Inflation, Consumer Sentiment, California Junk Fees and Barry Sanders
Inflation
So, the latest inflation rate, the CPI, is 3.2%.
Well, that’s all fine and good, except that prices, including the aforementioned 3.2%, are up 18% from 3 years ago.
Hmm. Something happened 3 years ago…
Consequently, consumer sentiment is fairly low, like a grade of ‘D’ low.
Wait!! What is this consumer sentiment stuff that is measured?!?!
Easy, Red Ryder; otherwise, you’ll shoot your eye out, but let’s look into this.
It’s a monthly telephone survey of consumers, measuring feelings. How folks feel about the economy, personal finances, business conditions, and buying conditions, both short and long-term.
This particular one is done by the University of Michigan when they are not busy beating Ohio State.
Questions asked are similar to:
Would you say that at the present time, business conditions are better or worse than they were a year ago?
Would you say that you (and your family living there) are better off or worse off financially than you were a year ago?
Do you think that a year from now, you (and your family living there) will be better off financially, or worse off, or just about the same as now?
The university conducts a minimum of 600 phone interviews across the continental U.S. The survey asks 50 core questions, with 60% of the respondents being new consumers.
All that said, consumer sentiment is at 64.3. But you need a basis of comparison.
Just prior to covid, consumer sentiment was at 100 in February 2020.
It dropped to 53.2 in August 2022. Yeah, that’s an ‘F’.
To my earlier point on inflation, consumers are not optimistic given the eroding buying power of their dollar.
It’s a long way to go to get to 100. But it will, because that’s what America does.
The California Tax – Just a Few ‘Junk Fees’ California Imposes on Anyone in the State
I have always had a good laugh with folks from out of state when I tell them that California charges a 1% tax on all lumber or engineered wood products that consumers purchase. If you buy a single 2x4, you pay an additional 1% of the cost of that lumber.
And it goes right to the state.
Well, I am putting in new carpet in our bedrooms, and guess what I discovered?
At the bottom of the estimate from the flooring guy, there was a line item:
CARE** - $62.06
** Carpet America Recovery Effort
AKA California Carpet Stewardship Assessment
That’s $62.06 on a purchase of $5900 in carpet.
Roughly 1%. What a coincidence.
It turns out the “fee” is $0.58/square yard. Since the 3 bedrooms and the living room come out to about 1000 sf, that equals about 111 square yards.
The money goes to whoever applies for it on the basis that they are keeping carpets out of landfills. The ‘green’ industry strikes again.
Ironically, politicians rail on private industry because of “junk” fees, like $25 for a bounced check or $40 for a concert ticket handling fee. Between the state, counties, and cities, the list of junk fees is endless.
Just look at your property tax bill.
By the way, there is also a $1.75/tire recycling fee that goes to California for each new tire you purchase.
THIS JUST IN!!! NEW FEE FOUND!!
The Russell Report has just found a new fee: PaintCare. $0.65 for each gallon of paint.
Every time you buy some paint, you pay a PaintCare fee, and it all goes to a non-profit to help allocate funds to companies that recycle paint.
If you are curious, go to Guidestar.org to see the 990 Income tax return of the “non-profit” that gets all of this money.
And then notice the cash balances it has: $37,696,952.
Not to mention the $55,517,141 in stocks and bonds.
No joke, folks. You almost have to see it to believe it.
All this on $78,051,449 in program revenue in 2022.
Maybe it should be $0.10/gallon. Or not at all.
Epilogue: I’d like to hear from you, my readers, on the fees that you have encountered. And yes, I know all about the taxes at the gas pump. I’m even betting there is a fee for buying a new mattress, but I can’t bring myself to google it.
The Path to Exceptional
Will this paragraph get you to exceptional? Hardly.
Only you can do that.
But I will tell you what made Barry Sanders exceptional, as taken from this weekend’s Wall Street Journal.
Barry grew up in Wichita, Kansas, with 10 siblings in a 3-bedroom house “that never felt crowded.”
When Barry was 8, his dad left his lousy meat-packing plant job and started on his own as a roofer, carpenter, and handyman.
He worked hard to figure out how to do jobs perfectly by minding the details. He drummed that into his family.
Barry’s mother was a nurse and worked the final shift several days a week, working as hard as his dad.
His mom and dad frowned on complaining, bragging, and not doing your very best.
When Barry was 12, he started working alongside his dad with his 13-year-old brother.
Expectations were not high; his dad just did not want them to “hang out”.
His mother ensured everyone went to church because that’s where kids should be on Sunday, not on the street.
It wasn’t until high school that he worked toward being exceptional. He pushed himself, running stairs, working out with weights, and finding ways to be better, stronger, and faster.
Because the only ticket to college for him was via football.
He was 5’8” and only received 4 scholarship offers, but in his junior year in 1988 at Oklahoma State U., he ran for 2,628 yards and 37 touchdowns in 11 games.
That’s a lot, and it was enough to win him the Heisman Trophy.
There are more details, but you get the gist.
His dad played a big part in his life until his passing in 2011. He still has his father’s 1972 Chevy Silverado that he keeps parked at his mom’s house in Kansas to remind him of his father whenever he visits.
His best advice came from his father:
“If you get the character things right, everything else falls into place”.
Amen.
Cut and paste the bold segments, and that is how you become exceptional.
