written by: teafox
A "inflation planet map" has been popular on the Internet these days. China's inflation is the lowest, only 2.1%, and the highest is 73%. It is in the magical zone. Our old enemy, the United States, which cannot even talk to China, is in dire straits, and many people express doubts.
In fact, doubt, criticism, and praise are all possible, but there cannot be only one result. The important thing is the thinking process. Otherwise it will become a war of words and meaningless. Although we are not economists, we can still draw relatively reliable conclusions based on daily life experience and data sorting, but it is a bit time-consuming.
The so-called inflation is "price rise", and prices can basically be divided into four categories: "clothing, food, housing, and transportation".
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Now the price of oil in China's No. 92 has exceeded 9.2 yuan. I added oil once yesterday and spent 540 yuan.
What about the US oil prices? There are many videos of American oil prices on Douyin , but I advise you not to watch it. It’s not that those videos are fake, but that people with different positions will selectively shoot, and the results will be very different. In addition, the biggest problem with short videos is that the information density is too low, making it difficult to explain the causes and consequences of a problem clearly, and they are basically taken out of context.
The oil prices in the United States are very complex. Not to mention the unified national price, even if it is across the street, the price will be different. The price difference between the videos taken on the same day is possible in different regions. Oil prices in the United States are also divided into membership prices, cash prices, credit card prices, car wash prices, etc. The membership price of
Costco is relatively cheap. The gas stations run by Indians like the cash price the most. As for the price of car washing, some gas stations deliberately set up very low prices in order to attract attention. However, when you get closer, you see a line of small words below, and you must wash the car after refueling.
The best way to observe the price of oil in the United States is to see the real-time price of AAA (American Automobile Association ). Website: aaa.com
Now, the average oil price in the United States is 5 USD/gallon . 1 gallon = 3.8 liters 1 USD = 6.7 RMB, which means that the current No. 92 gasoline in the United States is equivalent to 8.8 RMB/liter . In general, the oil prices in the United States are slightly cheaper than those in China.
According to the global petrol prices website statistics, on June 20, 2022, the average global gasoline price was RMB 9.74 /liter .
Among the 169 countries and regions, the cheapest is Venezuela, with RMB 0.15 per liter, and the most expensive is Hong Kong, with RMB 20 per liter. European countries generally have RMB 3/liter. China ranks 95th. The United States ranks 75th, the cheapest of almost all developed countries.
So, is the travel cost of the American people lower than that of the Chinese? Not necessarily.
Currently, the average daily oil consumption of 100 million barrels is global, the United States accounts for about 20%, China accounts for 13%, the United States has a population of 330 million, and China has a population of 1.4 billion. By this calculation, the United States consumes 153% of China's oil with 23% of China's population, and its per capita consumption is 6.5 times that of China. In 2021, the per capita GDP 4 of the United States is calculated at exchange rate , which is 69,300 US dollars, while China is 12,400 US dollars. The United States is 5.6 times that of China. Americans consume 6.5 times the oil with China's per capita GDP. The proportion of oil expenditure in revenue between China and the United States is almost the same.
Why do Americans consume so much oil? There are two main reasons.
First of all, public transportation in the United States is too bad.
There is basically no decent subway system in the United States except New York. What about China, which reflects the nature of an infrastructure madman, is 9 of the top ten subway systems in the world in China? Is it surprising? When I checked last year, there were only 7. This was not arranged by the Chinese, but data from , Wikipedia, in the United States.
As for high-speed rail, I won’t say much more. The United States has zero, and China accounts for 70% of all mileages in the world. China's public transportation is not only the most advanced in the world, but also the cheapest in the world.Among countries with a per capita GDP of more than US$10,000, China's subway is the cheapest, and high-speed rail is also the cheapest. In my memory, the bus ticket has not changed for about 20 years, and it is 2 yuan. If you download the bus app in Ningbo, you can get a 60% discount, which is almost equivalent to free .
Social wealth is actually a big cake. China's oil prices are slightly higher, but we have the best public transportation in the world. This is equivalent to "those who drive indirectly subsidize people who take public transportation."
Secondly, the urban density in the United States is too low.
There are few high-rise buildings and many bungalows. Most cities are just spread out. I have experienced the peak travel periods in major cities in the United States, such as Los Angeles, , Chicago, , New York, , San Francisco, . The crowdedness is comparable to that of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. But to be honest, the driving experience of American roads is much better than that of China during off-peak hours. Parking spaces in the United States are also much more friendly than China.
The United States is a country on wheels. Private cars drive 50,000 to 60,000 kilometers a year, which is common, while many private cars in China cannot drive 10,000 kilometers a year. Last time I went for maintenance, I met a car owner who drove 2,000 kilometers a year. He said that if he doesn’t drive normally, he only drives on weekends.
