With real wages decreasing and inflation running rampant, Americans are burying themselves in debt to make ends meet.
After setting a new record in the second quarter, household debt increased at the fastest pace in 15 years during Q3, as American consumers have run up credit card balances month after month this year as they cope with higher prices. Meanwhile, rising interest rates have ballooned mortgage balances.
The October CPI data came in a bit cooler than expected, but the market reaction was hot and furious. Peter Schiff broke down the CPI data and the market reaction to it in his podcast. Despite the spin, Peter said the Fed isn’t making any progress in fighting inflation.
They say perception is reality. Based on the October CPI data, the perception is inflation has peaked. But what’s the reality? In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey digs into the CPI data along with the markets’ reaction to it and wonders if the inflation victory dance is a little premature. He also talks about the big rally in gold and central bank gold buying.
With prices rising and real wages falling, many Americans are struggling to make ends meet. They are increasingly turning to credit cards and other debt to fill the gap. But that creates other problems. Debt has to be repaid and a growing number of Americans are struggling to keep up with payments.
Auto loan delinquencies have risen to the highest level in over 10 years, according to TransUnion.
American consumers continue to dig deeper into debt as they try to cope with rising prices using credit cards. Americans added another $25 billion to their record levels of debt in September, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve.
Last week, the Federal Reserve delivered a 75-basis point rate hike, but Fed Chair Jerome Powell failed to deliver the more doveish rhetoric that many expected. The messaging did not indicate much softening in the stance on the future trajectory of rate hikes, despite an apparent “soft pivot” the week before.
In his podcast, Peter broke down Powell’s messaging and pointed out a number of very scary admissions that came out of the Fed meeting.
The Federal Reserve delivered a 75-basis point rate hike at its November meeting, as expected. But what’s next? That’s a little harder to decipher. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey digs into the mixed messaging that came out of the Fed meeting and concludes the central bank’s monetary policy is “a wing and a prayer.” He also covers the recently released Q3 gold demand data.
Artificially low interest rates blew up a big housing bubble. In a podcast, Peter Schiff explained that it is actually a bigger bubble than the one preceding the 2008 crash. But this time, it is combined with an overall bubble in the entire economy that dwarfs ’08. Peter said all of this has the makings of another massive financial crisis.
The third quarter GDP data came out this week and it looks like the recession is over. (If there ever was one.) But in this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey digs into the data and says, “Not so fast!” He also talks about a mainstream economist who sounds a lot like Peter Schiff and a big problem brewing with diesel fuel.
People keep saying the economy is fine. We’re not in a recession. There’s nothing to see here.
Meanwhile, business activity contracted for the fourth straight month in October.
