Tag: Economic News

On The Way To The Fed

Over a year now Donny has been doing nothing but bad mouthing the Fed and now he has his chance to modify it to his way of thinking.

President Trump has made his choice for Fed chairman. The president, who teased the announcement Thursday night, said in a Truth Social post Friday morning that he is nominating economist Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor, to replace Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May.

  • “I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best,” the president wrote in a lengthy post listing Warsh’s accomplishments. “On top of everything else, he is ‘central casting,’ and he will never let you down.”

Warsh was a finalist in 2017 but lost out to Jerome Powell, who was renominated by Joe Biden in 2021. Trump later turned on Powell and has repeatedly said he regretted not picking Warsh, the Wall Street Journal reports. “Kevin, I could have used you a little bit here. Why weren’t you more forceful when you wanted that job?” Trump said at an event in 2020. “I would have been very happy with you.” Warsh, 55, became the youngest governor in Fed history in 2006.

Warsh served as a Fed governor during the 2008-2009 financial crisis and has since become one of the institution’s sharper critics. He was long a “hawk” who pushed for higher interest rates to control inflation but has more recently changed his position and pushed for faster interest rate cuts, aligning with Trump’s position, the AP reports. Warsh, once a free-trade advocate, has also lined up with Trump on tariffs, a position that could ease tensions between the White House and the Fed if he’s confirmed. The BBC reports that Warsh has a family connection to Trump: His father-in-law is billionaire businessman Ronald Lauder, a longtime Trump donor.

Confirmation is not guaranteed, the Journal notes. The Senate must sign off, and Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican on the Banking Committee, has vowed to block Trump’s Fed nominees while the Justice Department investigates Powell’s testimony about Fed building renovations—an inquiry Powell has described as a pretext to force lower rates. Warsh emerged as Trump’s favored candidate over National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett and two other finalists, BlackRock executive Rick Rieder and current Fed governor Christopher Waller.

Do not get excited yet….he is nominated but not confirmed by Congress.

If confirmed will he be just another Trump puppet?

But he has an ever changing opinion and that tells me he will most likely do whatever Donny boy wants…I do not see him stand up against a Trump onslaught….

Do You?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is Trump The Unifier?

Wait!  Wait!

Before you bust out into side splitting laughter I am not talking about what he is doing in this country which could NEVER be misidentified as unity but rather what is happening in Europe.

No my friends I have not partaken in the mushroom thing or hit the Irish whisky a bit too hard today.

As countries across the globe rewrite their trade rule books following the uncertainty posed by US tariffs, a new strategic report predicts that US President Donald Trump’s policies are just the medicine that the European Union needs to become a true single market, fuelling growth, productivity, and profits over the long term.

Although Europe won’t avoid a recession, coordinated fiscal support, likely monetary policy easing from the European Central Bank (ECB), and a renewed integration push “will soften the blow and boost long-term growth”. That’s according to a report by investment research company BCA, called ‘Trump The Unifier’.

“Ironically, Trump is doing more to advance European unity than anyone since Schumann, Monnet, and Adenauer,” Mathieu Savary, BCA’s Chief European Strategist, noted.

Despite the temporary 90-day pause on the 20% tariffs hitting EU goods exports to the US, BCA said a recession is definitely on the cards.

According to the report, the eurozone economy is plagued with uncertainty, weakening business confidence and deteriorating capital expenditure. These challenges arrive at a time when the region is already struggling, with GDP only growing a modest 0.1% in the final three months of 2024.

Tariffs and uncertainty are expected to push an already fragile economy into contraction for at least for two consecutive quarters around mid-2025.

The European Commission estimated tariffs could wipe out 0.2% of eurozone GDP by 2027. In a more severe scenario, if tariffs are permanent or if there are sustained countermeasures, this hit count amount to 0.5%-0.6% in three years’ time.

https://www.euronews.com/business/2025/04/16/trump-the-unifier-how-europe-could-benefit-from-trumps-policies

Could Trump and his moronic economic games be a godsend to Europe and the hope of some unity?

