Tag: economy

Confusion swirls as Colorado imposes new retail delivery fee, catching businesses by surprise

Colorado consumers will start noticing a 27-cent fee on receipts for almost everything that gets delivered to them, including restaurant food, after Colorado’s new “retail delivery fee” took effect July 1.

The fee must be collected and paid to the state by retailers “on all deliveries by motor vehicle to a location in Colorado with at least one item of tangible personal property subject to state sales or use tax,” according to the new law.

The new fee is occurring at a time of record-setting inflation, spiking home prices, and a general sense of how unaffordable living in Colorado has become, particularly in metro Denver. It’s also occurring even as elected officials promise to do everything in their power to lift the economic burden on residents.   

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Rationing Has Already Started In Europe As The Entire Globe Plunges Into A Horrific Economic Nightmare

Up until the past couple of years, many of us in the western world always considered shortages to be something that only “unsophisticated” poor countries on the other side of the planet had to deal with.  But the last couple of years have shown us that painful shortages can happen to wealthy countries in the western world too.  At first we were told that they were “just temporary”, but the months went by and we just kept having more shortages.  In fact, in 2022 “supply problems” have become so serious that many supermarkets in Europe have been forced to strictly ration essential items at various times.  For example, it was being reported that due to the war in Ukraine flour, sunflower oil and sugar were all being rationed by stores in Greece…

After limiting the sale of some flours and sunflower oil online, Greek supermarkets are turning to rationing the sale of sugar as well, now including in their stores, over supply problems.

The AB Vassilopoulos is setting a maximum limit on the purchase of all brands of corn and sunflower oil and of flour per customer while Mymarket put a ceiling on sunflower oil purchases and Sklavenitis has added sugar to the rationed sales of corn oil through its online store, with a maximum of four packs, the products in high demand from restaurants, some of which said they have to stop selling french fries and other fried foods.

Over the past few months we have seen similar measures implemented in other major European nations as well.  For example, the war in Ukraine prompted some pretty severe rationing in Spain…

Sporadic shortages of products like eggs, milk, and other dairy products also hit Spain since the war in Ukraine began. And major supermarkets including Mercadona and Makro began rationing sunflower oil earlier this month.

Now, stores will temporarily be allowed to limit “the number of goods that can be bought by a client,” according to information in the Official State Gazette published on Wednesday.

Looking forward, natural gas rationing is the next big thing that many people in Europe are talking about.  The flow of Russian natural gas into Europe has been cut back, and it appears that this may soon cause widespread rationing in Italy…

Italy may start rationing natural-gas consumption to certain industrial giants, after Russia’s Gazprom halved supplies on Friday.

On the weekend, the newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that the Italian government and energy industry would meet Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the crisis, with the likely outcome being the introduction of a state of alert under the country’s gas emergency protocol.

And CNN is reporting that Germany is “one step closer to rationing supplies” now that Russia has decided to reduce the flow of natural gas going to that country…

Europe’s biggest economy is now officially running short of natural gas and is escalating a crisis plan to preserve supplies as Russia turns off the taps.

Germany on Thursday activated the second phase of its three-stage gas emergency program, taking it one step closer to rationing supplies to industry — a step that would deliver a huge blow to the manufacturing heart of its economy.

Of course there are other parts of the globe that are dealing with problems that are far, far more serious than what Europe is facing right now.

As I discussed in an article that I posted earlier this week, significant numbers of people are starting to literally drop dead from starvation in portions of eastern Africa.  Global food supplies just keep getting tighter, and the head of the UN is openly telling us that the world is heading into an “unprecedented global hunger crisis”.

So if you have plenty of food to eat tonight, you should be thankful.

Here in the United States, economic conditions are deteriorating fairly rapidly, and most Americans are completely and totally unprepared for any sort of a major economic downturn.  Earlier today, I came across yet another survey that shows that about 60 percent of all Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck…

“We find that consumers in all income brackets — including those who make more than $100,000 annually — are living paycheck to paycheck. PYMNTS’ research finds that 61% of U.S. consumers were living paycheck to paycheck in April 2022, marking a 9 percentage point increase from 52% in April 2021, meaning that approximately three in five U.S. consumers devote nearly all of their salaries to expenses with little to nothing left over at the end of the month.”

So what is going to happen when those people start losing their jobs in large numbers?

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The Engineered Stagflationary Collapse Has Arrived – Here’s What Happens Next

In my 16 years as an alternative economist and political writer I have spent around half that time warning that the ultimate outcome of the Federal Reserve’s stimulus model would be a stagflationary collapse. Not a deflationary collapse, or an inflationary collapse, but a stagflationary collapse. The reasons for this were very specific – mass debt creation was being countered with MORE debt creation while many central banks have been simultaneously devaluing their currencies through QE measures. On top of that, the US is in the unique position of relying on the world reserve status of the dollar and that status is diminishing.

It was only a matter of time before the to forces of deflation and inflation met in the middle to create stagflation. In my article “Infrastructure Bills Do Not Lead To Recovery, Only Increased Federal Control”, published in April of 2021, I stated that:

“Production of fiat money is not the same as real production within the economy… Trillions of dollars in public works programs might create more jobs, but it will also inflate prices as the dollar goes into decline. So, unless wages are adjusted constantly according to price increases, people will have jobs, but still won’t be able to afford a comfortable standard of living. This leads to stagflation, in which prices continue to rise while wages and consumption stagnate.

