before. The price of gasoline is about twice as high as it was before the war and the currency has lost value. A short time before the war the government introduced a new system of taxation whereby I pay 2-3 times more taxes.
Despite all of the above I have it better than most because at the clinic where I work the owner frequently increases prices, but there is no lack of patients. My earnings are a percentage of whatever procedurs I perform.
I was horrified in 2014 when I read about Maidan and saw pictures of Yatseniuk on stage giving a Nazi salute. It didnt take much foresight to see that this would end in disaster.
‘Western’ man is so stupid that perhaps he deserves to perish. They reenact WW2 (the first one apparently wasnt enough for them), wanting to destroy Russia, at a time when economies were teetering and and after wars in Afganistan and Syria had been lost. Lets add also the general civilsational crises that has been chronically festering and getting worse. The dwarf leading Poland is also an imbecile. Making enemies of Belarus and Russia when they are next door and it should be obvious that the American empire wont protect him forever because it will soon be no more.
The difference between the west and the rest was rule of law and less corruption at an ordinary level. Ie, generally a meritocracy. So that’s no bad thing. Those things were good.
The problem with west now is it is openly corrupt at senior levels and society is more about who you know and if you fit in the right box.
So important not to throw out baby with the bathwater.
Africa and Asia are more family, culture, community and religion orientated. They don’t have the same fascination with other people’s lands generally, probably as Europe before was a complete shithole till it took nicer lands of others.
So Europe had some good systems and values. But less and less community and soul, more individualism and isolation. Problem is if everyone is an individual ability to resist and challenge state corruption goes down as everyone to his own. Individualism is very western, and it will likely be the cause of breaking of the west if it breaks at all. Very easy for state to control individuals as opposed to cohesive communities.
So far, so good, for me. Obiviously gasoline is up 30%, but I’m not driving around much. Food is up, but I’m currently eating from my own garden, so I haven’t felt the increase in groceries yet and I’m still waiting for the correction for energy. I rely on gas for everything (cooking, heating and hot water) so, that’ll be tough.
I’ve tried to make my family crisis proof a few years ago as I expected a big crisis to come. So, I have space in my finances to take a few beatings.
Right now, I’m trying to buy as much necessary things as possible as I can still afford it now.
Here in Australia things have gone up in varying degrees – electricity ~25%, gas 50%, diesel 70%, ice cream 40%, but some food staples haven’t gone up much yet.
I’m a doomer/prepper in a remote rural location with a reasonable degree of self sufficiency, but accept that sh-t happens and all my preps could be for naught. C’est la vie. Who wants to live forever anyway?
For context, Peak Oil II was late 2018 after Peak Oil I in 2005 and everything you see going on is a result of the lack of energy. FF energy quality has been going down as well as FF quantity, so the net energy situation is worse again.
Unfortunately the green energy delusion/scam and an anti-FF policy environment have accelerated the decline of FF availability. For the last several years they’ve been finding <10% of what we consume in new FF reserves.
Given most people in the world survive on the fruits of Industrial Agriculture and it takes about 12 calories of FF to generate 1 calorie of food, you can see where we're heading.
Having said that we might as well enjoy the last days of the FF party. Silk shirts for now, hair shirts later!
Hello Larry,
First of all, many thanks for your excellent and informative website.
Switzerland: I came here in 1968, just after the Warsaw Pact armies nixed the ‘velvet revolution’ in Czechoslovakia. Married (76 and 73) we’re both retired, living on Social Security alone. As we lived for some years in the US (my wife’s country), we did not have enough years to get the full pension. We have a garden and grew some vegetables and doing OK (don’t drink, smoke, go out), but now it will be more difficult. Gas in our rural area is about 15-20% up, around Lausanne, where our sons live, another about 10%. Ground beef and chicken about 25%, bread about 30%, flour 40%, heating oil (in August) almost double of what we paid last year, vegetables aroud 10-30%.
Slovakia: Talked on the phone to my friend (retired) in Bratislava – he’s very worried about heating costs. The Slovak government decided that everybody must lower energy consumption by 15%: for the 85% allowed, the price is double of a year ago. If any of the ‘unauthorized’ 15% is used, the price on this slice well be 8 times what it cost last year. Food – about 30-50% up.
