from AaronClarey
Doug Casey On Rising Prices and Falling Values – Inflation and Social Decay
by Doug Casey
International Man
International Man: Whether it’s at the grocery store, the mall, restaurants, or airports—anywhere you turn—people are finding inferior goods and services at higher prices.
Living standards have taken a big step backward recently and are trending even worse.
What is really going on?
Doug Casey: People have a natural inclination to blame the producers—the butcher, the baker, and the gasoline maker—for higher prices. But that’s a huge mistake. Higher prices (barring a natural catastrophe that destroys real wealth) are 100% caused by increases in the money supply. It’s perverse that producers are blamed for price inflation while the Fed and the government are lauded for fighting inflation. The public’s perception is the exact opposite of reality.
Why Inflation is Killing Kamala
by Sean Ring
Daily Reckoning
Inflation is so universally despised that its mere mention evokes fear, uncertainty, and, most importantly, anger.
Wanna piss off an entire country? Make things expensive there.
Beyond its textbook definition, inflation lights up deep emotional, social, and psychological layers that explain why people hate it so much.
Let’s be honest. Kamala would be having a much easier time if her boss had not opened the fiscal spigot to the point where many couldn’t afford to buy the necessities.
Kamala Harris Ignores Food Inflation Question at Townhall, Burbles Into Word Salad About Gouging’ and Trump
by Monica Showalter
American Thinker
Food shopping these days is a pretty humbling and for some, humiliating experience, given the humongous rise in prices over the past four years.
Food inflation has risen 21.3% since the day Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office, and with no corresponding rise in wages. But many items sold at groceries are even higher, with some estimates showing food prices higher in the 30% range.
Voter after voter has said he or she would like some kind of credible answer to the question of what Kamala Harris would actually do to bring down food costs.
At a townhall meeting with CNN’s Anderson Cooper hosting, they didn’t get it.
U.S. Debt Nears $36 Trillion as Asset Inflation Keeps Economy Afloat
by Money Metals
GoldSeek
In the latest Money Metals Midweek Memo, host Mike Maharrey highlights the growing U.S. national debt, which now exceeds $35.7 trillion.
Maharrey begins the episode with a reference to the Apollo 13 mission, saying, “Washington, we have a problem.” He draws parallels between the crisis faced by astronauts and the fiscal disaster Washington is ignoring.
Unlike the Apollo 13 team, Maharrey argues that government officials are pretending everything is fine, despite mounting financial problems.
Disney World Hikes Prices for Its Annual Passes by Up to $100
by CNN
CP24
(CNN) — If you’re a regular visitor to Walt Disney World, your annual passes are going to cost you more. The resort in Orlando, Florida, hiked prices on all four levels of its passes on Wednesday.
Its most powerful annual pass, the Disney Incredi-Pass, now costs $1,549 (plus tax). That’s a $100 increase from its most recent price. The Incredi-Pass has no blackout dates and can be purchased by people living outside the state of Florida.
The three lower-level annual passes also saw price increases:
IMF Says Inflation Battle Nearly Won But High Debt Levels Pose Risks
by John Carney
Breitbart.com
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that while it believes the global fight against inflation is nearing completion, significant risks remain due to high debt levels in many countries.
Despite these challenges, the United States is emerging as a clear leader among advanced economies, driven by robust investment and productivity gains.
In its latest World Economic Outlook released Tuesday, the IMF projected that global inflation will fall to 3.5 percent by the end of 2025, a significant decrease from the 9.4 percent peak seen in 2022. This positive trend is largely attributed to effective monetary policies implemented by central banks, which have managed to raise interest rates without pushing economies into recession.
IMF’s End-of-Inflation Party Sobered by Debt, War … and a U.S. Election
Inflation may be on the retreat, but growth is slowing and debt is rising as the West and China square off ever more directly.
by Geoffrey Smith
Politico
There will be more than a bit of self-congratulation in the air as the world’s top financial figures descend on Washington, D.C., this week for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Inflation, which surged globally after the pandemic and won a second lease on life through food and energy markets after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is on the retreat. Moreover, it has fallen without the world’s central banks having had to tip the economy into recession with high interest rates.
“A combination of resolute monetary policy action, easing supply chain constraints, and moderating food and energy prices is guiding us back in the direction of price stability,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a curtain-raising speech on Thursday.
U.S. Economic Resilience in Wake of Pandemic, Inflation Battle ‘Fantastic Achievement’
by Cory Smith
The National News Desk
(TNND) — The world’s “battle against inflation is almost won,” an official with the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday.
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the economic counselor and the director of research of the IMF, said they’re projecting that worldwide inflation will fall to 3.5% by the end of next year.
World inflation is now 5.8% after peaking at 9.4%.
In the U.S., we’re already under 2.5% inflation.
“Now, the decline in inflation without a global recession is a major achievement,” Gourinchas said at a news conference for the IMF’s World Economic Outlook.
Brazil Central Bank Very Worried About Inflation, Picchetti Says
by Maria Eloisa Capurro
Yahoo! Finance
Speaking at an event in Washington, Picchetti said that while inflation has been decelerating, it has stabilized above the bank’s 3% target as fiscal stimulus drives Brazil’s surprisingly strong economic activity.
“We’ve had partial success because inflation has clearly been decelerating, but it has not continued to decelerate toward the target,” Picchetti said, adding that policymakers are “carefully observing” economic and fiscal developments amid mounting worries about public spending.
As Inflation Recedes, Global Economy Needs Policy Triple Pivot
Growth is projected to hold steady, but amid weakening prospects and rising threats, the world needs a shift in policy gears
by Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas
IMF
The global economy remained unusually resilient throughout the disinflationary process. Growth is projected to hold steady at 3.2 percent in 2024 and 2025, but some low-income and developing economies have seen sizable downside growth revisions, often tied to intensifying conflicts.