Everything is creeping up....faster and faster it seems. And I think inflation is being hidden lots of ways, as well has job numbers, real unemployment numbers... smoke and mirrors all over the place.

Yes. 15 to 20% increase over the past year would not surprise me at all. I didn't keep track of my grocery bills. However, a coworker did and she claims about a 20% increase over 2013.

Groceries and energy/fuel are exempted from the inflation calculation, but housing is included. Thus when home prices were cratering and groceries, energy, and fuel were increasing, that was viewed as a net inflation of a very small number. However, when home prices drop, that is a drop in net worth for most people. There are lies, damn lies, and then there is the Bureau of Labor (Liars, Damn Liars, and) Statistics.

I can only eat "clean" food because I have a large number of food sensitivities. So if it isn't organic or free range it doesn't go into my mouth. At the beginning of 2013 I could shop at Whole Foods and pay $100 for 2 full bags of groceries. I never purchase anything "pre-made". Last week I spent $100 and the one bag I used was just over 1/2 way full of vegetables and a dozen eggs. Talk about inflation!

Yes, I have noticed significant increases. The prices of egg, dairy, and some other staples have doubled over the course of perhaps a year. Meat has tripled from some years ago. I cannot remember the last time I ate any meat which was not ground.

I have a low income, in large part by choice since I have built my own "virtual Gulch" more or less in plain sight. In recent months I have been unable to purchase sufficient food to put nutritious meals on the table. I have taken to volunteering at the local Salvation Army in exchange for meals and groceries. That's right--I work for food! And no one pays the slightest attention to me or has the faintest idea what I do when not "at work".

As an aside, in a hardcore blue collar town, when I was more or less open about my day to day activities, I was often told "you don't work". Now that I spend a few hours a week doing semi-skilled volunteer work, I am viewed as having a job and treated quite differently by the former gainsayers.

I highly recommend a volunteer position of some sort to Shruggers out there. It does help to keep you invisible.

I've noticed grocery bills going up, as well as some very specific goods. The wizard I live with priced noise-cancelling headphones recently - $350. The last time we bought a pair, the prices were in the 180's - 190's, Computers, however, seem to be hovering around the same price they've been at for 10 years.
It leads me to think that cost doesn't drive price now as much as it has.

Um.. yes?

I thought everyone understood things were getting more expensive under obammy

They haven't been hiding inflation. They let us know every time they print tons more dollars. That is inflation. It does take a while to trickle down to where our prices go up dramatically.

As retirees on a fixed income, we moved to a smaller, less expensive home, cut back on so many things to keep our lifestyle viable; in the four years since then, we have been cutting closer and closer to the bone just to maintain even part of what we want, let alone what we need... I have no idea what they plan for us geezers next, but if we can't keep our low-mortgage home, how can we afford an expensive apartment? The food prices have gone up $600/mo now versus ($400-$500/mo. then), gas is way up, the propane to heat our home and cook our food has skyrocketed. It went to $4.00/gal. over winter, yet when they topped off the tank in late spring, it was $2.79/gal. The driver told us the propane shortage over winter was the government selling all of our reserves to Asia at $7.00/gal. last fall...We sure didn't hear about that--instead they blamed the farmers for using it to dry corn.

Just yesterday milk, already at an extreme price, went from 4,09 to 4.19. Maybe we should start drinking gas.

Government is cooking the books on just about all of the metrics we commonly refer to. In the CPI food and fuel are not in that basket of commodities. Gee, it seems to me food and fuel cuts across all demographic strata. We all have to eat, and most have to get to work. The reason they are not in there? All of the government entitlements are indexed to a cost of living increase, which is figured using the CPI. Using the real number would look bad, maybe panic old people, and for sure cost the government big increases in benefits.

How about unemployment? Yes, those numbers are cooked too. The have been so altered they are no longer comparable to prior recessions. My favorite thing to look at is participation rate. Right now about 63% of the available workforce is participating in the economy. That's on par with the Great Depression. In my opinion, history will look at this era as the 2nd Great Depression, because all of the real measurements indicate that it is. And just like the depression, those that are working or those with investments in the right place are doing very well.