In big cities in China, driving to and from get off work is both a waste of time and money, and parking fees in the city center are getting more and more expensive. It is not easy to have a parking space near the city center workplace. China has relaxed oil prices. The policy logic is probably to encourage the whole people to buy cars and stimulate consumption. It is best not to drive after buying them and stay at home as a craft to appreciate them. This coincides with Japan.
Taxi price
June 23, 2022, Boston, USA , if you take a taxi with uber, from the city hall in the city center to the residential area 10 kilometers away, the starting price is US$26.
On the same day, in Ningbo, China, I took a taxi with T3. From Sheraton in the city center to Lanqing School 10 kilometers away, the starting price is RMB 26.
The same distance, the prices are 26. The difference is that one is US dollar and the other is RMB.
1990, the price of Wenzhou taxi is 5 yuan, regardless of mileage. In 2000, when I was in college, the price of a taxi started at 10 yuan. Later, due to the rise in oil prices, I had to add fuel surcharges. At that time, "Brother" had to pay the so-called membership money. In recent years, online car-hailing has risen and the money for the part has gradually disappeared. The starting price of Ningbo taxi is 11 yuan, but the mileage is shortened to 3 kilometers. The fuel surcharge is gone now.
The stable price of taxis in China. On the one hand, it is the competition for online car-hailing. Passenger transport companies with vested interests can only be forced to cut their losses. On the other hand, the popularity of new energy taxis has got rid of the influence of oil prices. After the epidemic, I took taxis all over the country, more than 90% of them were electric vehicles, and some were natural gas vehicles, and fuel vehicles were almost extinct. Electricity prices are different from oil prices, and electricity prices are almost unchanged, so taxis do not have the pressure to rise in oil prices.
food
The best way to check the prices in the United States is to go to the numbeo.com website, which is displayed in Chinese, very detailed.
junk food in the United States is really cheap, such as McDonald's , KFC , which has a large portion and a low price. The most representative one is McDonald's Big Mac Index . In Ningbo, a Big Mac package is 42 yuan, and US$10 in Seattle, USA.
Seattle Price statistics table
With American income, the purchasing power of junk food far exceeds that of China. In the United States, junk food is the daily food of the lowest group. In China, poor people can’t afford to eat McDonald’s every meal. However, we have cheap Lanzhou ramen and Shaxian snacks, and a bowl of Lanzhou ramen in Ningbo costs 10 yuan. More than ten years ago, I remember it was 6 yuan per bowl, and before the epidemic, it was about 8 yuan.
In 2019, I was in the Bay Area of the United States and had a bowl of the cheapest Lanzhou ramen, with a tax plus a tip of $15.The average price is $19 now.
The cheapest fresh food app in the United States is Weee, founded by three Shanghai Jiaotong University alumni. It is now the most popular fresh food e-commerce in the United States. Weee's entrepreneurial inspiration, to put it simply, is "full copying" China's popular fresh food group buying model in the past few years.
I have used a group of preferred products several times recently. The grocery shopping experience is very good and the price is very cheap. I sent it to the grocery store at the entrance of the community and just go and get it if you have time. In fact, "Duoduo Maicai" is cheaper, but the pickup point is too far from my house and has not been used yet.
Weee and a group of preferred
first talk about the price of American Weee.
Shanghai green vegetables 900g, US$3.5.
Shanghai cabbage heart 900g, USD 4.5.
pea seedlings 450g, 7 USD
kale seedlings 450g, 4 USD
A certain group of Chinese preferred
local vegetables 550g, 1.5 RMB
Fresh loofah 750g, 5 RMB
beef cabbage 500 grams, RMB
broccoli 400 grams, RMB 3
1500 grams of winter melon, RMB 2
Basically, the gap between the price of American vegetables and China is the exchange rate gap between the US dollar and RMB. If you are interested, you can search the mini program Weee on WeChat, which has a Chinese interface and the price is clear.
The price of a group of vegetables is cheaper than that of regular vegetable markets, but it is similar to roadside stalls. There are spontaneously formed morning vegetable markets near many old communities in Ningbo. Most of the customers are local middle-aged and elderly people, and the prices are very cheap.
Now many people around me use apps to buy vegetables, such as " Dingdong Maicai , Hema Fresh". In fact, the prices of these apps are relatively expensive. The reason is very simple. These apps mainly sell services, not just physical items. The service that arrives 1 hour after placing an order basically does not exist abroad, and no matter how much money is, you can't buy it. The prices of grassroots people in China are completely different from those delivered to home in big cities.
