WHAT IS YOUR SITUATION WHERE YOU LIVE?
Readers Write to Larry Johnson (Oct. 2022)
Edited by William Thomas
Accra city centre Ghana -primenewsghana
AFRICA
I live in Ghana, Africa. I rear Catfish in ponds. The greatest challenge I face now is the with the spiraling cost of feed! When I started three years ago, the price of a 20kg bag was GHC70, today the same bag cost GHC288… -Femi Akomolafe
South Africa Economy was not great before war and is not great now… Weather is a problem. Jobs are hard to get. Some imports harder. No one here knows what to do about western sanctions. The feeling is one of resentment and helplessness against the West and that the future is in BRICS and with Asia… There is a feeling that if Africa Asia and South America can get their acts together we can get the Western noose off our necks. So definitely excitement for a new future free of western dominance… if west loses and exits Africa and Africa steps up to join Asia (including Russia) in alternative systems. -Ash
AUSTRALIA
The stocks in the supermarkets are erratic, prices are going up and packages sizes are shrinking, fuel is twice the cost it was last year, local govt fees are increasing, housing prices are ridiculous and the real estate agents are complaining there is no stock. Rural land prices have gone ballistic… -Eagle eye
I live in the American colony of Australia… There’s plenty of food in the grocery stores, even though it costs 25% more than it did last year… -Bukko Boomeranger
AUSTRIA
Over here in Austria food prices have exploded, gas is around $9 a gallon. Our company informed us the temperature of the work hall thermostat will be set at 60 degrees. Doesn’t sound that bad until you realize it’s was normally set at 70 and you still needed a jacket and long underwear to be comfortable. -Michael
Benelux
BENELUX
Here in the Benelux… Main question to ask: do you have a fix rate contract for electricity and natgaz? … if you have a variable rate contract you already pay much more since april 22, sometime up to 10 x times more… Even worse for big industries which need a looooot of energy (steel, auto construction, chemical, fertilizers…) they decreased the production or closed 2 or 3 days a week, meaning more jobs lost etc…less revenues in taxes for the govt etc… poors will be poorer but very rich or rich people will lose little… -Natoistan
BRAZIL
Now we have the highest inflation of the last 20 years. What caused this problem is the price of fuel, gasoline, which increased by about 40%, reaching almost 3.50 US$$ per liter… I believe that the Ukrainianization of Brazil has begun. -Rodrigo Tossato
English Bay, Vancouver BC -LeonWang/Shutterstock
CANADA
Living in Canada for last 20 years (emigrated from Russia). Costs have gone up here, a lot among common goods and commodities (Lumber especially)… -Nevsky
In Vancouver Canada gas at the pump is $CAD 2.35 for a litre of regular (on average). Everything else is going up…. Groceries and general product availability is still OK. Of course, everything costs more now. My guess is that Canada will be hit in the second wave of the financial crash. -BrzI
Manitoba here… Very serious inflation on food basics going on. A decent Sunday homecooked supper for family and a few friends costs around $100 CDN and that is shopping at the local Co-op… Local foodbanks are oversubscribed. -WheatiesHockey
In Manitoba… Baby supplies are almost non-existent. But I also own a construction company and this is where I am watching things take off. Building supplies (Lumber)… When sanctions started aluminium, soffit, valves, steel products, Siemens electrical products all started going on back order. Typical European systems for Automation have gotten scarce. Long, long lead times…
Food shortages are going to happen but more so in terms of affordability. Shelves everywhere have holes in them. Nothing is packed densely on shelves… The labour market here is broken… Our mining, energy, oil and gas all use Siemens, Schneider – not GE. So, we have a problem coming. -Jocelyn
Toronto
1) interest rate on my credit line was 3.50% in 2020, it’s now 6.5%
2) grass fed minced beef was $8 CA per pound in 2020, it’s now $16 CA
3) my investments in stocks are down 25-30%…
4) grocery bill has increased about 20%
5) … diesel has gone through the roof
6) toilet paper has tripled in price since 2 years ago… -nobody1
Eastern Ontario. Winter is coming early this year, two hard frosts already. A 10lb bag of yellow potatoes is 7.00… Wood stoves and wood boilers are selling like hotcakes, seems like firewood is the most desired fuel around here. We’re starting to see more empty stores again, the only places that seem to be opening up are cannabis stores and tatoo shops. fak! -Greg
CROATIA
Zagreb… Food costs are going up quickly, and there is real fear about what may be coming… this situation has the country on the ropes. I worry about my friends and neighbors because even in pre-COVID times, pay was low and work uncertain… -John Q. Public
“This is not our war!”- 70,000+ take to the streets in Prague, Sept 2, 2022
CZECH REPUBLIC
The situation is becoming dire and will only get worse. Gasoline prices are about 1,5€/liter, a 30% increase… prices in shops went about… 80-100% increase when compared to pre-COVID values. Energy prices are skyrocketing, and the government subsidizes them in a fashion so people won’t get too angry. Companies are going bankrupt…
Czech Republic produces electricity cheaply, but most of it is already sold to other countries and Czech people buy electricity for premium prices… Many people are fed up. There were a couple of mass protests, in Prague alone, about 70 000-100 000 people demonstrated. It won’t change anything… unless globalist grip lets go and Brussels will lose influence, it will only go downwards for the people here… -Mike
EU
The price of piped Russian gas was $8 for one million Btu, it’s over $30 per million Btu for the Europe landed LNG from the US… investment in the oil&gas industry got curtailed… funds were directed towards solar and wind, as it’s turning out a massive disaster compounded by the West refusal to buy cheap Russian oil&gas.
