ECONOMY

The Results Are in: The Price of Down Is Up

Dennis Miller

“I bought a down jacket from L.L. Bean four years ago for $100. Today, that same jacket is $250. You know you have inflation when even the price of down is up!” noted a participant in Miller’s online inflation survey.

The weighted average for Miller’s reader-reported inflation rate is (rounded) 8%; it may be unscientific, but he trusts his readers more that the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Some more responses:

“I track all my expenses using Quicken. My expenses in 2012 have gone up as follows: Groceries, +10%; utilities and property taxes, +9%; gas/diesel for vehicles, +1%.”

“A one-pound bag of Lay's Potato Chips used to cost $0.99. It is now 10.5 oz. and costs $4.99 if you can't find it on sale.”

“Stroh's beer cost me $4.39 a 12-pack at Food Lion before I left for Australia for 17 months in April 2011. It now costs $8.89 – up 100%. Schlitz and Pabst Blue Ribbon also went up 100%.”

“Nuts that used to cost $9.99 at Costco now cost $18.99.”

“My favorite cheese (Hoffman Sharp Cheddar) had a price jump of about 12% – about the same for Bass Ale.”

“The cheapest wine in California known as ‘2-buck Chuck’ recently went against its famous name and raised the price from $1.99 to $2.49! That's a 25% increase.”

Eggs, meat, bananas, pet food, grade-school tuition, restaurants in general and fast food in particular were all areas where people have noted rising prices.

In the US today, people are waiting for the other shoe to drop. They feel uneasy, but they can’t put their finger on exactly what is wrong. They feel that something is in the wind, but they are not sure what, or why. They should take this opportunity to head for higher ground.

Source: millersmoney