ECON Consumer Prices Have Skyrocketed In Recent Months. Experts Say It’s Just The Beginning

Consumer Prices Have Skyrocketed In Recent Months. Experts Say It’s Just The Beginning

THOMAS CATENACCI
REPORTER
May 04, 2021
8:26 PM ET

Consumer prices in the U.S. have skyrocketed across multiple industries as the federal government mulls injecting further stimulus into the economy.
“We are seeing very substantial inflation,” Warren Buffett, billionaire investor and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, said at his company’s annual shareholder meeting Saturday, according to CNBC.

“The 100% cause of inflation is the government,” Peter Schiff, the chief economist and global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “It’s when the government spends money that it doesn’t collect in taxes.”
Consumer prices in the U.S. have skyrocketed across multiple industries as the federal government mulls injecting further stimulus into the economy.

The consumer price index spiked 0.6% in March, the largest monthly increase in nearly a decade, the Labor Department reported last month. In particular, the costs of lumber, gasoline, steel, copper, computer chips, homes and home appliances have all substantially increased in the past few months.

“We are seeing very substantial inflation,” Warren Buffett, billionaire investor and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, said at his company’s annual shareholder meeting Saturday, according to CNBC. “It’s very interesting. We are raising prices.”

“The costs are just up, up, up,” he continued. “Steel costs, you know, just every day they’re going up.” (RELATED: Democrats’ Massive Stimulus Isn’t Likely To Wreck The Economy, Experts Say)

Lumber prices hit an all-time record price of $1,500.50 per thousand board feet on Friday, according to The Wall Street Journal. The high cost of wood is expected to stay elevated for several months.

The high cost of wood has contributed to the rising cost of homes nationwide. Home prices rose 11.3% in March, the largest increase since 2006, real estate insights firm CoreLogic reported Tuesday.

Buffett noted that the cost of building homes is increasing due to lumber and steel price increases, CNBC reported. Berkshire Hathaway owns Clayton Homes, one of the largest homebuilding companies in the U.S, paint maker Benjamin Moore and carpet manufacturer Shaw Industries.

“Homebuyers are experiencing the most competitive housing market we’ve seen since the Great Recession,” Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said in a statement last month. “Rising mortgage rates and severe supply constraints are pushing already-overheated home prices out of reach for some prospective buyers.”

In the first quarter of 2021, new car sales increased 8.4% compared to the same period last year, according to J.D. Power, CNN reported. Auctioned used cars have increased in price 26% since the beginning of the year. (RELATED: Bank Of America, Warren Buffett Celebrate Surging Corporate Profits As Consumer Prices Soar)

The average price of gasoline has risen with crude oil prices, according to the Energy Information Administration. The national average price of retail gasoline reached $2.89 per gallon on Monday, up more than $1 per gallon compared to one year ago.

More Inflation To Come, Experts Say

Economists said rising prices are just the beginning. Recent trillion-dollar spending packages signed into law will contribute to additional inflation, they added.

“We’re going to see massive inflation,” Peter Schiff, the chief economist and global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview.

“People are going to be paying higher insurance, they’re going to be paying higher property taxes, local tax, utility rates are going to go way up, maintenance costs,” Schiff continued. “Americans are going to see a big drop in their standard of living, a very substantial drop.”

Lawrence Summers, who previously led the Treasury Department and the National Economic Council, said he is concerned about inflation even as the economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic in an interview with Bloomberg on Sunday. The labor shortage will contribute to higher inflation rates. (RELATED: ‘Robust Expansion’: US Economy Surges As States Continue To Reopen)

Before Democrats passed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, Summers warned that such stimulus would spark inflation “of a kind we have not seen in a generation.”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hold the signed American Rescue Plan Act on March 10. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hold the signed American Rescue Plan Act on March 10. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

Summers and Schiff, who also pointed to the labor shortage as a factor in projected inflation, agreed that government spending will contribute to further price increases.

