Rent/Grocery Inflation Rising (ZeroHedge, Tom Ozimek) [Two Articles]

[Creamu]

'The growing rental crisis in the U.S. has shown no signs of stopping.

That was the topic of a new Bloomberg report this week that highlighted the stories of numerous Americans struggling to meet their rental obligations.

The cost of rent in the U.S. is moving higher at the highest pace in three decades, the report notes, blowing past a median of $2,000 per month for the first time ever. Rents are now above where they were prior to the pandemic in most major cities.

Kate Reynolds, principal policy associate at the Washington-based Urban Institute, said: “It’s pretty much the perfect storm for renters right now. Those renters and their landlords don’t have a place to turn if they’re unable to pay the rent.”'

-Zerohedge

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/rent-becoming-crisis-us

'Some of the sharpest year-over-year jumps in food purchased for consumption at home include flour (+22.7 percent), chicken (+17.6 percent), milk (+15.6 percent), bread (+13.7 percent), and eggs (+38 percent).

And even though the overall month-over-month CPI index growth came in at 0.0 percent, the vast majority of food-at-home items that make up the index also saw month-over-month increases, including potatoes (+4.6 percent), coffee (+2.7 percent), peanut butter (+3.5 percent), chicken (+1.4 percent), and eggs (+4.3 percent).

The cost of shelter also rose in both annual and monthly terms, climbing 5.7 percent over the year and 0.6 percent over the month.

Experts say that the lagging nature of the shelter component of the price index means inflationary pressures are likely to stay high for at least several more months.

“Shelter costs are still rising at a knee-buckling pace, and accounted for 40 percent of the increase in the core CPI,” McBride said. “Change in rent prices, in particular, tend to lag increases in home prices so we can expect to see continued moves higher for months to come in what is the biggest component of the inflation index.”'

-Tom Ozimek

https://www.theepochtimes.com/groce...-bidens-zero-inflation-messaging_4657788.html

 

[Xzi]

Parasitic corporations and landlords are going to drag us down into another recession. The capitalist class needs a fucking reality check ASAP, whatever form that might take.

 

[DCarnage]

..

 

[Creamu]

The capitalist class needs a fucking reality check ASAP

Nah, they won't.

 

[Creamu]

'The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the US was 9.1 percent in June. Taking into account that the government lies about inflation, it is better to consider Shadow Government Statistics’ CPI (based on the 1980s CPI methodology), which was (as of July 13) about 17 percent.

The government claims that this high CPI is due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (you could argue that, one of the reasons is the sanctions on Russia’s economy, which don’t do much to harm to the Russian government and hurts ordinary people both inside and outside Russia). But this is just an excuse for the government to not admit the blame. It is clear the war has an influence on the CPI, as it eliminates the supply of various goods and services, which ends up increasing prices. However, the CPI has been going up since February 2021.

The 2020 and 2021 lockdowns (and the followed supply shocks) were also a big factor, but the real reason prices are going up is the inflation (monetary expansion) created by the US government both in 2020 and 2021.

[...]

Inflation (the expansion of the money supply) and the consequent increase in prices is a disguised tax. The US government increased its spending and its budget deficit. So, it issued more debt securities, which were mostly purchased by the Federal Reserve (Fed) through an increase in the monetary base (M0). Then, the government spent the newly created money, increasing the amount of money in circulation in the economy (M1 and M2), which tends to make prices higher.

Note that the government increased its spending without raising taxes in the same proportion. The cost of the increase in government spending was paid by the population (nothing from the government is free; not even for the poor, who suffer the most from taxes, as their incomes are lower) not by taxes, but by the increase in prices that occurred due to inflation.

Also bear in mind that government borrowing, by itself, is not inflationary. If debt securities are all absorbed by the market (by investors and financial institutions) no new money is created by the central bank.

[...]

