Why so difficult to battle the inflation dragon?

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  I remember when I was a young boy, still in school in Brazil in the '90s, we had a terrible inflation period at that time. Even as a kid I remember a bit of the impact on my life even not participating actively in the groceries in my home. The school had a canteen and my snack was bought in there. We used to purchase a small plastic ticket that could be a drink or food ticket. So my parents instructed me to go there on the first month's Monday and buy food and drink tickets for the entire month. That happened because, during that period of 30 days, it could change the price a lot so we would avoid losing money doing that. I remembered that because I just read a post here about how people in Nigeria are doing the same thing my parents were telling me to do at that time in Brazil. Now we are in a world economic problem so inflation is haunting everywhere, even first-world countries such as Canada.

  Lembro que quando eu era menino, ainda na escola no Brasil dos anos 90, tivemos um período de inflação terrível naquela época. Mesmo quando criança, lembro um pouco do impacto em minha vida, mesmo não participando ativamente das compras em minha casa. A escola tinha uma cantina e meu lanche era comprado lá. Costumávamos comprar um pequeno bilhete de plástico que podia ser um bilhete de bebida ou comida. Então meus pais me instruíram a ir lá na segunda-feira do primeiro mês e comprar tíquetes de comida e bebida para o mês inteiro. Isso acontecia porque, naquele período de 30 dias, poderia mudar muito o preço para evitarmos perder dinheiro com isso. Lembrei disso porque acabei de ler um post aqui sobre como as pessoas na Nigéria estão fazendo a mesma coisa que meus pais estavam me dizendo para fazer naquela época no Brasil. Agora estamos em um problema econômico mundial, então a inflação está assombrando em todos os lugares, até mesmo em países de primeiro mundo, como o Canadá.

  I don't know why the figure of a dragon was chosen to represent inflation, but I can imagine that both things are very difficult to fight, and we poor citizens only try to resist as much as we can until it improves. Inflation affects grocery, gas and other purchasing goods, we are feeling that here. However, I want to be frank, what is affecting more nowadays is what the Bank of Canada measures to curb inflation. The main measure is to raise the interest rate, so people stop to borrow money and reduce their purchases. However, those who already own a house are paying mortgages monthly and when the interest rate raise, the monthly payment raises too. You feel that more when you have chosen a variable interest rate, in which you will receive the monthly payment raise on the next month of the announcement of an interest rate rise. However, even if you chose a fixed interest rate when you purchased your home, you will also feel it when you renew your contract with the bank (between 3 -5 years after the last agreement), so if you have only more than 1 or 2 years of contract I would say that you are going to be very affected as well. To give an example, I bought a new house in May last year, I moved from another city, so I had to sell my old house to buy this one. The interest rate when I signed the agreement was around 1%, now my bank interest rate is around 5%, which means around extras 600$ per month that I am paying. That's why I said I am more concerned with this problem than with goods price.

  Não sei porque a figura do dragão foi escolhida para representar a inflação, mas posso imaginar que ambas as coisas são muito difíceis de combater, e nós, pobres cidadãos, apenas tentamos resistir o máximo que podemos até que melhore. A inflação afeta mercado, gasolina e outros bens de consumo, estamos sentindo isso aqui. No entanto, para ser franco, o que está afetando mais hoje em dia é o que o Banco do Canadá faz para conter a inflação. A principal medida é aumentar a taxa de juros, para que as pessoas parem de pedir dinheiro emprestado e reduzam suas compras. No entanto, quem já possui casa está pagando mensalmente as hipotecas e quando a taxa de juros sobe, a mensalidade também sobe. Você sente isso ainda mais quando escolheu uma taxa de juros variável, na qual receberá o aumento mensal no próximo mês do anúncio de um aumento na taxa de juros. No entanto, mesmo que tenha optado por uma taxa de juro fixa quando comprou a sua casa, também a sentirá quando renovar o seu contrato com o banco (entre 3 -5 anos após o último acordo), portanto se tiver apenas mais de 1 ou 2 anos de contrato, eu diria que você também será muito afetado. Para dar um exemplo, comprei uma casa nova em maio do ano passado, mudei de outra cidade, então tive que vender minha casa antiga para comprar esta. A taxa de juros quando assinei o contrato era de cerca de 1%, agora a taxa de juros do meu banco é de cerca de 5%, o que significa cerca de 600 $ extras por mês que estou pagando. Por isso eu disse que estou mais preocupado com esse problema do que com o preço das mercadorias.

