Tag: Economic Woes

The Real Cost Of Trump Tariffs

Donny brags about how much money he has made off of these tariffs and that it will pay for so many things…..but there is a real cost of all this silliness.

President Trump’s policies aren’t just affecting affordability ot everyday items for shoppers, but even businesses are feeling the heat. While some names, including Costco, have sued the administration for tariff refunds, more than 700 US businesses filed for bankruptcy in 2025, the highest number since 2010 and a 14% increase from the previous year. Tight credit, high interest rates, persistent cost pressures, and growing import costs as a result of Trump’s chaotic trade tariffs are a few of the reasons for this spike. In contrast to earlier patterns that were dominated by retail bankruptcies, this year’s impacted industries were primarily industrial, such as manufacturing and transportation, while consumer-focused companies, such as fashion, suffered large losses as inflation forced them to prioritize necessities.

Notably, the first half of the year saw 17 significant bankruptcies involving businesses with assets over $1 billion. Chapter 7 liquidations and Chapter 11 reorganizations made up the total number of filings. Along with other significant firms like Rite Aid, high-profile filings included 23andMe, Hooters, Nikola, Spirit Airlines, and Party City, The Washington Post reported. The figures were calculated according to a recent survey by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Despite Trump’s ‘Made in America’ proposals, which gave momentum to tariffs favoring local production, federal data showcased that the manufacturing sector shed more than 70,000 jobs in November. According to economists, businesses that rely heavily on imports are finding it difficult to control the increased expenses brought on by Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. As Americans cut back on non-essential spending due to inflation, consumer-facing businesses, especially those that sell discretionary goods, are seeing an uptick in bankruptcy filings.

“These companies are acutely aware of the affordability crisis confronting the average American,” Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at Yale’s School of Management, stated. “Those with pricing power will pass on the costs over time. Others will fold,” he added. Manufacturers and suppliers have been severely impacted by tariffs on steel and energy-related equipment, especially in the renewable energy sector. Increased tariffs on imported solar equipment and the loss of government clean-energy incentives caused PosiGen, a solar installer located in Louisiana, to file for Chapter 11 in November.

https://marketrealist.com/why-did-700-bu/

Looks like the first year of the Uncle Donny tour was just peachy….the only people that will make out from this is Donny’s billionaire buddies that are helping eliminate any competition….so much to that elusive ‘free market’….

Not to worry it will only get worse.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The ‘Dream’ Is Dead!

An article I recently read is what made me want to look deeper it this subject….

CNN data analyst Harry Enten crunched the numbers and discovered a large swathe of U.S. residents no longer believe in the American dream.

“America, we have a problem,” said Enten, describing a growing nation of economic pessimists.

“If you work hard, you’ll get ahead: that is the American dream,” said Enten. “[Respondents answering] ‘Never/Not true now’, in 2010 to 2011, 15 years ago, it was 51 percent who said it wasn’t true. Now look at this number! Whooo! Through the roof: 70 percent.”

https://www.alternet.org/american-voters-pessimism/

I have written a couple of times about the death of the American Dream….not too many agreed with me but I continue to believe that it has passed away.

The ‘American Dream’ Has Died

A new survey shows me that I am not as alone as I thought I was thinking the ‘Dream’ has died.

A new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll paints a dim picture of Americans’ faith in upward mobility. Just 25% of respondents believe they have a decent shot at improving their standard of living—a record low since the survey began in 1987. More than three-quarters of those who responded to the poll, which the Independent notes was “fittingly published” on Labor Day, expect that the next generation will fare no better, signaling a widespread loss of confidence in the American dream.

Almost 70% of those polled now say the idea that hard work pays off “no longer holds true or never did,” the highest level of skepticism in more than a decade. The pessimism spans political and demographic lines. While Republicans are slightly less gloomy than Democrats—consistent with the tendency for the party out of power to hold a darker view—majorities across gender, age, education, and income levels express anxiety about their future prospects.

Despite recent improvements in how people rate the current economy, concerns linger. Inflation, job security, and the soaring cost of housing weigh heavily. Only 17% now view the United States as having the world’s best economy, down sharply from just a few years ago. Many respondents across income brackets report feeling economically fragile, even when their finances are solid on paper.