“The 100% cause of inflation is the government,” Schiff told the DCNF. “It’s when the government spends money that it doesn’t collect in taxes and then the Federal Reserve monetizes the resulting deficits by printing money.”

President Joe Biden proposed a $2 trillion infrastructure plan and a $1.8 trillion plan to boost several welfare programs. In March, the U.S. recorded its third-largest monthly budget deficit ever when the government spent $927 billion and reported revenue of $268 billion. (RELATED: ‘Disastrous Impact’: Small Business Advocates Criticize Biden’s First 100 Days)

“Every dollar the government spends is the equivalent of a tax, because every dollar the government spends, the money has to come from the American people,” Schiff said. “Some of that money comes from higher taxes on the rich, the rest of it is coming from the inflation tax that’s going to hit the poor and the middle class much harder than it will the rich.”

Schiff said government causing inflation and higher prices across the board amounts to an “inflation tax,” or an indirect tax on regular Americans

Do Ya Think?

I do agree with others here, who have already stated, this is a planned situation and as the capitalist system fails by government mandate, the government will then say...."see those dumb greedy capitalists failed!" And now the government needs to take their private property (lives) away to give to the poor, poor, poor....

This looks like the 1970s all over again. That was a rough decade. We had wage and price controls for a while. Bet on that again.

Consumer Prices Have Skyrocketed. Experts Say It's Just The Beginning
Thomas Catenacci

6-8 minutes

• Consumer prices in the U.S. have skyrocketed across multiple industries as the federal government mulls injecting further stimulus into the economy.
• “We are seeing very substantial inflation,” Warren Buffett, billionaire investor and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, said at his company’s annual shareholder meeting Saturday, according to CNBC.
• “The 100% cause of inflation is the government,” Peter Schiff, the chief economist and global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “It’s when the government spends money that it doesn’t collect in taxes.”

Consumer prices in the U.S. have skyrocketed across multiple industries as the federal government mulls injecting further stimulus into the economy.

The consumer price index spiked 0.6% in March, the largest monthly increase in nearly a decade, the Labor Department reported last month. In particular, the costs of lumber, gasoline, steel, copper, computer chips, homes and home appliances have all substantially increased in the past few months.
“We are seeing very substantial inflation,” Warren Buffett, billionaire investor and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, said at his company’s annual shareholder meeting Saturday, according to CNBC. “It’s very interesting. We are raising prices.”

“The costs are just up, up, up,” he continued. “Steel costs, you know, just every day they’re going up.” (RELATED: Democrats’ Massive Stimulus Isn’t Likely To Wreck The Economy, Experts Say)


Stacks of lumber are offered for sale at a home center on April 5 in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Lumber prices hit an all-time record price of $1,500.50 per thousand board feet on Friday, according to The Wall Street Journal. The high cost of wood is expected to stay elevated for several months.
The high cost of wood has contributed to the rising cost of homes nationwide. Home prices rose 11.3% in March, the largest increase since 2006, real estate insights firm CoreLogic reported Tuesday.

Buffett noted that the cost of building homes is increasing due to lumber and steel price increases, CNBC reported. Berkshire Hathaway owns Clayton Homes, one of the largest homebuilding companies in the U.S, paint maker Benjamin Moore and carpet manufacturer Shaw Industries.

“Homebuyers are experiencing the most competitive housing market we’ve seen since the Great Recession,” Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic, said in a statement last month. “Rising mortgage rates and severe supply constraints are pushing already-overheated home prices out of reach for some prospective buyers.”

In the first quarter of 2021, new car sales increased 8.4% compared to the same period last year, according to J.D. Power, CNN reported. Auctioned used cars have increased in price 26% since the beginning of the year. (RELATED: Bank Of America, Warren Buffett Celebrate Surging Corporate Profits As Consumer Prices Soar)

The average price of gasoline has risen with crude oil prices, according to the Energy Information Administration. The national average price of retail gasoline reached $2.89 per gallon on Monday, up more than $1 per gallon compared to one year ago.