… the neocons’ control may implode this Winter by the growing discontent of the European plebeians, the rising inflation, the inability of people to heat their homes well, the large immigration numbers (many of the arrivals illegal) could lead to a social convulsion never seen in the West since WW2… -Baron
FINLAND
Electricity has gone from 5 cents per KWh to 50 cents per KWh and a lot of house owners who use electricity for heating are about to get proper fucked… -Petri Väätäinen
Gustave Caillebotte Rue Mont-Cenis, Montmartre 1880
FRANCE
My country has also set a tariff “shield” which artificially limits the rise in prices and inflation for now, but… this is only a sweet illusion which won’t last… -hellh
Here in France we have more and more students coming to the [food kitchens] for free food. For people living in social housing, they have decided to stop the heating and not to restart it at least before November 15th. In Germany when booking even a 150$ per night hotel, you should carry your extra blanket with you because the room won’t be heated above 18°C… -Nidoros
GERMANY
Dairy products about 30%–40% more expensive. Paid double for my heating oil – yet happy we dont use gas! Bread about 30% more expensive and so on. CEO of Germany’s biggest bank Sparkasse, Mr. Schleweiss, was quoted last week saying that a German family of four (mom + dad + 2 kids) need a monthly income of 3.600€ to break even now. -Arminius
Central Germany here, prices for normal groceries up from 50€ for my normal shopping cart to 90€. Filling the car from 60-70€ to 120€. Our natural gas bill for heating the house jumped from 140€ to 360€ and that is probably not the end of it. Like almost all Germans we are desperately trying to get hold of a wood burner before the winter but there are no craftsmen to install them and as this is highly regulated you cannot do it on your own. So, we will probably freeze like a lot of others… I am pretty sure that the government will be swept away by mass protests not seen since 89. Maybe that is exactly what the Great Resetters are after…? -Nemesia
(Living in Hamburg) Most people in Germany have never experienced inflation in their life. Plus a steady stream of ‘refugees’ who get a right for an appartment (paid by the state)… Many people in Germany are ’employed’ in the ‘migration industry’… giving services to (mostly) totally unskilled people… Germany [has become] a nation of emmigrants. Skilled people leave. One-by-one. -Nebukadnezar
Reporting out of Munich, Germany… When the US blew up the NS pipelines I was thrown into a state of mental paralysis for the consequences for my country are simply beyond what I was ready to imagine…-Winston
Santorini
GREECE
Farmer in Greece. Fertilizers and pesticides prices up 200%. Electricity (necessary for water to be pumped out of wells) up 300%. Not making this shit up… Goverment subsidies covered around half the cost of that price increase. Meanwhile demand has almost collapsed. We sell our products (oranges, apricots and olive oil) at cost prices just to cover our expenses. This situation is not sustainable… -YogiBear
HUNGARY
We retired from the US to Hungary in 2009… the Hungarian Forint is the currency used here. When we moved the dollar was 150 HUF now it is 420 HUF… Food is mostly where I see the increases though… easily over 100% higher especially things produced in Germany. Hungary is an agricultural nation but most is exported and we are forced to buy produce grown outside Hungary. Eggs… bread… sugar…vinegar… many things are at least double. Our electricity is now 100% increased… Natural gas is up 700%…
One other big thing I am seeing is shrinkflation. Butter used to be 250g/pkg but is now 200 grams. Sour cream used to be 1 liter but is now 850 grams for a higher price. This makes it difficult to figure out the real increases which are likely higher than I am stating if you take into account the smaller packaging. I am also seeing meat (especially chicken and pork) infused with injected water to increase the weight. -Richard B
INDIA