Since the pandemic, economic mood has soured, even as metrics like unemployment and the stock market suggest resilience. Economists suggest today’s unease may be rooted less in current conditions and more in uncertainty about the future. A similar question in a July poll by Quinnipiac University found that 50% of respondents were also souring on the American dream, per the Miami Herald.

What say you…..is the American Dream deceased?

Can it ever be revived?

Well can it?

How much more must the American people suffer before someone steps up and leads?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Tariffs: The Real Story

***Note this is a rather lengthy post on the tariffs that the Trump Administration are so proud of and with the promise of a better tomorrow.  If you do not care that your life and livelihood are about to change and not for the better then this post will mean nothing to you….pass it by***

Donny’s tariffs are the promise of so much and all it will deliver will be higher prices making your life difficult while billionaires will make up like bandits and without guns.

Let’s begin with the ‘Tariff King”…..that is what Donny named Pres. McKinley because of hos imposing of tariffs back in the day….I explain McKinley’s policies in a previous post….

More Tariff Talk

Here is the real story of McKinley’s tariffs….

It is true that the self-styled “tariff man”—his political opponents preferred the more derisive “Napoleon of protection”—was the biggest public face of mercantilism during America’s high-tariff era of 1870–1912. As a congressman, he wrote what came to be known as the “McKinley tariff” of 1890, and as president he signed another increase in 1897.

But a funny thing happened after the U.S. came out of the Panic (and subsequent four-year depression) of 1893: Goosed by sharp increases in domestic iron and copper production, Americans had too many goods chasing too few consumers. And McKinley himself began agitating to tear down some of those trade barriers.

“What we produce beyond our domestic consumption must have a vent abroad,” he said in September 1901 at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. “The excess must be relieved through a foreign outlet, and we should sell everywhere we can, and buy wherever the buying will enlarge our sales and productions, and thereby make a greater demand for home labor. The period of exclusiveness is past,” he continued. “The expansion of our trade and commerce is the pressing problem. Commercial wars are unprofitable….If perchance some of our tariffs are no longer needed, for revenue or to encourage and protect our industries at home, why should they not be employed to extend and promote our markets abroad?”

McKinley’s presidency was ended by an assassin’s bullet the very next day.  (please do not consider that option)

https://reason.com/2025/04/06/trump-is-wrong-about-mckinleys-tariff-legacy/

Donny has many promises around his ill advised tariffs and his calculations are in error….this analysis is issued by the AEI, a conserv think tank…..

Two scholars at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a conservative think tank, found the White House used the wrong value when assessing the rate at which prices would change as a result of tariffs. The correct version of the formula uses price changes in the cost of imports, meaning how much it costs a U.S.-based company to buy a good from a foreign seller. Instead, the White House factored in the retail price change, which is what consumers pay.

That meant the formula was off by a factor of four, because the White House valued the elasticity of import prices at 0.25 when it should have been 0.945, according to AEI.

“It’s pretty bush league,” Stan Veuger, one of the AEI fellows, told Fortune in a phone call. “For such a big policy you’d expect a much higher level of professionalism.”

Using the wrong value rendered the formula inaccurate, according to Veuger and his coauthor Kevin Corinth.

“Now, our view is that the formula the administration relied on has no foundation in either economic theory or trade law,” Corinth and Veuger wrote. “But if we are going to pretend that it is a sound basis for U.S. trade policy, we should at least be allowed to expect that the relevant White House officials do their calculations carefully.”

Another AEI economist, Derek Scissors, went even further, saying the administration hadn’t made a mistake so much as intentionally fudged the math to get the outcome officials wanted.

“This whole thing was rigged,” Scissors said Monday on CNBC. “It was a manipulated way to get very high tariffs because President Trump wanted to announce very high tariffs.”

https://fortune.com/2025/04/07/trumps-tariff-formula-was-rigged-to-get-inflated-rates-and-it-used-the-wrong-value-for-one-of-its-variables-conservative-think-tank-says/

Donny has taunted is “Liberation Day’ as a miracle off K Street….but he is wrong on so many accounts.

