Go read this article by Miel at Dual Income No Kids and just be thankful that the price of bread doesn’t rise 300% in 2 weeks.
Inflation is the great eroder of resources. Make sure you get yours every year on your annual pay increase. The years I got a 2% raise after giving my company great value, I took a hike and took my chances on the open job market.
If your company can’t cover a cost of living increase that actually tracks with the CPI, then rethink who they are and how they value you.
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I got a 2.6 percent raise this year which definitely doesn’t cover inflation or cost of living. rent only went up 1.5% this year but starting next march it’ll go up 2 percent and that’s not including food prices. the best brand of bread out here costs $4.50 for a loaf! i didnt buy it and decided to eat potatoes instead.
I guess the catch-22 here is that the ‘company’ is trying to keep their overhead low and keep their prices lower by giving poor raises. Unfortunately it’ll translate to people leaving and quality going down in the long run. The people who are just slugging along really don’t care as long as someone keeps paying them.
Just as $0.02… over the last year, energy costs are almost double, raw materials are up about 50%…
Any thoughts on the probable gross inaccuracy of CPI measuring inflation for any except the exceedingly rich?
Dean – Doubling over the last year is different from 300% in a week or a month.
I don’t remember much about CPI from economics. I don’t think it’s only for the exceedingly rich. I’m not sure where you get the argument to make that charge.
CPI is broad measure and like any broad measure, can only reflect a truth that exists, rather than being the truth itself.
Remember even if those things are up, there are places in the supply chain where cost is absorbed and the final price of a product might not reflect all of the changes in the pricing of energy or raw materials. Plus economy of scale in manufacturing dampens those rises.
But don’t force me into an apologist of some sort. I’m just throwing out some explanations of why the CPI doesn’t sky rocket just because the price of energy or raw materials does.