Inflation for January 2022 @ 5.1% | Page 2 | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

Kidd, I agree with your last paragraph, we pay billions upon billions and we get a handful of ICU beds when we need them. And USA was swimming in vaccine availability when we were still booking appointments months ahead.

Norman1, in USA the rich can afford health care, the poor get it free, and most working folks have some kind of workplace coverage. It's largely the self-employed or the under-employed who are stuck with the big bills.

AltaRed said

They are definitely much higher than they used to be in recent times.

These are in USD/litre (couldn't find a decent CAD equivalent) but one can see on https://tradingeconomics.com/canada/gasoline-prices that if you pick either the 10 year or 25 year chart, 2022 appears to be still below 2014 on a nominal basis. Imagine if one charted this in 'real' terms, i.e. took the 2014 price and added CPI to it. And that is with carbon tax added in the price in the last year or two. Gasoline is a bargain and the oil companies are suffering relative to 2014.

The problem is people only remember the very low base prices of the past 6-7 years.

*1.17USD on the chart = $1.50 CAD which is close to the $1.60 I paid this morning.  

I think you are cherry picking your data with 2014. I looked at the chart. You are in Alberta, right? I’m in bc where taxes are very bad. Gas is not a bargain. In any event, as we discussed earlier inflation hits different people differently. For some of the affluent people on this forum they don’t notice. If you budget and track your money like me, you notice.

Norman1 said
That's not quite the case.

The poor and working folk get whoever will or can accept the rates their insurance pays.

Some doctors will refuse service for what the insurance the poor have pays. Similar to here in Canada where doctors in other provinces will refuse to see Quebec patients who have provincial insurance that pays less.

Employee coverage in the US can have provider restrictions. One can't just pick any doctor or clinic. One friend told me that they had to go to a provider further across town. Another is much closer but is not on the list of providers of their HMO (health maintenance organization).  

Absolutely true. I was an ex-pat for many years and know the faults in the US medical system. Every corporate health plan that I know of is tied to a specific HMO. One dares not get medical attention at a facility not in that HMO. One even has to be sure the right ambulance shows up to avoid a financial hemorrhage if it is not in your HMO. Then there are the lifetime caps and co-pays. I worked for a blue chip that had an excellent plan but I had co-pays for almost everything, including doctor visits. It is misrepresentation at best to comment about the US health system without the appropriate context.

AltaRed said

I suspect the chart is using what is likely an average gasoline price for Canada. I am in the BC Interior and paid $1.599 this morning. Gas prices here are based on transportation distance from the Kamloops wholesale distribution racks. I recognize Vancouver and its immediate neighbours pay more due to additional tax for transit upgrades, additional distance from AB refineries, and possibly more because a good portion of GVR gasoline comes from Puget Sound refineries in WA state. I fill up around Hope to avoid filling up in/near Vancouver at all costs. We could avoid all that owning an EV.

Inflation does hit everyone differently in different regions of the country, and also depending what we buy more of versus someone else, but we probably shouldn't be cherry picking on where we live, especially in a national forum such as this one.  

Sorry to incorrectly call you an Albertan!

savemoresaveoften said
Thanks to Trudeau, federal carbon tax is 7% of fuel cost right now, and by 2030 it will rise to 24% of fuel cost....  

That is part of what I call 'structural' inflation or the cost of 'greening of our economy'. Technically all these carbon taxes are supposed to find their way back to the consumer in terms of rebates or reduced income taxes but until carbon taxes are accounted for separately under a separate set of audited books, I won't believe it. Just more inflation for consumers of hydrocarbons, businesses and individuals alike.