Here in India we haven’t suffered as much, thanks to deeply discounted Russian oil. Also, both Russia and Iran have invited India to invest in their oil fields, and if that happens, our oil import bill will fall further. Indeed, it appears that Russia has offered us some of its most productive oil fields for investment. -Indian
JAPAN
Having been a long foreign resident of japan I have witnessed this country turned into a US vassal state and it doesn’t look good… The Japanese government is going broke and will continue to increase pressure on its citizens to pay up… The government of Japan has now authorized the arrest of people who do not pay fines…
Alcohol sales are dropping and this is affecting tax revenue. So what does the Japanese government do? It goes on a campaign to encourage Japanese citizens to drink more alcohol… We ordered some hydroponics equipment… total costs would have been around US$2580. The same systems now cost US$3660. Many young Japanese have had it with an increasing suicide rate especially among young women… Japan didn’t even make the list of the top 20 countries to retire in…-Tim
In Japan. Just received a letter this week notifying me my electricity bill is set to double. -Tobes0802
MEXICO
I live in central México, and if I didn’t know about the SMO and the slow collapse of the EU, I wouldn’t know from the world around me… -Geoff
NETHERLANDS
Here in the Netherlands, people have been posting their new utility bills online and monthly bills have been going up 3x or 4x… I’m not expecting serious food shortages over the winter… but when spring rolls around the planting season begins… wondering how that will go with skyrocketing fertilizer prices… -Colin
Energy prices will triple for most people… Average income after taxes here is around 1500 and energy is going from 175-200 to over 500/month. Rental housing is 800+ so a lot of people are going to get crushed. There will be choices between food and heating. Government solution of course is to print again massive amount of money which is even more inflationary. -PeterG
NORWAY
Even though we are an energy rich nation, gasoline and diesel is up 30% and electricity is up 500% in some regions. Interest rates are on the way up and food prices too… -Lagopus
Sinking Down -Shutterstock
POLAND
Lublin, southeast Poland. Milk, from 1.99 to 3.99. Bread bun, from 86 grz. to 99 but also smaller in size. Red meat, from 19 zl a piece to 26 for the same size. Mortgage; from 950 zl monthly to 1.500 zl… -Gabriel
I live in Poland and I suppose that prices are two times or more higher than they were before. The price of gasoline is about twice as high as it was before the war and the currency has lost value. A short time before the war the government introduced a new system of taxation whereby I pay 2-3 times more taxes… -Piotr Kopyłowicz
Everything is more expensive… The prices of building materials are three times the prices of two years ago. My mortgage went up by over 80% and another hike around the corner. Large coal shortages that cause concern until the coming winter… -Paul
PORTUGAL
Our politicians are in outright panic mode even though Portugal barely imported Russian oil/gas and our Winters aren’t harsh. Why are the panicking?
1- Interest Rates.
When you owe 130% of GDP, any 1bps [basis points] increase brings you an inch closer to colapse. Our socialist government had to cut 1bn EUR of welfare/pension system payments beggining in 2024.
2-Inflation
There is no hiding anymore. People are living significantly worse in 2022 than in any period of the last 8 years…
3-Emigration
Portugal is no country for young people (like me, I’m 29). Poor, stagnating and with high taxes. Everyone is leaving or has a plan to. It will further colapse our social security system.
4 – Tourism
Portugal will either die or survive due to tourism. It represents a big chunk of our GDP. How many Northern/Central European tourist will Portugal have when they can’t even heat their homes?
5 – Germany
As with any Southern Europe country, our deficits are simply financed by the German taxpayer… Europe and the Euro are toast. -Luis Soares
Yakutsk, Siberia, The Ice City - Steemit
RUSSIA
I am an American dual citizen living in Yakutsk, Russia… Gasoline prices have been pretty stable… For 92 octane gas… $3.68/gallon. Diesel fuel… $4.37/gallon.
