Archive for the Inflation Category
Holographic Treasury Rates? The 500 Trillion Asset Steal? And Then The Great Taking? Oh, And Happy IRS Day! (April 14, 2025)
Posted in Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), Debt/Deficits, Inflation, The Great Taking, Treasury, Unemployment on April 14, 2025 by e-commentary.orgTrump: Now What? (January 13, 2025)
Posted in Debt/Deficits, FISA, Inflation, Tariffs, Trump on January 13, 2025 by e-commentary.org. . .
K “I do not think that even Trump knows exactly what he thinks. Is he a nationalist or a globalist? He has slipped Panama, Canada and Greenland into the public discourse. Yet the Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan quagmires are expanding and exploding and may consume him and his administration.”
J “Vegas, the French Quarter and the LA Fires raise issues that are hard to put in perspective.”
. . .
K “I have been wrong about what is called the ‘economy’ year after year after year after year. However, I maintain that the Debt Black Hole is now too far out of control and will haunt and hobble his administration.”
J “Extending the tax cuts will cost the public fisc something like 500 million dollars in each of the next ten years. That will add up.”
K “Inflation will continue for the foreseeable future.”
J “Enacting tariffs will turbo charge inflation without necessarily spurring American manufacturing and production. Any new plants will be automated. Stay tuned. Inflation may be the major election issue in 2026.”
. . .
J “I keep reminding and reassuring myself and others that he will break every one of his major promises. He will not even propose making Social Security payments non-taxable. No way. His billionaire boys may reduce the actual payments. He will not make overtime payments and tips non-taxable. No way. He will abandon the voters who will be even angrier at and more frustrated with the system.”
K “I don’t disagree. I told someone that his election postpones the revolution. From another perspective, we are better off if he does break some of his promises. Judging by his Cabinet nominees, he is breaking his promise to end the many wars of choice.”
. . .
K “During the election, I saw some hope and change in the Kennedy Gabbard wing of the Trump Machine. However, Tulsi Gabbard’s recent volte-face is the clearest reveal that reform is impossible. You surely saw that she changed her stance regarding the unconstitutional government program that she once sought to repeal as she now fights for survival and confirmation. So much for ending the section 702 authority that allows the government to track conversations involving foreigners without a warrant.”
J “You should have known. The real Trump 2.0 is emerging. Don’t forget that many of the foreigners are engaged in illegal and dangerous activity.”
. . .
K “Let’s circle back at Thanksgiving and see if three phenomenon emerge this year. Expanding wars. Galloping inflation. Deepening recession.”
J “And metastasizing restiveness. Let’s revisit the topic on November 24 or so.”
K “World War III is now accelerating and this week in Romania.”
J “Stay tuned.”
. . .
K “Looking and listening to others, I sense that many are disquieted and enervated by the uncertainty.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at Time To MAAA: Make America America Again? (September 30, 2024).]
Bumper stickers of the week:
Make America ??????? Again
Expanding wars? Galloping inflation? Deepening recession?
“We’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq, and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somali, Sudan and, finishing off, Iran.” Wesley Clark
Stay tuned.
The Command Economy Is Failing; Cease Fiddling . . . With Interest Rates. Oh, And Happy Constitution Day! (September 16, 2024)
Posted in Economy, Federal Reserve, Inflation, Interest Rates, Unemployment on September 16, 2024 by e-commentary.org. . .
K “Commissar Powell of the Central Planning Committee is directly setting monetary policy and by default substantially shaping fiscal policy. I never thought I would say that a free market sounds downright liberating.”
J “Our July discussion about the cooked unemployment and inflation figures is on the money. They are proceeding from knowingly inaccurate and misleading information and cannot reach the right answer.”
K “An accurate calculation and evaluation of the facts and figures and understanding of our circumstances would compel a continuation of the current interest rate. The real economy is either in recession or ready to slide into recession.”
. . .
J “The Fed is concerned about the compounding interest on the national debt that must be financed day in and day out and the maturing debt on commercial real estate that must be refinanced in the next few quarters. The Fed is setting policy to protect the well-connected sectors. As it always does.”