…

Economically, Trump’s fixation on goods makes no sense. This view is not unique to the president (though he feels it unusually strongly). There is a broader fetishisation of manufacturing in many countries. One theory is that it is potentially ingrained in human thinking by pre-historic experiences of finding food, fuel and shelter dominating all other activities.

But for Trump, the thinking is likely related to a combination of nostalgia for a bygone (somewhat imagined) age of manufacturing, and concern over the loss of quality jobs that provide a solid standard of living for blue collar workers – a core part of his political base.

Nostalgia is not a sensible basis for forming economic policy. But the role emotions play in international affairs has been receiving more attention. It has been identified as an “emotional turn” (where the importance of emotion is recognised) in the discipline of international relations.

Of course, that’s not to say that the concern over jobs and the unequal effects of globalisation is misplaced. It is clear that blue-collar workers have suffered in the US (and elsewhere) for the last 40 to 50 years, with governments paying little attention to the decline.

https://theconversation.com/trump-thinks-tariffs-can-bring-back-the-glory-days-of-us-manufacturing-heres-why-hes-wrong-253991

All this from the ‘stable genius’ who supposedly went to the Wharton Business School at the Univ of Penn….but he actually shows a kindergarten approach to economics…..

President Donald Trump said that he hopes to erase the U.S. trade deficit with other countries—but anyone who understands economics knows that wouldn’t be a good thing.

…

A trade deficit isn’t a “loss,” regardless of what Trump thinks. A trade deficit simply means that one country spends more on goods from another country than that country spends on goods from them.

Crucially, economists say that having a trade deficit is not an inherently bad thing at all, because the U.S. simply can’t and shouldn’t make everything. Trump’s insistence that the U.S. is being taken for a ride betrayed a fundamental misunderstanding of economics that is built on a dislike of other countries and a desire to be the dealmaker responsible for a new world order.

Trump warned that it would be the “worst” for China. In 2024, the United States had a $295.4 billion trade deficit with China. Trump said that China would need to “solve their surplus” before he would be willing to make a deal on tariffs.

https://newrepublic.com/post/193677/donald-trump-tariffs-deficit-understanding

Sorry Donny is a lot dumber than most consider….his tariffs prove it….

There’s a lot to say about these tariffs and how destructive they are, and most of it has been said. My colleague Timothy Noah wrote about the stupidity of tariffs as policy and how Trump has already cost him personally thousands of dollars. But I want to focus on something different here. I want to focus on Trump’s understanding of history. It’s so shockingly dumb—yes, even for him—that it’s hard to believe that we have a president of the United States who is this ignorant.

Here’s what Trump said the other day, and he has said versions of it a number of times: “In the 1880s, they established a commission to decide what they were going to do with the vast sums of money they were collecting. We were collecting so much money so fast, we didn’t know what to do with it. Isn’t that a nice problem to have?”

OK. First of all. Nobody can tell what commission he’s talking about. President Chester Arthur empaneled a commission that recommended reducing tariffs by 20 to 25 percent, going hard against the conventional wisdom of the day. But Congress defied him, lowering tariffs by just an average of around 1.5 percent (and yes, that’s another thing—Congress is supposed to set tariffs, not the president, making this move, among other things, an impeachment-worthy “abuse of power,” a phrase invoked by The Wall Street Journal editorial board Thursday).

But more importantly, there’s this. Allow me to put this as Trump himself might on Truth Social: THE MAN IS AN IDIOT!!!

https://newrepublic.com/post/193614/donald-trump-tariffs-dumb-history-income-tax

This is why his policy is so appealing (for now) to the peasants that support him….they have very, very limited knowledge of how economics works…so they will fall for some bullshit story every time.

Donald Trump has once again proven himself to be the most economically ignorant president in US history.

His so-called “Liberation Day” is nothing more than a desperate con job designed to fool Americans into believing he is fighting for their prosperity while, in reality, he is setting the economy on fire. His tariffs, sold as a bold move to protect American jobs and industries, will do no such thing. Instead, they will send prices soaring across the country, driving up costs for consumers, businesses, and manufacturers alike.

