Why the cost increase?

I can't stop eating BBQ flavored chips. 
Gave up sodas decades ago.
Gotta clean up my act.

Well, if everyone knows that without Covid, things will return to a somewhat normal way of living, then we should be asking why all the hesitancy from those that are refusing to get it, and how they parallel the ones complaining the most about the economy.

Just read this morning (and you'll all be hearing it today) that the Delta variant is almost as contagious as chickenpox (R0 of 10-12). It has an R0 of 8-9 compared to an R0<2 for the initial strain. That makes it much more contagious than Smallpox (R0-3) and Polio (R0 of 4-6) folks.

Even those who are vaccinated get it and spread it as easily but don't suffer the consequences like the unvaccinated do.

The CDC was preparing a statement but some newspaper got ahold of and printed it. Makes a lot of sense to go out and get the vaccine but then, what would some have to complain about if they did? Lots of things would improve overnight but then someone you don't like would get the credit for it and that pisses you off? Now, that's a real death panel and not some made up stuff.

Right now New York has 970 people hospitalized from Delta and Florida has 7,763 and it's all policy driven for, reasons (can't say that word or people will flip out).

All the best,
Nonoise

Had to read up on that one. Quite the story. 

It's amazing to watch you unravel right before our eyes. 
By all means, keep it up.
Soon you'll be yelling at the padded walls, along with your hero, Rump.

All the best,
Nonoise

Such a tool.

It's all in the comparables.  The only reason for the 33.8% 3rd quarter 2020 increase in GDP was because it followed the -31.2% (decline) in the 2nd quarter GDP in 2020.  Ya cant just tell part of the story.

Beaten to the punch, again!
Here, from the very same site good ol' pauly cites is the evidence of his cherry picking:
https://www.bea.gov/news/glance

It's plain for anyone who'd care to look that the MASSIVE slump of the 2nd quarter makes the 3rd quarter look so pretty, when it's not. In fact, that whole map just shows the uptick in GDP from the very poor showing of the previous month and not the overall real GDP.

Why people resort to this behavior is beyond me.

All the best,
Nonoise

@pauly uh, I don't know where to begin so I'll let Forbes spell it out:

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released its first estimate for the December quarter and it shows the economy growing at 2.1%. For 2019 GDP growth was 2.3%, which is down from 2.9% in 2018 and just below 2.4% in 2017, Trump’s first year in office.

Over the 12 quarters Trump has been President only four of them have had GDP growth over 3% and six of the quarter’s growth was 2.3% or lower. And for the past three quarters GDP growth has been 2.0%, 2.1% and 2.1%, respectively. This is a far cry from Trump’s claim that the economy could growth 4%, 5% or maybe even 6% when he was President.

That's a far cry from 34%!

All the best,
Nonoise

You beat me to it, and here’s a link to the FRED:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/
One can spout all the BS they want but when the facts don’t back them up.....

Economic output just grew by 6.5%. Reductions in child poverty exceeded expectations (-50%) by reducing it by 65% and overall poverty is down by 45%. Who is against that?

If everyone who's unvaccinated went and got their vaccine shot tomorrow, we could all open up 100% by the weekend and you'd see this economy soar. But there are those who don't want to see such success for many a stupid reason. It's hard to deal with stupidity.

Instead, we're bombarded with fact free info from the darkest and sickest of minds. What matters is the paying of the interest on the debt, which is around 1.4% of GDP, which is really good. In 10 years it's projected to be down to 1% of GDP, which is a great place to be. Back in the '90s when we were paying off Reagans massive debt interest, we were paying just over 3% of GDP, which took a toll on the economy. Were doing just fine, thank you.

By the way, if hair-on-fire hysterics are a result of the $1.9 Trillion dollar Rescue Package which benefited the commoners, just rescind the unfunded $2 Trillion tax break for the uber rich who didn't need it.

Hey, Bob is your uncle.
All the best,
Nonoise

We have so much to overcome from the damage the former guy left in his big, fat, orange stained wake.