K “The Fed is owned by the banks and the owners of the Fed do not want their borrowers defaulting when there is mucho money to be made refinancing the loans.”
. . .
K “The Fed in practice responds to almost every usually self-inflicted crises by transferring trillions to the billionaires.”
J “And they exacerbate income inequality almost as a matter of policy and with gross impunity.”
. . .
J “By keeping interest rates so low in the past, the Fed has knowingly punished and harmed honest and hardworking individuals who seek less risk and desire a historically reasonable rate of return on their money.”
K “By reducing interest rates, inflation will rise even more and partially inflate away the debt.”
. . .
K “The Fed should announce that interest rates shall remain unchanged for three years. That is a historically sound rate. Let the consequences follow. If there is economic pain, now is the time to address and accommodate the pain.”
J “Humans do not relinquish power. They have too much fun tinkering with the rates and playing with the public.”
K “Agree. Even this strategic and long term approach would be undermined because the Fed and the Treasury are still able to engage in all manner of machinations to expand and contract liquidity.”
J “At least make them do so without messing directly with interest rates. It is time to confront the can.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at the Categories “Federal Reserve” and “Interest Rates” and other related e-commentary.]
Bumper stickers of the week:
It is time to confront the can
Cease fiddling
Bankruptcies? Layoffs? Foreclosures? Evictions? Inflation? (July 29, 2024)
Posted in Bankruptcy, Economy, Inflation, Kleptocracy, Unemployment on July 29, 2024 by e-commentary.org. . .
J “Bankruptcies are up.”
K “And layoffs are rising.”
. . .
J “Foreclosures for property owners.”
K “Evictions for tenants.”
. . .
K “Washington and Wall Street continue to strip mine the American middle class.”
J “And do not remediate and reforest the lives and communities uprooted and destroyed in the process.”
. . .
K “The BLS, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, should drop the pretense and drop the ‘L’ in its name. The unemployment figures are a fraud.”
L “The National Bureau of Economic Research would not recognize a recession if it announced itself with flashing lights and marching band. I can see the lights and hear the band.”
. . .
K “And inflation is much higher than the figures distorted by the government. Some say the consumer price index known as the CPI should be called the ‘CP Lie’.”
J “Yet the thing we call the economy for the wealthy goes on its merry way.”
. . .
K “Maybe.”
J “Maybe.”
. . .
[Listen to the discussion titled “The Plunderers Now Run Our Economy” with Gretchen Morgenson interviewed by Adam Taggart at “Thoughtful Money” dated July 22, 2024. Reflect on the figures on layoffs, quits and hires at “Daily Job Cuts” and on public job cuts at MacroEdge’s “Job Cuts Tracker”. See the figures on real inflation at “ShadowStats”.]
[See the e-commentary at Is Inflation Inflating!?!? (April 26, 2021) written at a time when those in power insisted that inflation was transitory, Sixth Annual Noble Prize In Eco-nomics (October 11, 2021) acknowledging the work of John Williams accurately tracking the true rate of inflation at “Shadowstats”, Interning For Clio: Collecting, Protecting And Preserving The Record (April 4, 2022), The Taxonomy Of The American Economy (May 21, 2018) and Does Any Institution In America Function? Oh, And Happy Friday The 13th! (December 9, 2019) discussing, among other institutions, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and its fraudulent employment numbers.]
Bumper stickers of the week:
Unemployment: https://dailyjobcuts.com/ and https://www.macroedge.net/job-cuts-tracker
Inflation: http://www.shadowstats.com/
Fraud + Fraud + Fraud + Fraud + Fraud = / = Truth
Brother, can you spare a dime?
The Great Checkmate And The Great Seesaw: Interesting Rates (April 11, 2022)
Posted in Federal Reserve, Great Checkmate, Inflation, Interest Rates, Recession, Stagflation on April 11, 2022 by e-commentary.org. . .
K “I doubt the Fed will be able to increase 150 basis points [1.5%] this year before the economic pain is so great that they will be forced to flood the market with free money for the wealthy and exacerbate the obscene wealth divide.”