Trump has made a career out of blaming others for his failures, and this time, he is pinning economic hardship on foreign nations while forcing American families to foot the bill for his disastrous policies. At the same time, thousands across the world may lose their jobs.

Let’s not forget that Trump promised to cut inflation on “day one” of his presidency. Yet, what has he actually done? He has unleashed an economic wrecking ball on global markets, sending shockwaves through the financial world and triggering a fresh wave of instability.

Instead of taming inflation, he is fuelling it at a reckless pace, proving once again that his economic strategy is nothing more than hot air wrapped in populist bravado. The impact is already being felt worldwide, with British pensions losing billions in value as a direct consequence of Trump’s actions.

(irishstar.com)

But the truth is glaringly obvious to anyone with even a basic understanding of economics: tariffs are a tax on consumers. The burden doesn’t fall on China, Mexico, or Europe – it falls squarely on American workers, farmers, and families.

Prices on everyday goods will climb, businesses that rely on international supply chains will suffer, and the supposed economic “boom” Trump keeps bragging about will collapse under the weight of his own incompetence.

Trying to explain his tariffs Donny used Biden as an excuse….

“Our past ‘leaders’ are to blame for allowing this, and so much else, to happen to our country,” the former host of The Apprentice declared. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump added: “This is despite the fact that the biggest abuser of them all, China, whose markets are crashing, just raised its tariffs by 34 percent], on top of its long term ridiculously high tariffs (Plus!), not acknowledging my warning for abusing countries not to retaliate. They’ve made enough, for decades, taking advantage of the Good OL’ USA!”

Of course he would use Biden….that is a cowards way out.

Sorry people but this whole tariff thing is one big con….

…

“Instead of coming up with a real plan to get American workers a fair shake, he’s making the United States into an international joke and driving up prices for U.S. consumers,” he added. “If Republicans in Congress allow him to keep this up, Trump will keep yo-yoing on tariffs and using threats to pressure U.S. companies to stay in line instead of fighting back against this senseless economic war on American families.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a longtime critic of “disastrous unfettered free trade deals,” said in a lengthy statement that “targeted tariffs can be a powerful tool to stop corporations from outsourcing American jobs… But Trump’s chaotic across-the-board tariffs are not the way to do it.”

“What Trump is doing is unconstitutional. Trump has claimed supposed ’emergency’ powers to bypass Congress and impose unilateral tariffs on hundreds of countries… This is another step toward authoritarianism,” the senator asserted. “And let’s be clear about why Trump is doing all this: to give massive tax breaks to billionaires.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-pauses-tariffs

Side note:  China tariffs will now be 125%….that means that iPhone and Apple geeks will be paying through the nose for the product….will they still wait in long lines for the newest version?

People need to read this especially those ‘smart’ people that think Donny is on their side.

As proof that he is not on your side…..after his infamous rollback….

Donald Trump is openly bragging about just how much money his billionaire buddies made off of his dangerous tariff gambit.

After announcing a 90-day pause Wednesday on his sweeping “reciprocal tariff” policy on nearly every country—with the exception of China—Trump was excited to take credit for making a buck for his guests at the Oval Office.

“He made $2.5 million today, and he made $900 million! That’s not bad,” Trump said, pointing to financial investor Charles Schwab and Roger Penske, a Nascar team owner, respectively.

Schwab’s estimated net worth is $12.6 billion, while Penske’s is $5.6 billion.

Bloomberg reported that Wednesday was the “best day ever” for billionaires, as the world’s wealthiest people raked in a heaping $304 billion as the markets shot back up.

The day’s biggest individual winner should come as no surprise: Elon Musk made a whopping $36 billion as Tesla stock soared up 23 percent. Trump’s surprising decision to temporarily back off his steep tariffs has sparked major concerns of obvious market manipulation, and even potential insider trading.

https://newrepublic.com/post/193860/donald-trump-brags-tariff-pause-made-billionaires-richer

How much did you make off his game?

Please look at all angles and stop letting petty biases get in the way.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those Damn Food Prices

It is another Fall Sunday and down here the temps have cooled a bit (but for how long?) and my attempt to bring a little FYI to your day.