Gas prices over $4 per gallon are displayed at a Chevron gas station on March 3 in Mill Valley, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

More Inflation To Come, Experts Say

Economists said rising prices are just the beginning. Recent trillion-dollar spending packages signed into law will contribute to additional inflation, they added.

“We’re going to see massive inflation,” Peter Schiff, the chief economist and global strategist of Euro Pacific Capital, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview.
“People are going to be paying higher insurance, they’re going to be paying higher property taxes, local tax, utility rates are going to go way up, maintenance costs,” Schiff continued. “Americans are going to see a big drop in their standard of living, a very substantial drop.”

Lawrence Summers, who previously led the Treasury Department and the National Economic Council, said he is concerned about inflation even as the economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic in an interview with Bloomberg on Sunday. The labor shortage will contribute to higher inflation rates. (RELATED: ‘Robust Expansion’: US Economy Surges As States Continue To Reopen)

Before Democrats passed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, Summers warned that such stimulus would spark inflation “of a kind we have not seen in a generation.”


House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer hold the signed American Rescue Plan Act on March 10. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

Summers and Schiff, who also pointed to the labor shortage as a factor in projected inflation, agreed that government spending will contribute to further price increases.

“The 100% cause of inflation is the government,” Schiff told the DCNF. “It’s when the government spends money that it doesn’t collect in taxes and then the Federal Reserve monetizes the resulting deficits by printing money.”
President Joe Biden proposed a $2 trillion infrastructure plan and a $1.8 trillion plan to boost several welfare programs. In March, the U.S. recorded its third-largest monthly budget deficit ever when the government spent $927 billion and reported revenue of $268 billion. (RELATED: ‘Disastrous Impact’: Small Business Advocates Criticize Biden’s First 100 Days)

“Every dollar the government spends is the equivalent of a tax, because every dollar the government spends, the money has to come from the American people,” Schiff said. “Some of that money comes from higher taxes on the rich, the rest of it is coming from the inflation tax that’s going to hit the poor and the middle class much harder than it will the rich.”
Schiff said government causing inflation and higher prices across the board amounts to an “inflation tax,” or an indirect tax on regular Americans.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Posted For Fair Use

I had a Dr. appointment a few weeks ago and the bill for my co pay just arrived. It went from around $20 to $37. I guess that inflation is here.

Please, PLEASE can we elect MORE Democrats. So we can have less gas pipelines, less deforestation (lumber) less coal, less petroleum, less cows, and MORE TAXES, and the most bestest thing in the whole wide world, another 1400.00 check. Even BIGGER unemployment checks and a minimum living wage of 20.00 an hour.

Come on folks let's get this done.

We're going to be rich I tell you, rich. I will share the billing with 20gauge.

[/sarc

teedee said:

I had a Dr. appointment a few weeks ago and the bill for my co pay just arrived. It went from around $20 to $37. I guess that inflation is here.

Click to expand...

interesting . . . your co-pay amount should be contractually set for a period of 1 YEAR commencing each January 1'st . . . are you sure there wasn't some other charge - perhaps a past overdue bill - that was bundled into that payment and called a "co-pay"?

assuming this wasn't your first office visit of the year - I would certainly call that office and ask WHAT you were billed for - something isn't right

I just posted this on the grocery thread but seems more appropriate here

Talking more this morning with DD about supply chain issues. Supplier cost so you know this will be passed on the consumers:

Packaging and disposables (take out containers, etc) 14% increase
Chicken wings 45% increase
Frying oil 10% increase
Average 12% increase across the board on plastics, poultry, meat, dry goods.
Portion controlled items like the little ketchup packets you get and McDonalds- becoming increasingly difficult to find

The house I bought in 2014 for $125K sold in 2021 for $180K.
And the cost of new home construction has also gone up.

