According to the most recent report from the federal government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US economy added 142,000 jobs during August while the unemployment rate fell slightly to 4.2 percent. Since the highly disappointing July jobs report, media reports on the state of the job market have become far less positive. This report was described by […]
https://pricklypear.news/wp-content/uploads/iStock-172752359-1-scaled.jpg17072560Ryan McMakenhttps://pricklypear.news/wp-content/uploads/logo_2023.pngRyan McMaken2024-09-13 00:28:032024-09-13 10:55:16America Now Has Fewer Employed Workers than It Did a Year Ago
The new cool kids are all into it. They banter the term around all the time. It is either “decolonization” or “postcolonization.” They like to tell us it concerns their favored terrorist group—Hamas—even though the last colonists there were the Brits. With everyone talking about it, I thought I would look at how decolonization is […]
Editors’ Note: We have on several occasions expressed similar fears that due to the excessive issuance of Treasuries, the price will tend to fall, causing interest rates to rise more than would otherwise be the case, even while normal experience would be for interest rates to decline when the economy slides towards recession. Oversupply may […]
One problem with writing an economic and market commentary is that it is a lot like writing a movie review after seeing only the first few scenes. There is more of the story to come, with complex twists and turns in the plot, but the reviewer must say something even though the ending is unknown. […]
https://pricklypear.news/wp-content/uploads/autumn-287393_640.jpg413640Neland Nobelhttps://pricklypear.news/wp-content/uploads/logo_2023.pngNeland Nobel2024-09-10 00:29:152024-09-10 08:04:08The Economy: There Is More Than A Hint Of Yellow In The Leaves
Irrelevant, anti-oil activists say, they also emphasize why we must banish oil and gas – and replace fossil fuels with clean, green wind, solar, and battery power. Otherwise, wildlife, beaches, and tourism will be threatened repeatedly by oil spills. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that these supposed alternatives won’t work – especially as AI, EVs, data centers, government-mandated electric heating and cooking, and charging grid-backup batteries, double or triple electricity generation demands. Intermittent electricity cannot power modern nations. Wind and solar cannot produce thousands of essential products that require petrochemical feed stocks. These energy sources are not clean, green, renewable or sustainable. They endanger wildlife.
The long-term fiscal mess the US has been wallowing in for many years – the mind-boggling deficits even during a strong economy that turned into the incredibly ballooning debt, encouraged and enabled by 14 years of the Fed’s free-money policies – is a long-term problem. It’s not a problem this year or next year, and that’s a contributor to the problem because that’s as far as politicians want to think, and beyond that, it’s after me, the deluge. And so we’re here, a step further down the road.
https://pricklypear.news/wp-content/uploads/debtsquash.jpg348495Wolf Richterhttps://pricklypear.news/wp-content/uploads/logo_2023.pngWolf Richter2024-09-02 00:30:402024-08-31 07:28:49Spiking Interest Payments on the Ballooning US Government Debt v. Tax Receipts, GDP, and Inflation: Q2 Update
The massive spending of the federal government, far beyond the revenue it collects, is the root cause of inflation. The Federal Reserve aids and abets the government by purchasing securities, a process tantamount to printing money. As a result, the value of the dollar declines, or the nominal prices of goods and services purchased for dollars increase, aka, inflation. Corporations, facing higher input costs, have no choice but to hike final prices. As we have seen, corporate profit margins have not expanded during this period of reckless fiscal and monetary policy.
Rising grocery costs continue to put the squeeze on families. Overall, the cost of a trip to fill the pantry rose nearly 22 percent since the beginning of 2021. Many specific staples rose far more — eggs are up 110 percent, flour up 29 percent, orange juice up 82 percent. A family of four spending $1000 per month just three and a half years is spending an additional $2,640 annually for this same shopping list. Harris appears to have forgotten the important lessons from this episode. Based on her insistence that price gouging is responsible for high grocery prices — when it clearly is not — the Vice President’s proposal would more likely function as a price freeze or command pricing.
Price controls, higher taxes, government intervention, and subsidies are paid for by printing a constantly devalued currency. These are the essential pillars of “21st century socialism” and the radical left Peronism that obliterated Argentina. These are also the main elements of the economic plan presented by Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party. Undoubtedly, this is the most radical socialist economic plan ever announced by the Democrats.