J “200 total basis points [2%]. I’ll go big. I cannot see them raising rates to a total of 250 or even 225 basis points. If they also start the ‘quantitative tightening’ at the same time, they will suffocate the markets.”
. . .
J “Some say we will get ‘deflation’ and others say we will get ‘inflation’ without being specific. We talked years ago about the deflation of bubble assets and the inflation of necessities that continues to get more distended and pronounced every day.”
K “As I recall, last April we recognized that inflation was permanent and was not transitory. The Fed did not shed the word ‘transitory’ until December.”
. . .
K “The self-inflicted Great Checkmate is inescapable. They say the bond market is about twice the value of the stock market. They say the equity market is about fifty trillion dollars. They say the gross domestic product of the United States is about twenty trillion dollars. If the Fed raises the Federal Funds Rate to provide a reasonable return to bond holders and to attempt to throttle inflation, then the stock market will fall, the housing market will fold its tent, and the federal government will strain to pay the interest on the national debt.”
J “The Great Checkmate is the Great Seesaw. The economy is allowed to teeter and then the economy is allowed to totter. The next year will be quite a roller coaster ride. Let’s compare notes at the end of the year.”
. . .
[See the “The Coming Global Financial Revolution: Russia Is Following the American Playbook” in “The Web of Debt” dated April 5, 2022 by Ellen Brown, the recipient of the Third Annual Noble Prize In Eco-nomics (October 8, 2018); consider the discussion of some of the possible changes and consequences of World War E in “The commodity currency revolution” in “Goldmoney” dated April 7, 2022 by Alasdair Macleod.]
[See the e-commentary at Careening Toward A Global Totalitarian Authoritarian Behemoth? And Then There Is The Fed’s Self-Inflicted Great Checkmate. (January 3, 2022), Third Annual Noble Prize In Eco-nomics (October 8, 2018), Economics And Finance: Girls v. Boys (June 4, 2018) and Gas / Au / Ag / Cu: The Great Commodity / Currency Wars: What’s Up? What’s Down? What’s Really Up? What’s Going Down? (November 17, 2014).]
Bumper stickers of the week:
Dragon < Eagle > Bruin; Dragon + Bruin > Eagle; Eagle + Bruin > Dragon
Free Assange Journalism is not a crime
“The geopolitical war also distracts attention from the urgent agenda of climate change, especially in light of recent indicators of global warming causing climate experts to be further alarmed. Other matter of global concern including migration, biodiversity, poverty and apartheid are being again relegated to the back burners of global policy challenge, while the sociopathic game of Armageddon Roulette is being played without taking species wellbeing and survival into account, continuing the lethal recklessness that began the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima more than 75 years ago.
In concluding, the question ‘why Ukraine?’ calls for answers. The standard answer of reverse racism, moral hypocrisy, and Western narrative control is not wrong but significantly incomplete if it does not include the geopolitical war that, while not now directly responsible for Ukrainian suffering, is from other perspectives more dangerous and destructive than that awful traditional war. This geopolitical war of ‘poor’ choice is now being waged mainly by means of hostile propaganda, but also weapons and supplies while not killing directly outside of Ukraine.
This second war, so rarely identified much less assessed, is irresponsibly menacing the wellbeing of tens of millions of civilians around the world while arms dealers, post-conflict construction companies, and civilian and uniformed militarists exult. To be provocative, I would say that it is time for the peace movement to make sure that the US loses this geopolitical war! To win it, even persisting with it, would constitute a grave ‘geopolitical crime.’” Richard Falk
Interning For Clio: Collecting, Protecting And Preserving The Record (April 4, 2022)
Posted in Biden, Covid / Coronavirus, Inflation, Newspapers, PMC, Press/Media, Ukraine on April 4, 2022 by e-commentary.org. . .
K “They say most prestigious internships today are unpaid and thus only available to the children of the well-to-do who do not need the money and are well on the path to doing the parvenu PMC thing.”