Europe is at a crossroads: suffer continued decline, which Draghi labels “a slow agony,” or regain its former status as a global power. One of the biggest obstacles will be to convince the different member states, including their publics, to take on the challenge. Draghi and others advocate for increasing the EU budget to prioritize large-scale investment projects such as digitization and issuing “common assets” bonds. However, countries like France, which has always seen the EU budget support for agriculture as untouchable, as well as Germany and the Netherlands, which are wary of taking on more EU debt, could be against both of these ideas.

European publics could be even more intractable when it comes to making the sacrifices required to reignite the continent’s economy. France’s much-needed pension reform has been so unpopular that it has effectively disabled the Macron presidency. Across Europe, as in the United States, the popularity of right-wing and populist anti-EU parties is growing. In France’s parliamentary elections, France’s far-right Rassemblement National (RN) won almost double the number of votes gained by Macron’s centrist National Renaissance party. In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz “saw his Social Democratic Party forced into third place behind the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right party. Overall, right-leaning parties in Germany took more than 45 percent of the vote.” More recently, Germany’s far-right AfD claimed its biggest electoral success since World War II, winning a regional vote in Thuringia and coming second in Saxony, two eastern German states. More years of slow growth and belt-tightening could increase public support for anti-EU populism.

Could Trump Be Good for Europe?

I hope Europe finds a way to use the Trump stupidity against him and locate the unity they truly deserve.

I would like to hear from my readers in Europe about this possibility.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Let’s Hear From The Egg-spert.

There are days when Donny just proves what a complete idiot he really has become…..and his latest statement on the cost of eggs proves yet again.

If you follow the news you know that eggs prices are headed even higher and yet that idiot ‘stable genius’ tells us they are too low….along with gas prices.

President Donald Trump, during a press conference today, seemed to get exasperated at a reporter asking him about egg prices, going on a bizarre rant that ended with him stating that ‘egg prices are getting too low.’

“You can have all the eggs you want. We have too many eggs. In fact, if anything, the prices are getting too low. So, I just want to let you know, prices are down,” Trump told the room of reporters.

This comes a day after Trump went on another egg rant at a press conference, denouncing Fed Chair Jerome Powell, where he complained about being tasked with lowering the price of eggs right after election. “The price of eggs, you know, when I came in, they hit me with eggs. I just got there,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“I was here for one week and they started screaming eggs have gone through the roof. I said, I just got here. I was there for seven days and I hear that eggs have gone through the roof before I got there. And they were screaming at me, the press, the fake news like you, you’re fake, and the fake news is screaming at me about eggs. I said, I’ve only been here, I just, this is my 7th day,” Trump went on.

The pressure on Trump on eggs and grocery prices also comes from some of Trump’s campaign stunts where he promised to ‘immediately’ fix egg and grocery prices. Trump held an August 2024 rally surrounded by groceries and proudly proclaimed, “When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One.”

Trump subsequently wrote on Truth Social: “EGGS & GAS PRICES – OUT OF CONTROL!!! Crooked Joe and the radical left DESTROYED affordability for hardworking Americans. It’s a TOTAL SCAM! On DAY ONE, I’ll SLASH prices—so fast it’ll make their heads spin. Big Oil? Big Farms? They’ll listen to ME, not lobbyists. NO MORE RIPOFFS!!! MAGA!!!”

U.S. egg prices rose again last month to set a new record-high of $6.23 per dozen – despite Donald Trump’s prediction that they were set to fall.

(irishstar.com)

What is Little Donny smoking?

Did I miss something?

Does he have inside information?

True gas has come down about 10 cents where I live but egg prices are still too flippin’ high….a dozen large eggs for around $5.00.

Does anyone take the time to let this demented toad know what is actually happening out here or does he just not give a crap?

At what point does it start looking like this person does not have a clue?

For me it was 85 days ago.

You?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

It’s “Liberation Day”

That is the moronic term used by Donny about his newest round of tariffs….it is so important that not much detail has been released.

First ask yourself….just what are we being liberated form…..a sane trade policy?  From what do we to be liberated?

