Is Inflation Getting Better or Worse?

My father-in-law did an amazing job of downsizing. Over a period of years he moved from a farmhouse with two barns, greenhouse and five or so other out-buildings to a two-room apartment. Much of what he was unable to get rid of through rummage sales became firewood. Some of the items, primarily those with sentimental value, ended up in our garage or basement. Included in these things was a stack of old Life magazines from the 19940s and 50s. 

Looking through these magazines was both entertaining and educational. This was a slice of our history. The photos and stories featured the events that shaped our generation. The weekly magazine had influence.

They also had advertising, aimed at both selling products and  to some extent also shaping behavior. One of the ads that made an impression on me featured an executive seated behind a desk with a big smile on his face, feet up on top of the desk as he leaned back in his chair. The reason he was happy was because he was retiring. Not only that, but he would be getting a Social Security check for $147 a month for the rest of his life.

That was the headline. "For the rest of my life I will be getting $147 a month!"

This image came to mind as I read this week's announcement regarding consumer prices and the Consumer Price Index (CPI). According to the powers that be, CPI inflation has dropped to 3.1%

And yet, even though the CPI this month is down, there are certainly a lot of things that seem disconcerting by way of contrast. When you look at the inflation rates on this list of basic necessities, does it make you wonder where thy pull their numbers from?

1. Car Insurance Inflation: 19.2% 2. Transportation Inflation: 10.1% 3. Car Repair Inflation: 8.5% 4. Rent Inflation: 6.9% 5. Homeowner Inflation: 6.7% 6. Food Away From Home Inflation: 5.3% 7. Electricity Inflation: 3.4%

A lot of people seem to think that when the CPI index drops, inflation is down. In reality, prices are still rising and affordability for the have nots is getting worse.

Because of the rising costs of raw materials, the cost for new housing has also risen. As a result, supply is not keeping up with demand. (Which makes me curious regarding where those 11 million unauthorized immigrants are living these days.)

That guy in the Life magazine ad is smiling, but if he lives a couple decades after retiring he won't see that $147-a-month check won't do all that much. Nowadays, it wouldn't cover your food, let alone rent, car, gas, car insurance, utilities and all the rest.

Alas, let the good times roll.

Grandma Moses Painting Sold for 100K

Grandma Moses

One article title reads, "How To Write 5,000 Words An Hour." Another reads, "Are These the Last Days of the NFL?" And then I look at some of the feeds on Medium and read, "(Why) America's Collapsing at Light Speed" by a blogger who gets thousands of claps by near daily essays like "How Capitalism Turned America Soviet" and "Why A Divided America Is Collapsing."

The first headline, which I believe I saw on Medium last night, feels preposterous. That would be 83 words a minute, or 1.3 words a second. Assuming all your words were five letters on average, you'd have to type letters at a rate of one every .26 seconds. Of course you can't leave out the space bar between words, so this gives you .23 seconds per character (including spaces), and the hope that your brain can generate a stream of thousands of words an hour without ever having to think.

The second headline above, from this morning's Washington Post, almost made me look. But when in the blink of an eye I learn that America itself is heading for a fast collapse I decide not to worry about the collapse of the NFL. It's doubtful that the NFL will survive the collapse of America, though one never knows. Football fans are pretty avid at this time of year.

In light of all this trauma a story story about Grandma Moses seems like small potatoes (which our garden produced in abundance this year.)

"Never Too Late To Start" Department

Public domain reproduction of one of her paintings.

I saw this story in the Art Daily last week. A painting by Grandma Moses fetched $100,000 big ones in an art auction earlier this year. Art critics have labeled her work Folk Art. Or Naive Art. Essentially she was self-taught and unschooled, simply enjoyed painting.

The Wikipedia page on Grandma Moses begins like this:

September 07, 1860. Anna Mary Robertson Moses (September 7, 1860 - December 13, 1961), known by her nickname Grandma Moses, was an American folk artist. She began painting in earnest at the age of 78 and is often cited as an example of an individual who successfully began a career in the arts at an advanced age. In this image: Anna Mary Robertson aka Grandma Moses (American, 1860 - 1961), Halloween, signed and dated July 7, 1958. Sold May 20, 2018 for $100,000 against an estimate of $30,000 - $40,000. All images provided by I.M. Chait Gallery/Auctioneers.

The surprise for me was seeing that she passed away in 1961. I vividly recalled the factoid that she had reached 100, but somehow imagined it to be later than that early date. I remember a Life magazine story on the very senior citizen and a thirty second search shows what the current price for a copy of that issue is going for on eBay.

Here is some additional info from a page in the National Museum of Women in the Arts:

Moses disliked spending time knitting and sewing, but she began entertaining herself and her friends by making needlework pictures and quilts portraying colorful scenes of farm life. At 78, when arthritis rendered her unable to embroider, friends suggested she try painting these scenes instead. 

Moses worked with whatever materials were at hand, used house paint and leftover canvas or fireboard for her first paintings. As a self-taught artist, Moses had little concern for perspective or proportion.

* * * *
I like how she sort of "fell into painting" because of her declining ability to do what she'd loved. Maybe that's the takeaway from her story. It's not uncommon to hear people say, "When God closes one door He opens another." Grandma Moses appears to be the poster child for this aphorism.

Meantime, art goes on all around you. Get into it.