  But the prices are also bad in here, every week I keep an eye on the gas price since I need to drive around 14 km one way to work and I don't have public transport to go to work. It is outside of town and 6km of these 14 km are through a dirty and bumpy road. The price of gas one year ago was $1.10 per liter, and now it is $1.40. So I was spending $132 per month and now $168, so it is a bit more in our monthly expenses. On top of that, I guess what we felt more was the milk price, from $3 per cartoon to almost $6 nowadays. So what to deal with that?

  Mas os preços aqui também são ruins, toda semana fico de olho no preço da gasolina pois preciso dirigir uns 14 km só ida e não tenho transporte público para ir trabalhar. Fica fora da cidade e 6km desses 14 km são por uma estrada de terra. O preço da gasolina um ano atrás era de $ 1,10 por litro e agora é de $ 1,40. Então eu gastava $ 132 por mês e agora $ 168, então é um pouco mais nas nossas despesas mensais. Além disso, acho que o que sentimos mais foi o preço do leite, de $ 3 por desenho para quase US$ 6 hoje em dia. Então, o que lidar com isso?

  Well for the first problem with interest rates, the best thing is to avoid borrowing money from the bank, and not buying any home until it improves if possible. About the price problems, maybe try to use a bicycle or public transport if you can go to work. Or if it is impossible to save on gas costs and groceries, maybe cut some extra activities that you are paying for it, such as going to restaurants and traveling. Maybe the best way to deal with it is to create savings over the years to be prepared for the next bad crisis. So good luck to all of you and the best to fight the dragon.

  Bem, para o primeiro problema com as taxas de juros, o melhor é evitar pedir dinheiro emprestado ao banco e não comprar nenhuma casa até que melhore, se possível. Sobre os problemas de preço, talvez tente usar uma bicicleta ou transporte público se puder ir para o trabalho. Ou se for impossível economizar nos custos de gasolina e mantimentos, talvez corte algumas atividades extras que você está pagando por isso, como ir a restaurantes e viajar. Talvez a melhor forma de lidar com isso seja criar uma poupança ao longo dos anos para se preparar para a próxima crise forte. Boa sorte a todos vocês e o melhor para lutar contra o dragão.



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One can use different strategies to win the fight against inflation, thanks for sharing.

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I had to smile when you mention inflation is a problem even in Canada as I am Canadian. I'll tell you a little secret...governments don't like raising interests rates either. Governments have big debt which they have to pay and the higher the interest rate the more money the government has to pay as well! However, if they don't raise the interest rate then inflation gets a lot bigger a LOT faster then people lose faith in the money and everyone buys everything as fast as they can and shortages of everything.

I absolutely agree inflation is hurting a lot of people ** A LOT ** ... My father lost his house because of high interest rates in 1984 when they were at 21%. My step father lost his house because of high interest rates in 1992 when the rates were at 15%. My wife thought I was a fool when I locked in my interest rate at 2.69% for 10 years (the life of the mortgage) but I never trust money, never trust interest rates, and know that its really important to take care of your finances.

...... Even if I'm from Canada

Thanks for writing, enjoyed reading your post.

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hahaha nice experience...yeah I heard about this problem in the 80s... made by Justin's father, right? People were in a panic that we could get in there... Well, 2.69% was a good fixed
rate that u got, every time that I started a mortgage they offered me more than that lol. But still, interest rates in Brazil are worse! lol, it is around 10% in there! I agree that raising interest rates is important, but don't you think it was wild these last months?
Thanks for the feedback a lot, nice to understand a bit more around in here ;)

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It's obvious that this inflation is a major problem in different countries. Here in Nigeria, the price of things are no longer double but almost 4 times what it use to be before. In all, we have to find means of surviving.

It was nice reading about how inflation is affecting the price of good in your country as well ✅

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