J “I cannot really say this undertaking has made either of us well-known or wealthy.”
. . .
K “I print an article, then scan the paper version and then save it along with a cut and pasted version of the URL in a separate file. What I find too often in a later search is that the article is simply deleted, not edited or distorted. Every now and every then, an article is materially modified. Adding ‘not’ at spots and deleting ‘not’ at other spots changes an article.”
J “And then you get ‘404ed’ so often. As I recall in computer network communications, the ‘HTTP 404’, ‘404 not found’, ‘404’, ‘404 error’, ‘page not found’ or ‘file not found’ are error messages. They are a hypertext transfer protocol standard response code – the good old http. The message indicates that the browser was able to communicate with a given server, but the server could not find what was requested. It is a good old server failure. Servers are failing far too often. By design. Servers are the new age HAL 9000 with far more sophisticated AI.”
. . .
K “From the first entry on January 30, 2020, the ‘Coronavirus Diary’ reveals quite an unreal and surreal ride. I structured my day to run by and do field research at Costco, Target, Walmart and other stores and venues to study the people, products, prices, perils and performance. In early February of 2020, I was one of the few Occidentals wearing a mask and knowingly nodded my head at the few Orientals also wearing masks. I bought up a box of pulse oximeters and gave them to folks who had no idea what they are.”
J “The thing with toilet paper and bottled water is unreal and surreal. Humanity is not going to make it. We are not going to make it.”
. . .
K “A six pack of Costco canned chicken breasts went from $10.89 to $13.99 last Tuesday and then to $15.99 in the last few days. The sign said $16.99, yet when I went back to double check the receipt, I discovered they charged $15.99.”
J “They are ready with a sign of our times. Costco Kirkland precooked bacon went from $10.99 about a year ago to $12.99 then to $14.99 then quite surprisingly to $12.99 and then in the last few days to $16.99.”
. . .
K “I followed the ‘print, scan and save’ practice and actually saved what was actually said or written about Covid-19 on a daily basis to have an immutable record. Some of the pieces are now ‘404er’ likely because the author is inconvenienced or embarrassed by the statements.”
. . .
K “The NYT is the ‘paper of record’ for the Narrative but not the ‘paper of record’ for the truth. Society needs another credible source to chronicle daily developments for current and future consumption and consideration.”
. . .
[See “Ukraine’s Propaganda War: International PR Firms, DC Lobbyists and CIA Cutouts” in “MintPress News” dated March 22, 2022 by Dan Cohen and “Psaki Reminds Reporters That Biden Doesn’t Speak For The President Of The United States” in “The Babylon Bee” dated March 29, 2022.]
[See the e-commentary at “Analog Knowledge Devices” (“AKD”): The Next “Currency” (July 10, 2017), Buy A Book? I’ll Pass. Read A Book? I’ll Play. Oh, And Happy National Book Month! (September 30, 2019), Covid-19 PanICdemic/Plague: Basically, Back To Basics: Finding Food; Printing Rutabagas. Happy Earth Day! (April 20, 2020) and “Just visiting, thank you.” (April 1, 2019).]
Bumper stickers of the week:
“The following content has been identified by the YouTube community as inappropriate or offensive to some audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.” [Blocking a conversation challenging America’s never ending wars around the globe.]
I got 404ed
Dragon < Eagle > Bruin; Dragon + Bruin > Eagle; Eagle + Bruin > Dragon
Sanctions, Supply Chains And World War E (March 7, 2022)
Posted in Covid / Coronavirus, Inflation, Kleptocracy, Markets, Russia, Sanctions on March 7, 2022 by e-commentary.org. . .
K “Seems like ten years ago, not two years ago.”
J “It was ten years ago. Covid time.”
K “In mid-February way back then, we were terrified that it was as virulent as a Hantavirus and more terrified that the rest of the public was oblivious to the threat. The threats to the supply chains were obvious to only a few.”
. . .
K “Two years ago they said that we needed two weeks to ‘flatten the curve’ but never said that they would take two years to ‘flatten the economy’ and transfer wealth to the wealthy and undermine small and independently owned businesses.”