When gold was the standard, market volatility was 2.5-3 times worse than what we now have. Imagine that many more recessions and depressions. Very unstable and unpredictable. It was the fact that is was finite that appealed to some who wanted to leave others behind.

All the best,
Nonoise

Be patient: Covid, is correct. 

A lot of this can be put at the foot of JIT (Just In Time) and it's implementation in the early '80s. Instead of warehousing parts, supplies, sundries, etc., manufacturers discovered that, like their Japanese counterparts who did this in the '70s, they could cut down on costs by closing down those warehouses and lay off the few employees it would take to manage them and keep the money saved for themselves.

The problem was, and still is, Japan is nowhere near as large as America and can very well afford to implement such a thing. And all it took was a pandemic to bring the whole thing down. Like others have said, we have backlogs of container ships out there with some crews never seeing land for well over a year. 

JIT has been exposed for the cheap, cost cutting tactic that it always was. It very well have been the first domino to fall and the rest, as they say, is history.

All the best,
Nonoise

Three New Unemployment Programs Under the CARES ActProgramWhat it DoesFederal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC)Provides a federal benefit of $300 a week up to Sept. 6, 2021.*Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)Extends benefits to self-employed, freelancers, and independent contractors.

&

President Donald Trump on Sunday backed off his veto threat and signed the $900 billion stimulus bill—a move that should immediately benefit millions of unemployed Americans, even if its $600 checks have been roundly criticized as insufficient relief for the economic damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.

For starters, the package will bring back weekly enhanced federal unemployment benefits for the more than 19 million Americans still on unemployment benefit rolls. These enhanced benefits will pay out $300 per week, on top of state benefits, for up to 11 weeks. That’s down from the $600 weekly payment that the CARES Act sent jobless Americans through late July.

There was only 4 months of $600 UI. The rest was $300 until now.
Gotta love all the fuzzy math. But hey, how ’bout 85% of CARES money going to corporations who use it to buy back stock to increase their shares values so when they leave, they can cash out on the highest rate? They didn’t even qualify for the aid!

Others gave themselves bonuses and still laid off employees when they didn’t have to. And, a lot of those companies didn’t qualify for the money but "informed" there favorite politicians to simply give it to them. They were given a heads up as the bill was being written so as to be the first to apply and crowded out the small business owners that were to be the actual recipients of the aid.

Knowing how to bilk taxpayers is their specialty and they were the first to line up to the trough for the money. That money was supposed to help small companies retain employees by making the workplace safer and keeping companies afloat during shutdown when they couldn’t feasibly do it.

Why, oh why, do they always pick on the workers?

All the best,
Nonoise

Now who would delete an honest and simple link from a reputable business source about the true falling price of lumber?

Funny, that.

When the government allows people to take a voluntary lay-off in the name of Covid fears, then boosts their unemployment to $4400/month, there are a lot of workers missing from the workforce.

How does $300/wk work out to $4,400 a month?

They call it QE, quantitative easing, to obscure the fact they are printing trillions of dollars from nothing. No one studies this, so no one understands that it is counterfeit currency not even really money. But they are duped into thinking real money like bitcoin and gold are not. Hardly anyone even understands enough Econ 101 to know that any time you increase the supply of a good you decrease its value.

Uh, quantitative easing is the buying of US bonds, to get investors to invest in and spur the economy, and not the printing trillions of dollars. It's the earnings from the investments made that are put back into the economy by the Fed.

Lots of people study this and it was very easy to look up. The people who do study this are called economists.

All the best,
Nonoise

😄👍

That link kinda says it all. 

Pay no attention to the economic town criers. This inflationary noise is just that. Noise. Some inflation is to be expected but it will be short lived and price gougers are always around to take advantage of it. Anyone notice how it's not across the board?

The comments you hear are just from opportunists inflaming the situation. Nothing more.

All the best,
Nonoise