The cost of inflation......

[rphillips]

I remember when air and drinking water was free, do realize many folks today won't.

[KiwiAlfa156]

Inflation is a real problem in New Zealand too. We like the rest of the West have a cost of living crisis. Not wanting to sound like a commie, but with so many corporates are making mega profits at the same time ordinary folk are finding it hard to put food on the table, makes me think our economies are broken.

Henry Ford (initially at least) paid his workers enough to by his cars. Which is the internal logic of capitalism. We too have a housing crisis. Market economics for housing has a tendency to not meet civil need, rather it creates a real estate Ponzi scheme and homelessness.

I find it interesting that in Singapore, which is free-market and pro-business, has since independence in the 1960s tightly controlled its housing market and prices through its Housing Development Board (HDB). It built almost all the housing stock (apartment towers) because from the the get go, the Government understood, the actual purpose of housing is to house your population. Everyone in Singapore has a home, and you can walk anywhere at any time of the day or night without fear. Street crime is virtually non existent.

Then again in Singapore possession of firearms and ammo is forbidden and punishable by 5 -10 years imprisonment and 6 stokes of a cane that cuts you open. And actually discharging a firearm will get you the death penalty.

[rphillips]

Wish we had some harsher penalties, it seems our punishments just keep getting softer and softer as our crimes just keep increasing... Go figure.

[LAB3]

Wish we had some harsher penalties, it seems our punishments just keep getting softer and softer as our crimes just keep increasing... Go figure.

There in lies the issue, what should held as criminal or at very least unethical isn't against the law. An earlier commenter asked "How can you not make this a political issue?" Because it isn't, that's the main thing not being addressed. Welfare for the rich and corporations, rugged individualism for the rest of us.

[Rob S.]

Street crime is virtually non existent.

Then again in Singapore possession of firearms and ammo is forbidden and punishable by 5 -10 years imprisonment and 6 stokes of a cane that cuts you open. And actually discharging a firearm will get you the death penalty.

And chewing gum is strictly forbidden. Westerners will not tolerate such interference. Can you imagine the underside of a restaurant without chewing gum? Or a clean sidewalk?

[argonsagas]

I remember when air and drinking water was free, do realize many folks today won't.

That one hit home.
We do not have to pay for air (yet) and we have always paid for water to our homes, but in the last few years several cities have begun taxing water that comes from the sky!
Rainfall and snow melt-off are now fully taxable.

[rphillips]

argon, I's thinking more of drinking water, in past always a water fountain or faucet around someplace, buying a drink of water had never been heard of. Today you to buy a bottle for $1 and up. I well remember when this started and thought that's stupid, nobody's going to buy water like a Coke or Budweiser. Dang was I wrong, now sometimes folks pay more for a bottle of water than a cheap cold drink (soda pop to some folks)

[argonsagas]

Yes, I remember Coca Cola bringing forth a new and better bottled water, which they called Dasani...

......and not long after that someone discovered that Dasani was bottled municipal tap water.
.

[LAB3]

Yes, I remember Coca Cola bringing forth a new and better bottled water, which they called Dasani...

......and not long after that someone discovered that Dasani was bottled municipal tap water.
.

A good many of them are, they generally run it through a reverse osmosis system and UV disinfectant before bottling.

When the Flint water crisis hit I'd just left the area but had a great idea, selling Flint tap water with a wheel weight in the bottom of the bottle for that extra "Down home" touch!

[Rob S.]

...a cheap cold drink (soda pop to some folks)

Fortunately, here in NY City we have world famous delicious tap water. I've been refilling the same plastic bottle with tap water for almost a decade.

Here in the Big Apple, Coke and Pepsi are called "soda." When I lived upstate near the Canadian border, they were called "pop." And we had a 'crick' running through the backyard.

[KiwiAlfa156]

And chewing gum is strictly forbidden. Westerners will not tolerate such interference. Can you imagine the underside of a restaurant without chewing gum? Or a clean sidewalk?

Hey Rob, yeah I've visited Singapore a few times, and had friends that have worked there. Most of them don't miss not having access to gum and all of them enjoyed their time. Personally I wouldn't want to live there, because there's nothing to do but shop and eat.