We went to one of our favorite supermarkets, Max Market… There is no shortage of either fresh meat, sausages, or frozen meats in Yakutsk. Beef, pork, chicken, fish, young horse, reindeer are all readily available in Yakutsk. Butter, cheese, milk, and every variety of dairy product is also in plentiful supply… while milk products are plentiful, the prices are rather high as compared to the USA. Coca-cola products, Pepsi products, Dr. Pepper, and specialty products like Arizona iced teas are still available… -Pete Clark
SINGAPORE
In Singapore, before the pandemic a tray of 30 eggs was S$3.30. Now that same tray is S$6.85, that is 108% price increase… -John
SOUTH AMERICA
Gasoline, diesel and kitchen gas up over 50 pct which pushed the inflation… and daily supermarket items up 40 to 50 pct this year. -augusto
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Gasoline prices have gone up here… Though still subsidized by the govt, the grade I usually buy has become unaffordable for me, so I switched to a lower grade… -Andrew M
Mas Palomas, Gran Canaria
SPAIN
I have a cycle tourism business on Gran Canaria, bookings are down and one Belgium family cancelled saying “we have an economic crisis in Belgium”. -Raymond Leddy
I live in Madrid and around here… Basic foods have risen 20% or so and fuel for cars is close to 1.80 euros/litre, which is a lot for an average salary of 18,000 euros/year… Spain does not have economic reserves to deal with the crisis that will come in 2023, it will be the law of the street. -Oscar de Caracas
Baltana, Sweden
SWEDEN
Before the SMO 1 kilo of tomatoes cost about 1 Euro/dollar… Now it is 5 Euros/dollars. Local tomato farmers is shutting down because of the high energy prices. 1 kWh [that used to] cost about 1,25 Euro/dollar, now it is 4 Euros /dollars and raising. This is because the gouvernment (still in place) choose to shot down 2 perfectly working nuclear powerplants… These idiots must have been misled by Soros, Schwab… old n a z I s trying to create the 4th Reich… -Peter Hjukström
Food prices are up… (half a kilo of butter is 7 dollars, up from 3 dollars), interest rates are up, and real estate prices are clearly on the way down. In rental apartment negotiations landlords demand a 10% hike… Monthly heating bills during the winter may reach thousands of dollars. The municipalities are beginning to discuss tax hikes. We already have around 25% VAT and around 32% municipal tax here, so the burden on households are overwhelming... filling the tank of your car costs 100 dollars. During the winter. people will probably be disconnected from the power grid for hours… -Eric J
Bern
SWITZERLAND
At the moment, Switzerland seems to me like another island in the Europe-wide economic chaos. If we didn’t hear and read the news here, it would seem as if everything was fine. Compare it with a weather report. Here, the sun is shining with a blue sky and a few clouds. But you can see dark storm clouds gathering all around…
The order books are still full. But, importantly, there are few new orders coming in. This will be felt massively from the middle of next year… You read in the newspaper that online mail order companies are making much less sales… Tourism will be massively affected next year… For an average family, the disposable income is likely to fall by up to 500 per month… Yes, looking at everything, we are going to go through a very tough decade. -Chris
Taipei -Doriugo Wu
TAIWAN
I’m in rural Taiwan, and gasoline is $3.60/gal, essentially unchanged for the past several years. Natural gas and electricity are unchanged too. Food prices have gone up around 30% on average. This will likely change rapidly, though, when the US manages to provoke China to action over her wayward province. -Aaron
Thailand -Pretty Man Log-Book
THAILAND
(Western) European living in Thailand for the last 9 years with my family. Here prices on some basic goods such as rice, sugar etc are subsidized by the gov, as the majority of the population is very price sensitive and would simply be unable to survive even moderate increases. Diesel (also subsidized) is almost unchanged over the last decade… The Thai baht has dropped quite a bit against USD… but it’s of little concern to us as we can find everything we need locally and Thailand is a major food producer/exporter. In terms of food security (and general security) it’s probably one of the safest corners of the world currently… -Jonas BKK
UK
Brexit has lead to transport and distribution problems, many empty shelves in supermarkets, long term problems in the economy… high inflation and rising interest rates now topped off with self inflicted enormous rises in energy costs in both domestic and business sectors due to sanctions. Govt has bailed out the public to keep 130% rise in gas/electricity prices… but this cannot last forever and has cost £100 billion borrowed. UK has horrendous debt, government and private, about $3 trillion government debt on a $2.5 GDP.
