Writing

NPR

|

How pricing algorithms work in online shopping, and could mean you pay more : NPR

If you've shopped online recently, you may have had this experience: You find an item, add it to your cart, and then when you get around to paying, the price has increased.

You can thank pricing algorithms.

These are computer programs that look at factors such as supply, demand and the prices competitors are charging, and then adjust the price in real time. Now, there are calls for greater regulation at a time when these tactics are expected to become more common.

I often wonder how my friends from years past made out with their Crypto assets…

|

I often wonder how my friends from years past made out with their Crypto assets… 💵

I stayed away as I have a hard time believing its a sustainable investing strategy. It’s not a diversified asset, it’s not based on a physical product and it has few government regulations. So I stayed away.

Granted the people I knew years back who bought Crypto probably did pretty good if they sold it at the high point although if they got out too early or too late they probably would have not made out too well. Seems more like gambling than actually a long term investing strategy. Boring and understandable is good when it comes to money.

I’m also more than a little bothered by the amount of natural resources – electricity, fossil fuels and electronic waste that goes into making the currency grow. The idea that so much resources going into essentially useless mathematical computations seems like such a waste. While many economic activities actually produce real value to real people, Crypto mining just solves useless math equations in the search of monetary growth.

Fed hikes rates by 75 basis points for first time since 1994 | The Hill

|

Fed hikes rates by 75 basis points for first time since 1994 | The Hill

The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday it would hike interest rates this month at the fastest pace in nearly 30 years after a discouraging May surge in inflation.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the panel of Fed officials responsible for setting interest rates, said it would raise the bank’s baseline interest rate range to 1.5 to 1.75 percent, an increase of 0.75 percentage points.

It is the first 0.75 percentage point rate hike issued by the Fed since 1994.

An ‘Ugly’ Inflation Report Upended Hopes That Price Gains Would Ease – The New York Times

|

An ‘Ugly’ Inflation Report Upended Hopes That Price Gains Would Ease – The New York Times

Friday’s inflation report delivered an unwanted surprise for the White House, Federal Reserve and investors.

While many economists and some administration officials had expected prices to show some signs of cooling, they got the opposite: a re-acceleration in price growth that makes it more likely the Fed is going to have to slam the brakes on the economy as it looks to slow the fastest pace of inflation in 40 years.

As one left-leaning think tank put it, the report was “pretty ugly.”

Five Dollar Gas 💵

|

Like it or not, the world of five dollar a gallon gas is upon us. It’s been that expensive in some Midwest and Western states for a while now but it’s finally come to roost in New York State and about half of the rest of the state’s in America.

It often makes me feel like the world is closing in a bit on me, that everything is further drive away then it used to be. While it’s rare that I do much motoring around town, it makes me want to carefully pick and choose when I really want to head out of town or to the supermarket for a big shop, which buys less and less these days as I try to stretch it out more days.

In the grand scheme of things gas prices aren’t that big of a drain on my bank account. Yes, gas is a big portion of my road trips camping in the back country but food and beer are also big costs as are repairing broke equipment and my truck. But it’s not like I’m spending money on hotels or fancy attractions. The swimming hole in the woods is still free and my parents get me a state park pass each year.

Still it bothers me every time I put gas in my truck and see the big numbers on the pump, like a $115 for a full tank on my gasser truck. Or how even the very basic necessity products at Walmart come with bigger and bigger price tags. It’s not that I’m not making more money these days – but you would hope that extra money would be available to invest for a better tomorrow.

I’ve always thought that the reason for earning more money was to have more to save and get closer to future goals. Even COLA adjustments I’ve always tried to put mostly towards boosting further savings and investments. But with inflation and expensive gas, the old ways of always dumping more money into the markets might not be possible. It’s a bit frustrating.

Persistent Inflation Puts Yellen in the Spotlight – The New York Times

|

Persistent Inflation Puts Yellen in the Spotlight – The New York Times

WASHINGTON — At her confirmation hearing in early 2021, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen told lawmakers that it was time to “act big” on a pandemic relief package, playing down concerns about deficits at a time of perpetually low interest rates and warning that inaction could mean widespread economic “scarring.”

A year and a half later, prices are soaring and interest rates are marching higher. As a result, Ms. Yellen’s role in crafting and selling the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which Congress passed in March of last year, is being parsed amid an intensifying blame game to determine who is responsible for the highest rates of inflation in 40 years. After months of pinning rising prices on temporary supply chain problems that would dissipate, Ms. Yellen acknowledged last week that she had gotten it “wrong,” putting the Biden administration on the defensive and thrusting herself into the middle of a political storm.

“I think I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take,” Ms. Yellen said in an interview with CNN, adding that the economy had faced unanticipated “shocks” that boosted food and energy prices.