The trade deficit in goods leaped to another record high in March as Americans continue to spend stimulus money printed out of thin air on products they didn’t produce.
The goods trade deficit surged 4.0% last month, hitting an all-time record of $90.6 billion. That tops the previous record of $88 billion set in February.
There are a lot of new taxes coming down the pike. This was inevitable with all of the government spending. Big government isn’t free. In order to pay for three rounds of stimulus, infrastructure spending, and now the “American Families Plan,” taxes will have to go up.
But there’s a problem with this tax and spend scheme. Taxes make an economy less competitive — especially when other countries have more favorable tax environments. Janet Yellen and the power brokers in DC have the solution to that problem – a global minimum corporate tax.
As Ron Paul explains, global taxes are a blueprint for global economic stagnation.
There’s been some chatter in the financial media about the decline of the gold market. Gold is a relic of the past and crypto will replace it as the go-to safe haven and inflation hedge, according to some. But as host Mike Maharrey explains in this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, the demise of the gold market is greatly exaggerated. A lot of people still want gold. Mike also touches on the national debt in this episode. It’s even worse than most people think.
America has turned into a consumption economy. The problem is, economies can’t run on consumption. Peter Schiff explains in this clip from a recent interview.
Consumption economies are bubble economies.”
CPI came in even hotter than expected signaling rising inflation. The US government is running a massive record budget deficit. But we’re told these things aren’t a problem. Budget deficits don’t really matter. Inflation is transitory. But how can we be so sure? On this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about it.
What do you get when you hand Americans big fat stimulus checks after decades of offshoring the country’s manufacturing economy?
Massive trade deficits.
During his recent 60 Minutes interview, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated that he thinks any spike in price inflation will be transitory. As he put it during the interview, we may see “temporarily higher prices but not persistent inflation.” Peter Schiff appeared on RT Boom Bust to talk about Powell’s view on rising prices. He called the Fed chair’s position, “laughable.”
The US government ran a budget deficit of $659.59 billion in March, pushing the budget shortfall to a record $1.7 trillion through the first half of fiscal 2021, according to the Treasury Department’s Monthy Treasury Statement.
The March budget deficit ranks as the third biggest monthly shortfall in US history, driving Uncle Sam the biggest half-year deficit ever.
Jerome Powell was on 60 Minutes Sunday to reassure us that everything is great and the economy is in fine shape thanks to the Fed. He went on to guarantee the Fed’s indefinite economic support while downplaying inflation. Powell made a lot of promises, but as Peter Schiff breaks it down in his podcast, it becomes clear they are promises the Fed can’t keep.
Apparently, those stimulus checks weren’t enough. American consumers pulled out their credit cards and ran up big balances in February.
According to the latest numbers from the Federal Reserve, consumer debt unexpectedly spiked in February, growing at an annual rate of 7.9%. Economists had expected a small uptick in consumer debt after a flat January, but the sudden surge in credit card spending came as a surprise.