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$28 at Taco Bell for lunch!

$28 at Taco Bell for lunch!
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  • $28 at Taco Bell for lunch!

    Post #1 - October 13th, 2022, 4:44 pm
    Post #1 - October 13th, 2022, 4:44 pm Post #1 - October 13th, 2022, 4:44 pm
    I know we all are experiencing food inflation but spending $28 for a single person at Taco Bell seems to be an embellishment to create a talking point on inflation by this 'Financial Advisor' on Fox Business News:

    Fox Business contributor (Scott D. Martin of Kingsview Wealth Management):
    “You want to know how bad inflation is? Yesterday, yes, I had a nice lunch at Taco Bell — cost me about $28 at Taco Bell for lunch.”

    https://twitter.com/EricKleefeld/status ... 1358946305
  • Post #2 - October 13th, 2022, 5:19 pm
    Post #2 - October 13th, 2022, 5:19 pm Post #2 - October 13th, 2022, 5:19 pm
    Seems like over-ordering to me.
  • Post #3 - October 13th, 2022, 6:00 pm
    Post #3 - October 13th, 2022, 6:00 pm Post #3 - October 13th, 2022, 6:00 pm
    Won't be my financial advisor anytime soon.
    We cannot be friends if you do not know the difference between Mayo and Miracle Whip.
    Pronoun: That fool over there
    Identifies as: A human that doesn't need to "identify as" something to try to somehow be interesting.
  • Post #4 - October 13th, 2022, 6:02 pm
    Post #4 - October 13th, 2022, 6:02 pm Post #4 - October 13th, 2022, 6:02 pm
    Bet this included the wine pairings and a foie upcharge that he "forgot" to mention. Typical yellow journalism.
  • Post #5 - October 13th, 2022, 6:32 pm
    Post #5 - October 13th, 2022, 6:32 pm Post #5 - October 13th, 2022, 6:32 pm
    seebee wrote:Won't be my financial advisor anytime soon.

    Ha ha ha!
    "Your swimming suit matches your eyes, you hold your nose before diving, loving you has made me bananas!"
  • Post #6 - October 13th, 2022, 6:48 pm
    Post #6 - October 13th, 2022, 6:48 pm Post #6 - October 13th, 2022, 6:48 pm
    The second embellishment from his comment no one mentions is "I had a nice lunch at Taco Bell" -- :)
  • Post #7 - October 13th, 2022, 6:51 pm
    Post #7 - October 13th, 2022, 6:51 pm Post #7 - October 13th, 2022, 6:51 pm
    Not a source I consider for reliable or credible information about anything, especially dining. "Nice" lunch at Taco Bell, indeed! This is what passes for news these days? Yikes!

    =R-
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #8 - October 14th, 2022, 7:27 am
    Post #8 - October 14th, 2022, 7:27 am Post #8 - October 14th, 2022, 7:27 am
    Loved Alexandia Ocasio-Cortez's take on it:

    "If someone is talking politics and eating $28 of Taco Bell in one sitting then my immediate follow up question is what their thoughts are on Biden’s executive order on cannabis rescheduling."
  • Post #9 - October 18th, 2022, 8:00 am
    Post #9 - October 18th, 2022, 8:00 am Post #9 - October 18th, 2022, 8:00 am
    Interesting watching the Today Show this morning. One topic was how fast food prices are going up and up, including TBell. Cute innuendo but tone deaf. Not as much fun shopping for food nowadays.
  • Post #10 - October 18th, 2022, 8:14 am
    Post #10 - October 18th, 2022, 8:14 am Post #10 - October 18th, 2022, 8:14 am
    Puckjam wrote:Interesting watching the Today Show this morning. One topic was how fast food prices are going up and up, including TBell. Cute innuendo but tone deaf. Not as much fun shopping for food nowadays.


    Inflation is happening in every country on earth and not just the US and much worse in some parts (Turkey = 80%+ Inflation rate). The issue is people politicize inflation and increasing prices blaming some political party instead of the fact we live in global economy and what happens in Other parts of the world with Oil Prices, war in Ukraine, covid lockdowns in China effects the cost of goods sold and supply chains in the US.
  • Post #11 - October 18th, 2022, 8:34 am
    Post #11 - October 18th, 2022, 8:34 am Post #11 - October 18th, 2022, 8:34 am
    polster wrote:Inflation is happening in every country on earth and not just the US and much worse in some parts (Turkey = 80%+ Inflation rate). The issue is people politicize inflation and increasing prices blaming some political party instead of the fact we live in global economy and what happens in Other parts of the world with Oil Prices, war in Ukraine, covid lockdowns in China effects the cost of goods sold and supply chains in the US.


