Tag: inflation

Wisconsin Reporter Puts Kamala Harris in the Hot Seat, Spars with Her Over High Grocery Prices, Asks Why She Hasn’t Already Done What She’s Proposing

Kamala Harris sat down for an interview with Wisconsin’s WISN 12 News Political Director Matt Smith with just 7 days to go until Election Day.

Matt Smith put Kamala Harris in the hot seat and asked her why she hasn’t already done what she is proposing.

“I think what some voters are struggling with, and we’ve heard this across the state [Wisconsin] is when you discuss your plan, they come back and ask, ‘well why haven’t you done it already?’”

Kamala Harris laughed and blurted out, “Well, I’m not president!”

“You’re Vice President!” Matt Smith said.

“Exactly, but I’m gonna tell you what I’m doing as president when I have the ability, then, to do what I know based on my experience is a new approach that is about building on the good work that is happened, but there’s more to do,” Kamala Harris said.

Kamala Harris did extraordinary damage as vice president since she cast the tie-breaking vote on the measures that brought us the worst inflation crisis in more than 100 years.

Keep reading

Why Nobody Believes The “Data”: Surging Prices Of Everyday Items Are Excluded From CPI

As inflation remains painfully high for American consumers, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is woefully inadequate in terms of reflecting reality.

For starters, CPI excludes several significant costs faced by households today – ranging from property taxes to soaring interest payments.

While price levels remain notably higher than before the pandemic, according to the CPI, inflation has slowed – reaching a 2.4% increase for the year ending in September. That’s only part of the picture, Bloomberg reports.

“The CPI is capturing the goods and services that you purchased for consumption, but there are things that affect your cost of living that are outside of that,” explains Steve Reed, a BLS economist. For instance, interest charges on rising consumer debt are largely absent from the CPI. Roughly $628 billion in revolving credit card debt now bears an average interest rate of about 22%, yet these costs aren’t reflected in consumer inflation data.

Keep reading

From High Inflation To Hyperinflation: How Close Are We?

The Federal Reserve is now entering a monetary easing and rate-cutting cycle in an environment of elevated inflation.

The last time this happened was during the 1970s, a decade that saw inflation spiral out of control.

The 1970s: An Optimistic Scenario

In the early 1970s, under Chairman Arthur Burns, the Fed faced rising inflation and concerns about economic growth and unemployment.

Despite elevated inflation, the Fed cut interest rates multiple times until 1972 to stimulate economic growth.

Inflation soared to over 12% in the months that followed.

In response to the rising inflation, the Fed raised rates aggressively in 1974, pushing the federal funds rate from around 5.75% to 13%.

However, as the economy entered a deeper recession, the Fed began cutting rates again in 1975 despite inflation remaining elevated at around 9%.

By the end of the decade, inflation had reached double digits again at over 11% in 1979 and peaked at 13.5% in 1980.

The raging inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s is a stark illustration of the danger of cutting interest rates in an environment of elevated inflation… such as the one we are in today.

However, as bad as the 1970s inflation was, I believe it’s an optimistic scenario.

That’s because the out-of-control inflation then was only tamed when Paul Volcker hiked rates above 17%… an option that is not available to the Fed today because of the skyrocketing federal interest expense.

In fact, the Fed could only raise rates to about 5.25%—less than a third of what Volcker had to do—before capitulating recently.

In other words, the higher the debt load, the less room the Fed has to raise rates because of the interest expense.

As the debt pile and accompanying interest expense grow exponentially, I am skeptical of their ability to hike rates to even 5.25% again; forget about higher than that.

Imagine what could have happened in the 1970s and early 1980s if Volcker could have raised rates to only 5.25% instead of over 17%.

This is the environment the US now finds itself in.

Keep reading

No Central Bank Wants To Stop Price Inflation

Many citizens want more government control of the economy to curb rising prices. It is the worst strategy imaginable. Interventionist governments never reduce consumer prices because they benefit from inflation, dissolving their political spending commitments in a constantly depreciated currency. Inflation is the perfect hidden tax. The government makes the currency less valuable by issuing more units of fiat money, partially dissolves its debt in real terms, collects more taxes, and presents itself as the solution to rising prices with subsidies in an increasingly worthless currency.

That is why socialism and hyperinflation go hand in hand.

Socialism rejects human action and economic calculation and sells a false image of a government that can create wealth at will by issuing more units of fiat currency. Obviously, when inflation arrives, the socialist government will use its two favorite tools: propaganda and repression. Propaganda, which accuses stores and businesses of driving up prices, and repression, which occurs when social unrest intensifies and citizens legitimately hold governments accountable for scarcity and high prices, are the two main strategies.

If you want lower prices, you need to give less economic power to the government, not more. Only free markets, competition, and open economies help decrease consumer prices. Many readers might think that we currently have a free market with competitive and open economies, but the reality is that we live in increasingly intervened and overregulated nations where central banks and governments work to perpetuate unsustainable public deficits and debt. Therefore, they continue to print more money, leading many to question why it is getting harder for families to make ends meet, buy a home, or for small businesses to prosper. The government is slowly eating away the currency it issues. They call it “social use of money.”

