from EWTN
The Real Reason Fast Food is So Expensive
by Jon Miltimore
The American Institute for Economic Research
I recently drove to the local KFC and ordered a 12-piece meal to go. The price was just under $50 (tax included). Fortunately, I had a coupon that saved me some money, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel some sticker shock.
Inflation has of course been a major issue in recent years, but fast food prices in particular seem high, and many consumers are getting angry about it.
McDonald’s recently took heat over news of an $18 Big Mac Meal that executives responded to by publishing an online letter, explaining that the price was unusually high.
“I can tell you that it frustrates and worries me, and many of our franchisees, when I hear about an $18 Big Mac meal being sold — even if it was at one location in the US out of more than 13,700. More worrying, though, is when people believe that this is the rule and not the exception.”
A Cost of Living Lesson at the 99p Breakfast Café
by Oli Constable
BBC, Former home of child rapist, Jimmy Savile
The cost of living crisis has been an issue which has hit millions of people. Spiralling food and fuel prices have put an ever greater strain on household finances. BBC News headed to a café which has tried to help people beat the crunch to find out the real effects.
“We don’t make any money, we just manage”, says Nadine Grant.
She’s the co-owner of the Tastee café in Gleadless, a working-class suburb of Sheffield.
As the cost of living crisis began to bite, Nadine and co-owner Alex Rowbotham did the opposite of what was expected; they introduced a cut-price offering.
Their small breakfast – one rasher of bacon, a sausage, a fried egg plus beans and tomatoes – was £3.50.
Continue Reading at BBC.com, Former home of child rapist, Jimmy Savile…
The Global Inflationary Depression Has Begun, Injector Hesitancy, and Cognitive Loading
Crazy market moves on Fridays make me nervous. UK MP Andrew Bridgen’s description of the corruption he has seen explains the mandated Death Vaxes for children. Things are getting weird, quickly.
by Dave Fairtex
Chris Martenson’s Peak Prosperity
Strange market moves on Friday make me a little nervous. I’m not sure what this one was about. (More…)
Subprime Court
Chevron Deference Overturned by SCOTUS [June 29] (source – rmalonemd); “The court basically determined that, just because Congress fails to do its job, it is not acceptable for executive branch administrative agencies to step in and substitute their opinions in the absence of clearly stated Congressional intent.”
Fed’s Favorite Inflation Metric Up 2.6% From a Year Ago as Consumer Spending Falters
by John Carney
Breitbart.com
Inflation took a breather in May, cooling to its lowest annual rate in over three years, according to key data eyed by the Federal Reserve.
The core personal consumption expenditures price index, which excludes food and energy prices, nudged up by a mere 0.1 percent last month. Annually, the index rose 2.6 percent, a slight dip from April’s 2.8 percent, the Commerce Department reported Friday. These figures matched estimates, marking the lowest annual inflation rate since March 2021, when inflation first exceeded the Fed’s 2 percent target.
When accounting for food and energy, headline inflation remained unchanged in May and also recorded a 2.6 percent year-over-year increase, aligning with market expectations.
If the High Cost of Groceries Makes You Feel Sick, You Are Not Alone
by Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog
If you are really struggling with the high cost of living, I want you to know that you aren’t alone. In recent months, I have been hearing from so many people that feel like they are drowning financially. Have you experienced a palpable sense of panic when you compare your rising bills to the level of income that you are currently bringing in? So many people out there are stressed out of their minds because it has become such a struggle to pay the bills each month. As I discussed a few days ago, a typical U.S. household must now spend $1,069 more a month just to buy the exact same goods and services that it did three years ago. Over the course of an entire year, that is almost an extra $13,000 dollars. Month after month, prices just keep going higher, but those that are running things continue to insist that everything is just fine.
No, everything is not just fine.
I’m an Economist: Here Are My Predictions for Inflation if Biden Wins Again
by Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy
Yahoo! Finance
Earlier this year, Fed officials had indicated that they would implement three rate cuts. However, said officials have since been telegraphing that cuts will probably occur later than previously anticipated. The Fed seems to have now shifted to a “wait and see” approach due to both sticky inflation and strong economic data.
Our Drunken Sailors Leaving the Party? Nah, Not Yet: Incomes, Transfer Receipts, Spending, Saving, and Inflation
by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
After getting whacked by inflation, incomes have now outrun inflation for the 17th month in a row.
Fueled by incomes that outgrew inflation, our Drunken Sailors, as we’ve lovingly and facetiously called them for well over a year, continued to increase their spending in May, and they did so at a solid pace, roughly in line with the Good Times just before the pandemic, and they saved the rest, our Drunken Sailors, and the savings rate ticked up too.
Disposable income, adjusted for inflation, jumped by 0.5% in May from April, the biggest increase since January 2023, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis today. By contrast, in April, disposable income had barely kept up with inflation.
Inflation Revised Higher On Eve of Trump-Biden Debate
by John Carney
Breitbart.com
President Joe Biden got some bad news on the eve of the first presidential election: the government’s estimate of inflation in the first quarter of the year was revised higher.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis said that the personal consumption expenditure price index rose at an annual pace of 3.4 percent in the first three months of the year, far faster than the 1.8 percent recorded at the end of last year and up from the 3.3 percent estimated in the prior report issued in May.
The personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index is used by the Fed as the yardstick for its two percent inflation target. The upward revision indicates that the surge of inflation as 2024 began was even worse than previously thought.
Corporate Profits by Major Industry, Q1 Update: “Greedflation” Hits Ceiling in Some Industries but Still Thrives in Others?
by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
The huge spike in profits during the high-inflation years backtracked in some industries but got even hotter in others.
Corporate pre-tax profits in non-financial domestic industries fell by 1.4% in Q1 from Q4, to seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2.66 trillion, according to the by-industry data on corporate profits released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Year-over-year, profits were still up by nearly 10%, despite the drop in Q1, as profits had surged in the prior three quarters. Since Q2 2020, profits have doubled! This is why some have termed this episode of inflation “greedflation.” But that’s what big inflation is all about: Companies raising prices far faster than their costs went up, and their customers being willing to pay whatever. It’s the Fed’s job to knock some sense back into these economic players by making the cost of capital painfully high.
Biden Says Trump Will Make Inflation Worse. It’s Unclear if He Can Convince Voters.
by Ben Werschkul
Yahoo! Finance
Joe Biden is likely to make a case on the debate stage tonight that Donald Trump will make inflation worse.
Whether voters believe him is another matter entirely.
The possibility of “Trumpflation” has been a growing topic for months now, largely in academic and political circles. And it’s a message that Biden aides say the president will likely try to inject into the conversation when the two men meet tonight in Atlanta.
The case is that Trump’s proposals — most notably his tariffs plans but also his push for tax cuts as well as a return to harsh immigration policies — could lead to higher inflation and undermine the US economy.