Inflation is running rampant and no one in DC will do a goddamn thing about it…..the latest numbers tell the tale…..
The consumer price index for June is worse than expected—and what was expected was bad. The CPI was up 9.1% year-over-year in June, above economists’ prediction of 8.8%. Even that estimate was worse than May’s 8.6%. The last time inflation was this high was in November 1981, reports MarketWatch. The so-called core CPI, which takes volatile food and energy prices out of the equation, was up 5.9%, slightly higher than the 5.7% estimate. The AP observes the reports “likely seal[s] the case for another large interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve, with higher borrowing costs to follow.” Dow futures were down 300 points on the news.
“A higher inflation rate … will put more pressure on the Fed to increase the interest rate more than expected, and that increases the possibility that the US is going to enter a recession,” University of Cincinnati economist Hernan Moscoso Boedo told ABC News prior to the CPI data being released.
The Wall Street Journal reports gasoline prices surged more than other categories, with an 11.2% gain over May. Some economists are hoping we’re at or near an inflation peak: Gas prices, for instance, were at $5 a gallon in mid-June but were down to a $4.66 nationwide average Tuesday—”still far higher than a year ago but a drop that could help slow inflation for July and possibly August,” per the AP.
They say (whoever the Hell ‘they’ are) that productivity is a better indication of the health of an economy than jobs (which is the focus of any economic report)….
We all are suffering from the creeping inflation that is plaguing this country…..and the best our government can do is try to protect profits for the oligarchs that control everything.I suggested that Biden consider price controls to give our citizens a break from the crushing inflation…..I was scolded for such a idea because it would make our national productivity suffer…..and yet without this ‘control’ it is already down…..
June’s employment report surprised most analysts, as US businesses added 372,000 jobs, way above expectations. The strong numbers dampened talk of impending recession, but what do they say about the strength of the economy overall? By themselves, they don’t really say much, according to New York Timeseconomics columnist Peter Coy. To get a truer sense of what’s happening—and what the future may hold—Coy says to pay attention to productivity, defined by the BLS as output per hour worked. That number shrank in the first quarter at a surprising 7.3% annual rate and is “on track for one of its worst 12-month performances” since 1947, Coy writes. That means GDP isn’t growing despite strong hiring.
The pandemic has a lot to do with it, but not for reasons most people might have expected in 2020. Back then, the economy experienced a productivity surge, which many analysts chalked up to deployment of new technologies to accommodate a homebound workforce. But it turns out 2020’s labor output was skewed by a change in the mix of workers, as lower-skilled, lower-paid workers were laid off but skilled workers remained.
Low-skilled workers are in high demand now, forcing companies to hire “less productive workers that in normal circumstances would not be active,” and output is inevitably falling as a result. Increased hiring and decreased productivity tend to signal that “businesses’ costs are rising and profits are getting squeezed,” and that scenario tends to end with layoffs.
Read the whole column here.
Lots of excuses of why this is……excuses does not help the situation…..many blame the output of the workers….why? Workers only produce what they are told to produce…..
I still think that some sort of price controls would help me and my fellow Americans that are struggling with the situation these days.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
In Saner Thought 