I had a pre approval mortgage of 1.5 million with locked in rate at 2.5% expired b/c I can not find any detached property near this price range in BC lower main land , Biden has nothing to do with it
lol. the Washington Post even says it: In hindsight, the $1.9 trillion rescue package should have been smaller. He can’t change that now, but he can pick the best options going forward instead of the most politically convenient. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...-stay-high-there-are-smart-dumb-ways-respond/ Opinion: Inflation is likely to stay high. Here’s how not to respond. By the Editorial Board Today at 1:11 p.m. EDT Inflation remains the biggest threat to the U.S. economy. The data this week only adds to the angst: Consumer prices are rising at the fastest pace since 1981, and producer prices are experiencing the biggest surge since the government started tracking them in 2010. There’s some hope that March was the peak, as gas and used-car prices begin to cool a bit. But inflation is almost certainly going to remain uncomfortably high for months. Then again, many leaders have been claiming it will get better soon for nearly a year. With costs rising faster than wages, inflation is a major reason President Biden’s approval rating is at its lowest point and sentiment about the economy remains gloomy despite a hot job market. So pressure is mounting on Mr. Biden to take action. In hindsight, the $1.9 trillion rescue package should have been smaller. He can’t change that now, but he can pick the best options going forward instead of the most politically convenient. The best approach is to let the Federal Reserve lead. We have been urging a long-overdue half-point increase in interest rates for months. The Fed finally seems ready to take this decisive step at its May meeting. New York Fed President John C. Williams on Thursday called it a “reasonable option.” But more bold moves will likely be needed later this year. One smart step that Mr. Biden can take is to increase legal immigration. More than 9 million people are waiting in a massive backlog to have their paperwork processed. President Donald Trump helped create this pileup with his anti-immigration policies, but Mr. Biden’s team should be capable of fixing it. A good start would be to automatically extend the work permits of legal immigrants who already have them so they can keep working. It would also make sense economically for Mr. Biden to lift most tariffs on Chinese imports. But we also recognize the tariffs could be a bargaining tool to pressure China — which has been feigning neutrality in the war in Ukraine — not to give more support to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Biden’s recent decision to release nearly a third of the oil from the United States’ Strategic Petroleum Reserve was also the right call. Gas prices are down more than 20 cents per gallon in the past month, partly as a result of increased supply. If inflation does remain high through the summer, it’s also worth considering targeted aid to low- and moderate-income families. Gas, food and rent prices are all up alarmingly, and those costs hit poor families the hardest. There are also some bad proposals out there. Democratic accusations that companies are driving inflation by price-gouging don’t pass the logic test, but they have led to calls for price controls on certain essential items, such as energy and food. Price controls would backfire by making those products more scarce because companies would have less incentive to produce them. It is also a terrible idea to waive the federal gas tax, which funds surface transportation projects, and to increase the amount of environmentally damaging ethanol in gasoline. Sorting sound ideas from those that aren’t is a start toward tackling inflation.
Where did all this inflation come from, and how do we make it go away? The painful rise in prices, including mainstays like food and oil, could end on its own — or not https://theweek.com/inflation/10125...ation-come-from-and-how-do-we-make-it-go-away excerpt: Inflation hit a new 40-year high last month, with consumer prices up 8.5 percent since March 2021. Prices previously jumped 7 percent in December, 7.5 percent in January, and 7.9 percent in February. In March alone, prices rose 1.2 percent. What does this mean for your budget? Michelle Fox of CNBC reported Wednesday that according to Moody's Analytics, the average American household is spending an additional $327 per month due to inflation. Over a year, that comes out to nearly $4,000. more at the link
I posted early in this thread that the Covid Relief would eventually lead to this inflation. The 600 additional federal unemployment supplement was way too much. It was easy to see inflation pressure coming. People were making more money than their job paid. It should have been less. Anyway I was talked out of my position because the supply chain issues made more immediate sense. Now.i see relief criticism and I wonder is it strictly political
Gasoline is really on Putin. I wonder what the economics are for American companies to drill more. Are their costs higher and would it not be worth it. Regardless it's temporary and they don't want to get caught investing more only to have things to return to normal
https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-...ssings-11650404949?mod=hp_opin_pos_2#cxrecs_s Biden’s Errors Worsen Inflation He needs to ditch his woke advisers and make growth the overriding priority. By Mitt Romney April 19, 2022 6:39 pm ET Three factors combined during the past two years to create the perfect economic storm. Covid-19 scrambled the U.S. economy’s supply lines. The Federal Reserve kept its foot on the accelerator way too long. And the Biden administration did pretty much everything wrong, injecting $1.9 trillion into a supply-constrained economy, sending out stay-at-home checks, letting tenants live rent-free, squeezing oil and gas production, launching an avalanche of growth-killing regulations, lining up behind unions, and pushing yet another deficit-financed budget. Most Americans are having a hard time making ends meet. It’s past time for the Fed to restore its singular focus on monetary stability and leave social policies to the branches of government that are elected by the people. And the Biden administration