Ningbo has a total of 10 county-level units, and Xiangshan County is a county and district with relatively backward economic development. In the first quarter of 2020, Xiangshan County's GDP ranked last in Ningbo. Even so, according to the "China County Economic Development Report (2020)", there are currently 2,846 county-level administrative units in mainland China, and Xiangshan belongs to the top 100 counties in China, ranking 77th. In 2020, the per capita GDP of Xiangshan County was 103,000, equivalent to 1.5 times the per capita GDP of China. Judging from these data, Xiangshan is also a relatively wealthy place across the country.
Even if it is such a wealthy county town, its consumption level is still much lower than that of Ningbo city center.
Last time, our family of three had a seafood noodles in Xiangshan, including clams , pomfret , big rice, smoked fish, shrimp ... I ate a total of 73 yuan. Among them, what impressed me the most was that fresh pomfret, washed, and made, only 10 yuan per piece. eat this meal in in the United States, plus taxes and tips, at least $100.
The vegetables in small places are also cheaper than in the city. The edamame kernels on various grocery shopping apps in Ningbo are vacuum-packed and not very fresh. The minimum price is 6 yuan per 150 grams, about 20 yuan per pound. The old lady in Xiangshan Vegetable Market, who was peeling edamames on the spot, only cost 7 yuan per pound. I bought a handful of edamame, and the electronic scale showed 3.2 yuan. The old lady smiled and said, "It's good to count 3 yuan."
The most important staple food for Chinese people is rice, and the mainstream price is still around 10 jin and 30 yuan, and it has almost not increased in the past 10 years.
In short, in recent years, the price of Chinese food has been relatively stable.
clothes
Last time, I took my son to the beach in Xiangshan to play. He got his pants wet, so I took him to the county town to buy pants. In the clothing store in the center of Xiangshan County, he looked at a pair of sweatpants. Customers around are bargaining with the boss.Just as I was conceiving a bargaining strategy, the boss pointed to the pants and said, "This one is 25!"
scared me, is it so cheap? ! I believe that if it were a local, the transaction price of these pants could be lower. From a practical point of view, this pair of 25-yuan pants is not worse than the 200-yuan Nike sports pants. Many city people are surprised by Pinduoduo’s low prices. In fact, the prices of small towns in real life are cheaper than Pinduoduo.
outlet in the United States does have bargains, and Coach, Guess, CK, North Face, Polo and others are much cheaper than in China. But most products are out-of-season low-end products. Apart from one trademark, the quality and design are actually not as good as domestic independent brands.
A few days ago, I bought a pair of sneakers for my son at the Li Ning flagship store. The shipping fee is only 135 yuan. If you don’t like it, you will also return the goods with free postage. More than 20 years ago when I was in high school, I often bought Li Ning's sneakers. At that time, I bought 99 yuan per pair. It has not changed much for decades.
In China, if you don’t care about the brand, there are many affordable options. Prices have remained stable for decades. How do Americans buy cheap clothes? Second-hand store! Yes, you read that right. There are even chains of second-hand clothes stores in big American cities. This is unimaginable in big Chinese cities, but there are them in the United States.
I once specially drove to the second-hand store in downtown Los Angeles for inspection. The environment was bad and the lights were dim. The consumers were mainly black and Latino. As for the price, the average price is $5 to $10 per piece, and there is a discount if you buy too much.
Chinese people can go to Pinduoduo to buy bargains, why can Americans only go to second-hand stores? Because there are not many cheap goods online in the United States, the main reason is not the price of the product itself, but the shipping fee. China has the largest, efficient and cheap express delivery system in the world. Therefore, there are a large number of T-shirts for free shipping on Pinduoduo for 29 yuan.
also has free shipping in the United States, but the starting price is very high and there are strict restrictions on weight and size. There are only two national express delivery companies in the United States, UPS and Fedex, and a state-owned USPS. It is slightly cheaper but has less efficiency. China's express delivery market is competing with seven or eight national companies.
packages in China Province usually come to pick up the packages within 2 hours, ordinary express delivery is 8 yuan, SF Express 12 yuan, basically they arrive the next day. 20 years ago, when I was in college, the starting price of express delivery was 5 yuan. After twenty years, it was still only 8 yuan, which was a miracle. There are about two reasons for
. First, automated sorting improves efficiency. Secondly, terminal equipment such as Fengchao has become popular, which has increased the delivery volume of couriers. Don’t underestimate equipment like Fengchao, it is a luxury product abroad.
This wave of oil prices rose, and the express delivery fees in the United States also rose, and the price gap with China is getting wider. I checked it and it turned out to be much more expensive than when I was in the United States before, and it has reached a very outrageous level.