What is “social use of money”? In essence, it means abandoning one of the main characteristics of money, the reserve of value, to give the government preferential access to credit to finance its commitments. Therefore, the state can announce larger entitlement programs and increase the size of the public sector relative to the economy, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. The state issues more currency, which makes people’s money less valuable. Citizens become more dependent on the state, and they will demand more subsidies paid in the currency the state issues. It is, in essence, a process of control through debt and currency depreciation.

When governments and central banks talk about price stability, it means a two percent annual depreciation of the currency. Aggregate prices rising an average of two percent is hardly price stability because it is measured by the consumer price index, which is a carefully crafted basket of goods and services weighted by the same people who print the money. That is why governments love CPI as a measure of inflation. It fails to fully reflect the erosion of the currency’s purchasing power. This is why the CPI’s basket calculation fluctuates so frequently. Even if it accurately measures, it will underestimate the rise in prices of non-replaceable goods and services by adding them to a basket of things we consume maybe once or twice a year at best. When you put together shelter, food, health, and energy with technology and entertainment, there will always be distortions.

Thus, governments and central banks are never going to defend price stability. If aggregate prices fell, competition soared, and citizens saw their real wages rise and their deposit savings increase in real value, their jobs would disappear.

When a central bank like the Fed cuts rates and increases the money supply after an accumulated 20.4% inflation in four years, it is not defending price stability; it is defending price increases. This strategy serves to conceal the government’s financial insolvency. A currency with a declining value.

Keep reading

Global Food Prices Jump Most In 18 Months As Supermarket Inflation Storm Worsens

The world could be on the cusp of another food inflation shock as the benchmark for world food commodity prices recorded the fastest monthly increase in 18 months in September.

A perfect storm of war in Eastern Europe and broadening conflicts in the Middle East, snarled maritime supply chains, extreme weather across croplands, de-growth climate change policies pushed by the far-left in the West, and rogue central bank money printing have all contributed to sticky food inflation.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ Food Price Index, which tracks the international prices of a basket of globally traded food, averaged 124.4 in September, up 3% from August and 2.1% higher versus the same month one year ago.

Keep reading

Who Wins When the Longshoremen Go on Strike?

Some things are true — for collectivist communists and individualist capitalists, for all people, regardless of who they are.

For decades now, Americans have been inundated with propaganda that the only entity that cares for them is found in the Democrat party, as collectivism has been promoted as America’s savior and individualism and individual liberty have been castigated as “selfish” and self-serving.  But although there is no shame in looking out for one’s own interests, there is plenty of shame in it when you put the entire population and the nation at risk in the process, which is precisely what the International Longshoreman’s Association is doing, as it just went on strike, four and a half short years after the supply chain suffered a catastrophic break and economic repercussions the nation is still handling. 

Unionists and collectivists claim to be for “the little man” and “the working man,” but in reality, they are only for themselves.  They are special interest groups primarily seeking to make gains for only those who are associated with them, and to hell with all others. 

Early last month, the president and chief negotiator of the longshoremen’s union, Harold Daggett, detailed (15 min., 24 sec. mark) how he would shut the nation down unless his demands were met: “I will cripple you, and you have no idea what that means.  Nobody does.”

Yes, it certainly does sound as though Daggett and his people stand for the working man and all Americans, as one can readily see and understand that such a tactic will hurt all Americans, some more than others.  But these collectivists make anywhere between $85,000 and $200,000 a year, depending on how much overtime they work, whereas the average salary in America is approximately $56K.  Their demands are both unreasonable and unrealistic, as they now demand “a 77% percent pay raise increase over six years” and chafe against new technology for fear of lost jobs.  They all have nice little nest eggs set aside and can weather this shutdown infinitely better than those making only minimum wage, who will suffer during this strike, as shelves empty and many products become impossible to find, and all products’ prices rise to new, exorbitant highs. 

The cost of this strike will be approximately $4.5 billion per day, according to investment bank J.P. Morgan.  For each day, one can expect a week to recover, compounding the problem exponentially the longer it lasts.  You can bet your bottom dollar that the corporations will pass along this loss to consumers in higher prices for everything.

Americans concerned over individual liberty would never do this.  We understand that the best solutions are those that only serve all Americans equally.

Keep reading

Here’s How the Dockworkers Strike Could Affect Us

Just in case getting supplies isn’t expensive enough (or difficult enough in the areas hit by Hurricane Helene), now the dockworkers from Maine to Texas have gone on strike. And whether they win or lose their standoff, it’s the American consumers who will lose the most.

Last night, at midnight, the contract between the ports and nearly 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association expired. Workers immediately walked off the job. Thirty-six ports are currently affected by the strike.

(If you plan to use Amazon to stock up, please use my affiliate link to get there. It costs you nothing extra but helps us out a lot!)

What do the dockworkers want?

Well, your mileage may vary. Here’s their statement:

In a statement to ABC News early Tuesday, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) confirmed the union’s first coastwide strike in nearly 50 years was underway. The statement said that “tens of thousands of ILA rank-and-file members” started to set up picket lines at shipping ports up and down the Atlantic and Gulf coasts as of 12:01 am.