Czech Republic: My cousin in Prague (retired + approx. 80% odd jobs to make ends meet) visits 4-5 stores to see where is what cheapest, and looks only at the yellow price sticker that indicate specials. Gets some vegetables from people whose gardens he tends. Does not know how he will afford to heat his flat.
Best regards, Milan
Finland here, everything has gone up around 15-20%. Meat, gas and some other things even more. Gas (95) is around 2.1€ per litre. Electricity has gone from 5 cents per KWh to 50 cents per KWh and a lot of house owners who use electricity for heating are about to get proper fucked.
I’m most concerned if the price of beer goes up, because it’s the only thing keeping once’s sanity among all this turmoil.
http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data. Your readers may be interested in the pre 1980 method of calculating economic statistics for the USA. I live in NM and work in semiconductor manufacturing and haven’t been affected yet, save everything costs on average about 30-50% more from pre scamdemic prices. There has been a slowing of business, however I have noticed more fab space being built in US, perhaps on anticipation of a planned European – Taiwanese war or economic catastrophe? We have 9 children so some help at home. I have a small vineyard and orchard. I suspect wine will be a barter item. We have some chickens (source of eggs). I have a small hand pump to get water if need be. Fortunately we are at river bottom so water table is at 10 feet. We at 35.08degs north latitude so we will get enough vitamin d this winter from the sun. I need to expand the garden. I have a cook wood stove. Brandon has promised us we’d be cold and hungry and I am taking him at his word.
I have been visiting a business for 8 years. It has cost me two homes, $2 million dollars and countless hours of work with many partners. The investment community is stodgy and looks for already ran. Currently I keep the business sober with social security. We are a real time digital healthcare company with rewards for good health. Frankly, the world is imploding on purpose and it is obvious. The strategies to destroy America and institute a route of global communism has been in the world for years. I wish the best to all of you and hope the world rights itself before another 1000 year dark ages.
Coming up to retirement home owner no mortgage, I have a lot of wood and coal stored for this winter and two freezers full of food.
Surprising how many people still have some sort of faith in the system they seem to believe that somehow this will just mean paying increases for a while then all will be well, its in for years, I doubt if even their low information naive faith in government will last after this winter, I’m prepared because I have no trust in government whatsoever they exist for their own sakes and no one elses.
Sheeple have to learn the hard way unfortunatley and they will.
January is going to get very interesting indeed.
I think major civil disobedience is a strong possibility.
A European spring.
It’s been a long time coming.
Our family is doing fine at the moment but things are getting a tad wishy washy with come clients not being sure of what the future holds, meaning contracts up for renewal may not happen. Out of our control.
We’ve been slowly prepping our emergency supplies, which covers everything from water, food, hygiene, etc. over the last two years.
If/when SHTF we’ll be okay in our little bubble.
Tengo 62 años. Soy español y estoy jubilado con una pensión de 1239 euros por un accidente laboral. No tengo que pagar por mi casa, pero tengo que mantener a una hija de 25 años que no tiene trabajo. Con el aumento de precios y de combustible constante es imposible vivir con esa pensión. La gasolina tiene un precio en España a día de hoy (7 de Octubre) de 1,80 euros aproximadamente. Un litro de leche, un euro. Un kilo de carne de vaca 15 euros.
Wha! Lot’s of good replies here!
I’m from Quebec.
I guess we are lucky here cause we had government in the 60s and 70s who had an energy sovereignty plan. It was abandoned in the 90s because neoliberalism, but we still have a regulated energy market where we an average of 8,5 cents a kWh for electricity.
The housing market is kind of out of control though. But that is not a new thing. I guess it’s the same all across Canada. The system is design in a way that all that is produced by the real economy is funneled in the form of mortgages to the pockets of big banks.
I guess that’s not a coincidence that the biggest companies in Canada are banks.
The result is that today ordinary people can’t afford houses and rents cost more than 50% of income.