The Federal Reserve and the White House have colluded to craft a monetary policy that keeps people from buying houses, even while interest is historically low. Without a housing boom, full employment cannot happen. Without full employment there is little demand pressure on everyday stuff people buy. Without demand, prices cannot go parabolic. So, they have crafted the perfect monetary policy...unless you want to buy a home or advance your life beyond a 30 hr part time job.

When the adults come back to Washington, they must be careful. Too much success, too quickly would release pent up demand for goods and services and drive prices up accordingly.

What a mess. Is anyone interested in the Gold standard and just keep money stable?

It’s been creeping up for years now. They hid the inflation by illusion; the packaging has been getting smaller and smaller.
Plus, grocers have been trying to swallow some of the cost on their own to keep the prices down -- more no-name brands on the shelf.

Coffee and hamburger are way up - definitely over 25%, approaching 50% versus prices a year or two ago. Beef jerkey just went up 16% the last time I bought it. Fruits, vegetables, breads, and cereals seem to be the same. If there's a difference it hasn't been enough for me to notice. I don't eat at restaurants so I don't know the situation there.

I been buying little extra for years to be ready for the day the dollar falls. I am a small time prepper. Dry food as well as other supplies. Wont last long but with food cost raising it will help. Because I believe it will get lot worse. I buy what on sale. And store half. If you are just waiting for it to get better. I say your in for a long wait.

khalling, you are correct CPI does not reflect switching from steak to hamburger.
Have you noticed a new term, PCE, which the Fed are trying to use more often when they talk about inflation? PCE is weighted according to traded volume of each type of goods (taken from GDP stats). In this way PCE does not even follow prices of goods at all, it always lags behind when prices are increasing rapidly, exactly because of your steak to hamburger choice.
Why would the Fed prefer using PCE? Are they truly unaware it misrepresents inflation?
I will leave that to your imagination :)

Govmt uses CPI indexing for many payment obligations. Thats why it keeps it lower than reality to reduce those payments in real terms.
Some real inflation charts are at
www.shadowstats.com
where they recreate CPI without the regular basket "adjustments" the official stats make.

Hell yes. I've noticed, just in the last couple of years, that it's virtually impossible for me to get out of a grocery store without dropping the better part of a Benjamin. Granted, it depends on what you're buying on a given trip, but this is the same general staple-type stuff for which I do *not* remember spending anything near that, prior to the Presidency of Barack Taqiyya Obama.

Another way to phrase the question.
"Has the value of your dollar decreased significantly?" Of course!
I believe that it will be possible to build Off-Grid communities that can survive when the Grid goes down. I have designed an Off-Grid solar energy system that can economically provide for all of the energy and water needs of a "Galt's Gulch" type of community. Unlike Galt's machine it does not violate the second law of thermodynamics.
www.offgridtexan.net

I am totally confident that the gov't figures are spun
tighter than cotton candy!!! -- j

I encourage those interested in the government provided stats to subscribe to John Williams' Shadow Government Statistics; plenty of free primers on his site so read them!

In general grocery for similar is about 20% higher than last year. In restaurant, wines that were $6/glass are now $8-$9/glass; a prime ribeye steak is now $60 when 2-3 years ago $35. Micro Brews are hard to judge since the government slapped a $2 tariff on foreign beer and native micros then raised their prices and massed produced too (thankfully I don't drink much micro beer anymore).

By a rough estimation, my grocery bill has more than doubled since 2005. I'm a vegetarian, so that doesn't even include the price of meat.

Yes. A significant increase. To really get a feel for prices, ask a retiree on a fixed income. As prices climb, the value of their savings diminishes, and even good investments are stumbling in their attempt to keep up with rising prices. Add to that unexpected costs such as a car repair or house repair or illness and the "Golden Years" look more like lead. Wanna get an earful? Just ask a retiree. Oh wait, you just did.

Milk, eggs, produce and meats across all varieties have become sooo expensive, my husband came to me the other day and asked why the grocery bill has gone up so much. After showing him cost per pound, coupled with the fact that we have a growing 16 year old son, (6'-2" at last count), he was shocked! I kept telling him how stunned I am every time I pay for my groceries. Example: organic chicken breasts, 2 of them in the package, cost $13.98!!!!! I just put them in the fridge. Now, add to that my son will eat two of them.... Then get something else an hour later! Staggering.