We are in the camp that argues climate is always changing, and that attempts to change the environment by government edict will fail, and that those bad policies will have major negative consequences elsewhere. The science is not settled and it is not clear that C02 emissions are causing climate change. Many independent variables, including […]
America Now Has Fewer Employed Workers than It Did a Year Ago
/by Ryan McMakenAccording to the most recent report from the federal government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US economy added 142,000 jobs during August while the unemployment rate fell slightly to 4.2 percent. Since the highly disappointing July jobs report, media reports on the state of the job market have become far less positive. This report was described by […]
Let’s Talk Decolonization
/by Bruce BialoskyThe new cool kids are all into it. They banter the term around all the time. It is either “decolonization” or “postcolonization.” They like to tell us it concerns their favored terrorist group—Hamas—even though the last colonists there were the Brits. With everyone talking about it, I thought I would look at how decolonization is […]
U.S. Treasuries No Longer a Safe Haven
/by Craig EyermannEditors’ Note: We have on several occasions expressed similar fears that due to the excessive issuance of Treasuries, the price will tend to fall, causing interest rates to rise more than would otherwise be the case, even while normal experience would be for interest rates to decline when the economy slides towards recession. Oversupply may […]
The Economy: There Is More Than A Hint Of Yellow In The Leaves
/by Neland NobelOne problem with writing an economic and market commentary is that it is a lot like writing a movie review after seeing only the first few scenes. There is more of the story to come, with complex twists and turns in the plot, but the reviewer must say something even though the ending is unknown. […]
Looming ‘Clean’ Energy Disasters Off Our Coasts
/by Paul DriessenIrrelevant, anti-oil activists say, they also emphasize why we must banish oil and gas – and replace fossil fuels with clean, green wind, solar, and battery power. Otherwise, wildlife, beaches, and tourism will be threatened repeatedly by oil spills. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that these supposed alternatives won’t work – especially as AI, EVs, data centers, government-mandated electric heating and cooking, and charging grid-backup batteries, double or triple electricity generation demands. Intermittent electricity cannot power modern nations. Wind and solar cannot produce thousands of essential products that require petrochemical feed stocks. These energy sources are not clean, green, renewable or sustainable. They endanger wildlife.
Spiking Interest Payments on the Ballooning US Government Debt v. Tax Receipts, GDP, and Inflation: Q2 Update
/by Wolf RichterThe long-term fiscal mess the US has been wallowing in for many years – the mind-boggling deficits even during a strong economy that turned into the incredibly ballooning debt, encouraged and enabled by 14 years of the Fed’s free-money policies – is a long-term problem. It’s not a problem this year or next year, and that’s a contributor to the problem because that’s as far as politicians want to think, and beyond that, it’s after me, the deluge. And so we’re here, a step further down the road.
Are Greedy Corporations Really to Blame for Higher Prices?
/by Scott SemetThe massive spending of the federal government, far beyond the revenue it collects, is the root cause of inflation. The Federal Reserve aids and abets the government by purchasing securities, a process tantamount to printing money. As a result, the value of the dollar declines, or the nominal prices of goods and services purchased for dollars increase, aka, inflation. Corporations, facing higher input costs, have no choice but to hike final prices. As we have seen, corporate profit margins have not expanded during this period of reckless fiscal and monetary policy.
Food Profit Margins Shrink, But Harris Blames Them for Rising Grocery Bills
/by Joel GriffithRising grocery costs continue to put the squeeze on families. Overall, the cost of a trip to fill the pantry rose nearly 22 percent since the beginning of 2021. Many specific staples rose far more — eggs are up 110 percent, flour up 29 percent, orange juice up 82 percent. A family of four spending $1000 per month just three and a half years is spending an additional $2,640 annually for this same shopping list. Harris appears to have forgotten the important lessons from this episode. Based on her insistence that price gouging is responsible for high grocery prices — when it clearly is not — the Vice President’s proposal would more likely function as a price freeze or command pricing.
American Peronism: Kamala’s Plan to Ruin America’s Economy
/by Daniel LacallePrice controls, higher taxes, government intervention, and subsidies are paid for by printing a constantly devalued currency. These are the essential pillars of “21st century socialism” and the radical left Peronism that obliterated Argentina. These are also the main elements of the economic plan presented by Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party. Undoubtedly, this is the most radical socialist economic plan ever announced by the Democrats.
The Climate Scare and Complete Policy Collapse
/by Neland NobelWe are in the camp that argues climate is always changing, and that attempts to change the environment by government edict will fail, and that those bad policies will have major negative consequences elsewhere. The science is not settled and it is not clear that C02 emissions are causing climate change. Many independent variables, including […]