We will check back later… [Filler]

Putting down a marker on some grocery prices to see where we stand in another year or two after the new administration begins its policies, particularly on immigration, that more-than-half of voters supported with their votes. Fresh produce prices depend on many things, but “seasonal labor” is an important factor. Project 2025 immigration plans will probably have a discernible effect on the availability of “seasonal labor.”

“Social media has been flooded today with stories of Trump voters who are shocked to learn that tariffs will raise consumer prices as reporters are covering that information. Daniel Laguna of LevelUp warned that Trump’s proposed 60% tariff on Chinese imports could raise the costs of gaming consoles by 40%, so that a PS5 Pro gaming system would cost up to $1,000. One of the old justifications for tariffs was that they would bring factories home, but when the $3 billion shoe company Steve Madden announced yesterday it would reduce its imports from China by half to avoid Trump-promised tariffs, it said it will shift production not to the U.S., but to Cambodia, Vietnam, Mexico, and Brazil.”
      —Heather Cox Richardson

Yeah, unintended consequences can be a real drag, but all of these were foreseeable if you were in honest media spaces.

I will look up and confirm this stuff later, but more markers for later comparison:
     • Inflation: 2.4% (October 2024, Source)
     • “Food-at-home” inflation: 1.3% (October 2024, Source)
     • Unemployment: 4.1% (November 1, 2024, Source)
     • Median home price: $412,000 (September 2023, Source)
     • Real median household income: $80,610 (2023, Source)

While income is one criterion to follow, poverty would be another.
The states with the 15 highest poverty rates, 2021–2023 (Source)
     • 18.9%, Louisiana
     • 18.5%, New Mexico
     • 17.3%, Mississippi
     • 15.8%, Arkansas
     • 15.7%, Kentucky
     • 15.3%, West Virginia
     • 14.9%, Oklahoma
     • 14.6%, Alabama
     • 13.4%, District of Columbia
     • 13.2%, North Carolina
     • 13.1%, Texas
     • 12.9%, Georgia
     • 12.9%, Nevada
     • 12.7%, South Carolina
     • 12.5%, Florida

Let’s check back later after the new administration has been implementing Project 2025 and gutting the career civil servants for a while and see what’s happened…

[ PXL_20241108_182840820_LE15tm :: cell phone ]

November 9 posts
       “Extras”: No post
  1 year ago: No post
 2 years ago: “Fermentation Science Institute”
 3 years ago: “Getting close”
 4 years ago: “‘C’ is for cables.”
 5 years ago: “Chartreuse VEP [Travel day]”
 6 years ago: “Celebrating 10 years of survival…”
 7 years ago: “But I can *see* the lake!”
 8 years ago: “Back to the lake”
 9 years ago: “My lucky day? (This isn’t what you think!)”
10 years ago: “Who took *this*?”
11 years ago: “Hey, Dad? Oh. Wait. Right—”
12 years ago: “Autumn ablaze!”
13 years ago: “Lame post #eleventy-billion”

[Mags]

Some that doesn't look too fresh. Nice capture though.

[Casablanca]

Good commentary on the facts as always.

[Rick Schies]

Time will tell

[Joanne Diochon]

@digitalrn Yes it will.

[Thom Mitchell]

@marlboromaam I was in the store to buy some non-perishables, but I wanted to get a shot like this to post as a marker at this point in time.

Economics is a "deceptive" discipline. Without understanding the nuts and bolts, or "mechanics," of how markets work, it's easy to be fooled by people with an agenda to push. And then we're surprised by outcomes. It need not be this way, but all too often it is.

[Krista Marson]

This image will serve as a good reference point, for sure. I don't 100% need a new car, but I did go out car shopping yesterday because I'll be needing a new vehicle in a couple of years and I'm thinking about buying one now, so I don't regret not buying one later.

[Thom Mitchell]

@blueberry1222 I should include stock market info, too...

[Kathy]

I remember saying when bananas rose to 19¢ a pound that I would not buy them until the price dropped. Boy have I eaten (literally and figuratively) those words.