The president has tried to shift blame for inflation, interest rate hikes, and an overall decimation of consumers’ purchasing power.

by Veronique de Rugy
Reason.com

Government overspending, an activity the Biden administration has taken to a new level, has sent the country into an inflationary spiral. Through trillions of dollars in COVID-19 relief programs, infrastructure spending, vote-buying student loan forgiveness programs, and a political “Build Back Better Agenda,” the White House has flooded the economy and decimated consumers’ purchasing power. We’re paying more and getting less for everything from energy to food.

According to the House Budget Committee, the average family of four is paying around $1,143 more each month than it was in early 2021 for the same goods and services; this includes increased gasoline costs. Rather than reversing course, President Joe Biden is telling voters the private sector is to blame and that he has the answers. He’s doubling down by proposing more stifling, job-killing regulations to “fix” the problem—regulations which will inevitably send inflation to new heights.

Continue Reading at Reason.com…

from ITM TRADING, INC.

by Tekoa Da Silva
GoldSeek

Tekoa Da Silva: Rick I’d like to ask you today about the decade of the 1970s.

During the decade of the 1970s U.S. President Richard Nixon took the U.S. off the gold standard. There were bouts of wage and price controls, gasoline rationing, an oil embargo and political turbulence.

From 1970 to 1980 the price of oil went from roughly $1.21 bbl to about $40.00 bbl. Gold went from $35.00 oz. to over $800.00 oz., and the CRB commodity index moved up about 300% during the decade.

Rick in terms of where you were at the beginning of the decade – I understand you graduated high school in 1971. You started college at the University of British Columbia, and you were contemplating a career at that point in natural resources tax law, is that right?

Continue Reading at GoldSeek.com…

from Gregory Mannarino

by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street

Services are big, and that one-month outlier was massive, and it drove down Core CPI and overall CPI.

The Consumer Price Index for May, on a month-to-month basis, was pushed down by the continued sharp drop in durable goods prices, a drop in energy prices, flat food prices, and “core services” prices that rose at the smallest pace since late 2021 in a stunning whiplash-inducing outlier move, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics today. So, we’ll start with that outlier because it’s so big, and because core services are so big — they account for 65% of total CPI — and because that outlier drove everything else.

Continue Reading at WolfStreet.com…

from CNBC Television

by Karl Denninger
Market-Ticker.org

This is not a “cold” report folks….

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was unchanged in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, after rising 0.3 percent in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 3.3 percent before seasonal adjustment.

The unchanged was caused by a decrease in gasoline, mostly, which everyone has seen in advance.

But the index in rents and owners equivalent rent were both up 0.4% which would annualize to 4.9%, or 2.5x the Fed’s “target” in these very large and unavoidable consumer expense. Further, medical care (another mandatory expense for most) was up even more, up 0.5% on the month and what’s worse is that prescription drugs were up 2.1% on the month which would annualize to more than 20%.

Continue Reading at Market-Ticker.org…

from WallStForMainSt

by John Carney
Breitbart.com

America got some good news on inflation on Wednesday, possibly opening the door for lower interest rates this year.

The Consumer Price Index climbed 3.3 percent in May from a year earlier, down from 3.4 percent in April, the Labor Department reported.

The “core” index—which excludes volatile food and energy prices to provide a clearer view of the underlying trend—rose 3.4 percent last month, down from 3.6 percent the previous month. That is the lowest annual increase in core prices since April 2021.

Compared to the prior month, the broad measure of consumer prices was unchanged. Core prices increased by 0.2 percent.

Continue Reading at Breitbart.com…

from Palisades Gold Radio

by Brian Maher
Daily Reckoning

Touch off the rockets! Light the sparklers! Raise a joyous toast!

That is because May’s inflation data came issuing this morning. And it disappointed expectations — or rather exceeded expectations.

A Dow Jones survey of economists had divined a 3.4% inflation rate. Yet the United States Department of Labor reported a mere 3.3% inflation rate.

We can only assume you are as gleeful as us. Media outlets are. They appear to believe it represents a triumph.

Does it? We are far from convinced that it truly represents a triumph. CNBC:

Continue Reading at DailyReckoning.com…

from Arcadia Economics

by William J. Luther
The American Institute for Economic Research

As anticipated, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted to hold its federal funds rate target in the 5.25 to 5.5 percent range on Tuesday. FOMC members also revised their forward guidance for the future path of interest rates. Back in March, the median FOMC member projected the midpoint of the federal funds rate target range would fall to 4.6 percent this year, equivalent to three 25-basis-point cuts. Now, the median FOMC member projects it will fall to just 5.1 percent, equivalent to just one 25-basis-point cut.

The FOMC’s plan to hold rates higher for longer is not limited to 2024. The median FOMC member now projects the federal funds rate will be 4.1 percent in 2025, compared with the earlier projection of 3.9 percent. The median FOMC member also revised up the longer run federal funds rate projection, from 2.6 percent to 2.8 percent.

Continue Reading at AIER.org…

from Bloomberg Television

by Amy Furr
Breitbart.com

Stubbornly high inflation is making it more difficult to raise a child in President Joe Biden’s (D) America, per LendingTree.

LendingTree Chief Credit Analyst Matt Schulz told Fox Business that prices for everything have continued to rise, adding, “There’s so much that goes into child care, including rent, payroll, insurance and much more. When all those costs shoot up, the overall cost of child care does, too,” the outlet reported Monday.

The article continued:

The cost of child care surged nearly 20% between 2016 and 2021, the latest year for which complete data is available, according to LendingTree. Annual expenses, excluding tax exemptions or credits, hit $21,681 in 2021, versus $18,167 in 2016, the data shows. That means the typical family is spending about $237,482 over the course of 18 years to raise a child — and that is excluding the cost of college.

The news comes as “expectations for inflation over the next five years have surged back to their highest levels of this economic cycle,” according to a Breitbart News article published on Monday.

Continue Reading at Breitbart.com…

from CNBC Television

by Simon Moore
Forbes

May’s Consumer Price Index release is expected to show cooling headline inflation, though core inflation may remain sufficiently high that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut interest rates soon. Ultimately, the Fed is not expected to cut interest rates in June and instead wait for more supportive data before potentially cutting interest rates later in the year.

May CPI Release Timing

May CPI data will be reported at 8:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, June 12. Previous monthly figures for 2024 have seen 0.3% to 0.4% increases for both monthly headline and core inflation. Core inflation excludes food and energy price changes.

Continue Reading at Forbes.com…

from Bloomberg Television

from Zero Hedge

How is inflation impacting the average consumer, and what does it mean for the wealth gap? David Lin, Host of The David Lin Report (@TheDavidLinReport) , joins Anthony Scaramucci on ‘Speak Up’ to discuss the significant impact of inflation on everyday consumers, the widening divide in wealth and his own investment strategies to help build and protect your portfolio. In this episode of Speak Up, David Lin provides his overview of the current state of the economy and its impact on investors and consumers. David and Anthony dive into the latest trends shaping markets, touch on the role of fiscal policies have on wealth distribution, and the critical steps you need to further grow your wealth and stay ahead during volatile times.

Continue Reading at ZeroHedge.com…

from Yahoo Finance