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Inflation Causing Hardship for 45% of U.S. Households

Diesel supply dwindles, with few ways to boost it. How this affects the economy and you.

Medora Lee
USA TODAY
...
Prices at the pump are in focus again, but this time, it’s the other pump – the diesel fuel pump...
...
Diesel is the main fuel used to power trucks, rails and vessels that transport all sorts of things from food to home goods to holiday gifts across the country. So, if diesel prices soar, there’s a good chance the price of all those items will, too.

“The public are apoplectic when gas rises, but diesel has incredible impacts to inflation in the form of freight costs and surcharges,” Tom Kloza, Opis global head of energy analysis, said.
...
"Supply is constrained partly because Russian imports into the U.S. are banned but also because U.S. refining capacity has fallen over the past few years,” Andrew Hunter, Capital Economics senior economist, said.

U.S. inventory stood at 106.2 million barrels of distillate, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, in the week ended Oct. 14, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said. That’s about 20% below the five-year average and equates to about a 26-day supply.

Because diesel fuel is similar to heating oil, demand’s about to rise due to home heating this winter. “This is concerning,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis oil and refined products analyst at GasBuddy.com.

“Between now and the end of November, if we don't build inventories, the wolf will be at the door,” Kloza said. “And it will look like a big ugly wolf if it’s a cold winter.”
...
“There's a real threat something in the energy chain will go parabolic, and I think generally, the worry is that something that goes parabolic is diesel and heating oil,” he said
...
What can consumers expect if diesel prices continue to rise?

Soaring heating bills. Diesel isn’t as front and center as gasoline, but people “will be reacting to it soon,” Kloza said. “Those bills are in the mail.”

He estimates some northeast home heating bills will run into the thousands of dollars. “I would buy sweaters,” he said.
...
https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...eep-inflation-heating-bills-high/10591822002/
 
Published October 31, 2022 8:30am EDT

Skyrocketing heating oil prices will leave some choosing between food, fuel and heat, Maine resident warns
...
Taylor PenleyBy Taylor Penley | Fox News
...
Falling temperatures are forcing Americans to look for ways to keep their homes warm while staying on top of other necessities, a Maine resident warned on Monday.

"A lot of us are asking the question, with these fuel prices right now, are we going to be able to fill our tanks? The other question is, what are we going to do for food?" Sherri Bukovskey told Carley Shimkus on "Fox & Friends First."
...
"I have had a few acquaintances tell me that they are choosing… food over medications, so all these inflated prices, it's definitely affecting us," she added.

Bukovskey said, on top of the costs of grocery shopping and filling up her tank to travel to and from work, the housing crisis has stricken her family and forced her adult daughter to return home

"[It] has hit us pretty hard up here in Maine. There are a lot of people without homes right now, and a lot of people are not able to afford the increases in the rent," she said.
...
https://www.foxnews.com/media/skyro...g-between-food-fuel-heat-maine-resident-warns
 
PERSONAL FINANCE

Here’s what the Federal Reserve’s fourth 0.75 percentage point interest rate hike means for you

PUBLISHED WED, NOV 2 20222:00 PM EDT
...
The Federal Reserve raised the target federal funds rate by 0.75 percentage point for the fourth time in a row on Wednesday, marking an unprecedented pace of rate hikes.

The U.S. central bank has raised the benchmark short-term borrowing rate a total of six times this year, including 75 basis point increases in June, July and September, in an effort to cool down inflation, which is still near 40-year highs and causing most consumers to feel increasingly cash strapped.
...
By raising rates, the Fed makes it costlier to take out a loan, causing people to borrow and spend less, effectively pumping the brakes on the economy and slowing down the pace of price increases.

“Unfortunately, the economy will slow much faster than inflation, so we’ll feel the pain well before we see any gain,” said Greg McBride, Bankrate.com’s chief financial analyst.

Already, “mortgage rates have rocketed to 16-year highs, home equity lines of credit are the highest in 14 years, and car loan rates are at 11-year highs,” he said.
...
Already credit card rates are near 19%, up from 16.34% in March. “That’s the highest since the Fed began tracking in 1994...