The poor and the lower middle class are also more heavily affected because, due to rising prices, wealthy people and the upper middle class (who have enough income to afford to not make budget cuts) end up saving and investing less (of course, they barely feel this change themselves, but it is a great cut in the savings and investments in the economy). If there is less investment in the economy, productivity does not increase (or even decreases) and prices tend to increase in the medium and long run.

[...]

Therefore, the poorest are the ones who actually pay for the government. It is precisely because of governments that the poor and the lower middle class, in most cases, don’t get richer. It is the government that perpetuate poverty, precisely to justify their existence by pretending to help the poorer. After all, if there were no monetary inflation created by governments, prices would tend to decrease as the productivity of the economy rose and the standard of living would rise.'

-André Marques

https://mises.org/wire/inflation-makes-people-poorer-and-its-governments-fault

 

[Xzi]

Nah, they won't.

We shouldn't be giving them a choice. Either unionize everything and stage a general, nationwide strike, or cannibalize one billionaire's wealth and resources by force. Watch how fast the rest stand up and take notice.

 

[Creamu]

We shouldn't be giving them a choice. Either unionize everything and stage a general, nationwide strike, or cannibalize one billionaire's wealth and resources by force. Watch how fast the rest stand up and take notice.

If you go in that direction it is better to overthrow the whole thing and create something sane.

 

[Xzi]

If you go in that direction it is better to overthrow the whole thing and create something sane.

Either one of my proposals would be a lot easier than overthrowing the entire US government and military. We'd maybe have to take on some local cops with the latter, but that'd be about it.

The US has a long history of only doing the right thing when left with no other choice. The Great Depression brought on mass protests in favor of communism, and that's what spurred the New Deal's passage into law. We're probably not going to get that many people to protest in favor of communism today, but we can demonstrate that the working masses hold the real power in this country, and billionaires cannot maintain their profit margins without us.

 

[Creamu]

but we can demonstrate that the working masses hold the real power in this country, and billionaires cannot maintain their profit margins without us.

This is not all that far from overthrowing them. We are completly speaking hypothetical here. To demonstrate the hold of real power is in fact showing that you can't just be shut down by the military. This is alot easier than alot of people seem to believe. If you make it too costly for a paid army (not ideologically rooted) to fight you, they will stop altogether. If no one confronts you, you are in power.

 

[Xzi]

To demonstrate the hold of real power is in fact showing that you can't just be shut down by the military.

Capitalists care far more about the economy as it pertains to the stock market and GDP than they do about maintaining the superior physical fighting force. If everybody in the country quit working for a week, or hell even a day, they'd be on their knees begging for re-negotiation of pay and work standards.

 

[Creamu]

Capitalists care far more about the economy as it pertains to the stock market and GDP than they do about maintaining the superior physical fighting force. If everybody in the country quit working for a week, or hell even a day, they'd be on their knees begging for re-negotiation of pay and work standards.

It's all really thin ice. That's why they are acting so sensitive all the time. Machiavelli said that mercenaries (paid soldiers) aren't going to hold the line if they get challenged. They act tough amoung friends, and flee when the enemy approaches. Just theoretically speaking.

 

[Creamu]

'To gauge whether or not the Federal Reserve is approaching the end of its tightening in the current cycle, watch for an increase in real yields across the curve -- and for nominal yields to rise in tow.

While the Fed would like to see financial conditions tighten across asset prices, credit spreads and the like, an effective measure of its actions would be how far real rates rise. Chair Jerome Powell himself remarked that “you would have positive real rates” across the curve.

[...]

If the Fed is serious about seeking positive real rates, it’s clear that its benchmark rate will need to go beyond those levels on headline inflation. That is considerably above what the markets are pricing in at the moment.

Clearly, the Fed’s task is far from done. For markets obsessed with pricing the end game, it may be worth keeping in mind that decelerating inflation isn’t the same as 2% inflation.'

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/watch-real-assets-see-feds-progress-inflation

 

[Creamu]

'[...] Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said “we just don’t have” conditions consistent with a recession.