New government is basically fire fighting day to day, markets volatile and the GBP is clinging on for life. Hard winter [a]head, UK is not energy secure – although only marginally in the Russian fuel cycle, it takes electricity direct from France and gas from Norway both of whom have refused extra assistance having their own domestic provision problems. Norway recently raised its prices significantly… -Gerald
I’m in London, UK. Energy bills have just gone up another 25% for me, total increase of 70% over the last year. Milk is up about 25%, chicken about 50% over the last year…
Financially the UK is not in a good position – first we spent around £500bn (all “borrowed” of course) on the covid response, then we enthusiastically helped the US blow our head off with this Ukraine idiocy and the loss of gas supply. We have a bunch of complete idiots in charge and it looks like the markets have just told us our national credit card is maxed out… -irf520
I live thirty minutes north of London. Last year 250g of butter cost £1.05. Now it costs £2.05… We have had letters from our heating oil and electricity providers; heating oil is expected to be 25% more expensive than last year. The electricity bill will be somewhere between treble and quadruple last year’s. That’s the killer for most Britons… People are worried about bills this winter. The slogan here is “Heat – or Eat”. Our new PM is a clown… -Sunshine Muldoon
USA
Tennessee
In 2021 I was paying 2.50 per gal. diesel. Now 4.50 per gal. Of course the stores prices are up close to 100% increase due to inflation and the cost to do business. But we are blessed not to be dodging bullets, for now anyways. -Dferg
Iowa
Food prices have doubled on meats and remain in an upward trend for veggies. Everything else is way up from a year ago. We remain without parts for much of electrical industry (substation)… Those parts cannot be cheap and must be heavy duty for transformer outfitting… -Joe
Washington State
In Washington State gasoline… is $5.10 per gallon. That’s the big change for me. Smaller issues are in supply chains. Many items locally not available, or spotty availability. Some empty grocery store shelves which I had only ever seen in my life when I visited the old Czechoslovakia under Communism. Food prices have risen of course due to domestic inflation rather than the whole Ukrainian fiasco… -FGB3
Arizona
I’m located in Maricopa County, Arizona. I’m on a pension… Meat is a luxury and going out to eat is no longer an option… I would like to explore Uruguay as a possible ex-patriot location… -Rob
Pacific Northwest
Inflation is uneven but everything is more expensive. Seems a grocery run has gone from $180 for everything to about $240… Saw a picture of NSCAR parking in KT lot filled to the brim with new Ford pickups which cannot be completed because a shortage of electronic parts… -Erelis
New York
My liberal friends are happy and hoping for more handouts… I don’t know how retirees on fixed incomes can make it… I am appalled by what things cost these days – the essentials like food, housing, gas, utilities. I can’t imagine how a family starting out or working lower lower paying jobs can make it. I’m also appalled by my 401K performance this year. A lot of savings up in smoke.
… “burn-out” and “fatigue” have become hot topics at work. People are stressed… They’re also watching their 401s get clobbered. Even though they have nice 6 figure incomes, inflation is hitting them hard… the hyperbolic ever present fear mongering politicians and media telling lies that don’t correlate to our experience and instincts – gas lighting causes the [largest] stress. People are really feeling it. Angst is everywhere and it is giving rise to a serious psychological epidemic… Humans were not designed to ingest a steady diet of high speed fear and hate… -Eric Newhill
Pennsylvania
As for the economics, I’m 76 in poor health getting close to the end. My respiratory over the counter meds I need went from 5 to 50 dollars last I looked. Was in shock! Barely making it on Social Security and a small pension. Still waiting on my Tax Refund from 2021 tax year which I filed in March. Money unbounded for the UKES but NOTHING for us!… -TruthwinsOut
I grew up in a Soviet Union republic , lived through 1990s, now live in mid America. Things are a little expensive here but nothing compared to my experience in 1990s when I saw 1000% inflation in one year, energy blackouts, shortages of food, uprisings, etc… EU is in big trouble… it will be ugly… -Rod
Southern California
Am periodically down in the Port of LA/LB area – the largest ports in the western hemisphere. Before covid, there were lines up trucks for miles down the 710 and forklifts and cranes everywhere working even at 2 in the morning. Since Covid its mostly a ghost town… only a few cranes on the east side doing anything. Everything else looks like permanent lunch time… Know other manufacturers who can’t source o-rings — Airgas says its impossible to find a mid-sized pressurized gas tank and I have been trying to source one for a year now… -ISL
Montana
In Montana: good indicator of so many things increasing — 3lb Kirkland coffee at Costco was around $10, now about $15! And pet food for both cats and dogs, directly affected by transportation costs, is up about 35-50%. Gas of course way up, and will be again, natural gas for heating expected to rise substantially for winter heating, and farmers and ranchers, stressed by drought conditions, are getting hammered by fertilizer, diesel, and transportation costs, which we expect will begin to show in prices and food shortage in the spring, 2023! Those are all affected by the sanctions. -Wilhelm
Great Lakes
Drawing cash out regularly to get it out of the banking system while I can… Stocked up and building like minded community. What else can be done? The pox on the current admin and the deep state. -Tom
WESTERN EUROPE
I live in the middle of Western Europe, so I know what might be in store for us in the coming months... I’m currently waiting what is currently estimated to be two months for the motor and actuator that lifts my driver-side door window…
My genius boss told me he bought €1,000 worth of firewood. I told him I bought a saw and a couple spare blades for €15. The funny thing is that he owns a small forest. I live next to it… -Cato the Uncensored