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/02/wha...ercentage-point-rate-hikes-means-for-you.html
 
zerohedge@zerohedge

Personal Savings vs Credit Card Debt

FiGZDu4X0AEqjwW


10:06 AM · Nov 21, 2022
·TweetDeck

https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1594724036567003137
 
https://twitter.com/mikaelsarwe/status/1605956392095023110?lang=ar-x-fm
Mikael Sarwe
@MikaelSarwe

I have in my 30 years as an economist, strategist and portfolio manager NEVER seen any monetary tightening like this. Welcome to 2023...
ترجمة التغريدة

١٠:٠٠ ص · ٢٢ ديسمبر ٢٠٢






Olumide Adesina @TokunboAdesina

٢٢ ديسمبر ٢٠٢٢

ردًا على@MikaelSarwe

The fear of the Fed, markets are melting like ice in the sun





Angie G @MomAngtrades

٢٢ ديسمبر ٢٠٢٢

ردًا على@MikaelSarwe
و@jessefelder

Add in no more cheap money, and timber


Show replies



m_kxxl
@m_kxxla
·
٢٢ ديسمبر ٢٠٢٢

ردًا على@MikaelSarwe


When they've printed enough to create two digit inflation and continues to print as if their end goal is hyperinflation, monetary tightening/rates should be way higher... What they've done is a global disaster.


















 
The Kobeissi Letter@KobeissiLetter

The U.S. Now Has:

1. Record $16.5 trillion in household debt

2. Record $11.9 trillion in mortgages

3. Record $1.6 trillion in auto loans

4. Record $986 billion in credit card debt

Total mortgage debt is now more than double the 2006 peak.

Meanwhile, 36% of Americans have more credit card debt than savings with balances rising at the fastest pace since 1999.

This is all while mortgage rates just hit 7.1% and credit card debt rates hit a record 24.9%.

We are "fighting" inflation with debt.

This can't end well.



9:51 AM · Mar 5, 2023
·
 
Translation Google

Should we identify cases of reduflation at the grocery store?

Marie-Eve Fournier
La Presse

We don't mess around with reflation in France. In some supermarkets, posters point out foods that have become lighter on the sly. This practice will even become mandatory from the summer, an idea that Ottawa finds “absolutely brilliant”. We cannot be against the principle of better informing consumers so that they can make informed decisions.

Published yesterday at 7:30 p.m.

These days, you have to have an elephant's memory or an obsession with numbers to be able to identify less full packages while shopping. Often, it is at home that doubt sets in.

We open a box of cereal or crackers and we see that it contains less than usual. Or, when making a lasagna, you are surprised that a single brick of cheese is no longer enough to cover it entirely, as happened to me last Sunday. The more the months of inflation pass, the more examples of shrinkflation become numerous.

There is nothing illegal in this strategy if the weight of the food listed on the packaging is correct.

But we are playing with customer perceptions when the format of the box has not changed one bit while the quantity of food inside has been reduced. This is what fuels the feeling of deception.

The changes are generally subtle, on the order of 5 to 10%, gradual, and therefore difficult to perceive.


In France, the government has decided to act to protect consumers.

From July 1 , supermarkets will be required to display a notice near products when their quantity decreases and their price remains unchanged or increases. The information will be kept in place for two months.

This strategy is copied from that of the food giant Carrefour. For months, he has been pointing out examples of reflation with small posters. This allows it to position itself as a defender of its customers' purchasing power, even if it means creating tensions with its suppliers. We must salute the audacity, all the same.

Example of reduflation. Two similar boxes of Kleenex, but the one on the right contains five fewer units.

We have never seen anything like this in Canada, but our Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, wants that to change, revealed the Journal de Montréal . The elected official who campaigns for a stabilization of the price of the grocery basket judges that the French initiative is “absolutely brilliant”, his press officer, Audrey Champoux, told me. “When we saw the news, we said to ourselves that it was a no-brainer. » Ottawa therefore intends to "push" on the provinces so that they follow France's lead, since in-store display is not under federal jurisdiction.

In practice, what difference will posters highlighting examples of reduflation make? That's the big question.