Here’s what we know so far….

President Trump has been teasing Wednesday as “Liberation Day,” promising even more tariffs, but it’s not clear exactly what is coming. As the BBC notes, Trump has already instituted so many tariffs “it can be hard to keep track,” but he’s promised what the Guardian refers to as “the most sweeping rewrite of US trade policy” so far. The announcement is expected in a speech he’ll make at 4pm Eastern time, and the White House says the effects will be immediate. More from coverage previewing the event:

  • Trump has been focused on “reciprocal tariffs,” CNN reports, but details of what exactly that might mean are scant. One possible reason for that is, according to sources, advisers were still presenting possible plans to Trump as late as Tuesday.
  • Those plans include such possibilities as a flat rate of 20% levied on all imports or different rates for different countries, based on not only what tariffs they charge the US but on other policies Trump sees as unfair to US businesses.
  • It remains unclear just how wide of a net Trump will cast; he’s said the tariffs might apply to “all countries,” but in the past, more targeted lists have been floated. Developing countries, which have some of the biggest discrepancies between tariffs they charge the US versus what the US charges them, could be hit hardest.
  • Israel on Tuesday became the first country since Trump was elected to cancel all tariffs on US goods.
  • Meanwhile, a top European Union official warned Tuesday that the EU has a “strong plan to retaliate” if needed, CBS News reports.
  • Financial markets were “on edge” as “Liberation Day” loomed, Reuters reports. Markets have been tumbling amid the chaos, and while Trump says his tariff plan could bring in trillions in revenue, CBS News reports experts disagree. Though they do say billions could be brought in, they also warn that prices will rise.
  • More analysis here.

Trump has argued tariffs will raise revenue to offset tax cuts and revive US manufacturing. If he decides against a universal tariff, the alternative would be levying tariffs against individual trade partners. Trump has complained other countries tax American exports at a higher rate than America taxes theirs, as the AP reports. He’s indicated that, with pressure, countries might lower their tariffs on US goods. “But if tariffs are subject to negotiation, and could be lowered over time, that would raise doubts about how much revenue could ultimately be expected from their imposition,” the Journal reports. And “some aides are concerned about the effect tariffs could have on prices.”

Economists say Trump’s trade war has contributed to inflation and raised the odds of a US recession, reports USA Today, as well as alienating US allies. They say it’s unlikely that companies with overseas factories will relocate to the US, where they’ll face shortages of skilled workers, under the threat of tariffs that may be short-lived. Even if several did relocate, “the number of jobs created would be relatively small and more than offset by those wiped out in a recession, economists say,” per USA Today.

We will see just how deep the ‘hurt’ that Trump warned us about will go.

Are you ready?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Sovereign Wealth Fund?

Yet another brilliant idea from the hand of Lord High Destroyer.

The magic pen is at work again for the Orange con man of Wharton….this time he has created a sovereign wealth fund for the US….

President Trump signed an executive order Monday to create a national sovereign wealth fund, which could be used for the US to acquire a stake in TikTok. More than 100 countries have such funds, which act as national investment funds, controlling a total of more than $8 trillion in assets, the Guardian reports. “Other countries have sovereign wealth funds. They’re much smaller countries. They’re not the United States,” Trump said Monday. “We’re going to be doing something, perhaps, with TikTok. Perhaps not.” Trump said the fund could also be used to pay for government investments in infrastructure.

At least 20 states have their own sovereign wealth funds, with Alaska’s the largest at more than $80 billion. Trump’s order directs the Treasury and Commerce departments to take steps toward setting up the fund, Politico reports. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it could be formed within 12 months. He said the plan is to monetize assets owned by the US government “for the American people.” Trump has said he wants the US to hold a 50% stake in TikTok when its US business gets new ownership, and the fund “could be among the cleanest ways of giving the US a stake in the company without nationalizing it,” the Hill reports.