J “They launched ‘helicopter money’ that dropped a dollar to the plebs for every hundred thousand dollars delivered to the Kleptocrats. What an experiment. We as a society tried wage and price controls in 1971 and helicopter money in 2021-2022. Inflation is no surprise; inflation is the consequence.”
. . .
K “Biden and Putin agree. Biden plans to boycott Russian oil and gas that is desperately needed in Germany and the West; Russia agrees not to provide the much needed oil and gas to Germany and the West. As dad would say, Biden is cutting off Europe’s nose to spite Europe’s face and Putin is providing the scalpel.”
J “Oil is life. Turning off and turning down the oil wells will not turn out well.”
. . .
K “Biden’s decision to cut off the Russian central bank’s access to most of its $630 billion of foreign reserves is a desperate and frightening move. Once again, the United States weaponized the monetary system and issued a formal declaration of ‘World War E’ against Russia. The rest of the world knows one truth – No one can trust the United States. There is nothing more important or precious than trust. Mark my words, there will be a new economic order that is fundamentally different than the current machinations.”
J “I tell you, for those of us on the outside, the early tell is when the manipulated paper gold price results in few sellers of gold and then a huge chasm between the manipulated price and the actual selling price between a willing seller and a willing buyer.”
. . .
J “Someone said that Russia holds 90% of the world’s neon that is critical for lasers and semiconductor manufacturing, 40% of palladium that is necessary for catalytic converters and 35% to 40% of Boeing’s titanium and over 50% of Airbus’s titanium. And then there is platinum and there is aluminum and there is rhodium.”
K “From what I read, Europe imports 28% of their oil and 40% of their natural gas from Russia. The U.S. is not happy with that reality yet cannot meet the demand. So the U.S. tells the Europeans to freeze. In the dark. That will play well in Potsdam.”
. . .
K “The move from the factory to the farm is as disquieting. In high school, they described the Ukraine as the breadbasket of what was then the USSR.”
J “We always flow back to oil. Oil is life; food is just oil reconstituted in another form. Someone observed that Russia and Ukraine account for 30% of the global wheat trade, 20% of the corn, 80% of the sunflower-oil exports and 12% of all calories traded globally. And they provide fertilizer to grow the products. Without fertilizer, farmers will not plant. The inescapable problem is that a car plant can be closed or opened at any time of the year, but a carrot must be planted at a specific time of the year governed by Gaia not by the government. The times to plant have passed and are passing. You cannot plant yesterday.”
. . .
K “You reap what you sow. We are not sowing.”
J “We are so in trouble.”
. . .
[See “If Russian Currency Reserves Aren’t Really Money, the World Is in for a Shock” dated March 3, 2022 by Jon Sindreu in the “Wall Street Journal”.]
[See the e-commentary at Covid-19: BAU v. BAU (February 24, 2020), Covid-19 PanICdemic/Plague: Basically, Back To Basics: Finding Food; Printing Rutabagas. Happy Earth Day! (April 20, 2020), Is Inflation Inflating!?!? (April 26, 2021) and Careening Toward A Global Totalitarian Authoritarian Behemoth? And Then There Is The Fed’s Self-Inflicted Great Checkmate. (January 3, 2022).]
Bumper stickers of the week:
“Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people.” Henry Kissinger
Two is one; one is none; none is none.
Socio-politico-economic experiments: 1971: Wage and Price Controls; 2020 – 21: Helicopter Money
“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Galatians 6:7
Ailing, Failing, Wailing And Bailing (September 27, 2021)
Posted in Bail In, Bailout/Bribe, Cryptocurrency, Federal Reserve, Inflation on September 27, 2021 by e-commentary.org. . .
K “The financial and economic system is insolvent not just illiquid. That will not endure.”
J “They can and will continue to print their way down Primrose Lane and kick the debt can down the highway. If any entity is ailing or failing, it can always start wailing and the Federal Reserve will start bailing.”
. . .
J “We will know that Bitcoin has arrived when the government bails out the holders of Bitcoin.”