“We are prepared to fight as long as necessary, to stay out on strike for whatever period of time it takes, to get the wages and protections against automation our ILA members deserve,” ILA President Harold Daggett said.

Other information was added.

“We are prepared to fight as long as necessary, to stay out on strike for whatever period of time it takes, to get the wages and protections against automation our ILA members deserve,” Daggett said in the statement. “They must now meet our demands for this strike to end.”

The fight against having their jobs taken over by robot dockworkers is understandable. They note that the shipping companies made billions of dollars during the pandemic, and they feel some of that should trickle down.

The union’s opening offer in the talks was for a 77% pay raise over the six-year life of the contract, with president Harold Daggett saying it’s necessary to make up for inflation and years of small raises.

ILA members make a base salary of about $81,000 per year, but some can pull in over $200,000 annually with large amounts of overtime.

Keep reading

45,000 Dock Workers From Maine to Texas Go on Strike — Nation Braces for Inflation Spike and Supply Chain Chaos — Experts Warn U.S. Faces $5 Billion Loss a Day

Americans are now staring down the barrel of another crisis — this time, a strike involving 45,000 dock workers from Maine to Texas.

The result? A looming economic catastrophe that could cost the U.S. a staggering $5 billion in just one day while Americans brace for another skyrocketing inflation and severe supply chain disruptions.

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), representing workers at 36 ports from Maine to Texas, has made clear that the strike is not only about wages but also about job protection in the face of creeping automation.

The strike began early Tuesday morning as the contract between the ILA and the  United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) expired without a resolution.

“The Ocean Carriers represented by USMX want to enjoy rich billion-dollar profits that they are making in 2024, while they offer ILA Longshore Workers an unacceptable wage package that we reject”, the ILA said in a statement.

“ILA longshore workers deserve to be compensated for the important work they do keeping American commerce moving and growing. It’s disgraceful that most of these foreign-owned shipping companies are engaged in a ‘Make and Take’ operation: They want to make their billion-dollar profits at United States ports, and off the backs of American ILA longshore workers, and take those earnings out of this country and into the pockets of foreign conglomerates. Meanwhile, ILA dedicated longshore workers continue to be crippled by inflation due to USMX’s unfair wage packages.“

“In addition, the shippers are gouging their customers that result in increased costs to American consumers. They are now charging $30,000 for a full container, a whopping increase from $6,000 per container just a few weeks ago. In just a short time, they went from 6K, to 18K, then 24K and now $30,000. It’s unheard of and they are doubling their $30,000 fee stuffing the same container from multiple shippers. They are killing the customers,” the ILA concluded.

The union’s demands include a 77% pay raise over six years, a fair request considering the astronomical cost of living increases under Biden regime, and no automated machinery.

Workers began picketing at the Port of Philadelphia and Port Houston, among other locations, carrying signs that read, “No Work Without a Fair Contract.”

Keep reading

Deranged Leftists Want Trump ARRESTED For Helping People Pay For Groceries

Donald Trump helped some moms pay for their groceries and deranged leftists are big mad about it, claiming he was bribing people to vote for him.

As we highlighted earlier, Trump visited a grocery store in Pennsylvania and started handing out $100 bills to shoppers.

He told them that he’d effectively do the same when in the White House again with his economic policy of keeping taxes low, reducing business regulations and stimulating domestic energy production  to lower costs.

Meanwhile Kamala Harris and the Democrats can’t even describe any details of her plan to lower inflation.

A surrogate for Kamala made an absolute fool of herself on live TV.

But worse still, TDS suffering haters couldn’t handle footage of the bad orange man helping everyday Americans out.

Keep reading

Analysis: Green New Deal will make your electric bill SURGE by at least 28 times its current cost

An analysis has found that the Democratic Party’s Green New Deal plan could see electric bills multiply by as much as 28 times.

This is according to a report by the think tank the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, which found that the Green New Deal’s proposed plan to shift the United States’ energy system to be run solely on renewable energy could make electricity bills soar to 28 times its current cost.

Dr. David E. Wojick, a journalist a policy analyst, breaks down some of the major costs that come with implementing the Green New Deal.

The first is the need for massive amounts of battery storage. Replacing fossil fuels with energy harnessed from renewable sources like solar and wind power would require that there be around 250 million megawatt-hours worth of storage capacity in the United States.

If battery storage costs $300,000 per megawatt-hour, the total price tag for these batteries comes to a staggering $75 trillion. Spread over 20 years, that amounts to $3.75 trillion each year.

With U.S. households using about 1.5 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity yearly, this cost translates to roughly $26,250 per household annually – 14 times higher than today’s average bill of $1,800.

Electrifying transportation and heating would double the electricity demand – potentially pushing costs up even further to $52,500 per year per household, or 28 times the average.

While these figures paint a grim picture, it is important to remember that they are based on current estimates and assumptions. Battery costs could decrease or new technology might improve efficiency. However, the sheer scale of this shift presents a significant challenge and it is unlikely economic changes or technological shifts would suddenly make the Green New Deal a profitable endeavor for American households.

Keep reading