    Is any inflation caused by the entities that print the money? I'm no economist, and I don't pretend to be, but is that at least one of the factors of inflation, and not just what happens in other parts of the world? If it is a factor, then I wonder how much of a factor it is, comparatively, to other factors.
    We cannot be friends if you do not know the difference between Mayo and Miracle Whip.
    Pronoun: That fool over there
    Identifies as: A human that doesn't need to "identify as" something to try to somehow be interesting.
  • Post #12 - October 18th, 2022, 9:02 am
    Post #12 - October 18th, 2022, 9:02 am Post #12 - October 18th, 2022, 9:02 am
    seebee wrote:Is any inflation caused by the entities that print the money? I'm no economist, and I don't pretend to be, but is that at least one of the factors of inflation, and not just what happens in other parts of the world? If it is a factor, then I wonder how much of a factor it is, comparatively, to other factors.


    Inflation can happen if the money supply grows faster than the economic output under otherwise normal economic circumstances. Inflation, or the rate at which the average price of goods or services increases over time, can also be affected by factors beyond the money supply.

    https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answer ... lation.asp
  • Post #13 - October 18th, 2022, 9:05 am
    Post #13 - October 18th, 2022, 9:05 am Post #13 - October 18th, 2022, 9:05 am
    seebee wrote:
    polster wrote:Inflation is happening in every country on earth and not just the US and much worse in some parts (Turkey = 80%+ Inflation rate). The issue is people politicize inflation and increasing prices blaming some political party instead of the fact we live in global economy and what happens in Other parts of the world with Oil Prices, war in Ukraine, covid lockdowns in China effects the cost of goods sold and supply chains in the US.


    Is any inflation caused by the entities that print the money? I'm no economist, and I don't pretend to be, but is that at least one of the factors of inflation, and not just what happens in other parts of the world? If it is a factor, then I wonder how much of a factor it is, comparatively, to other factors.


    OT but QE efforts in the USA were most aggressive in the year 2020 and have slowed since then. If QE was hypothetically a large factor in inflation, the US would have seen double digit inflation every month since Q2 2020.

    On topic: $6.99 for a Mexican Pizza at Taco Bell is not the deal that $1.99 or $2.99 used to be, especially if you are going the meat-free route.
  • Post #14 - October 18th, 2022, 9:11 am
    Post #14 - October 18th, 2022, 9:11 am Post #14 - October 18th, 2022, 9:11 am
    seebee wrote:
    polster wrote:Inflation is happening in every country on earth and not just the US and much worse in some parts (Turkey = 80%+ Inflation rate). The issue is people politicize inflation and increasing prices blaming some political party instead of the fact we live in global economy and what happens in Other parts of the world with Oil Prices, war in Ukraine, covid lockdowns in China effects the cost of goods sold and supply chains in the US.


    Is any inflation caused by the entities that print the money? I'm no economist, and I don't pretend to be, but is that at least one of the factors of inflation, and not just what happens in other parts of the world? If it is a factor, then I wonder how much of a factor it is, comparatively, to other factors.

    Yes, huge factor.
  • Post #15 - October 18th, 2022, 9:32 am
    Post #15 - October 18th, 2022, 9:32 am Post #15 - October 18th, 2022, 9:32 am
    lodasi wrote:
    OT but QE efforts in the USA were most aggressive in the year 2020 and have slowed since then. If QE was hypothetically a large factor in inflation, the US would have seen double digit inflation every month since Q2 2020.


    Is quantitative easing the exact same as printing and handing out money? I'm not exactly sure when the checks were sent out, and I'm not tryna be some economist, I'll be the first one to tell you, I don't have much of a clue. Is there a direct correlation with inflation spiking after the checks went out, compared to inflation rates during different events / tactics in the realm of qe? I see numbers come out (possibly the cpi) that show breakdowns of how someone's version of an inflation rate is calculated but they generally show product prices. If inflation is also caused by monetary policy, why wouldn't that be monitored and included? Perhaps it's just a zillionth of a percent. No clue.
    We cannot be friends if you do not know the difference between Mayo and Miracle Whip.
    Pronoun: That fool over there
    Identifies as: A human that doesn't need to "identify as" something to try to somehow be interesting.
  • Post #16 - October 18th, 2022, 7:45 pm
    Post #16 - October 18th, 2022, 7:45 pm Post #16 - October 18th, 2022, 7:45 pm
    It's been eons since I took an econ course, but can offer a few comments. This is just my take. I'm sure expert economists can explain it better.

