The knife market bubble needs to happen

[Dangerously]

No doubt inflation can be devastation, but present inflation is pretty mild compared to times in history

I wouldn’t trust those numbers.

It was in the 90s when they started really manipulating the stats (like CPI) to make them look better for whomever was the current administration. All subsequent administrations have followed suit. That was when I was in school for economics, and it was a big deal at the time. People don’t really talk about it anymore.

If you want to see a guy who is trying to track the numbers on the older definitions before they became a political football, check out shadowstats.com. I haven’t vetted his numbers, but they look like what we tracked in the nineties.

 

[Peter Mandrake]

I wouldn’t trust those numbers.

It was in the 90s when they started really manipulating the stats (like CPI) to make them look better for whomever was the current administration. All subsequent administrations have followed suit. That was when I was in school for economics, and it was a big deal at the time. People don’t really talk about it anymore.

If you want to see a guy who is trying to track the numbers on the older definitions before they became a political football, check out shadowstats.com. I haven’t vetted his numbers, but they look like what we tracked in the nineties.

^ THIS

 

[cbrstar]

The other thing though what people don't understand is its now a one world market thanks to the internet.

30 years ago if you wanted something you were only competing with the other people in your city. Now you are competing with thousands of city's across the world. And sadly some of them earn more money and are willing to pay more which increases the prices of things.

 

[Peter Hartwig]

I wouldn’t trust those numbers.
.

The questionable one is 2018, but I can only use the numbers available. At best they now offset inflation with deflating prices of things like computers and big screen TV's while food & medical keep rising.
Unlike food, knives you can just choose to not buy.
Inflation however is just one component affecting knife pricing, which is what this thread is about.

 

[Dangerously]

The questionable one is 2018, but I can only use the numbers available. At best they now offset inflation with deflating prices of things like computers and big screen TV's while food & medical keep rising.
Unlike food, knives you can just choose to not buy.

The entire dataset from the 80s up is questionable. From shadowstats.com:

 

[Peter Hartwig]

The entire dataset from the 80s up is questionable. From shadowstats.com:

I don't see anything in your chart contradictory to my statement. You may be reading more into what I said then is actually there.
Although I probably shouldn't have used the word mild. I am on a fixed income and certainly feel it's effects-no chart needed

 

[Professor]

Why do you need more knives?

 

[Dangerously]

You may be reading more into what I said then is actually there.

Entirely possible.

I agree with you that the single inflation number hides a complex array of price changes. I don’t know for sure where knives fit in — benefitting from advanced technological progress like computers, or suffering from increased labour costs, like health care?

We seem to see the effects of both. Advanced materials are becoming less expensive, as are computerized mills, but the knives often seem shipped without twenty minutes of Human QC.

 

[James Y]

If I never buy another knife in my life, I can still enjoy my 'knife hobby' with the knives I have right now. I own far more than I 'need', anyway. I'm not required to constantly accumulate more, so I can't be priced out of it.

Jim

 

[22-rimfire]

Knife prices and hobby item prices are all about your comfort level with the numbers relative to your income. I used to be a rather avid Colt revolver collector. I still am on paper. But I stopped buying for the most part when most everything I wanted cost over $1,000 and some were in the $3,000-$5,000 area for a single piece to fit my collection. I remember lusting (and trying to figure out a way to do it) for one piece that was about $10K until I accepted my financial realities. I just stopped with a couple dribble purchases over a period of a couple years. Then completely stopped. This could happen to knives from a hobbyist point of view, but the dollars are smaller for the most part and adjusting is more easily done.

I do think that true inflation that is absorbed by everyday people (groceries, consumer goods, etc.) is understated in the national government statistics.

I don't know about greed when it comes to knife prices. We all work within the same market. The proliferation of custom guys has tampered the pricing on handmade stuff to the point that something that sold for $300 20 years ago is still about $300.... Someone here made that point earlier in the thread.