We all have had sticker shock when we visit our local supermarket…..am I right?  It seems that nothing comes down and just keeps eating into our wallets.

Some say that food prices lead to the victory in the last election.

Where do live?

How are prices in your state?

I live in Mississippi and you would think that because of the low wages and living standard we would be on the low end of the scale of prices…..if you think that then sorry but you would be wrong.

Curious how the price of eggs (and other groceries) is really looking across the country? Visual Capitalist has the scoop on how grocery shopping averages out across the US, with the median household dropping $270 on a weekly haul. That’s up about 20% nationwide since August 2020. Wisconsin fared best in the analysis—with households dishing out about $221 per week—while these 10 states had the most costly grocery tabs in America:

  1. Hawaii: $334 per week
  2. Alaska: $329
  3. California: $298
  4. Nevada: $295
  5. Mississippi: $291
  6. Washington: $288
  7. Florida: $287
  8. New Mexico, Texas: $286 (tie)
  1. Louisiana: $283

See the full list on Visual Capitalist.

Find your state and be thankful, if lower than MS, that you do not live here.

But why are food prices so high?

There are probably many things to answer for these increases but the one that I believe is the best contributor is….greed.

Grocery stores’ profit margins increased in recent years, according to a March 2024 report by the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC report notes that food and beverage retailers saw their revenues outpace their costs by more than 6% in 2021. That was a new high for that particular profit measure until 2023, when it reached 7%.

Food manufacturers have relied on price hikes and other tactics to maintain profitability, as well. Take chocolate for example, which has become even more expensive to make this year because of record-high cocoa prices. Companies saw shoppers become more sensitive to chocolate prices as they went up. While shoppers spent more money on chocolate in each of the past two years, they actually cut back on the quantities they bought, according to NielsenIQ data provided to NerdWallet in March.

When that happens, companies know they can’t keep raising prices without further impacting their sales volume. Instead, they make other product changes, like shrinking packages, giving you less product for the same price. That maneuver is known by detractors as shrinkflation.

Members of Congress and the Biden administration have taken turns slamming food companies for these tactics. President Joe Biden called out “shrinkflation” during his State of the Union speech in March. And Sen. Elizabeth Warren blamed high grocery prices on “corporate price gouging” during a Senate subcommittee hearing on high food prices in May.

FTC Chair Lina Khan has said she wants the commission to launch an inquiry into big grocery chains’ pricing practices.

A commission huh?

That ought to bring prices down.

That aside does anyone see lower prices with the incoming economic plan?

I do not.

Whatcha think?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

 

All Hail “Spaving”

Good morning my friends and welcome.

It is another lovely Sunday and time to drop the usual FYI on my readers….

Ever heard the term ‘spaving’?

What the Hell is ‘spaving’?

It is very simple the sales pitch is ‘spend more to save more’…pretty simple huh?

Do you have subscriptions?  Maybe for food or pet supplies or clothes or even marital aids….then you are a victim of ‘spaving’.

The idea has been around for a long time but in today’s economic climate it could be disastrous.

Stores have been enticing shoppers to spend more so they can save more for ages, but in today’s economy, financial experts warn that what’s come to be known as “spaving” can backfire on one’s finances. While the marketing ploy isn’t anything new, CNBC, Fox Business, and CBS News all have stories exploring how spaving is contributing to Americans racking up record amounts of debt.

  • Ways we spave: Businesses have shown creativity in the ways they encourage more spending, including store credit cards, spending minimums for free shipping, subscriptions, and the classic “buy one, get one” deals. All are legal, savvy tactics that have proven effective in getting consumers to keep their tab going—and they’re more common than ever: between March 2023 to 2024, temporary price reductions increased by 72% and overall promotions by 15%, per CNBC.
  • More debt: But spending to save isn’t translating into savings. Fox notes that credit card balances rose 47% between 2021 through 2023, the steepest increase on record. At the same time, the amount of income going to savings has been decreasing, down to 3.6% in April compared to 32% in April 2020.
  • Deal FOMO: Money coach Nicole Victoria tells CBS that stores create a sense of urgency around deals that make them harder to resist. “It’s about loss-aversion, or the perception of loss. You feel like you’re losing money by paying for shipping, and you’ve invested time and resources into filling up your shopping cart, so you’d rather gain something more.”
  • Hidden consequences: For many, padded receipts add to credit card debt, which can affect finances and long-term money goals. Incurring debt may tank credit scores, and in turn come back to bite someone who wants to purchase property or items that require financing down the line.
  • One suggestion: “The best way consumers can approach a spaving deal is to pretend it’s not even there,” says Kuderna Financial Team Founder Bryan Kuderna, “like they never saw it.” He tells Fox that people can resist the pressure to spend more by making an effort to only “buy what you intended to buy.”