Trump didn’t offer details on how the fund would be financed. Sovereign wealth funds typically receive a government’s surplus as a “nest egg” for its citizens, reports Reuters, but the federal government hasn’t had a budget surplus since 2001. “Given the United States’ track record, a proposal that relies on hypothetical future budget surpluses is unrealistic,” experts at the Center for Global Development said last month. Officials in the Biden administration also discussed setting up a sovereign wealth fund.

This smells….it may sound good on the surface but deep down there is something else going on….

But just what is SWF?

There is an official definition of a sovereign wealth fund, written by sovereign wealth funds themselves in 2008 and published in Appendix I of the Santiago Principles. In short, this defines sovereign wealth funds as having three key characteristics:

  1. A sovereign wealth fund is owned by the general government, which includes both central government and sub-national governments.
  2. Includes investments in foreign financial assets.
  3. They invest for financial objectives.

These key elements exclude:

  • Public pension funds, which are ultimately owned by the underlying policy holders.
  • Central bank reserve assets, which are not invested.

But are these funds all they are cracked up to be?

One drawback of SWF is that, although expected, returns are not guaranteed. Exchange rates might be negatively impacted by a decline in SWF as well. Mismanagement of assets might happen due to the lack of transparency in some SWFs….And because SWFs are usually completely under the control of governments, they can be used to pursue purely political goals. Moreover, SWFs often have no fiduciary responsibilities or minimal reporting obligations, making it difficult to understand where a country’s money is invested.

There is the key to this proposal/EO……

What is the motive behind this?

I smell a con yet again…the lack of adequate transparency fits well into the Trump style of management(?)

He is going to bankrupt this country even worse than the 2 party system…..

And you dullards voted for this tool.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those Damn Gas Prices

We all get sticker shock at times when we stop off to fill our gas tank….but then it comes down a wee bit and we accept that as a lower price.

But why are all gas prices within a couple of cents of each other?

I believe that is called ‘price fixing’.

Consumer advocates demanded congressional hearings on alleged price fixing by oil giants on Monday after the Federal Trade Commission banned an executive from serving on the board of Chevron, saying he had colluded with international representatives to keep oil prices high.

The FTC said it would prohibit John B. Hess, CEO of the Hess Corporation, from serving on Chevron’s Board of Directors as part of Chevron’s acquisition of the company, citing Hess’ public and private communications “with the past and current secretaries general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and an official from Saudi Arabia.”

“In these communications, Mr. Hess stressed the importance of oil market stability and inventory management and encouraged these officials to take actions on these issues and speak about them at different events,” said the FTC.

The FTC’s complaint marks the second time since May that an oil executive has been accused of collusion and price fixing to ensure Americans would continue paying high prices for gas, adding an estimated $500 per year, per vehicle, in fuel costs for the average U.S. household.

…

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said that “jail time should seriously be considered,” highlighting the financial pain Sheffield’s actions added to households already struggling to afford groceries, childcare, and other essentials.

The five largest U.S. oil companies have reported more than $250 billion in profits over the last two years.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/ftc-oil-price-fixing

But I will bet that these thieves get away with it….after all they own the Congress.

It is not just the oil industry that is doing this….agribusiness….car dealers….you pick a commodity and there will be some sort of collusion going on.

These corporations will get a slap on the wrist and pay a small fine and promise to never do it again….a promise that is broken before the ink is dry on the deal.

Time for somebody to step up and take on these thieves….and I wait.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Being In Debt

A couple of points that are missing from the campaign trail.

We all know that the country works on debt….we constantly spend more than we take in….and yet no one wants to fix this problem because it might piss off a corporation or two.

Our national debt has a record high ….

It’s a record no one is happy about: The gross national debt in the US went above $35 trillion Monday, a first. The number (which, specifically, was $35,001,278,179,208.67) was noted in the Treasury Department’s daily report on America’s debt, the New York Times reports. Debt is accumulating at a quick clip, with the $34 trillion mark just having been passed for the first time in January, and the $33 trillion mark last September, Fox Business reports. Last month, the Congressional Budget Office said the national debt is on track to pass $56 trillion in the next decade.

he Times notes that given how little Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have said about the topic while campaigning for November’s presidential election, the problem will likely “only worsen in the coming years.” Social Security and Medicare largely drive the national debt, and there is resistance across the board to implementing cuts to those programs. Plus, interest rates are high, and some federal programs have proven more expensive than their original estimates. Meanwhile, federal budget deficits are also on the rise; the latest estimate for this year’s deficit is $1.9 trillion, which would be the third-largest in the country’s history and $200 billion more than last year’s.