Most of the infrastructure here was built in the 60s. From then to the 2000s, government did not invest in increasing and maintenance of said infrastructure. Now, the growth of the population via immigration is greater than the capacity of the society to maintain and increase public infrastructure.
Neoliberal governments use this to privatize, bit by bit, the school and health system.
I understand this does not have a lot to do with the actual economic crisis, but I guess the crisis didn’t start with the Russian invasion either.
Anyway. That was my two cents. Thanks for your blog. A kernel of truth in this world of chaos and lies!
Chris In Christchurch, New ‘Ealand [Used to have a “Z” but we aren’t sposed to to be using them . . . . 😉 ]
The price of food is going up virtually every week. 250gms (half a pound) of the CHEAPEST (supermarkets own brand) streaky bacon was $NZ5.19. Other brands of bacon range up to $NZ9.00 – $10.00 for 250gms A kilo of bacon a year ago (Canadian cheapish brand) was $NZ9.99 on special That brand is gone now but a kilo is now way over $20 . . . . ON SPECIAL !! We only buy bacon when the grandson comes to stay & we freeze what doesn’t get used till the following week when he’s back. Filet steak is $NZ55.99 a kilo – ditto grandson only – growing lad so we spoil him with good quality red meat which his mother struggles with. Mince (the least fatty/’premium’) is ??? A 350 gm pack for a lasagne is around $NZ10.00. I could go on – 200gms perk coffee is $NZ 7.79 & up – we use 2 bags a week.
Luckily, we got our mortgage paid before the Scamdemic hit . . . I do not know how people are surviving paying rent or mortgages & it’s gunna get worse. To control inflation (that the govt caused by the lockdown BS) interest rates are going up . . . . (Side Note – I’m convinced this is to cause an economic collapse to disguise central bank malfeasance & looting & usher in the WEFs Great Reset) . . . .& some people are needing to find $NZ 200 – 350 A WEEK to service increasing mortgage rates. And it’s only 6 – 7%. We lived through 22% in the late 1980s !! That’s it Larry Cheers
Thanks for the update.
Mr. Johnson,
I have watched your input on The Duran, and Gonzalo Lira. I enjoyed your knowledgeable commentary on these channels.
One topic I have followed from 2000 is energy. Fossil fuels drives the growth of an economy. They are used in so many of the products which we buy and use on a daily basis. As oil becomes scarce it takes more energy, (money) to get the return on investment. When oil was discovered, it took one barrel of oil to equal 100 barrels of oil. Today that has shrunk to 3 barrels for 1 barrel. In addition, we have pumped out the majority of the reserves in this country and the rest of the world. Our exploration has not found the amount of oil we have used up, so we are in a deficit world wide. Opec says they do not have any spare capacity available. The US fracked oil because conventional oil was depleting out.
Now we are getting to the stage where fracked oil and gas is rapidly beginning to deplete.
The high prices we pay for fuel and energy are due to the demand for a limited resource. In terms of agriculture, it takes fossil fuels to run the tractor, to haul the product, to process the product, to ship the product where it can be sold to a distributor and then shipped to the consumer. How much fossil fuel does it take to raise grain and bring it to your doorstep. Cost increases along the way.
My sources of information of which I speak are from several sources.
Energyskeptic.com website, Our finiteworld.com, and several you tube channels. I allegedly and Jeremiah babe. A paid site, SRS Rocco Report which focuses on energy and precious metals. SRS Rocco Report puts out great research and does fantastic graphing of energy depletion.
People need to realize that the prices are not going to go down. We will see significantly more poverty, crime and corruption.
You can cry all you want about Nuland and the rest, but these are permanent fixtures in the government, from one president to another, and one congress to another. These people are not going anywhere.
The corruption in the US is very significant. Why do you think there are lobbyist, pumping money into both parties hands. These dimwits on both sides of the aisles cannot think for themselves. Except for one Democrat who read the Patriot Act and did not vote for it, they all passed it with out reading it. Remember you have to pass it to understand what is in it.
And to end this, few if any will remember the malaise speech by Jimmy Carter about energy. Everyone thought he was a fruitcake, 1977-1981. 20 plus years later, KABOOM.