This is one of those times when ‘consumer beware’ is accurate.

Always think your purchases out to decide if it is good for the wallet….will there be any benefit or just a tug on your wallet.

But to give you more information so you will not be trapped in this sneak attack.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/spaving-what-is-it-and-how-to-avoid-it-301178242.html

****Keep in mind if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.****

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–16Apr24

I remember the day when people strive to reach the middle class….that meant that all was well and your family could progress along with a descent living and such.

These days we have excellent news….the markets are doing relatively good, wages are up and jobs are there for the taking….and all this means the middle class is flourishing, right?

On paper and in the economic news all indicators are good or so we are told daily…..but how true is the picture that the media paints nightly?

Prices!

While some indicators are looking good (if you are an investor) the reality is that prices are killing the middle class.

A new study shows just how bad it can get….in 5 years there are essentials that the middle class may not be able to afford.

ABC News has just reported that “Consumer prices rose 3.5% in March compared to a year ago, accelerating markedly from the previous month and reversing some of the progress achieved in a two-year fight to cool inflation, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed.”

While gasoline and housing continue to remain high, “Core inflation — a closely watched measure that strips out volatile food and energy prices — increased 3.8% over the year ending in March, holding steady from the previous month, the data showed.”

These numbers, which not everyone understands, affect the average American who, no matter the reason, is faced with increasingly high prices, stagnant wages, and basic needs spiraling out of reach. America’s middle class is being squeezed, and what used to be the hallmark of the American middle class and the American dream is becoming increasingly unaffordable. If things don’t change, the average middle-class American won’t be able to afford these things in the next 5 years.

5 Things the Middle Class Won’t Be Able To Afford in 5 Years Due to Inflation

And the government does NOTHING!

Basically we will let the markets decide who eats and who does not.

Is this what you signed up for?

Congress spends all their time working on BS situations while the people of this country slowly die of inaction.

For once the people nee4d to start thinking about the country and not some far flung personality that is all mouth or all promises and no action.

Your neighbor needs you to pay attention.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is The American Dream Fading?

Before I go any further maybe now would be a good time to define the term.

The American Dream is a phrase that entails the belief that everybody can find success in the United States through hard work, no matter their background.

The term “American dream” is used in many ways, but it essentially is an idea that suggests that anyone in the US can succeed through hard work and has the potential to lead a happy, successful life. Many people have expanded upon or refined the definition to include things such as freedom, fulfillment and meaningful relationships. Someone who manages to achieve his or her version of the American dream is often said to be “living the dream.”

Now that we have that out of the way….it looks like the ‘Dream’ is not so much alive except for the people that ‘made it’.

A new survey by the WSJ tells a worrying tale….

Belief in the American dream is fading, with only 36% of respondents to a Wall Street Journal/NORC survey agreeing that anyone who works hard can get ahead. That’s down from 53% who agreed with the sentiment in 2012 and 48% in 2016, the Journal reports. In the latest poll, 45% said the American dream once held true but doesn’t now, while 18% said it was never true, up sharply from 4% in 2012. The poll revealed big divides on the issue: Only 28% of people under 50 agreed that anybody could get ahead through hard work, compared to 48% of over-65s. The figure was 46% for men and 28% for women.

Half the poll respondents said life in America is worse than it was 50 years ago, while 30% said it was better. The Hill reports that the survey comes at a time when the economy has shown itself to be surprisingly resilient, with unemployment numbers strong and inflation down months after economists predicted a recession. Poll respondents from both political parties said they felt their financial situation was increasingly precarious. “We have a nice house in the suburbs, and we have a two-car garage,” Missouri resident Oakley Graham told the Journal. “But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that money was tight.”

