from Kitco NEWS
Biden Economy: Record Number of Americans Using ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Apps
by Paul Bois
Breitbart.com
A record number of Americans have been using “buy now, pay later” apps amid the surging inflation seen in Biden’s economy.
A new report from PYMNTS Intelligence showed 6.5 percent of Americans, roughly 15 million, have been using BPNL apps to pay for groceries since last year. Per the New York Post:
Of those using the apps — offered by fintech services such as Affirm, Klarna, Afterpay and PayPal — around 5.4% were low-income Americans, according to the study.
The rest were those whose yearly incomes were at least $100,000.
Last month, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York published research which found that people with a credit score under 620 were nearly three times as likely as financially stable consumers to use BNPL five or more times last year.
BPNL loans are short-term loans with fixed payments at little to no interest. They have also been called “point-of-sale installment loans.”
Price Inflation Accelerates for Second Month as Biden Blames “Greed”
from Zero Hedge
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.
According to the BLS, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rose 3.2 percent year over year during February, without seasonal adjustment. That’s the thirty-sixth month in a row of inflation well above the Fed’s arbitrary 2 percent inflation target.
Recent Higher Inflation Numbers Haven’t ‘Really Changed the Overall Story’
by Megan Leonhardt
Barron’s
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.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday that the January and February consumer price index and the January personal consumption expenditures price index were “quite high, but there’s reason to think that, at least for the first month of the year, that “seasonal effects” were at play.
“We don’t want to be completely dismissive of it,” Powell said. “I always try to be careful about dismissing data that we don’t like—so you need to check yourself on that.”
Hollywood’s Streaming Business On the Brink as Price Hikes Push More Americans Away
by Alana Mastrangelo
Breitbart.com
Hollywood’s streaming business is on the brink of catastrophe while price hikes continue to push more American subscribers away.
Streaming video services are facing a number of problems, including high costs, high churn rates, and competition from other platforms. Meanwhile, a slew of U.S. customers are wondering if paying for their subscriptions is even worth it, Variety reported.
The average U.S. household pays a total of $61 per month for four streaming video entertainment services — which is up 27 percent from $48 per month last year — according to an annual study by Deloitte.
The study suggests that price hikes could be near their breaking point, as just over one-third of survey respondents (36 percent) said the content found on streaming video services is not worth the price.
Turks Pile Into the Dollar, Gold and Stocks as 67% Inflation Savages ‘Worthless Lira’
by Scott McLean, Ipek Yezdani and Anna Cooban
CNN
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.
This “standing market” — a low-rent version of a chaotic stock exchange floor — is where Istanbul’s traders come to deal in precious metals and currencies. These days it’s dollars and gold they’re after. Turkish lira, not so much.
“Right now our money is almost worthless. Since people haven’t seen inflation fall, they don’t trust the Turkish lira anymore,” explained Adnan Kapukaya, a trader and market expert.
Price Inflation Accelerates for Second Month as Biden Blames “Greed”
by Ryan McMaken
Mises.org
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.
According to the BLS, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rose 3.2 percent year over year during February, without seasonal adjustment. That’s the thirty-sixth month in a row of inflation well above the Fed’s arbitrary 2 percent inflation target.
Month-over-month inflation accelerated, with the CPI rising 0.4 percent from January to February, with seasonal adjustment. Month-to-month growth had been 0.3 percent from December to January.
There Goes the Fed’s Inflation Target: Goldman Sees Terminal Rate 100bps Higher at 3.5%
from Zero Hedge
Two years ago, we first said that it’s only a matter of time before the Fed admits it is unable to rsolve the so-called “last mile” of inflation and that as a result, the old inflation target of 2% is no longer viable.
At some point Fed will concede it has no control over supply. That’s when we will start getting leaks of raising the inflation target
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 21, 2022
Then one year ago, we correctly said that while everyone was paying attention elsewhere, the inflation target had already been hiked to 2.8%… on the way to even more increases.
Peter Schiff: The Inflation Genie is Out of the Bottle
by SchiffGold.com
LewRockwell.com
In this episode, Peter reacts to a hotter-than-expected CPI report, big trades in Bitcoin, and the federal bill that would ban the popular social media app TikTok. He also notes silver’s historically low price, which is nearly 50% of its 2011 high.
Prior to this week’s CPI numbers, the market was under the impression that inflation was coming down. Even if this were true, rate cuts are still a bad idea:
“The conventional wisdom is that the Fed has won the inflation war. That its rate hikes have done the trick. The inflation genie is back in the bottle. ‘Sure it’s not quite two percent. It’s a little over three percent, but we’ve gone from nine to three, so we’re most of the way there. … The Fed could substantially cut interest rates, because we don’t need five percent interest rates anymore.’ … That view could not be more widely held, yet it could not be more wrong! First of all, even if inflation was going to go down to two percent, substantial reductions in interest rates would not be warranted because you have to have a positive rate of interest.”
This week’s CPI numbers were roughly the same as last month.
Massive Food Inflation is Going to Be Unleashed in 2024 & 2025 as Gold, Silver and Miners Also Being Unchained
from King World News
Historic and massive food inflation is going to be unleashed in 2024 and 2025 as gold, silver and miners are also unchained.
INFLATION WARNING: Commodities vs Dow
March 19 (King World News) – Graddhy out of Sweden: The largest global financial paradigm shift in modern times is in the making, away from overvalued paper assets, towards undervalued hard assets.
Young People Aren’t Nearly Angry Enough About Government Debt
by Laura Williams
The American Institute for Economic Research
Young people sometimes seem to wake up in the morning in search of something to be outraged about. We are among the wealthiest and most educated humans in history. But we’re increasingly convinced that we’re worse off than our parents were, that the planet is in crisis, and that it’s probably not worth having kids.
I’ll generalize here about my own cohort (people born after 1981 but before 2010), commonly referred to as Millennials and Gen Z, as that shorthand corresponds to survey and demographic data. Millennials and Gen Z have valid economic complaints, and the conditions of our young adulthood perceptibly weakened traditional bridges to economic independence. We graduated with record amounts of student debt after President Obama nationalized that lending. Housing prices doubled during our household formation years due to zoning impediments and chronic underbuilding. Young Americans say economic issues are important to us, and candidates are courting our votes by promising student debt relief and cheaper housing (which they will never be able to deliver).