Minister Champagne believes that consumers will change their purchasing habits, which could reduce the price of their grocery basket. In the pasta section, where the products are not very different from each other, it is likely that the brand which has just reduced its formats will suffer... until the day its competitors do the same thing. All food experts will tell you: as soon as one company takes off, the others quickly follow since they face the same cost increases (ingredients, salaries, packaging, transport).

That said, customers will still need to look at the price per 100 grams. The food pointed out by an annoying poster could still turn out to be the cheapest in its category!

For other foods, I predict that customers informed of the reduplication will grumble, roll their eyes, but stick to their habits.

Some people always eat the same cereals, the same cheese, the same ice cream. They won't replace Oreos or Ritzes because there are one or two less in the box.

Ottawa predicts that “it will put manufacturers against the wall, it will force them to make decisions,” adds Audrey Champoux. I agree.

No company will want a poster of shame above their products. They will look for and find workaround strategies. It could be an ingredient change that reduces the cost of production. This was seen with the Chipits (Hershey) white chocolate chips which became white cream chips stuffed with palm oil, as I have already written ⁠1 .

“We are going to change the recipes, we are going to change the packaging, we are going to try to change the name, we are going to try to do something different to be able to reintroduce the new product into the market with less volume,” says Maryse Côté. Hamel, professor of consumer sciences at Laval University. The other solution to maintain profits: impose gradual price increases.

In any case, the consumer will not be any further ahead. In addition, the posters could have the effect of fueling cynicism and frustration, by constantly reminding customers that they are getting less for their money.

Strongly welcome transparency, but let's be aware that it could have unfortunate consequences.

https://www.lapresse.ca/affaires/ch...ifier-les-cas-de-reduflation-a-l-epicerie.php
 
France -

Translation Google

“Shrinkflation”: mandatory display in supermarkets, here’s what will change from July 1

The text provides for July 1 to warn consumers about this practice of selling a more expensive product but in less quantity.

By David Carpenter
May 4 , 2024 at 12:31 p.m. , modified May 4, 2024 at 3:30 p.m.

Operation transparency on shrinkflation has begun. The decree published this Saturday in the Official Journal gives details of the implementation of a measure intended to combat this tendency of agro-industrialists and large brands to reduce the quantities of a product while selling it more expensively. In mid-April, the Minister for Trade, Olivia Grégoire, announced for July 1 the installation of “visible” and “readable” notices warning of this practice on or near the products concerned.

The practice is not new but in a period of food inflation – + 20% over two years between 2021 and 2023 – the food industry as well as distributor brands have used it to preserve their margins on certain consumer products. Consumer defense associations regularly denounce shrinkflation, a contraction of the English verb “to shrink”, to shrink and inflation.

The text first indicates that this measure applies to all large areas above 400 m2. In practice, the decree covers “foodstuffs and non-food products which are marketed in a constant quantity (weight, volume). » This can range from a can of peas to a tube of toothpaste whose quantities have been reduced.

On the other hand, “prepackaged foodstuffs of variable quantities and non-prepackaged foodstuffs (bulk)” are not affected since during their preparation or packaging, the quantities may vary.

Concretely from July 1, on the shelves, consumers will find the formula established by the text: “For this product, the quantity sold has increased from X to Y and its price at (specify the unit of measurement concerned weight or volume ) increased by X% or

In the event of non-compliance with this new display, the decree provides for an administrative fine of 3,000 euros for a natural person and 15,000 euros for a legal entity. Agents from the Directorate General for Competition and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) will be responsible for enforcing the new regulations and monitoring their application.

When this new provision was announced, the application of which is the responsibility of the major brands, the latter protested while claiming to comply with the rules in force.

https://www.leparisien.fr/economie/...iel-04-05-2024-P6M6JOE7O5CEFMSPR2MVDQAYPM.php
​-----------------------------

Order of April 16, 2024 relating to consumer information on the price of products whose quantity has decreased

NOR: ECOC2115322A
ELI: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/eli/arrete/2024/4/16/ECOC2115322A/jo/texte
JORF n°0104 of May 4, 2024
Text no. 2

https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000049502248


 
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