I guess the point is there are alternative ways to structure societies and pros and cons with each. I remember one of my university lecturers (an American and ex-Navy Seal!) talking about the idea of freedom and how often 'freedom' is in a lot of places seen as 'freedom to' and not 'freedom from' and how these understandings of freedom are often in conflict. Freedom to bear arms, as opposed to freedom from gun death.

A young New Zealander was shot dead in his car, near Denver Colorado a couple of years back. After he called 911 because he was having a mental health issue and needed help (here the NZ Police are who you call if your in trouble). He was surrounded by Police had his hands up, and they gunned him down because he wouldn't get out of the car -probably because he was *@%^$*@%^$*@%^$*@%^$ scared. This 99% wouldn't have happened in NZ, because the police (while they have guns in their cars) do not carry side arms and while it is legal to own and use firearms for sporting use, the public (apart from the crims) don't carry. So shoot first and ask questions later is really frowned upon.

I get that its different in the US. But that's the point. "Interference" to various degrees IS tolerated in most other Western countries. It's part of the local social contract, its the choice that has made and reaffirmed at each election. The US in many ways is an outlier to the rest of the Western world (Europe, Canada, Oceania, and from an political-economic point of point of view -large parts of Asia) in its focus on individual rights over the idea that you can trade some of that away for collective freedoms.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/502694/six-further-us-police-officers-charged-over-fatal-shooting-of-kiwi-christian-glass

[Rob S.]

The US in many ways is an outlier to the rest of the Western world...[/URL]

You can say that again! (I rarely leave the country but I knows how to reed. And rite. )

[bonanzadave]

CEO's are paid ridiculous amounts of money due to company profits while the employees are payed less.

Relying on Price Hikes, General Mills Rakes in Millions



Price Gouging Remains Magically Malicious

WASHINGTON, DC — After a series of price hikes last year, food giant General Mills posted $670.1 million in Q3 FY 2024 earnings today, up from $553.1 million in the same period last year. Today’s report comes on the heels of February’s Consumer Price Index report, which showed that cooling inflation was stilted by stubbornly high food prices, and as 3-in-5 Americans agree that corporate profiteering is a major driver of higher costs. General Mills—which was highlighted in a 2023 Accountable.US report showing staggering price hikes and sky-high profits in the food-at-home industry—currently accounts for nearly 28 percent of breakfast cereal sales.

“

Americans can’t even buy breakfast cereal without facing the consequences of corporate profiteering. As General Mills posts massive profits, it’s painfully obvious that the food giant’s price hikes were motivated by their greed. Price gouging remains magically malicious and the industry seems unconcerned that their Scrooge-like practices have left many American families food insecure. It's time for Congress to help the Biden administration lower costs by cracking down on this kind of gross profiteering.” Accountable.US’ Liz Zelnick

[bccap]

And if they aren't raising the prices they are reducing the size of the product . I used to always buy Kraft salad dressings but then they kept the price the same but made the bottle smaller .... On the upside I was so pi$$ed off I bought the generic brand and discovered it's just as good .....

kraft-canada-shrinking-the-bottle-of-their-salad-dressings-v0-sjl2jyxy57jc1.webp kraft-canada-shrinking-the-bottle-of-their-salad-dressings-v0-sjl2jyxy57jc1.webp

[trent]

And if they aren't raising the prices they are reducing the size of the product . I used to always buy Kraft salad dressings but then they kept the price the same but made the bottle smaller .... On the upside I was so pi$$ed off I bought the generic brand and discovered it's just as good

I see price going up AND size or amount of product being reduced.A lot over past ten years.

The two hamburger patties on a big mac are the size of a regular kids burger, which is really small because the size of a kids burger has also gotten smaller?
LOL

Same with burger kings whopper, the burger is size of what they used to have on a jr. Whopper and the Jr is smaller than past regular burger !

Bought a twinkle or ding dong lately...LOL, also shrank.

And what about hostess or dolly Madison apple and cherry pies ?

They used to be bigger, with more and better icing, and the fillings were much better as well.

I guess we (U.S. Folks ) should thank someone for smaller portions, cause reports have said wete all overweight, so smaller portions and increased prices might help ??