Average people are worried about the economy. Consumer confidence has been falling. People undoubtedly feel the squeeze of inflation. But despite their general discontent, most people don’t seem to think a severe economic downturn is imminent — despite many warning signs.
Why not?
Consumer confidence hit a 10-year low earlier this year and continues to sag as inflation squeezes wallets.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index for May slipped to 106.4. That was down from 108.6 in April.
In the spring of 2021, the Fed was still insisting spiking inflation was “transitory.” Fast forward one year. Inflation is as hot as ever. Fed Chair Jerome Powell was forced to abandon the transitory narrative last fall. In April, the CPI was up 8.3% on an annual basis. Today, Powell admits the Fed was wrong, but claims everybody else made the same mistake.
Well, not everybody, as the following clips prove.
When the Federal Reserve tinkers with interest rates, it creates all kinds of economic distortions. This is very obvious in the housing market. Over the last couple of years, the Fed blew up a giant housing bubble. Now, the central bank has pricked that bubble. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey looks at the housing market as a microcosm of the broader economy.
There is all kinds of spin out there when it comes to inflation. Peter Schiff recently appeared on News Nation to talk about the economy. He explained that the spin misses the mark. The real source of inflation isn’t the pandemic or Putin. It’s the Federal Reserve.
The Fed has barely started raising interest rates but the air is already seeping out of the housing bubble.
New single-family home sales plunged by 16.6% from March and were down 26.9% year on year. New home sales dropped to the lowest level since the lockdown in April 2020.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell insists the central bank can fight inflation because the economy is strong. President Joe Biden keeps telling us the economy is strong. The talking heads on CNBC insist the underlying economy is strong. In a recent podcast, Peter Schiff talked about the economy. As it turns out, it’s not so strong.
Retail sales have spiked over the last few months. You would think that would be great news for retailers, right?
Not so fast.
The mainstream is concerned about the Fed pushing the economy into a mild recession as it battles inflation. Peter Schiff recently appeared on NTD News to talk about the economy. He said the recession is already here and it’s not going to be mild!
There is a lot of spin out there when it comes to economic news. You get spin from the corporate media, You get spin from government officials. And you get spin from central bankers. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey spins the spin, breaking down the media take on the retail sales numbers and Jerome Powell’s spin during a talk this week. Whom should we believe? Listen and decide.