For example, a California package weighs 0.5 kg. It is about 472 kilometers from Daly City to Buellton, which is almost the distance from Ningbo to Nanjing. Our express delivery arrives one day and comes to pick up the goods at home, which is only 8 yuan. And in the United States, the prices are staggering, according to data from coolparcel.com, a website for comparing express delivery fees in the United States.
arrives every other day, Fedex is the cheapest $52. This price is 80 times that of Chinese counterparts!
333 is here every 2 days. UPS is the cheapest $11.53, which is 1 day slower and 10 times more expensive.
When comparing the express delivery markets between China and the United States, I was very confused. A capitalist market economy, which claims to be completely free competition, has formed an inefficient oligopoly monopoly . However, China's socialist market economy is fiercely competitive, with continuous innovation and efficient operation.
House
House prices are not within the scope of inflation calculation. The cost of water, electricity and gas has not increased for nearly 20 years, and the electricity bill is about 50 cents per kilowatt-hour. natural gas is still 3 yuan per cubic cube. The average price of three of us is 40 yuan when taking a bath and cooking a month. The water bill seems to have increased, but the amount is small, and the water bill is about the same as the gas bill, which is about 40 yuan per month. I won't show the specific data. In short, there has been no change in the past few years. It should be similar across the country, because in China, water, electricity and gas are operated by state-owned enterprises and controlled by the state. In the simple market economy, , it is all about the market, and inflation is directly transmitted to every corner of daily life.
In addition, the price increase of hourly workers is indeed quite significant. In 2006, it only cost 10 yuan per hour, but now it costs 40 to 50 yuan, which has increased by at least 4 times. But hourly workers are also considered a luxury service in developed countries, and most people do it themselves.
In short, the inflation rate of China's 2.1% and the United States' 8.7% is basically credible. Although the United States has a serious inflation, to be fair, Americans have high incomes, and lean camels are bigger than horses, and the average living standard of Americans still exceeds us. However, this gap is far less far than per capita GDP. Nowadays, it is more like a difference than a gap between China and the United States.
summary
Inflation tide is coming, and countries around the world are currently divided into three echelons.
The first echelon is China and the United States. China has huge production capacity and the United States has the hegemony of the US dollar. This echelon has the most hope to last. The second echelon of
is a group of industrialized countries such as "Europe, Japan, and South Korea". They still master a number of high-value-added industries. Although inflation is serious, it can basically maintain stability.
The third echelon is the vast number of developing countries . It has neither industrial capacity nor high-value-added industries, nor US dollar hegemony, and can only sit and wait for death. For example, Sri Lanka has fallen.
There are two core elements for China to maintain price stability, first of all, huge industrial and agricultural production capacity, and secondly, an independent energy system.
Although China's manufacturing industry is not the most advanced, it is definitely the most complete. Although we can't make 3nm chips, we can make large quantities of conventional products with high quality and low price.
China's energy consumption structure is different from that in the West. Coal is still the cornerstone of our energy. Generators, heavy-duty railways, coal mining, building materials, and engineering equipment are all in one stop. Therefore, rising oil prices have an impact on us, but they are far less than that of other countries.
In addition, because our oil is dependent on foreign countries, our country attaches great importance to the development of new energy . Today, China is already a monopoly of the new energy industry on this earth.
We produce 60% of the new energy sedans and 90% of the new energy buses in the world.
Take solar power generation as an example. China's silicon materials, silicon wafers , battery cells , and components account for 67%, 98%, 83% and 77% of the global output, respectively, and is almost in a comprehensive monopoly position.
As for wind power generation , by 2022, China's installed capacity will account for almost half of the world's world. No wonder even Ma Yilong of Tesla also posted: It seems that few people realize that China is in the world's leading position in renewable energy and electric vehicles . No matter how you look at China, this is a fact. Only by controlling these supply chains in your own hands can you control the pricing power. Under the conditions of global inflation, it is difficult for both developed and developing countries to achieve price stability, but we have basically done it.
In October 2019, the Santiago Metro Company, the capital of Chile, raised the fare by 30 pesos (equivalent to RMB 30 cents), which led to a large-scale "group walk" and "zero yuan purchase" activities. On October 25, the number of participants exceeded 1 million, and the crisis quickly spread across the country and turned into a riot. According to the standards of World Bank , Chile has entered the ranks of developed countries, but was suddenly overwhelmed by a mere "30 cents".
In the next few years, the war between Russia and Ukraine will be uncertain. The food crisis, the energy crisis of , and the inflation caused by will sweep the world. , the third world, , is likely to usher in a bloody storm.
