Is the cost of living really going up? | Video Lab | ABC News

Inflation tells us how much more we’re paying for things over time, but it’s not as simple as it seems. Things beyond our control – for example, war and floods – are pushing prices up in the short-term. But does that mean the overall cost of living is going up?

ABC News In-depth takes you deeper on the big stories, with long-form journalism from Four Corners, Foreign Correspondent, Australian Story, Planet America and more, and explainers from ABC News Video Lab.

Note: In most cases, our captions are auto-generated.

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[cynicallyyours]

So basically those of us below the poverty line are totally screwed. We were already struggling before Covid and Russia/Ukraine war and now it is just impossible. But as long as the upper income earners and big corporations still live well and make huge profit, then that is all that matters.

[andreagriffiths]

It’s bad when you’re nearly 50 and are stuck living with your parents because rent is ridiculously high. Rent would take approx 90% of my wage each week. It’s left me with no hope at all. They want to downsize but I’d be homeless. Sometimes I think it would be better if I wasn’t around.

[JoshuaMcTackett]

This video frames everything on oil, when we could have been well on the way to non-oil dependence under Bill Shorten. He wanted EV manufacturing here, where we have some of the best EV needed mineral deposits in the world.

[Mokart_Beats]

i mean even the food is a bit more expensive at my place compared to a month ago

[wabisabi]

This video misses the point, yes, oil has caused a sudden spike. However, the reality is that low interest rates and QE are largely to to blame for the general rate of cost of living being far too high. People need to realise that the Australian dollar is essentially backed by the housing market. When the government/RBA created hundreds of billions of dollars during covid it went straight into the banks coffers to be offered as ‘cheap’ money. And contributes greatly to the rise in housing. And that money is backed by the housing market, essentially. The house of cards is largely built on that and our economy is a basket case based on coal, iron, cafes and houses. No investment public or private in an real advanced economy. The housing ‘market’ is also, not a true free market. It is propped up by successive governments too afraid to see the correction that is truly needed cause it would really hurt. Also, ask yourself, what is tax in a fiat economy? It’s not used to fund public spending. It’s an economic lever to ‘control’ inflation and pull economic levers. If it was truly about funding public expenditure, governments would collect taxes from corporations and the rich. What they’re actually doing is maintaining the value of the dollar by creating scarcity among the majority, ie PAYG wage earners.

[dodgygoose]

$8.50 for a lettuce... building materials ... if you can get them 3* the amount. Car parts if you can get them imported stupid high!
Nothings made here in Australia, materials imported, jobs, food imported, imported, imported where is Australian made ?

[blairroland]

Inflation - an artificial increase in the fiat money supply within an economy. You left this important part out.

[scottengland]

The problem politicians and corporatists dont want to fix. Eventually, they will say we should just fast for one week each month.

[yehnahthx]

Didn't hear much about how Company gross operating profits were up 13% last year, but workers were only paid 2.1% more. The capitalists make the capital, and the workers do all the work.

[msbevking]

Pretty sure according to the statistics just quoted, inflation is more like 18%

[jarrod]

Fuel prices didn't go up because of a """shortage"""
There is no shortage. The petroleum companies just look for opportunities to gouge their prices. They've posted record profits this quarter because of the Ukraine crisis. If there was an actual shortage these price hikes wouldn't make up for it. Instead you have the same amount of demand at the pump and inflated prices and NO shortage, which just equalls larger profits.

[Andy-krec]

Simple explanation - more money chasing fewer goods. Print money and pay people to stay home and not produce, keep rates artificially low to inflate asset prices so people feel wealthy

[WesternAustraliaNowAndThen]

"Is the cost of living really going up?" If you have to ask that question then you are getting too much money. Blind Freddy can see that it is going up so what is the point of the question?

[FrugalFunMum]

This was insightful! Thanks for sharing!

[evilspiritchild]

Price setting by corporations such as Coles and Wesfarmers is not based completely on inflation. I have no idea why the economist doesn’t know this, they should have found someone else to interview. In finance and management accounting you’re taught the most important is for a company is shareholder return and you must do everything you possibly can to ensure it grows each year, by having profit and revenue rise each year. During Covid people purchased massive amounts of goods whether that be from the supermarket or through online means. Coles and Woolworths made large profits, now that Covid is over they still need to make a profit however this time larger than the profit they made during Covid.

Now that people are buying less they raise prices so that profits remain higher than they were the previous financial year. Prices are also set by what one believes a consumer will pay for the good or service. They will then cite external factors such as inflation, energy increases and so on to validate to the customer the change in price. During Covid oil was worth less than zero, yet the consumer still paid over one dollar a litre for fuel, why? Because consumers will pay it.

Interest rates are based on a variety of factors such as risk, inflation, desired profit margin and administrative costs. Again there’s the threat of inflation so rates rise, banks are expected to have perpetual growth rates rise again, the pay of employees increases, rates rise again.

People selling their homes look at the selling price of the houses around them and expect to receive the same amount of money for their homes or more. Borrowers have access to greater funds, some having parents who can pay their deposit leading to them having greater borrowing power causing prices to rise. Higher prices lead to buyers seeking out cheaper areas where they can stretch their money further then prices rise in the cheaper area causing a domino effect.

Government employees (especially those we voted for) want ever increasing wages and perks. To achieve this they then need to raise taxes and put the country further into debt. This causes Australia to be of greater risk on the interbank and overnight money markets causing again a domino effect on the cost of borrowing.

[timn]

Looking at it the wrong way. Inflation is the symptom of the devaluation of the dollar. Every dollar in existence is debt and the less scarce it is the less value it holds. The asset bubble in 2008 was avoided because we reduced interest rates to nearly zero and didn't allow the market to find some equilibrium. Essentially piling more debt on to a debt crisis and now it's taken a minor shock to expose it. Only this time out rates have nowhere to go

[kelvinjames]

Nurses aren't happy
Old people aren't happy
Young people aren't happy
People can't move even if they own because nothing to buy
The sooner the property correction happen the better

[MRTY]

And don't forget we changed what's included in CPI. We took out housing prices to make the figure more palatable.

[Rubibi-saltwaterjim]

Cost of living has risen in line with inflation, but wages haven't.

[roastmaster]

The price of bread in the 80's is not true. I used to have to walk for ever to the corner store to buy bread for lunch in the 80's and it was about $1.40. Clearly there is a mix up between the 80'sand the 60's here.