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Thread: Holiday Chart of the Week - The ( rising ) Costs for 12 Days of Christmas Items

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    Default Holiday Chart of the Week - The ( rising ) Costs for 12 Days of Christmas Items

    Official Inflation is supposed to be near zero, remember ?





    (snip)"PITTSBURGH (AP) — Add seven swans, six geese and five golden rings to the list of Christmas gifts that cost more than they did a year ago.

    And if you get all 364 items (list below) named in "The Twelve Days of Christmas" carol, you'll pay 6.1% more this year, according to the so-called "Christmas Price Index" that PNC Wealth Management updates annually.

    That comes to $107,300.

    "The rise is larger than expected considering the modest economic growth we've had," said Jim Dunigan, managing executive of investments for PNC. He noted the government's Consumer Price Index has risen just 2% in the 12 months before September.

    Thrifty shoppers may find some reasons for cheer. Six items mentioned in the song haven't gone up in price: maids-a-milking, ladies dancing, lords-a-leaping, calling birds, turtle doves and the partridge. The eight maids-a-milking still cost just $58 because the minimum wage hasn't risen.

    Twelve drummers drumming ($2,775.50) and eleven pipers piping ($2,562) might also be considered relative bargains compared to seven swans, which will set you back $7,000. Nine ladies dancing will cost you $6,294.03.

    Dunigan said the 2011 drought caused the prices of some birds to soar, partly because of corn and other feed costs.

    "The geese were up 29.6%, and swans were up 11%," Dunigan said, adding that none of the gifts in the song went down in price this year.

    The price of a pear tree is $189.99, an 11.8% jump from last year's $169.99. Five gold rings jumped 16.3% this year, to $750, and three French hens are now $165, instead of $150.

    The $15 partridge is the cheapest item, and swans the most expensive, at $1,000 each.

    Last-minute shoppers who turn to the Internet will pay a bit more for the gifts. Buying one set of the core items in each verse costs $24,431 in traditional stores this year, but $40,440 online. Part of that difference is the extra expense of shipping live birds, Dunigan said, adding that Internet costs rose 1.5% compared to last year.

    PNC Financial Services Group checks jewelry stores, dance companies, pet stores and other sources to compile the list. Some of its sources this year include the National Aviary in Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Ballet Company.

    Prices of items in "The Twelve Days of Christmas," according to PNC Wealth Management:

    — Partridge, $15; last year: same

    — Pear tree, $189.99; last year: $169.99

    — Two turtle doves, $125; last year: same

    — Three French hens, $165; last year: $150

    — Four calling birds (canaries), $519.96; last year: same

    — Five gold rings, $750; last year: $645

    — Six geese a-laying, $210; last year: $162

    — Seven swans a-swimming, $7,000; last year: $6,300

    — Eight maids a-milking, $58; last year: same

    — Nine ladies dancing (per performance), $6,294; last year: same

    — 10 lords a-leaping (per performance), $4,767; last year: same

    — 11 pipers piping (per performance), $2,562; last year: $2,428

    — 12 drummers drumming (per performance), $2,776; last year: $2,630

    Copyright 2012 The Associated Press"(snip)

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    Default Re: Holiday Chart of the Week - The ( rising ) Costs for 12 Days of Christmas Items

    ^^Well, prices have leveled or even fell for many things that actually matter- like fuel and food. BTW, didn't you guarantee $5 a gallon gas prices by the end of the year?

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    Default Re: Holiday Chart of the Week - The ( rising ) Costs for 12 Days of Christmas Items

    ^^^ unemployed people and bankrupt businesses don't need to buy gasoline !!!

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    Default Re: Holiday Chart of the Week - The ( rising ) Costs for 12 Days of Christmas Items

    Quote Originally Posted by Melonie View Post
    ^^^ unemployed people and bankrupt businesses don't need to buy gasoline !!!
    Not sure how this relates to anything we've been discussing- but the fact is that many unemployed people and bankrupt businesses do in fact buy gasoline. In fact people who don't have a set place to be 8 or so hours a day may buy even more gasoline than those that are working.