Another Catch-22 to consider is that if inflation becomes rampant, the Federal Reserve may be compelled (or claim they are compelled) to raise interest rates significantly in a short span of time. This means an immediate slowdown in the flow of overnight loans to major banks, an immediate slowdown in loans to large and small businesses, an immediate crash in credit options for consumers, and an overall crash in consumer spending. You might recognize this as the recipe that created the 1981-1982 recession, the third-worst in the 20th century.

In other words, the choice is stagflation, or deflationary depression.”

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Biden Claims Inflation Is ‘Worse Everywhere But Here.’ That’s Not Even Close To True.

President Joe Biden falsely claimed in a Tuesday speech for the AFL-CIO that inflation is hitting the rest of the world worse than in the United States.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 8.6% year-over-year as of May, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed last week. Over the same period, the Producer Price Index (PPI) — which tracks inflation for wholesalers — increased 10.8%.

“Under my plan for the economy, we’ve made extraordinary progress,” Biden nevertheless argued at the labor union’s conference. “And we put America in a position to tackle the… worldwide problem that’s worse everywhere but here: inflation.”

However, data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that the United States boasts higher inflation rates than many other developed countries. The 8.3% inflation rate seen in the United States as of April was higher than the 7.8% rate in the United Kingdom, the 7.4% rate in Germany, the 6.8% rate in Canada, the 6% rate in Italy, the 4.8% rate in South Korea, and the 2.5% rate in Japan.

“Energy prices remained the main contributor to inflation in France, Germany and Italy in April,” the OECD said, “while inflation excluding food and energy continued to drive inflation in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.”

The international organization recently increased its 2022 inflation forecasts for the world’s leading economies, including an upward revision from 4.4% to 5.9% in the United States — a level exceeding expected rates for Australia, France, South Korea, Norway, Switzerland, and Japan.

In response to the most recent inflation report for the United States, Biden again pinned the blame on “Putin’s Price Hike” — a reference to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its role in hiking global energy costs.

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Now Even The Elite Are Openly Admitting That America Is Facing An Absolutely Enormous Economic Crisis

Not too long ago, the elite were trying to put a happy face on our growing economic problems.  It was obvious that things were trending in a very alarming direction, but they kept assuring us that any bumps in the road were just temporary and that a new golden age of prosperity was just around the corner.  Needless to say, there were dead wrong, and now some of them are publicly admitting the truth.  For example, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon just publicly stated that an economic “hurricane” is rapidly approaching…

Jamie Dimon is no meteorologist, but the JPMorgan Chase CEO is predicting an economic “hurricane” caused by the war in Ukraine, rising inflation pressures and interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.

“Right now it’s kind of sunny, things are doing fine. Everyone thinks the Fed can handle this,” Dimon said at a Bernstein conference. “That hurricane is right out there down the road coming our way.”

JPMorgan Chase is one of the most important financial institutions in the entire world.

So it is a really big thing for Dimon to make a statement like this.

Of course he is right on target.  An economic hurricane is coming, and it is going to be far more horrible than most Americans could possibly imagine right now.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also just said something that is making a lot of headlines.

Last year she insisted that high inflation would just be “transitory,” but now she is openly admitting that she “was wrong”…

“I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take. As I mentioned, there have been unanticipated and large shocks to the economy […] that I, at the time, didn’t fully understand.”

.@SecYellen on inflation being transitory: “I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take. As I mentioned, there have been unanticipated and large shocks to the economy […] that I, at the time, didn’t fully understand.” https://t.co/AlrXn4kT0r pic.twitter.com/9tqxo0iA3B

— The Hill (@thehill) June 1, 2022

It isn’t exactly a surprise that she turned out to be completely wrong about high inflation being transitory.

We knew that she was wrong when she said it.

But I will give her credit for publicly admitting a mistake.  Many in Washington will never do such a thing under any circumstances.

At this point, it should be obvious to everyone that we are in the midst of an absolutely horrifying inflation crisis.

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Biden’s “Incredible Transition”: High Gas Prices, Supply Shortages Part Of Plan To Unleash Green Economy

As Americans bear the brunt of a sagging economy, the Biden administration appears to be  framing this as a good thing, believing that citizens will be better off in the future if current supply shortages and high gas prices spiral out of control.

The United States, according to President Joe Biden, is in the midst of an “incredible transition”—one that will pave the way for a green economy.

While the administration may tout the benefits of a sustainable future, the question remains as to what will happen to average Americans while this “transition” takes place.

More importantly, what’s the endgame of all this that Americans don’t know about?

Biden, during a May 23 joint press conference in Japan with the country’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, used the word “transition” to seemingly admit that soaring gasoline prices are just part of his administration’s overall plan for moving from hydrocarbons to renewables.

“When it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over,” Biden said.

The comment seems to suggest that ensuring the country’s gas supply is not high on Biden’s agenda, though the administration did announce to release of 1 million barrels of crude oil a day for six months between May and August.

Biden’s remarks angered some Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said the president is “painfully out-of-touch.”

“The pain at the pump every #NY21 family feels is a direct result of Joe Biden and House Democrats’ Far-Left agenda,” Stefanik wrote on Twitter.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) also took exception, writing on Twitter, “the only ‘incredible transition’ we want from Joe Biden is his transition to retirement.”

“Every family in America is paying record-breaking high gas prices thanks to @JoeBiden’s war on American energy—but the president doesn’t care,” Scott added.

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