This. The more oil that is put out into the market, the better. While it didn't directly lead to price decreases, would the price be higher without it?
[Oil and Gas Investor] Workforce Woes: Labor Shortage in the Oil Patch U.S. oil and gas production growth may be restrained by workers fed up with the industry’s cyclical nature.
We've been spoiled. Actually, gas price (and inflation) have very little impact on med to higher-income earners. The impact is to lower earners (probably more so today than 60 years ago due to the growing wealth gap)
Inflation terror at the Fed https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/3553993-inflation-terror-at-the-fed/ excerpt: Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said recently that inflation is a greater danger than recession, and other Fed officials agree with him. This is ominous because inflation has never hurt Americans as much as a dozen recessions since the founding of the country when prices fell instead of going up and farmers and workers suffered acutely. Unfortunately, even Democrats like Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, share Powell’s view. She rushed to “confess” a few weeks ago that inflation in mid-2022 is worse than she thought it would be and that she was wrong to think that it would ease quickly. She obviously was wrong to expect a quick end to rising prices but in the Democrats' defense every administration makes rosy predictions. The more important mistake is to cheer for those who think raising rates is a good idea and to respond timidly to the Fed’s willingness to risk a recession to blunt this episode of inflation. Democrats like Yellen should untie themselves from the Fed and the crowd pushing high interest rates. Democrats have been right to target spending toward long-term investment in alternatives to fossil fuels. They are right to be fighting inflation by attacking bottlenecks at ports and transport hubs and right to add new capacity to produce advanced computer chips and similar high-tech supplies. Indeed, some of the price increases associated with these bottlenecks are fading already like ocean shipping rates, lumber prices, and inventory shortages at Walmart, Target, and other outlets. Unfortunately, high interest rates will do little to bring the worldwide surge in energy prices down and Russian President Vladimir Putin would love to see the Fed cause a recession that would further discredit the U.S. and democratic government. Democrats also should be explaining more clearly to the public how they; the previous administration and Congress took successful action to ease the pain of the COVID-19 recession. Both administrations and the Congress were right to spend over $5 trillion of government money to replace the lost incomes of 20 million Americans put out of work by COVID-19 when large parts of the economy shut down. A hugely interesting question that economists should be asking is: What would have happened after the Crash of 1929 if President Hoover had spent government money to support incomes and investment the way government did from 2020 to 2022? My view is that the world would have avoided the Great Depression if Hoover had acted so boldly. It is also worthwhile to see how President Trump temporarily made Republicans recognize the central role that government has to play when the economy is in trouble. For all the viciousness and deliberate divisiveness of his politics, when it came to the COVID recession he thought like a developer, a borrower, a newcomer. He had always benefited from low interest rates and spending, and that is what he supported when COVID hit. He brought reactionary Republicans to support stimulus spending that they never would have supported if it had been proposed by Democrats. Since President Biden’s election, Republican reactionaries have reverted to form. They opposed the stimulus Biden added in early 2022 and now blame it for inflation. They also blame Biden for supporting alternative energy development, arguing that it has discouraged oil companies from drilling new wells, although domestic oil and gas production is increasing now. more at the link
but tis a flesh wound. Another 75 bps rate hike inbound. All foreign denominated dollar debt rejoices!
thank God for Manchin and Sinema, imagine what inflation would be like if Build Back Better had passed the Fed's plan to bring down prices is to raise interest rates to create a recession and destroy businesses so there is less demand utterly insane
if the GOP would have voted with the DEMS to curb excessive profiteering, this would not be happening. DD
Inflation Hits 9.1 Percent, Highest Level in 41 Years Inflation picked up speed in June, rather than slowing. https://reason.com/2022/07/13/inflation-hits-9-1-percent-highest-level-in-41-years/ excerpt: Politically, however, gas prices well over $4 per gallon and persistently rising prices throughout the rest of the economy continue to be a yoke around President Joe Biden's neck. Polls show that inflation and prices are Americans' top concerns. And yet, the White House and Congress are reportedly restarting negotiations on a new version of Biden's Build Back Better plan, which would dump billions of dollars into the economy, likely worsening inflation while also raising taxes on families and businesses already battered by inflation. Apparently, some people have learned nothing from the past year. more at the link
Fed Could Weigh Historic 100 Basis-Point Hike After CPI Scorcher This is now the moment where people will say Powell's an idiot and that recession will kill any notion of rate hikes he's planning in September. Reason why he had to go in hard and fast was because America doesn't have much room to wiggle through their debt. With the obvious slowdown in the economy, you do these hikes, you aren't the steward of a soft landing, rather the owner of a chaotic pop. This is all reactionary, which is unlike how some people worship Powell like a prophet or some Pope of Capitalism. Good luck fighting them "bond vigilatnes."
When commodities like gas and gold start going down while the dollar is strong, that's usually a sign that liquidity is tight and recession is coming. Yield curve inverted again recently.
