A couple of additional items/thoughts.
First, I saw this on Not The Bee yesterday:
What grabbed my attention was this quote, emphasis in red mine:
It will also keep record high home prices continuing on their run higher. Prices in January were 19.1% higher year-over-year, according to a report released Tuesday by CoreLogic. That level of growth is the highest in 45 years, when CoreLogic began tracking prices.
We already have the home we plan on riding into the sunset living in so that isn’t a big deal to us but if you are looking to get into a house of your own, with home prices going up almost 20% in a single year? That dream is getting a lot harder to ever achieve. This is by design. Remember that a central tenet of The Great Reset is that you will own nothing and be happy…
For more details see my post: The Great Reset: A Solution In Search Of A Crisis
Again, this isn’t just the result of incompetence or natural market forces, it is all part of a plan and they have come right out and told us the plan: you own nothing, you live in the pod and eat the bugs, everything you “need” is rented and delivered to you.
Nothing around you is happening by chance.
Something else related to the post about rising gas prices.
We are all used to “free” shipping. Hell, I get pissed if something takes more than two business days to get to me. The outrage!
Anyway, to get that stuff to you for “free” and in a couple of days takes a lot of something. That something is gasoline.
It takes gas (diesel) to run those semis around the highway. It takes aviation gas to fly those cargo planes. It takes a ton of fuel to get the cargo ships from China to the U.S.. Of course it also takes a lot of gas to get the Amazon, UPS and FedEx delivery trucks out to your house.
Have you noticed how many delivery vehicles are on the road today? Even out here in the country it is not unusual to pass multiple delivery trucks in a matter of minutes. Those things are burning a shitload of gas, especially since UPS guys think they are NASCAR drivers and run those big brown van like a race car.
What happens when the cost of running those things increases by 50% or more? The magical electric vehicles to replace them don’t exist. That means that the bottom line for these places is going to get hammered. They ain’t running a charity, Amazon isn’t Meal On Wheels. But they also aren’t going to be able to wean people off of “free” delivery. What to do?
The answer is simple. They will roll those prices increases into the retail prices we are paying and inflation will just keep snowballing. With easy credit and the illusion of wage increases for many people, price sensitivity is pretty low right but that won’t last for long. It is really hitting people in the wallet. We just bought dog food a couple of days ago and it was $60 something for a bag the last time we got it a few weeks ago. That same bag of dog food this week is over $70 (we buy high end food). The same is true for just about everything.
As logistics prices go up along with gas prices, so too will retail prices. It is simple economics at work. If gas across the country gets over $5/gallon as I expect it might? You are really going to see retail prices for food and consumer goods go through the roof.
We are in pretty precarious times right now. If you can’t hold it in your hands and better yet use it for something practical, it isn’t worth much.
Betcha BlackRock can still afford the houses. What you said.
Some chatter out there about moving to a 40-year mortgage to make housing more affordable.
I'm 60 now and I can remember my grandparents complaining about the cost of things over time you can see it creep up slowly but surely and now I'm the 1 saying everything cost too damn much. cars, food, housing…gas, I pumped gas as a kid at .15 cents gallon. we are so screwed
Even when you already own your home, you still get screwed by the massively rising property taxes as they "re-asses" the home value and bam, lots more money so city workers can retire at 45…………
Most of the time, your "free" shipping from Amazon is paid for by third party vendors in outrageous fees for the privilege of being allowed to sell through Amazon. In some cases as high as forty percent of the selling price. So, yeah, already built in. I prefer E-Bay, which meet or beat Amazon, and usually use the Post Office instead of FedEx or UPS ( when the Internet goes down, the PO is our only option. Support them ). Also, buying crap through the mail is very wasteful of fuel, as a semi brings along a lot more cargo for the same fuel. Your mail order crap will price increase ( from energy inflation ) faster than retail, if any retail is left out there. There is a place for mail order, but not shopping for heavy/bulk items. Buy your Tide at the store, your electronic media through the mail. And, I hate both Amazon and Wal-Mart, so I hold my nose either way.
With a 40 year mortgage you are basically a renter and the bank is your landlord.
Another one of those things our parents and grandparents said that we scoffed at, now proving to be true.