No matter how you look at it, inflation is a bugger. It constantly eats away at our budgets, making our daily lives an ongoing battle of diminishing resources versus rising costs. Think of it this way, as the Federal Government prints more cash in order to meets its ongoing obligations; it dilutes the value of the money currently in circulation.
Such activities by our governments have been going on since the first government was formed. It allowed for politicians to deflate the costs of what they promised by destroying the value of the future money, but what really gets to me is while we see rising taxes and lower values of our precious dollars, we also see shrinking package sizes with higher costs. Take a look at the picture below. Nearly 9 months ago, we bought a 24-pack of toilet paper at a cost of $3.99, then another package about 6 months ago at $4.99 and finally the last package a week ago at $5.99. Do you see what I see?
Aggravating is it not? I am getting 15% less toilet paper at a price increase of 50%. In just the last 9 months, I am looking at a 65% inflation rate in my toilet paper. Roll this out to a one-year rate, and then the annual inflation rate of toilet paper is 86.5%. If this continues by the time next year is here and gone, I will be paying $ 13.88 for a 24 pack of toilet paper the same size as the width of a credit card. Credit cards don’t charge 33% interest just because they can, but it is what their money really costs. We can see that reflected in the cost of our toilet paper through higher costs and smaller roles.
If this is happening to toilet paper, it has to be happening to other things that we consume in our daily lives. That’s why toys break so easily, tires never last, and clothes fall apart after only a month of hard work.
Don’t you just love it?
Enjoy!
I could not agree with you more. This is one of my pet hates. I get so wild about the way we are treated. Have you ever got paper like on this article As you write for hubs to:
ReplyDeleteJust thought I would add links to my opinion on that subject...grrr
http://eileenhughes.hubpages.com/hub/-Reviewing-Toilet-Papers-
http://eileenhughes.hubpages.com/hub/Review-Outrageous-charges-for-Toilet-Papers
Yes, it is utterly deplorable and the same here in Europe! I wish I could do numbers like you do, I'd never run out of blog posts to write! ;)
ReplyDeleteBTW: We live in the country and when we run out of toilet paper, we use the big soft leaves of "Verbascum Thapsus" also sometimes called the old man's flannel. I can assure everybody that those leaves do a better job than toilet paper!
I buy 4 rolls of tp containing 1200 sheets each for $3.49 at Dollar General and it has pretty much stayed the same. Other things haven't such as my mortgage. When I bought my home in '94 it was $269 a month, a VA loan; now it is $350. and my poor home is falling apart!! I don't earn enough for upkeep.
ReplyDeleteI follow prices, sizes of things I purchase and what really irritates me is when the cost will be the same, but the have reduced the size of the package. It may have been 12 oz and now it is only 10 oz. It looks the same, just a couple of ounces smaller, but they are making a killing doing this. I like your blog here! Glad I found it! :)
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