So, you know what to expect? Right.
Your homeowners insurance is based on the cost to rebuild your home. And since the cost to rebuild has gone up,
Then the price of homeowners insurance WILL go up.
In many places your property taxes are based on the Fair Market Value of your home. If the price of home in your neighborhood have gone up 50%, then the property taxes on that home WILL go up.

And if your property taxes and homeowners insurance are included in your mortgage payment, then your mortgage payment will go up to include these additional costs.

This is just the beginning. Invest in wheelbarrows. People will need them to carry the cash needed for a loaf of bread. Don’t believe me. Just read some history and then look south to Venezuela.

IVYINFLA said:

This looks like the 1970s all over again. That was a rough decade. We had wage and price controls for a while. Bet on that again.

Click to expand...

This time we will never get rid of them.

I was hoping it wouldn't be "any worse" than the 70s-
trouble is, I missed the 70s, so don't even know how bad that was.
guess we will see eh?

Bubble Head said:

Just read some history and then look south to Venezuela.

Click to expand...

I keep saying this to DD#2. She doesn't believe me. She has swallowed the liberal pill. It's OK. I'm her Mom and I will still be here for her when everything blows up. But she might have to hear an I told you so or 2.

The demonrat plan .....

They sure don’t care about us seniors! They just want us to die so they don’t have to pay us the money and give it to the immigrants.

jward said:

I was hoping it wouldn't be "any worse" than the 70s-
trouble is, I missed the 70s, so don't even know how bad that was.
guess we will see eh?

Click to expand...

They were bad. Not world ending bad, but a horrible time to grow up..... they had DISCO.........

definitely starting to show up at the grocery store, but luckily I do not eat as much as I used to

Duplicate?

ECON - Consumer Prices Have Skyrocketed In Recent Months. Experts Say It’s Just The Beginning

https://dailycaller.com/2021/05/04/consumer-prices-surge-economists-inflation-lawrence-summers-peter-schiff/ Consumer Prices Have Skyrocketed In Recent Months. Experts Say It’s Just The Beginning THOMAS CATENACCI REPORTER May 04, 2021 8:26 PM ET Consumer prices in the U.S. have skyrocketed...

www.timebomb2000.com

HB

We bought our retirement house in 2019 for $282,380. Realtor called several times saying she could list the house for $382,000. She seemed to think we'd jump on the offer.

There Is No Shortage?" Train Loads Of Lumber Stacked As Far As The Eye Can See


BY TYLER DURDEN
SATURDAY, MAY 01, 2021 - 06:00 PM
One of the most important things we've learned over the past year is the vulnerability of global supply chains. Most notably, supply disruptions of lumber have catapulted prices to the moon.
The narrative touted in the public domain is that COVID-19 sparked a dramatic underestimate in capacity by sawmills early in the pandemic as the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates to zero, sparking a housing boom. The influx of demand outpaced supply and has caused lumber prices to jump 340% from a year ago, according to Random Lengths.
In terms of output, the lumber industry is controlled by just a handful of firms, including Weyerhaeuser Co., Georgia-Pacific LLC, West Fraser Timber Co., Ltd., among others, which makes it easier for capacity to be controlled.

Maybe there's more to the lumber story that we're not being told and should be investigated more in-depth by journalists.
YouTube account "Ken's Karpentry" recently published a video of "huge quantities" of lumber sitting and not in lumberyards. The exact location of the video is not mentioned but could be near Lyndonville, Vermont.

The narrator in the video, perhaps it's Ken, but we're not sure, explains that a train depot has been transformed into a makeshift lumber yard. He said train loads of lumber coming out of Canada are offloaded here and then transported by tractor-trailer to lumberyards across the country.

He said, "I am astounded by how much lumber is here, and I am wondering why there is such a problem at lumber yards." He added the facility stretches 3/8 of a mile.

The video has more than 300,000 views and over 1,300 comments in just a few weeks.
One person said, "Gee, could it be to keep the price gouging and profits up?? This whole excuse that "it's due to covid" b*llsh!t has got to stop!"