But only a few days later, and following her “faux pas” about inflation, Yellen was shown to be wrong once again. The U.S. economy did contract according to official GDP numbers released only a few days later, on the 28th.

This means that short of some miracle that isn’t likely to happen, a “widely accepted” economic recession is already upon us:

The U.S. economy contracted for the second straight quarter from April to June, hitting a widely accepted rule of thumb for a recession, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Thursday.

[...]

Their idea of a solution is to raise funding rates to bring inflation under control.
Necessary Fed rate hikes aggravate the economic damage

So while the Fed attempts to “mop up the mess” that they created, the potential for further economic slowdown from their rate increases could send the U.S. into a deeper recession than it already is.

[...]

We do know the Fed really messed up, so it’s critical that they clean up their mess. There’s no turning back from that now. A Fed clean-up on the economy aisle, in this case, means slowing the economy. Raising interest rates. Discouraging economic activity. That’s bad for businesses and investors who depend on cheap loans and easy-money policies. The Fed is also cleaning up their mess very slowly, and ongoing interest rate hikes are too small to tame inflation quickly, but still enough to keep punishing bonds.

Maybe it’s time to consider diversifying your savings with assets whose value doesn’t depend on the whims of unelected bureaucrats?

[...]'

-Peter Reagan

https://www.birchgold.com/news/recession-different/

 

[Dr_Faustus]

This is nothing shocking or revealing. My landlord tried to push me onto another year long lease almost 3 months before it comes up and they are jacking the price up to 200-500 dollars per month.

So I said to fuck that shit, put up for a few months and go house hunting now. No reason to stay in a shithole anymore when I will be paying as much as a mortgage without any of the benefits of home ownership, including actually having a nice place to make and call home.

 

[TraderPatTX]

This is just a reminder that the transitory inflation is getting worse, despite the Feds raising interest rates.

 

[Ephemeral9]

Capitalists care far more about the economy as it pertains to the stock market and GDP than they do about maintaining the superior physical fighting force. If everybody in the country quit working for a week, or hell even a day, they'd be on their knees begging for re-negotiation of pay and work standards.

They don't even need to stop working, necessarily. Look at the rail strike that almost happened in the US. They were what, a day or two from putting most of the rail out of service (BNSF, UP, Norfolk Southern which are BIG players). It was averted for now though from what I'm reading it's not looking too good. Interesting times ahead if the rail unions decide to strike en masse.

 

[Xzi]

They don't even need to stop working, necessarily. Look at the rail strike that almost happened in the US. They were what, a day or two from putting most of the rail out of service (BNSF, UP, Norfolk Southern which are BIG players). It was averted for now though from what I'm reading it's not looking too good. Interesting times ahead if the rail unions decide to strike en masse.

Craziest part about that is they were only asking for some more UNPAID sick days off each year, and even that was too much for the leeches making billions off the backs of rail workers.

 

[Ephemeral9]

Craziest part about that is they were only asking for some more UNPAID sick days off each year, and even that was too much for the leeches making billions off the backs of rail workers.

It's a bit worse than just that. I work in the same industry (not in those lines however) and have heard some serious horror stories, ranging from what you mentioned to the fact that most CEO/CFO/other letter combinations want to move to a one-person crew (which insofar as efficiency is concerned is absolutely atrocious, not to mention a huge OSHA/safety issue, but I won't get into that). Fighting against signal control because the onboard computer thought you were going too fast when you weren't to automating MPH with no regards of topography.

Keep in mind that (at least beforehand, I haven't taken a look at the new contract) taking a PAID day off would result in getting a strike against you unless you got it signed off in advance by a supervisor. That itself is ALSO a thorn bush of nonsense since most supervisors won't sign off on it because everyone's basically on call as it is. Trains are fun, trains are interesting, but the big companies that run them are something else.

 

[weatMod]

You vill own nothing,
you vill eat ze bugz
you vill live in ze tube
and you vill not be happy