must stop nominating doves to the Fed. The central bank needs hard-nosed economists. In any crisis situation, the first three rules are focus, focus and focus. President Biden’s domestic focus must be on inflation. At 8.5% nationally and 10.4% in Utah, inflation is truly hurting people. And it’s the people with little or no money to spare who are hardest hit by the exponential rise in prices. The last thing the economy needs is more near-term deficit spending, so President Biden should shelve Build Back Better permanently. To remain internationally competitive and reduce dependency on foreign products like rare-earth metals, critical minerals and pharmaceuticals, the U.S. needs to pare down regulations throughout the economy. Excess regulations impede businesses from producing and delay workers from entering the labor force. We should focus on accelerating the domestic supply of critical industrial and agricultural inputs, including minerals for batteries and integrated circuits. The administration can open federal lands and put mining and processing facilities on a fast track for permitting. Today, it can take 10 years to get permits to open a mine. Additionally, the U.S. must increase the domestic supply of oil and gas. Stop the blather about oil companies having more than sufficient leases for drilling—they can’t drill if they can’t get government permits. Building new pipelines to transport oil and gas throughout the country also remains critical. To straighten the supply chain, the administration must eliminate bottlenecks at existing ports and build new inland ports. It is also critical for Congress to pass a budget that actually reduces the deficit. Politicians are inclined to believe accomplishments are tied to starting new spending programs. But the last thing we need is more spending. Reducing spending, rather, would be quite the accomplishment. Congress should establish bipartisan, bicameral commissions to rescue our federal entitlement programs from impending collapse. Some combination of changes in revenue, benefits, cost management and financial arbitrage will be needed to restore their solvency. President Biden also has to find a way to stop the flood of illegal immigration while accelerating legal immigration. New Americans who can immediately join the workforce should get priority over those who need services that require further government spending. Without more immigration visas for agriculture, hospitality and other labor-constrained sectors, crops will go unharvested and goods and services will be unnecessarily curtailed. National visa quotas could be derived from requests by the states, which know their own local labor markets better than the federal government does. We must also create incentives for labor participation and eliminate incentives for dropping out of the workforce. Safety-net programs should be available only to those who truly need them. Finally, we need to reduce or eliminate tariffs except as key elements of foreign-policy objectives. A new set of priorities requires a new set of principals: President Biden needs to ditch his woke advisers and surround himself with people who want to get the economy working again. As for the upcoming midterm elections, remember Bill Clinton’s 1992 mantra: It’s the economy. The American people need the strong economic leadership that only a president can provide. Mr. Romney, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from Utah. Appeared in the April 20, 2022, print edition.
Considering energy and the downstreams effects of energy (food prices) are the main cause of inflation, how would the Covid Relief be a factor in energy prices? I think Covid Relief contributed to inflation, but mostly by enabling consumers to go from goods and services to mostly goods.
The China Supply Chain Nightmare: It Is Time to Panic https://harrisbricken.com/chinalawblog/the-china-supply-chain-nightmare-it-is-time-to-panic/ excerpt: Fortune Magazine just came out with an article entitled: “Companies are beginning to panic: Experts say China’s lockdowns will make inflation and the supply chain nightmare even worse.” To which my immediate thought was, “beginning”? Smart companies were panicking months ago; today is just the realization of so much of that panic. It is right now looking like Beijing will soon be in a lockdown and there is every reason to believe more cities and factories and ports will follow. And do NOT say we did not warn you of all this. But before I turn to proving how our supply chain predictions have become reality, I will extensively summarize and quote from this Fortune article to get you up to speed with the disaster that is today’s China supply chain. Per the Fortune article (and real life), “China’s strict COVID-19 lockdowns will exacerbate global supply chain woes and add to inflation in the coming months.” The article then discusses how China’s COVID lockdowns are increasing and all signs point to them continuing to increase. It then talks about how previous lockdowns are impacting China’s economy — fuel demand in China has dropped 20% this month “in the biggest decline since the first wave of COVID-19 lockdowns more than two years ago.” It then talks about the existing “supply chain nightmare” and why it will get worse. more at the link
the "Monday morning quarterbacking "Utah senator was silent when Trump started the ill-conceived trade war, not just against China, but also Mexico, Canada and many US allies. the stupid trade war wrecked/ shut down many supply chains, which got the inflation ball rolling
was traveling this weekend and everywhere I went, diesel fuel was in the $6.25 to $6.50 range in upstate NY
Diesel fuel is in short supply as prices surge — Here’s what that means for inflation https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/07/die...urge-heres-what-that-means-for-inflation.html
...except inflation is high all over the world. Not sure how Biden is single handedly responsible for a global phenonenah that began before he took office. But I get it, it's easy for conservatives to hang inflation around Biden's neck to score some political points with non-critical thinkers. Sorta like, but in reverse, when Trump took credit for the "lowest unemployment in decades" when the downward trend of unemployment began in the prior 7 years under Obama.