Since neither candidate has said much about this problem it must not be important.

We could fix this problem, yes it would take time, by making the lay-about corporations pay their flippin’ taxes….

The country is not the only debt problem…..individual debt has also hit a record amount.

Americans owe more money than ever on their credit cards: $1.14 trillion. That’s after consumers added $27 billion to their tab in the second quarter, a 5.8% jump from the year before, a new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York says. Credit card delinquency rates increased, as well, CNBC reports. Borrowers ages 18 to 29 and 30 to 39 had the biggest delinquency increases; the New York Fed said those groups probably were heavily affected by COVID-19. They “may have overextended during the pandemic,” researchers said.

Americans used some of their pandemic-related federal stimulus money to pay down their credit card debt in 2020, said Ted Rossman of Bankrate in a statement. But balances shot up again starting in 2021, he said, per CBS News, “fueled by a post-pandemic boom in services spending as well as high inflation and high interest rates.” About 9.1% of credit card balances went into delinquency in the past year, the New York Fed found. The Urban Institute reported in May that more consumers are using credit cards to stay afloat, with 60% of them paying for their groceries that way. Overall, Rossman said, “More people are carrying more debt for longer periods of time.”

Credit cards are keeping some families afloat in this time of extreme prices…..

This will come back to bite us in the butt.

To paraphrase Marx….Credit is the opiate of the masses.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Tax Cuts And Jobs Permanency Act

An old con returns!

Fancy name for a con job that is over 40 years old….and still effective, believe it or not.

The title is a fancy name for the old BS of trickle down economics or Voodoo economics if you prefer.

I have been watching this con for decades that started with lover boy Reagan….just a reminder from 16 years ago….

The Humor That Is Trickle Down Economics

And now with an election looming we are hit with the con yet again….

They’re at it again. And it’s not even original: The trickle-down economics that two-dozen Republican governors and former U.S. President Donald Trump are reviving as you read these words has a long history.

“Trickle down,” of course, was the theory advanced by former President Ronald Reagan that if America only made rich people massively richer with staggering tax cuts, ending anti-trust regulation, and government subsidies for their industries, they would use all that extra free money to build new factories, hire people, and the abundance would trickle down to the average worker.

It was a lie, but it wasn’t the first time the GOP had tried that lie. Then knew exactly what they were doing, and what outcome it would produce. Instead of raising the pay of their workers, the rich people on the receiving end of Reagan’s, Bush’s, and Trump’s tax cuts simply added the cash to their money bins and investments, bought new yachts or trophy wives, and blasted themselves into outer space on penis-shaped rockets.

Nonetheless, Republican politicians think we haven’t noticed and they’re trying to pull it off again at both the state and federal level. A bill with 102 GOP co-sponsors (the Tax Cuts and Jobs Permanency Act) is in motion in the House of Representatives right now to double-down on Trump’s tax cuts.

How did we get here, and why are they still pushing something that’s so discredited it’s become a punch-line for late-night comedians?

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/gop-trickle-down-scam

The more ignorant among us will believe the trickle down con no matter what fancy name they assign to the bill.  They say Americans are wising up to the con…..I ask are they really?

Experience says they are not.

May I suggest that you pay closer attention to what will be your money and less to some smiling con man that tells you everything you want to hear.

One cannot feed or house loved ones on words.

Pay Attention!

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Biden/Trump Economic Outlook

College of Political Knowledge

The election is churning and we seem to have our two candidates, Biden and Trump, so why not take a look at what the economy would look like under each of them.

American voters have a lot on their minds ahead of the November presidential election.

For starters, inflation is keeping the cost of living high in many US cities, and astronomical home prices are preventing aspiring homeowners from buying. Issues like abortion access and tax policy are also a key consideration for many voters.