. . .
K “These things happen in October.”
J “Not going to happen. Perhaps next October.”
K “You’re probably right. Let’s compare notes. On Halloween. This year.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at “Is Inflation Inflating!?!? (April 26, 2021)”, “Covid-19 PanICdemic/Plague: Basically, Back To Basics: Finding Food; Printing Rutabagas. Happy Earth Day! (April 20, 2020)”, “Covid-19: BAU v. BAU (February 24, 2020)”, “Twenty Sixteen (January 4, 2016)” and “They Can Print Money (November 2, 2015)”.]
Bumper sticker of the week:
A system that cannot go on forever will not go on forever
Is Inflation Inflating!?!? (April 26, 2021)
Posted in Deflation, Federal Reserve, Inflation, Interest Rates on April 26, 2021 by e-commentary.org. . .
K “‘Shadowstats’ by John Williams.”
J “‘Chapwood Index’ by Ed Butowsky.”
. . .
K “$8.99 two years ago, $13.99 one year ago and $22.77 one week ago. If it is available.”
J “$577 two years ago, $777 one year ago and $929 one week ago. If it is available.”
. . .
K “The inflation in what is generically referred to as ‘higher education’ must be analyzed over ten years. Tuition is tied to increases in schooling loans. The federal government makes more money available at steep interest rates which triggers the universities to raise tuition and hire more superfluous administrators.”
J “Housing prices are through the roof and only getting worse with the price of lumber and consumer durables rising.”
. . .
K “What happens when inflation undermines the real rates of return in the bond market and forces the Federal Reserve to consider raising interest rates?”
J “Raising the interest rate increases the cost of paying off the national Debt. Thus, the Fed must raise interest rates and must not raise interest rates.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary on stealth inflation at “Back Door Inflation (July 16, 2007)”, the dubious numbers advanced by the government at “The Economic Numbers Game (May 5, 2008)”, the underpayment of public benefits based on false and distorted information at “Social (In)Security And The C.P.I. (May 29, 2017)”, the consequences of thwarted supply lines at “Covid-19: BAU v. BAU (February 24, 2020)” and a treatise on housing at “Housing: Another Bubble Blown By Criminally Low Interest Rates (August 24, 2020)”.]
Bumper sticker of the week:
Whip Inflation When? How?
Stagflation?!? Hands Down Or Hands Up? (January 14, 2019)
Posted in Deflation, Economics, Inflation, Price, Stagflation, Stock Market on January 14, 2019 by e-commentary.org. . .
K “The way I see the economy unfolding and unfurling in the near future, everything in or on your hands right now (stocks, bonds, lands, rides, gloves, etc.) will drop precipitously in price and everything you need to get your hands on to live (grub, aqua, tent, bike, threads, etc.) will rise staggeringly in price . . . and in value.”
J “The old ‘lose-lose’ situation. So many people are living a hand-to-mouth existence without much in or at or on hand to use or to lose and not much in their pockets to hand over for daily necessities.”
K “One’s assets will halve, one’s expenses will at least double.”
. . .
K “For those who rode the rise, the taxes that were assessed on the assets as they rose in price will not be rebated when the assets retreat in price.”
J “And as the assets rose in price but not in real economic value, the ‘wealth effect’ induced and seduced the owners of the assets to spend more and to incur more debt because they thought they were effectively wealthier. Those spent monies are gone and those debts are still here and naggingly awaiting discharge.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at “The Fed: Deal with ‘Stag’; Deal with ‘Flation’? August 7, 2006)”, “Stagflation And The Fed (September 17, 2007)”and “Going Forward With The ‘Reverse Stock Split’ (February 5, 2018)” proposing to double or even triple or even quadruple the Dow overnight just for fun.]
Bumper stickers of the week:
Hard come, easy go
stocks/2 + bonds/2 + lands/2 + rides/2 + gloves/2 + etc./2 = Net Worth;
grub x 2 + aqua x 2 + tent x 2 + bike x 2 + threads x 2 + etc. x 2 = Recurring Expenses
e-commentary 