The “survey says” examines various ratings and indicator maps that assess geographical locations, noting that these estimates are best viewed as a mixture of tricky interpretation and data.

Buzzing: The April report on inflation included good news for Los Angeles and Orange counties – the rise in the cost of living has slowed slightly. However, it was the second worst jump in local cost of living in four decades.

Source: My robust table looked at rising inflation in the LA-OC metropolitan area in April, as measured by the Bureau of Consumer Statistics’s Consumer Price Index.

Top line

Local inflation in April was 7.9% year on year. This is slower than 8.3% in the country. It is also below the LA-OC level of 8.5% in March.

The end of the good news. Last month, inflation more than doubled inflation by 3.6% in April 2021.

This is abnormal. The last time local inflation was higher was before this last price jump in June 1982.

How long has it been?

That month, the Lakers won their eighth basketball title – they now have 17. Star Trek 2 became a box office hit – now in this science fiction franchise 13 films. A gallon of gasoline in Southern California cost $ 1.32 – almost twice as much as in 1978.

How are you

The pain of inflation in 2022 may be due to many factors that overheated the economy.

Part of this stemmed from “too many good things” such as rich employment opportunities, unexpected investments, and historically cheap interest rates.

Some of them are “bad things”, such as the war in Ukraine and the persistent pandemic that destroys business and consumer habits.

All the good and bad in the sum gave a shortage of workers, headaches in production and problems with supply chains, which turned into a shortage of goods and materials used by consumers and corporations. Thus, flashbacks of buyers and CEOs – at least until recently – chased after too few goods and services.

Remember when the coronavirus first cooled the business climate. In 2020, the local CPI increased by only 1.6% – after in 2018-19 it grew by 3.4% per annum, which was then considered problematic.

Ugly details

Let’s start by looking at the high costs associated with the goods we buy, along with changes in LA-OC prices for the 12 months ended in April …

Fuel: You see the signs at the service station. Gasoline cost 46% more than a year ago, according to the CPI math.

Household energy: It hurts the monthly utility bill. Electricity? 14% more. Natural gas? 25% more expensive.

Food: Meals at the restaurant went up by 5.2%. So going to the supermarket seems like a bargain. Product prices rose 9.5%.

Clothes: Good to look a little more expensive, 4% more expensive.

Items with a large ticket: The cost of durable goods, such as appliances and furniture, rose 11%.

vehicles: Almost empty car fleets led to an increase in prices for used cars, which rose by 21.9%. New ones, if you can find them, cost 10.7% more.