With the election six months away, Business Insider looked at President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump’s plans for eight major economic categories that affect Americans’ daily lives: domestic manufacturing, higher education, healthcare, housing, labor, taxes, tariffs, and trade.

“President Biden is going to keep fighting for working families — lowering the costs of prescription drugs, housing, and childcare; investing in our future; supporting workers and small businesses; and making sure big corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share,” Lael Brainard, the director of the National Economic Council, told BI in a statement.

Business Insider reached out to Trump’s campaign team but didn’t receive a response.

The analysis is based on the candidates’ past records as president and their promises on the 2024 campaign trail.

Jump to a category: Domestic manufacturing | Higher education | Healthcare | Housing | Labor | Taxes | Tariffs | Trade

Biden plans to do what is doing now……which is as little as possible to keep us peasants in line……Trump would not submit any ideas because he has none….so what do you think about the economy in the coming years?

There is something that I thi8nki deserves looking at…..we could use a new economic model this one is not working for anyone but the wealthy.

But we must also reassess the second belief—that taxes and transfers alone can address the vast inequalities that have brought American democracy to such a perilous juncture. Doing so will lead us towards a more fundamental rethink of our economic institutions, and the values that guide them.

This is partly a pragmatic response to economic reality. The massive increase in inequality since the 1980s in America was mostly driven not by a reduction in redistribution, but by the growing gap in earnings between low skill workers, whose wages have suffered an unprecedented period of stagnation, and college-educated professionals whose salaries have continued to soar. And while inequality has increased in most advanced economies, that it is so much higher in the U.S. compared to Europe is mostly the result of bigger gaps in earnings than lower levels of redistribution. In other words, even if America were to increase the generosity of the welfare state to European levels it would still be much more unequal.

But the need to look beyond redistribution is about more than economics, it is about resisting the narrow focus on money that dominates most debates about inequality, and the tendency to reduce our interests as citizens to those of consumers. While government transfers are essential for making sure that everyone can meet their basic needs, simply topping up people’s incomes fails to recognize the importance of work as a source of independence, identity, and community, and does nothing to address the insecurity faced by gig-economy workers, or the constant surveillance of employees in Amazon warehouses.

https://time.com/6977602/6977602/

We do need a new economic model but there is enough cash flowing into Congress to keep the status quo.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–06Feb24

I am one of those un-American people for I do not have any credit debt…..no cards……and an article I read tells the tale of the credit ‘crunch’…..

While the US economy is broadly healthy, pockets of Americans have run through their savings and run up their credit card balances after battling inflation for more than two years. Experts worry that members of these groups—mostly lower- and middle-income Americans, who tend to be renters—are falling behind on their debts and could face further deterioration of their financial health in the year ahead, particularly those who have recently resumed paying off student loans. Some key stats, per the AP:

  • Americans held more than $1.05 trillion on their credit cards in the third quarter of 2023, a record, and a figure certain to grow once the fourth-quarter data is released by FDIC next month.
  • A report from the credit rating company Moody’s showed that credit card delinquency rates and charge-off rates, or the percent of loans that a bank believes will never be repaid, are now well above their 2019 levels and are expected to keep climbing.
  • These worrisome metrics coincide with the average interest rate on a bank credit card of roughly 21.5%, the highest it’s been since the Federal Reserve started tracking the data in 1994.
  • “Overall, the consumer is credit healthy, said Silvio Tavares, president and CEO of VantageScore, one of the country’s two major credit scoring systems. However, the reality is that there are starting to be some significant signs of stress. Most analyses of Americans’ financial health tend to tell a tale of two consumers. On one side are the roughly two-thirds of Americans who own their homes and those who’ve invested in the stock market and done substantially well. But for the rest of America, those who have not benefited from the housing and stock markets, things are looking rough. “They’ve been hit very hard by inflation,” said Warren Kornfeld of Moody’s.

Read the full story.

(NO one will read the full story but it is there for those with an inquisitive mind)

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”