US Domestic Politics and internal affairs

Hole wrote:Happening in american stores.

These price tags surprise me very much. Just for comparison, the result of my trip to the store yesterday:

I spent a little less than 5,500 rubles (or about $81). And this is not the cheapest thing that was in the store.

5500 rub is still too much for what you bought, IMO. That stuff I can get you for half the price, with only a slight drop in quality and only on some items.

Maybe it's the premium coffee and cat food which brought up the total. Or do you live in Chukotka or something?

flamming_python wrote:5500 rub is still too much for what you bought, IMO. That stuff I can get you for half the price, with only a slight drop in quality and only on some items.

Maybe it's the premium coffee and cat food which brought up the total. Or do you live in Chukotka or something?

I live in the near Moscow region, and I did not choose particularly cheap goods.
The food for my cat cost me about 75 rubles for one bag.
As for the overall price, Lenta has never positioned itself as the cheapest store. But it's a five-minute walk from my house, so I prefer to shop there.

P.S. On the other hand, look at these $53 pieces of meat. These prices are absolutely wild.

What is that, Prime rib?

Mixed it up with Prime beef steak at first. Anyway we have one main producer of Angus beef in Russia, Miratorg. They sell a 1.1kg section of ribs (not sure if prime) for around $18 https://shop.miratorg.ru/product/rebryshki-govyazhi-dlya-grilya-miratorg-rossiya/

Without knowing the weights of the cuts in the photo provided, it's hard to do a comparison. But then the labels say they are boneless too, which implies better value. The prices look quite appealing by Russian standards even, if we assume these chunks are 3-4kg each

Yeah, but  those prices are an answer.

And for multiple questions simultaneously.

Just check the price ratio for this meat and compare to have a GDP multiplier on spot

What is that, Prime rib?

Looks like a nice quality entrecote or rib-eye if you ask me.
And it is a sale, so for the real price, we should check the label itself, not the yellow one.

Well the only conclusion we can really make from that pic alone, is to say that if these items are discounted, then people aren't buying them.

Which might be indicative of a drop in incomes of large households with many family members, the types of households who would buy and cook these huge meat chunks.
Instead these sorts of families might be switching to cheaper alternatives such as chicken or stews or whatever.

But even this is conjecture. Could just be a store which ordered too many of these things and now can't sell them off before their best before date.

One thing's for sure though, I don't what deficits or economic troubles people in the US are facing, but a deficit of beef cuts isn't one of them. They're still relatively affordable there, including compared to the rest of the planet.

Today's slowdown in Fed's interest hikes is due not of reduced US' inflation rates but from pressure from the Treasury & State Department's concern over the service impact on the US debt ceiling.
Check for fakes on recent US CPI figures!

CIA chief Burns aims for secretary of state, says journalist Hersh, 02.13.2023.

Journalist Hersh: CIA chief Burns aims for secretary of state after blowing up Nord Stream.

WASHINGTON, February 13 - RIA Novosti. American journalist Seymour Hersh said that CIA chief William Burns wants to become the next US Secretary of State, and wondered if the active role he allegedly played in undermining Russia's Nord Stream gas transmission system would help him achieve this goal.

The Pulitzer Prize winner previously published an investigative article in which he accused the US administration and the Norwegian authorities of organizing sabotage on pipelines that stopped gas supplies from Russia to Germany.

"I know that he (Burns) wants to be Secretary of State, perhaps in a new administration. It might, but I don't know for sure if that will open doors for this gentleman," Hersh told Radio War Nerd.

Hersh's investigation, which he posted on his own blog, was largely ignored by the mainstream US media, with US authorities reiterating that they were not involved in last year's explosions at the bottom of the sea.

Hersh had published an article earlier in February about his investigation into gas line explosions. His publication says that during the NATO exercises Baltops in the summer of 2022, American divers installed explosives under the Nord Streams, which the Norwegians activated three months later. US President Joe Biden decided to sabotage Nord Stream after more than nine months of secret discussions with the national security team, Hersh said. Later, the Pentagon told RIA Novosti that the United States had nothing to do with the blowing up of Russian gas pipelines last year. The White House made a similar statement. The State Department urged to believe the position of the United States.

https://ria.ru/20230213/berns-1851818986.html

Rising Inflation: How New CPI and Retail Sales Data Backfired on Biden After SOTU Bragging, by Ekaterina Blinova for SputnikNews.

US conservatives have seized the opportunity to lambast President Joe Biden over the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, which indicated that inflation has still not been tamed, contrary to what the US president bragged about in his State of the Union (SOTU) speech.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.5% in January on a seasonally adjusted basis, after increasing 0.1% in December 2022, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Tuesday report indicated that the all items index spiked 6.4% before seasonal adjustment over the last 12 months.

The CPI – a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services – is a popular gauge for inflation, which appears to be haunting the US economy despite Joe Biden's assertions to the contrary.

US conservative outlets nailed it by citing the president's SOTU address, delivered to the nation on February 7: "We have more to do, but here at home, inflation is coming down. Here at home, gas prices are down $1.50 a gallon since their peak. Food inflation is coming down. Inflation has fallen every month for the last six months while take home pay has gone up," Biden declared just a week ago. However, the new inflation data has "nullified" Biden’s boasts, according to American conservatives.

Indeed, the Labor Department admitted that rising shelter, gas, and fuel prices took their toll on consumers in January after inflation had shown signs of receding in recent months.
According to the report, rising shelter costs accounted for about half the monthly increase, while energy was also a significant contributor. The energy index rose 2% in January, as the gasoline index increased 2.4% over the month. Likewise, the index for natural gas grew 6.7% over the month, and the index for electricity rose 0.5%. Over the past 12 months, the energy index rose 8.7%. The core CPI jumped 0.4% and 5.6% from a year ago, against respective estimates of 0.3% and 5.5%.

The soaring prices mean a loss in real pay for American workers: thus, average hourly earnings fell 0.2% for the month and were down 1.8% from a year ago, according to a separate report by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
At the same time, the latest retail sales data showed that Americans are continuing to spend despite high inflation and soaring prices. According to the Commerce Department, the measure of how much consumers spent on a number of everyday goods, including cars, food, and gasoline, grew 3% last month. The figure marked the biggest monthly surge since March 2021.

On the one hand, the increase indicates the resilience of consumers despite higher prices and interest rate increases. On the other hand, the strong buying adds more fuel to inflation, which could make the Federal Reserve even more aggressive in raising interest rates to curb the trend.

Even though a high rate could tame inflation, it also increases borrowing costs , backfires on investment prices, and raises the risk of recession. Therefore, the combined CPI and retail sales data sent stocks down on Wall Street on Wednesday. On February 15, Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the Nasdaq Composite were all 0.6% lower.

https://sputniknews.com/20230215/rising-inflation-how-new-cpi-and-retail-sales-data-backfired-on-biden-after-sotu-bragging-1107473422.html