Originally Posted by
charlie b
Long story short. This level of inflation is due to a weird series of events that has changed the world and country markets. It probably will slow a bit, but, not go back to pre-covid levels.
The current inflation trend started a while ago as companies started pulling out of China. They were tired of the Chinese taking Intellectual Property from them. Then the previous administration began a series of trade policies with China (and others) that caused prices to increase. Yes, the purpose was to increase US production, but, that production is a lot more expensive. Then COVID and the huge influx of government hand out money. At the same time production and supply were hurt drastically due to labor problems and quarantines. More price increases as demand surged past supply of most commodities.
COVID also caused a massive change in the work structure. Large numbers of jobs became remote. That meant a lot of folks could move from the expensive cities into rural areas. Housing prices in smaller towns started to go up. Then the lumber prices spiked and made it worse. Not enough construction crews meant higher prices.
Current administration has done nothing to help any of this. Don't know if they don't care or if no one knows how to change it. The Fed could increase lending rates, but, that might lead to worse effects. And, actions taken in other parts of the world are having a large effect as well.
China's issues with COVID variants is causing manufacturing problems as well. They have shut down factories or gone to much smaller production rates. Just look at what one little item did to the world economy, computer processing chips. The automotive industry has been crippled. Yes, this mfg could be moved to other countries, but, it takes time and prices will probably go up due to higher labor rates.
Ammunition prices? Just not important enough for anyone to try to control it.