    Inflation has been defined as too much money chasing too few goods.

    The money can come from different sources. Central banks can print money. National governments can add money by running a deficit. The deficit can come from government spending, including sending checks to voters, or from cutting taxes while maintaining spending.

    Neither major U.S. party cares about deficits. The last President to run a surplus was Clinton, but he did it only under pressure from Republicans who care deeply about deficits when a Dem is in the White House. Not so much at other times -- the last Republican to run a surplus was Eisenhower.

    So why modest inflation during the prior decade? The supply of goods and services was pretty good. Then Covid hit. Mass layoffs cut production worldwide. The silicon chip supply was hit hard and that affected all kinds of production including autos.

    Services were also limited. When workers laid off from crappy jobs got stimulus checks they decided they weren't going back unless conditions improved. Some weren't going back at all if they could avoid it.

    Then Putin started his war and Europe and the U.S. responded, cutting supplies of energy and food. Russia is a huge gas and oil exporter. Russia and Ukraine are both major grain exporters. That's not all -- for example Ukraine is an important producer of wiring harnesses used in European auto production.

    That's my take -- worldwide stimulus and worldwide shortages. No surprise prices have taken off all over the world.

    Now the major Central Banks are cutting the money supply to reduce demand. It's starting to show around the edges, but will take time. Meanwhile look out for recession.

    I look forward to comments from anyone with more or better info.
    Where there’s smoke, there may be salmon.
  • Post #17 - October 18th, 2022, 11:17 pm
    Post #17 - October 18th, 2022, 11:17 pm Post #17 - October 18th, 2022, 11:17 pm
    A couple other factors creating inflation:

    Some point to COLAs for wages as a cause of late-70's inflation. They kept wages going up, which kept costs up, in turn requiring price increases in a never ending spiral. On the other hand, they did keep real wages from declining as they are right now.

    Another topic for some economists is consumer expectations. When consumers think that inflation is high, business can safely raise prices even beyond what's justified by rising costs. When you see high profits coupled with high inflation, that may be what's going on. And to bring it back to the $28 Taco Bell lunch, now everybody thinks Taco Bell has tripled prices and McBurgerdys can triple their prices without consumer resistance (exaggerating here but you get the idea.)
  • Post #18 - October 19th, 2022, 10:09 am
    Post #18 - October 19th, 2022, 10:09 am Post #18 - October 19th, 2022, 10:09 am
    tjr wrote:Another topic for some economists is consumer expectations. When consumers think that inflation is high, business can safely raise prices even beyond what's justified by rising costs. When you see high profits coupled with high inflation, that may be what's going on. And to bring it back to the $28 Taco Bell lunch, now everybody thinks Taco Bell has tripled prices and McBurgerdys can triple their prices without consumer resistance (exaggerating here but you get the idea.)


    I agree with this sentiment that companies in a market based economy raise prices higher than inflation but use inflation as an excuse just like during the height of the pandemic shortages for toilet paper, cleaning products, etc. created an artificial short term demand which the companies like Procter and Gamble (Tide & Bounty Paper Towels) increased in price. As the pandemic went down the companies did not lower their prices, but on the contrary they have increased even more than when the supply chain shortages occurred during the pandemic. The thing that people complain about a capitalist society (which is not perfect in anyway) is that companies (especially publicly traded) have to show ever increasing profits quarter over quarter and to do that they keep increasing prices and cutting costs (smaller package sizes / same or higher price point).

    This is the same in the fast food industry. while wages and raw materials have increased the price of the end product charged to the consumer has increased 2 or 3 fold from 5 or less years ago. People who follow stocks and earnings will notice a trend in that a majority of the big name companies out there are generating record earnings including McDonalds, Walmart, Kroger, Tyson Foods, etc.. and they definitely do not pass on the increased earnings to lower prices to the end consumers.
  • Post #19 - October 19th, 2022, 1:01 pm
    Post #19 - October 19th, 2022, 1:01 pm Post #19 - October 19th, 2022, 1:01 pm
    Good points. I think economists talk about some prices being "sticky" -- easy to raise, hard to cut.

