For the first time this year, CPI data came in within expectations. Many in the mainstream took this as a sign “transitory” inflation might be cooling. But many prices continue to increase.
The BLS Consumer Price Index (CPI) has become one of the most anticipated data points each month. The CPI has become a controversial measure over the years. Many correctly point out that it is continuously refined to lower the inflation readings using mechanisms like Owners Equivalent Rent and goods substitution. This makes sense from a strategic standpoint as inflation expectations have shown that they can cause inflation to increase. Thus understating inflation can rein in expectations.
Peter Schiff recently appeared on the Matt Walsh podcast. During the interview, he broke down exactly how the Federal Reserve and the US government team up to hit you with an inflation tax.
Prices are rising throughout the US economy. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell keeps telling us this inflationary surge is “transitory.” But transitory doesn’t mean what you think it means. The truth is higher prices are forever.
Here’s just a sampling of the price increases we’ve seen over the past few months.
Congress is moving toward finalizing a $1 trillion infrastructure bill. Peter Schiff appeared on Newsmax “The Count” with Jenn Pellegrino to talk about the spending spree.
Biden said spending billions on government projects will help America to “build back better.” Politicians have been promising this for decades. But Peter said it’s the wrong approach. We should get government out of the way and let the free market work.
After posting a 10.4% increase in May, consumer debt continued to expand, growing by a record rate in June.
Consumer credit grew by $37.69 billion in June, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve. That represents a 10.6% increase. The Fed also revised the May number up from $35.3 billion to $36.6 billion.
We’ve seen a sharp selloff in both gold and silver. Gold was down over $40 an ounce Friday. Meanwhile, the US dollar saw a sharp increase, along with a rise in long-term Treasury yields. The catalyst for these sharp moves was a better-than-expected jobs report and expectation that it will spark a quick pivot to monetary tightening by the Fed.
The markets are moving on fantasy, not economic reality.
Gold was solidly above $1,800 an ounce this week until Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida mentioned the economy reaching the Fed’s goals earlier than expected and raised the specter of monetary policy tightening. But is the economy really improving as much as everybody seems to think? In this week’s Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey digs into some of the economic numbers and determines they’re faking it.
The US Trade Balance shows the deficit and surplus of US trade for Imports and Exports. A deficit occurs when imports are greater than exports. When the Trade Balance is in deficit (which it has been for decades), it accounts for one of the two components of the Twin Deficits. The Fiscal Deficit accounts for the other component and was reviewed in a previous article.
The Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world have pumped trillions of dollars into the global economy and depressed interest rates to artificially low levels to blow up the mother of all bubbles. The recent acquisition of Afterpay by Square reveals the extent of this global bubble economy that will inevitably have to pop.
With the stimulus checks long ago spent, Americans have gone back to buying things the old-fashioned way – on credit.
Household debt surged by $313 billion in the second quarter to nearly $15 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Household Debt and Credit Report. It was the biggest quarterly dollar increase in household debt since 2007. In percentage terms, household debt grew by 2.1%, the biggest surge since Q4 2013.