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    Default Re: Holiday Chart of the Week - The ( rising ) Costs for 12 Days of Christmas Items

    ^^^ US domestic demand statistics for gasoline consumption say otherwise i.e. the USA is now a net exporter of gasoline. This explains why your cherry picked example shows US blended gasoline prices being down by a fair amount YOY, while prices for natural gas, electricity, etc. have simultaneously increased substantially YOY.





    I would add that your claim of ( consumer ) food prices being down isn't accurate ... have you purchased a loaf of bread, a pound of steak, or a gallon of milk lately ?

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    Default Re: Holiday Chart of the Week - The ( rising ) Costs for 12 Days of Christmas Items

    ^^The economy is way more complex and exponentially more interrelated than can fit into or be explained your ideology. This is why you are wrong so often. You can't even come close to explaining things with a graph or some opinions from some of your extremely biased websites, there are dozens and even hundreds of other factors at play.

    You are wrong way more often than right with your predictions and only tout information that is "cherry picked" for it's negativity.

    As for the current trend of prices, overall food prices are down globally. In the U.S., some items are down while others are up- the increase in those that are higher however is quite low and the overall increase is drastically offset by the large drop in the price of gasoline:

    "The gasoline index fell 7.4 percent in November; this decrease more
    than offset increases in other indexes, resulting in the decline in
    the seasonally adjusted all items index. The energy index fell 4.1
    percent in November despite increases in the indexes for natural gas
    and electricity. The food index rose 0.2 percent with the food at
    home index increasing 0.3 percent, the same increases as in October."

    http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm

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    Default Re: Holiday Chart of the Week - The ( rising ) Costs for 12 Days of Christmas Items

    A - even the official BLS numbers support my point about rising energy costs ... if you look at 'real' numbers rather than 'seasonally adjusted' numbers. And the official BLS numbers show rising food prices in both 'real' and 'seasonally adjusted' terms.

    B - it's somehow OK for YOU to cherry pick positive data ... and your doing so is supposedly devoid of ideology ?

    As to economic interaction, indeed this is true. And one prime factor is relative values of different currencies. A significant factor which has held down rates of increases in US dollar denominated prices for food and energy has been Europeans migrating to the US dollar for safety. However, between recent EuroZone measures, and recently announced US FED measures, it is doubtful that the recent US dollar strength will continue. And a falling dollar instantly translates into higher US dollar denominated prices for any and all global commodities including food and energy.

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    Default Re: Holiday Chart of the Week - The ( rising ) Costs for 12 Days of Christmas Items

    Quote Originally Posted by Melonie View Post
    A - even the official BLS numbers support my point about rising energy costs ... if you look at 'real' numbers rather than 'seasonally adjusted' numbers. And the official BLS numbers show rising food prices in both 'real' and 'seasonally adjusted' terms.

    B - it's somehow OK for YOU to cherry pick positive data ... and your doing so is supposedly devoid of ideology ?

    As to economic interaction, indeed this is true. And one prime factor is relative values of different currencies. A significant factor which has held down rates of increases in US dollar denominated prices for food and energy has been Europeans migrating to the US dollar for safety. However, between recent EuroZone measures, and recently announced US FED measures, it is doubtful that the recent US dollar strength will continue. And a falling dollar instantly translates into higher US dollar denominated prices for any and all global commodities including food and energy.
    A. I am talking about the price of gasoline at the pump- easy to see by all, the one that you "guaranteed" would be at $5 by now.

    B. I don't have an ideology and I only put the positive data out in response to your compuslively listing only negative data and implying that that is the absolute truth.

    As to your comments on it being "doubtful that recent dollar strength will continue", that is just another case in point. You view the world in extremely limited and static terms, in addition to almost compulsively looking for a negative outcome and then trying to work backwards to explain it by what seems most likely to produce that negative outcome. The problem is though your predictions seldom come to pass, this is because A) There are hundreds more factors and possibilities than the few that will produce a negative outcome B) People are geared to solving problems and will often make adjustments to either fix or at least offset the problem C) It is almost never ALL good or ALL bad and you consistently predict and seem to root for ALL bad.

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