Are prices really decreasing?

I saw a news clip on youtube and then a news segement on my local news that prices are decreasing. Is this only in certian areas? I have not seen it here as of yet? Is this going to happen soon?
Does this mean in a year I will be able to afford a two bedroom top of the line apartment?
I am trying to find some legitimate sources to either confirm or deny this. Is inflation right around the corner under the guise of negative inflation. I have been thinking of this for a long time.
What if this inoformation is there just to distract us further? If prices are decreasing then why are utlities increasing.
I have seen gas prices decrease and some food prices but that isn't a basis for decreasing inflation.
How do I get a good source?
What are prices like in your area?
In Kansas City
The average market rate apartment is 600 for one bedroom. (this up from 2008 when the average price was 500.)
Gas is $2.30/gallon
bread is a $2/loaf
milk is $3/gallon
monthly electric bill for a one bedroom is $80.
a decent car is $200/month

I know inflation is based upon other factors but my point is that prices are not decreasing and I want to prove it somehow.

I just spoke with someone at an apartment complex in my area and she stated that prices have stablized since 2008. That is not a decrease. I wish the news would give us more info so we can find out the truth for ourselves!

Not that I've noticed (here in the UK), in fact all my utility bills have increased over the last year, along with food and fuel... things like TVs or white goods are cheap as chips, but that's not good if you've not got the cash

Everyday items, like food and fuel has from my bank balances experience increased and is still increasing.

Prices are decreasing in the real estate and housing market in certain areas.

As for the price of utilities and food, they are not decreasing....not to my knowledge anyways. And with the news that Monsanto is going to raise the price of seeds, i'm willing to bet that this time next year things are going to get REAL expensive.

Used car prices here in the US have gone up but thats mostly to do with cash for clunkers getting rid of so many of the trade ins. Which hurts the people who can't afford a new car.

What I find hilarious in the US is that housing prices are beginning to move up again. How is that possible? The banks are sitting on millions of homes. The fix is in again. Fix food prices-farm subsidies, fix wages-illegal immigration & legal, fix oil prices-market manipulation & supply, fix interest rates & inflation-money supply manipulation. Etc etc etc.

Pretty soon we will find out the fix is in the voting booth, oh wait, software manipulation of voter software. That is true too.

Well...considering the Fed Res *mandates* ~2% growth/inflation per year, standing still or anything under ~2% would workout that way, on their books... :shk:

Alas, IMHO you are correct not much has decreased...except the interest rate for Banksters...

Lets take my Comcarp cable bill fer instance...it has been rising on average 10% quarterly...

I get PO'd and tell them to stuff it...

Operator tells me...well you know this IS a business...with everyone losing their jobs and cutting us off, we have to raise the remaining customers fees to make-up on our top-line earnings...

Now...how sad is that???

Instead of figuring out a way to cut a couple of dollars and keep customers they give NEW customers a deal and alienate their long standing paying customers...

Hell of a way to run a business!?!

to my understanding you are seeing one of the beginning effects of what is called a deflationary spiral. It's the point where prices actually stay stagnant or go up as producers try to offset their losses. The new numbers came out today showing that input prices actually increased, but everything else has decreased. That would be the Philly Fed Index. It shows that prices paid increased 14.9 versus 10.0 reported prior. Essentially input prices are up which has to eat into margins, so guess who pays for that? Eventually in a deflationary spiral, prices will drop and quickly as no one can afford what there is to buy.

reply to post by Hx3_1963


sad. And that's the same song and dance the credit card companies are giving to their existing customers as they cut credit lines and raise rates. Short term greed eventually causes a long term feed back loop, which for all the topics on this site, I don't really need to paint the picture of the vicious cycle do I? lol

I'm rebuilding a fence.

The price of lumber is about 1/3 of what it was a couple of years ago.

I'm trying to finish a lot of building projects while the prices are so reasonable.

Well if more people lose their jobs then there not going to want to buy luxury items, you will see a flood of inventory on the market, that will lead to reduced prices.
As far as every day life here in my neck of the woods:
Milk 4.49
Gas 2.53
Bread 2
Monthly electric about 100

Well the wife is a dept. head at Ralphs and she says, yes.
The grocery stores are having price wars. milk was $ 3.98 now $1.99.gal.
avacados are .47 cents ea. never seen them so low. very cool.

that's already happening in the luxury item territory with some retailers. Our TV went on the fritz and I managed to secure a 32 inch Toshiba lcd for 350.00. The darn thing was being sold for 425. My wife asked the salesperson what they were willing to take for the TV and he told her to make him an offer. She offered 350 and he was like "done". I never thought I would be haggling an electronics dealer. Sign of the times anyone?

Deflantionary death spiral.

Wants will deflate and needs will inflate..........02c

My electric company just put a freeze on an increase that was to begin this month. They sent me an E-mail saying they were going back to review it. So I don't know. Maybe things are looking up a little bit.

CentralTexas

gas $2.37/gal
1bed/$700
bread$0.80c (i buy sliced white bread sorry)
Milk $2.90/gal

The prices have moved up and down so much lately that its hard to keep track of what cheap is. Now utilities are definitly on the rise, and i think that goes like that for just everywhere in the US, water is becoming rare, electricity is harder to make today than it was 24h ago and new fees pop up every other day to offset the cost of grossly overpaid executives of such companies. Plus i duno for you guys but here, there's pretty much only one utility company so tough sh*t.
If you own a home, invest in some rain water colection, spray foam insulation in the house, geothermal a/c (if you can afford it) and solar panels. i've seen a few DIY plans for solar power and other electrical homebrew plants.

I am more concerned with prices that I need for living. I know retails prices on TVs have gone down. Sales have decreased but when they say prices are decreasing; they better mean utlities,gas prices,rent and food. I don't care about TVs or other unneeded items. I have plenty of those.

central california:

3.03 gal of gas
2.99 loaf of bread
600 to 700 apartment
2.99 gal of milk
no utilities have dropped
can of spam last year 2.69 this year 3.15
house sales stablized, but at 1997 levels...i know i'm selling one
older people telling me they have lost 40 to 50 percent of their retirement savings
large swaths of empty retail buildings
local government shedding jobs, like a dog shedding fleas
most jobs start out as part time, minimum wage, and no benefits
12 to 18 percent unemployment, depending on the county
mom and pop stores decimated
BUT, WAL-MART PARKING LOTS ARE FULL JUST LIKE AT X-MAS!!
food banks have more people
more people are out begging on the streets

welcome to the most powerful and richest country on earth

[edit on 21-9-2009 by jimmyx]

reply to post by jimmyx


It's disgusting! This has came about because of greed. If businesses and the rich weren't so greedy this wouldn't be like this.
Oh yeah and don't forget power. The politicans are more concerned with power than with the american people.
Is there anything we can do? It is not like I just stop buying gas or paying for utlities. What if everyone refused to pay their utlities until prices went down. Would that make an impact or would they just shut off everyone? Sometimes I think big companies especially utlities would rather lose money than help their customers.
I was talking to time warner cable yesterday and all I wanted to know was how much my current bill is. They said they could not tell me that because they do not have acess to that information. I was talking to BILLING! They said a supervisor would call me back. He called me back hours later and I asked if their system was down. He said no. I asked him how much bill was and he told me. It was too high and asked for an explaination he said prices have gone up.
I told him that I wanted to shut off all my services and find another company. He just said ok. The next thing I know he is shutting off my cable. I said wait I have to find another company first!
It's like these companies know their is not much competition out there so they treat us however they want!

[edit on 22-9-2009 by dreamseeker]