Is it inflation, or changing lifestyle?

We hear news about our inflation consistently hitting above 6% and feel the pinch. It's true that things are getting more expensive, with the price tags at foodcourts changing ever so frequently. Then we have the leaders telling us that to fight inflation, we can eat frozen meat and house-brand breads. This happened to the extent that even the food authority's website has some comments about why chilled meat is better than frozen meat. There was also an article in AsiaOne about how people can cook up a dinner for 4 persons using only $10.

Personally I think it's all crap / propaganda! A society that develops well amidst a booming economy and we hear 'advice' that recommends that its people eat frozen meat and house-brand bread. Zzz... then I wonder where did all the economical developments go to?

Ok... to be fair I admit it's also our changing lifestyle such that we feel the pain of rising costs. Was at a Levi fair recently when I spotted a pair of jeans that originally cost $800 over. Here's the pics. The person said the jeans have patterns that would glow in the dark under UV light. Wah. Wonder if we would really buy such jeans at such prices? $800 over, with $10 dinner for 4 persons, means this pair of jeans can feed over 320 meals! Wah!!

Not just on jeans, but it seems we have a changing lifestyle in other aspects as well. My neighbour shifted place and I spotted a stack of old textbooks being thrown away. Many of the textbooks are for uni level studies, which I seriously think is a pity to be thrown away. We used to pay many tens of dollars for these books. So I took some books and put online at Yahoo for auction at $6 each. Seems like after 2 weeks, nobody wants to buy them. Lolz. So I guess people only want new books now.

Guess it's more of a change of lifestyle. People are willing to fork out so much money for branded goods, and are reluctant to use old textbooks (despite being cheaper), but we would all mind about food prices.

So is it a case of inflation (possibly more than 6%) or is it a case of our changing lifestyle? I dunno...