Graham, a 30-year-old stay-at-home dad whose wife works as an electrical engineer, said life is “objectively worse” than 50 years ago because labor unions are weaker. Another Missouri resident, 78-year-old retired electrical inspector John Lasher, blamed inflation and the Biden administration for putting the American dream into what he said was the “past tense.” “With inflation, you’re working hard just to make ends meet, and then any extra work that you put in is just trying to get so you’re not in the hole,” he said.

Why is the economy doing this….good jobs and higher wages are out there waiting?

Explaining the state of the American economy at the moment is a conundrum. The labor market is good — as is much of the economy — and people say that everything is terrible.

The past couple of years have been a solid stretch for workers in America. Unemployment is low. People who want to find jobs, by and large, can. Wages are up — even accounting for inflation over the past several months, and especially for people at the lower ends of the income spectrum. Workers really have been able to flex their muscles, whether that means quitting their jobs or unionizing or going on strike.

And yet, amid all this, poll after poll shows that Americans say the economy is absolutely awful (what Americans do in this supposedly awful economy is a different thing, which we’ll get to later). That such a strong labor market isn’t making a dent, opinion-wise, is a little weird. It seems like this jobs landscape should make the public feel better. So why do people say it doesn’t?

https://www.vox.com/2023/11/20/23964535/labor-market-employment-inflation-sentiment-economy-bad-polls

Now some experts are telling us that we may have to be happy with less affluence.

How much debt can the country pile up before it threatens to collapse the U.S. economy and bankrupt the Treasury? We are now staring at almost $34 trillion in debt — numbers so big that they begin to be meaningless. But in the real world, it requires the Treasury to fork over $659 billion in interest payments annually, almost twice as much interest as it paid just two years ago.

But wait, there’s more!

Annual interest payments on the debt could reach $2 trillion by 2030 if interest rates remain elevated and we continue to spend way beyond our means. That would make national interest payments the country’s second largest budget expenditure, gobbling up 30% of all federal tax revenue.

https://themessenger.com/opinion/american-economy-national-debt-load-federal-spending-interest-payments

This is what happens when people live off their credit cards instead of their wages…..soon or later this will come back to bite us all in the ass.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What Price Happiness?

Closing Thought–11Dec23

Can we put a price tag on our happiness?

Some will say you cannot put a price tag on happiness….but apparently you can.

Most Americans (59%) think money can buy happiness, and a new survey on the subject even puts a number on it. On average, Americans say they’d need about $1.2 million to achieve happiness, according to the survey by financial services firm Empower. The figure breaks down in interesting ways depending on age groups, with millennials needing the most at nearly $1.7 million and those in Gen Z the least at just under $500,000, per CBS News. Boomers need about $1 million, and Gen Xers a bit over 1.2 million. In terms of gender, women would be happy with $880,000, and men want nearly $1.5 million. Some other findings:

  • Salary: Americans want hefty salaries. On average, they said a salary of $284,000 a year translates to happiness, with men ($381,000) needing far more than women ($183,000). Millennials cited a CEO-like mark of $525,000, Gen Z $128,000, Gen X $130,000, and Boomers $124,000.)
  • Retirement: People on average plan to retire at age 63, with Gen Z the most ambitious of the bunch looking at age 54. Still, the latter figure is up from 49 last year, suggesting that inflation is causing people to adjust their goals, per a news release on the survey.
  • Cup of coffee: The spending flexibility that comes with having enough money is cited as a prime source of contentment. For example, 62% of millennials say they are willing to spend $7 a day on a cup of coffee because of the enjoyment it brings.

I do not need a million bucks I can be happy without money and I have done it in the past and I shall do it again if the need arises.

With the numbers in I ask the question again….can we put a price tag on happiness?

What say you?

I Read, I Writer, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

But The Economy Is Doing Well

Have you noticed that the MSM reports the economy is doing well….apparently based on market information not reality….in other words as long as corporations are turning a big profit the people should be happy and compliant.