"It's too bad there are no investigative reporters left in the world. This lumber story needs to be investigated and exposed," some else said.

Click to expand...

Another person said:

"This is what happens when a few companies own the entire market."

Click to expand...

And this person makes an interesting point:

"There is no lumber shortage. It's just Weyerhouse and GP wanting to drive up profits."

Click to expand...

So could the lumber industry, controlled just by a few players, be pulling the playbook straight out of the diamond industry to limit supply to drive up prices?

I guess I was clueless in the 70's. Living was cheap in New Orleans and I was always able to find a job, didn't make much money but it kept a roof over my head and food to eat and air conditioning, had to have a/c and a phone. I was also liberal in the 70's. Gas was about 25 cents a gallon or maybe that was the late 60's. I do remember that long distance calling was very expensive, it took a long time for that cost to come down. I also partied a lot in the 70's.

God is good all the time

Judy

Bubble Head said:

This is just the beginning. Invest in wheelbarrows. People will need them to carry the cash needed for a loaf of bread. Don’t believe me. Just read some history and then look south to Venezuela.

Click to expand...

There's no bread to be bought in Venezuela, regardless of how full your wheelbarrow is.

AND AGAIN I say - prices are NOT going up.

The PURCHASING POWER of the FRAUD (Federal Reserve Accounting Unit "Dollar") is going down.

Until this fundamental truth is grokked, you will continue to be a victim of lying liars/pollytickians about economics.

nomifyle said:

I guess I was clueless in the 70's. Living was cheap in New Orleans and I was always able to find a job, didn't make much money but it kept a roof over my head and food to eat and air conditioning, had to have a/c and a phone. I was also liberal in the 70's. Gas was about 25 cents a gallon or maybe that was the late 60's. I do remember that long distance calling was very expensive, it took a long time for that cost to come down. I also partied a lot in the 70's.

God is good all the time

Judy

Click to expand...

Hey, I was living in New Orleans in the late 1970s too! I made $430 a month on a full time, civil service job at Charity Hospital. I lived in a room and board house on St Charles Avenue and took the streetcar to and from work, so the gas shortage never affected me. I was young and single, so I ate most of my meals either at the Charity Hospital employee cafeteria, or one of the many fast food joints downtown or along St Charles Avenue.

Even with double digit inflation, I saved enough money to start college at UNO, though I decided after my first semester to transfer to a college in Natchitoches. Living on campus Natchitoches was even cheaper than living in New Orleans, and there I could get “the full college experience” (live in the dorms, full time student load, parties, football games, etc) for nine months out of the year, by working on the gulf oil rigs in the summer. I did not have a car until my junior year, but Natchitoches was so small that I could use my feet or my 10 speed bike to get where ever I needed to go.

Yes, we were all young back then, and it was a good life...

1. Eliminate central banks, especially privately owned central banks.
2. Eliminate usury of if you prefer compound interest.
3. Eliminate corporations, every company is owned by someone who is held criminally liable for the actions of the company.
4. Eliminate property tax, once you buy it you own it, you never have lease it from the government as if it belonged to them.

Barry Natchitoches said:

Hey, I was living in New Orleans in the late 1970s too! I made $430 a month on a full time, civil service job at Charity Hospital. I lived in a room and board house on St Charles Avenue and took the streetcar to and from work, so the gas shortage never affected me. I was young and single, so I ate most of my meals either at the Charity Hospital employee cafeteria, or one of the many fast food joints downtown or along St Charles Avenue.

Even with double digit inflation, I saved enough money to start college at UNO, though I decided after my first semester to transfer to a college in Natchitoches. Living on campus Natchitoches was even cheaper than living in New Orleans, and there I could get “the full college experience” (live in the dorms, full time student load, parties, football games, etc) for nine months out of the year, by working on the gulf oil rigs in the summer. I did not have a car until my junior year, but Natchitoches was so small that I could use my feet or my 10 speed bike to get where ever I needed to go.

