Friday, January 3, 2014

Inflation 2013

Here's the second annual unscientific cdude inflation shopping cart. I've added a few things.

Whole wheat bread, 24oz, store brand: $1.99/24 oz.
Gallon milk, whole, store brand: $3.29
Dozen eggs, large AA: $2.00
Campbell's chicken noodle soup: 2/$3.00
Tomato sauce, 8 oz.: $0.38
2 decks playing cards: $3.49
Inexpensive car, Hyundai Accent: $14,645
Ground beef, 5 lb chub, 73% lean: 12.98
Beer, Budweiser, 18 cans: 14.99
Scott toilet tissue, 12 pack: 9.99
Tide liquid, 150 oz: 17.99

For the repeat items the average increase was 11%. I think much of this is fluctuation (soup was 50%). But I was surprised by how stable many of the prices were. I think we will need a few years of data before we can safely conclude the government is full of it. I am not weighting the average as I am more interested in the devaluation of the dollar, rather than an increase in the nominal cost of living. The official rate is 1.5%