If all that is true and the economy is going great why is one of the biggest issues in the upcoming election the economic woes we are facing those days?

If the economy is working so well how come child poverty has risen yet again?

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin and congressional Republicans faced fresh backlash on Tuesday after the U.S. Census Bureau released new data showing that the nation’s child poverty rate more than doubled in 2022 compared to the previous year, thanks in large part to the expiration of the boosted Child Tax Credit.

The expanded CTC, an American Rescue Plan (ARP) policy that sent eligible families up to $300 per month for each child and eliminated the original CTC’s regressive phase-in, helped push the U.S. child poverty rate to a record low of 5.2% in 2021.

But the program expired at the end of that year after Manchin (D-W.Va.), who supported the ARP, opposed an extension, baselessly claiming that some parents would use the money on drugs instead of their children. (Survey data showed that most families, including those in West Virginia, used the money to buy food and help with rent, along with other essentials.)

Congressional Republicans, who unanimously opposed the ARP, also rejected calls to support an extension of the boosted CTC, part of a broader pandemic-era safety net that is now collapsing.

The result of the program’s expiration, as predicted, was a devastating surge in child poverty. According to the new Census Bureau data, the child poverty rate rose to 12.4% in 2022—the largest single-year increase on record.

The overall U.S. poverty rate also increased, rising from 7.8% in 2021 to 12.4% last year. More than 37 million people in the U.S. lived in poverty in 2022, the Census Bureau said.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/manchin-child-poverty

No one I talk with seems to hold the belief that the economy is doing good.

How about you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Dim Horizon

There is some ominous future looming….even if the reassurance from the president….the near future does not look like it will be as bright as he predicts…..

A new economic projection contradicts President Biden’s hopeful forecast of a minor recession, at worst, ahead for the nation. A Bloomberg Economics model shows the likelihood of a recession beginning at some point before October 2023 at 100%. Until now, the model had the chance of a recession at 65%, Bloomberg reports. With the midterm elections less than a month away, Biden dismissed a downturn as unlikely in a CNN interview last week. “I don’t think there will be a recession,” the president said, per CNBC. “If it is, it’ll be a very slight recession.”

Other forecasts, including Bloomberg’s, have been less certain. An unrelated Boomberg survey of 42 economists found the likelihood of a recession in the next 12 months has risen 10 points in the past month, to 60%. The change in the forecast was attributed to widespread worsening among the data used as the model’s inputs. The model uses 13 macroeconomic and financial indicators in predicting the chance of a recession occurring at points from one month to two years from now. More generally, Bloomberg attributed the growing chances of a downturn to inflation and concern that the Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates.

An old economic foe has returned and will do little to raise the hopes of the American people…..that old foe is   stagflation.

Inflation is back, and it is rising sharply, especially over the past year, owing to a mix of both demand and supply factors. This rise in inflation may not be a short-term phenomenon: the Great Moderation of the past three decades may be over, and we may be entering a new era of Great Stagflationary Instability.

Unless you are middle-aged and gray-haired, you probably hadn’t heard about the term stagflation until very recently. You may have barely heard about inflation. For a long time, until 2021, inflation—the increase in prices year to year—was below the advanced economies’ central banks’ target of 2%. Usually inflation is associated with high economic growth. When aggregate demand for goods, services, and labor is strong, coupled with positive animal spirits, optimism about the future, and possibly loose monetary and fiscal policies, you get stronger than potential economic growth and higher than target inflation. Firms are able to set higher prices because demand outstrips supply, and workers receive higher wages given a low unemployment rate. In recessions, on the other hand, you have low aggregate demand below the potential supply of goods, which leads to a slack in labor and goods markets, with ensuing low inflation or even deflation: prices go down as consumers’ spending declines. Stagflation is a term that refers to high inflation that happens at the same time as stagnation of growth or outright recession.

https://time.com/6221771/stagflation-crisis-debt-nouriel-roubini/

Nothing in economics is showing any good….we are headed for disaster…..and with that will come a change in government and a change that will not be good for the country.

But the GOP is hoping for a recession….makes running for office a dream.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”