Yes, we were all young back then, and it was a good life...

Click to expand...

We were blessed, I regret nothing.

God is good all the time

Judy

DryCreek said:

There's no bread to be bought in Venezuela, regardless of how full your wheelbarrow is.

Click to expand...

This^^^^^

Told my oldest brother it doesn't matter how rich you are. Don't matter when there is nothing to buy.

nomifyle said:

I guess I was clueless in the 70's. Living was cheap in New Orleans and I was always able to find a job, didn't make much money but it kept a roof over my head and food to eat and air conditioning, had to have a/c and a phone. I was also liberal in the 70's. Gas was about 25 cents a gallon or maybe that was the late 60's. I do remember that long distance calling was very expensive, it took a long time for that cost to come down. I also partied a lot in the 70's.

God is good all the time

Judy

Click to expand...

I still remember in the 70's when gas went from around .30 a gal, to .55. People thought the world was coming to an end. Everybody was wanting cars that were cheap on using gas. I knew guys that had muscle cars, hemis, 396 & 427's. They would go into car lots, and they would tell them first off, they did not want their cars. Car lots were buying those cars for less than junk value. Silver was really going up in price.

mistaken1 said:

1. Eliminate central banks, especially privately owned central banks.
2. Eliminate usury of if you prefer compound interest.
3. Eliminate corporations, every company is owned by someone who is held criminally liable for the actions of the company.
4. Eliminate property tax, once you buy it you own it, you never have lease it from the government as if it belonged to them.

Click to expand...

5. Take a chainsaw to the Fed budget, and state govt's. Reduce their spending to ONLY what is authorized by the constitution. If any politico votes for spending over that, IMMEDIATELY, drag them out in front of the capital, and hang them !!!
6. Any politician caught misusing govt funds, stealing govt assets, drag them out in front of the capital, and hang them !!!

that is why I am buying things I need or will need in the future. money is worth nothing now, so you might as well get something now before it disappears or becomes so expensive you can't afford it.

And people wonder why birth rates are falling.

tno5 said:

that is why I am buying things I need or will need in the future. money is worth nothing now, so you might as well get something now before it disappears or becomes so expensive you can't afford it.

Click to expand...

Yep, us, too. As soon as I read this thread this morning and the articles popping up in a lot of places on price increases, I got busy while having my morning coffee. I did some early Costco Christmas shopping on line for the family, things like pjs, socks, undies, etc. Prices will only go up and/or become unavailable, and we can always use these things.

tno5 said:

that is why I am buying things I need or will need in the future. money is worth nothing now, so you might as well get something now before it disappears or becomes so expensive you can't afford it.

Click to expand...

Agree - I've been on a spending spree the last year or so buying consumables for the garage like nuts, bolts and other misc hardware. About every other month I take advantage of one of zoro's 20% off coupons and buy a hundred bucks of so of stuff. I won't go bad or go to waste

tbd

Seems like we're getting multiple threads on this topic daily now.

Craftypatches said:

They sure don’t care about us seniors! They just want us to die so they don’t have to pay us the money and give it to the immigrants.

Click to expand...

Don't forget that if you have assets you want to pass on to your loved ones, they want their share of those as well as their death tax policies they want to put in place. They've already put some in.

Plus older people use more of the available medical facilities. We cost more resources and we produce less taxable income so they would prefer we quietly go away.

Not to mention we are the primary strength of the conservatives.

It's a win-win-win for them if we are gone.

This just be "transitory", right?
Wonder where we gonna be transitated to?

To new beginnings ....

O.W.

Oscar Wilde said:

This just be "transitory", right?
Wonder where we gonna be transitated to?

To new beginnings ....

O.W.

Click to expand...

To new Columbia. It's replaced Venezuela recently. I see the cops there have murdered at least 20 protesters in the streets in the past few days.



Video, look at the first one too:

That was my first visit this year. The $20 charge was from last year, I also noticed that the biller is a different group that last year.