by Avik Roy
Forbes
Numerous commentators—especially those defending President Biden’s economic record—have puzzled over why Americans are sour about the state of the U.S. economy. Unemployment rates have returned to pre-pandemic lows, they correctly point out, and the official rate of inflation is declining. So why are Americans ignoring the view of many experts that the economy is doing well?
According to a striking new paper by a group of economists from Harvard and the International Monetary Fund, headlined by former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, the answer is that Americans have figured out something that the experts have ignored: that rising interest rates are as much a part of inflation as the rising price of ordinary goods. “Concerns over borrowing costs, which have historically tracked the cost of money, are at their highest levels” since the early 1980s, they write. “Alternative measures of inflation that include borrowing costs” account for most of the gap between the experts’ rosy pictures and Americans’ skeptical assessment.
This chart has been making the rounds on Twitter this week and I think it’s a good image to send you freaks into the weekend with. It’s easy to get swept up in the chaos of the day-to-day volatility that exists in our world. Recently, our minds have been inundated with headlines about illegal immigration, squatters and the degradation of private property rights, war across the world, small battles within the larger “culture war”, increasing prices, and the decisions made by central banks around the world. In the midst of all of this chaos it is important to take a step back and remind yourself of what lies at the core of most of these issues; the fact that we’ve completely broken money.
(Bloomberg) — As inflation surged in 2022, the Federal Reserve moved to prevent a wage-hike spiral by jacking up interest rates. Now, with unemployment edging up, the central bank is signaling a willingness to cut rates to head off a job-cutting spiral – even if that means somewhat higher inflation for a while.
During an interview aired on Friday’s edition of Bloomberg’s “Wall Street Week,” Harvard Professor, economist, Director of the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama, and Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton Larry Summers stated that the “huge set of new private sector investments going on with respect to green investments and the IRA” will put upward pressure on interest rates.
This chart is from John Williams’ Shadow Government Statistics newsletter.
A record number of Americans have been using “buy now, pay later” apps amid the surging inflation seen in Biden’s economy.
Inflation has been running hotter recently, with the first two months of data for this year showing little progress in bringing price growth back to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
Hollywood’s streaming business is on the brink of catastrophe while price hikes continue to push more American subscribers away.
Istanbul/London CNN – Down a dimly lit alleyway tucked just inside Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, a few dozen men are packed together, shouting, waving, and frantically speaking on their phones, others nervously pacing.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest price inflation data, CPI inflation in February accelerated for the second month in a row, and price inflation hasn’t proven nearly as transitory as the regime’s economists have long predicted.