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- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
Grocery prices increased by 8.5 per cent in the year up to July. That’s an easing from 9.1 per cent the previous month, but still three times the overall inflation rate.
It’s OK. It’s just food and gas and mortgage costs leading the way. Just stop… uh, buying those things? Shit.
I mean StatCan just removes those pesky volitile goods and that fixes inflation for them. Can’t the plebs do that too?
bank of Canada: “dammit! these plebes are not losing their jobs fast enough!”
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Gas prices were a major factor pushing up the inflation rate, mostly due to what economists call the base effect.
Similar attempts at price controls in the 1970s had disastrous results, but some policy experts say it’s an idea worth exploring, at least on a limited basis.
“It’s not the '70s anymore, our markets are different,” said Vass Bednar, executive director of the Master of Public Policy Program at McMaster University in Hamilton.
While Bednar says she doesn’t advocate for a heavy-handed cap on all types of food in perpetuity, she says it makes sense to look into policies that could ensure some basic necessities — baby formula, bread, certain fruits and vegetables — have at least some options that remain affordable.
“If you’re feeding a baby formula and you’re on a fixed income, we need to have to have real conversations that are tough about whether and when to intervene in marketplaces to make sure items like that are accessible to people.”
Avery Shenfeld, an economist with CIBC, said he doesn’t see the justification for price caps in Canada’s grocery business, given the trends we’re seeing beneath the surface.
I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Money printer go brrrrrrrrrrrr
Well, the BoC expectation is about 3% so looks like we’re still pretty close to the target. Not much to see here for now.
Mortgage interest costs the biggest single factor in the increase
There was some relief in the produce section, with fresh fruit prices seeing their largest month-over-month decline since February 2008, down 6.5 per cent.
Gas prices were a major factor pushing up the inflation rate, mostly due to what economists call the base effect.
Jackpot for the vegetarian, cyclist and renter.
Jackpot
Wut.
Food still got .4% more expensive in July than it was in June.
Since last June, food is 7.8% more expensive.
The decline in the rate at which fruit prices are rising was due mostly to cheaper grapes and oranges.
This is still not good news.
Fruit is less expensive, though.
But not concerning as most foods are purchased on futures contracts, and you are still reeling in the record high prices seen last year. The farm gate price continues to tumble. There is inherit lag, but the grocer price will crash in six months to a year from now as those old contracts expire.
And the good news is that inflation is only 2.4%, excluding mortgage costs. That is comfortably in the target range. The only reason mortgage costs are going insane is because the BoC keeps raising interest rates; the easiest thing to correct.