    Also, Wall Street pressures companies to show growth in earnings (easy to manipulate) and executives are paid, at least in part, on reported earnings. Lots of incentive to raise prices.
    Where there’s smoke, there may be salmon.
  • Post #20 - October 20th, 2022, 1:15 am
    Post #20 - October 20th, 2022, 1:15 am Post #20 - October 20th, 2022, 1:15 am
    And just today Procter & Gamble reported higher profits despite lower unit sales. Nice.
  • Post #21 - October 20th, 2022, 9:33 am
    Post #21 - October 20th, 2022, 9:33 am Post #21 - October 20th, 2022, 9:33 am
    So I gather they've retired the "$.59, $.79, $.99, Taco Bell's done it aga-hannn" jingle from my yoot? I remember stuffing my teenage self silly with tacos and chilitos, etc... at the State/Lake T Bell many times in the mid-90s for about $5. So is $6-7 in 1995 dollars now $28 in 2022 dollars? That sounds out of whack to me, but maybe it isn't. I haven't been to a Taco Bell in several years so maybe I need to drop in to see exactly how one could get up to the $28 mark.
  • Post #22 - October 20th, 2022, 1:46 pm
    Post #22 - October 20th, 2022, 1:46 pm Post #22 - October 20th, 2022, 1:46 pm
    George R wrote:Good points. I think economists talk about some prices being "sticky" -- easy to raise, hard to cut.

    Also, Wall Street pressures companies to show growth in earnings (easy to manipulate) and executives are paid, at least in part, on reported earnings. Lots of incentive to raise prices.

    Overall I agree; prices are easy to raise, but what makes them sticky is not that they're hard to cut but rather that they're easy to not cut. The whole idea of raising prices when you can---i.e., when a temporary economic situation gives you cover, as tjr and polster explained so well above---is that consumers resign themselves to the higher prices and give up hoping they'll go back to where they were before.

    Unless of course "hard to cut" means doing so would cut into shareholder profits and executive pay and bonuses, in which case, all too true.
    "Your swimming suit matches your eyes, you hold your nose before diving, loving you has made me bananas!"
  • Post #23 - October 20th, 2022, 4:10 pm
    Post #23 - October 20th, 2022, 4:10 pm Post #23 - October 20th, 2022, 4:10 pm
    On the cuisine front, my childhood order was a Meximelt, which had ground beef and warm pico de gallo inside and actually tasted pretty fresh and decent. RIP.

    More recently, I do like an annual Mexican Pizza, which is just about the most expensive menu item. It can suck if they get the proportions wrong, if the flour tostadas aren't fresh, or if it slides over to one side in the packaging. Not generally worth it vs. standard crunchy beef in price or flavor.

    I would never have considered ordering a steak quesadilla, but when ProZD ranked it the best menu item, I tried it, and it is actually reasonable. The steak has a different seasoning profile that is smokier and more umami, and they get a hard grill gloss on the big tortillas, and no fake-y Wiz flavor on the interior. All of this is somewhat hard to justify when taquerias abound, but for late-night when other drive-throughs are slammed, it ticks a box if drenched in Mild.
  • Post #24 - May 17th, 2023, 11:40 am
    Post #24 - May 17th, 2023, 11:40 am Post #24 - May 17th, 2023, 11:40 am
    Declaring a mission to liberate "Taco Tuesday" for all, Taco Bell is asking U.S. regulators to force Wyoming-based Taco John's to abandon its longstanding claim to the trademark.

    Too many businesses and others refer to "Taco Tuesday" for Taco John's to be able to have exclusive rights to the phrase, Taco Bell asserts in a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office filing that is, of course, dated Tuesday.

    It's the latest development in a long-running beef over "Taco Tuesday" that even included NBA star LeBron James making an unsuccessful attempt to claim the trademark in 2019.

    "Taco Bell believes 'Taco Tuesday' is critical to everyone's Tuesday. To deprive anyone of saying 'Taco Tuesday' — be it Taco Bell or anyone who provides tacos to the world — is like depriving the world of sunshine itself," the Taco Bell filing reads.

    Taco John's responded to Taco Bell's filing by announcing a new two-week Taco Tuesday promotion, with a large side of riposte.

    "I'd like to thank our worthy competitors at Taco Bell for reminding everyone that Taco Tuesday is best celebrated at Taco John's," CEO Jim Creel said in an emailed statement. "We love celebrating Taco Tuesday with taco lovers everywhere, and we even want to offer a special invitation to fans of Taco Bell to liberate themselves by coming by to see how flavorful and bold tacos can be at Taco John's all month long."

    'Taco Tuesday' Trademark Tiff Flares Anew

    =R=
    Same planet, different world
  • Post #25 - May 17th, 2023, 3:02 pm
    Post #25 - May 17th, 2023, 3:02 pm Post #25 - May 17th, 2023, 3:02 pm
    I paid $15 at Taco Bell for dinner the other night. It would be hard to figure out how to get it up to $28.

    I ordered a Mexican pizza as I heard that it was in limited supply. Honestly, it was not very good and not worth the $5. I would have preferred the Steak Crunchwrap for that amount.

    I liked the maximelt from years ago, but that is unavailable.
  • Post #26 - May 17th, 2023, 3:19 pm
    Post #26 - May 17th, 2023, 3:19 pm Post #26 - May 17th, 2023, 3:19 pm
    polster wrote:
    I agree with this sentiment that companies in a market based economy raise prices higher than inflation but use inflation as an excuse just like during the height of the pandemic shortages for toilet paper, cleaning products, etc. created an artificial short term demand which the companies like Procter and Gamble (Tide & Bounty Paper Towels) increased in price. As the pandemic went down the companies did not lower their prices, but on the contrary they have increased even more than when the supply chain shortages occurred during the pandemic. The thing that people complain about a capitalist society (which is not perfect in anyway) is that companies (especially publicly traded) have to show ever increasing profits quarter over quarter and to do that they keep increasing prices and cutting costs (smaller package sizes / same or higher price point).



    P&G also took large price increases back 2009 during the economic crisis. What happened was that the price increases forced a lot of consumers to seek alternatives like store brands and other brands in the market. For example, I liked Tide as much as anyone else; however, when Purex is roughly half the price per load and you find out that it works as well, you move on from Tide.

    Coming from a P&G family where honestly, I thought that Colgate was a university and not a toothpaste, there are painfully few P&G brands that I still buy for the house. Dawn dish detergent is the go to product for dish washing and for stain removal on clothing.
  • Post #27 - July 18th, 2023, 7:48 pm
    Post #27 - July 18th, 2023, 7:48 pm Post #27 - July 18th, 2023, 7:48 pm
    ronnie_suburban wrote:
    Declaring a mission to liberate "Taco Tuesday" for all, Taco Bell is asking U.S. regulators to force Wyoming-based Taco John's to abandon its longstanding claim to the trademark.

    Too many businesses and others refer to "Taco Tuesday" for Taco John's to be able to have exclusive rights to the phrase, Taco Bell asserts in a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office filing that is, of course, dated Tuesday.

    It's the latest development in a long-running beef over "Taco Tuesday" that even included NBA star LeBron James making an unsuccessful attempt to claim the trademark in 2019.

    "Taco Bell believes 'Taco Tuesday' is critical to everyone's Tuesday. To deprive anyone of saying 'Taco Tuesday' — be it Taco Bell or anyone who provides tacos to the world — is like depriving the world of sunshine itself," the Taco Bell filing reads.

    Taco John's responded to Taco Bell's filing by announcing a new two-week Taco Tuesday promotion, with a large side of riposte.

    "I'd like to thank our worthy competitors at Taco Bell for reminding everyone that Taco Tuesday is best celebrated at Taco John's," CEO Jim Creel said in an emailed statement. "We love celebrating Taco Tuesday with taco lovers everywhere, and we even want to offer a special invitation to fans of Taco Bell to liberate themselves by coming by to see how flavorful and bold tacos can be at Taco John's all month long."

    'Taco Tuesday' Trademark Tiff Flares Anew

    =R=

    Taco John’s, the regional chain that has “Taco Tuesday” trademarked, announced Tuesday that it’s ending its fight in defending the phrase and will “abandon” it because it doesn’t want to pay the legal fees that come with a fight against Taco Bell.

    https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/18/business ... wsuit-ends
    Never order barbecue in a place that also serves quiche - Lewis Grizzard
  • Post #28 - October 25th, 2024, 2:31 pm
    Post #28 - October 25th, 2024, 2:31 pm Post #28 - October 25th, 2024, 2:31 pm
    Taco Bell Revives 5 Retro Menu Items from the 1960s to the 2000s and They're All Less Than $3

    https://people.com/taco-bell-revives-5- ... d3-8732318
    Never order barbecue in a place that also serves quiche - Lewis Grizzard

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