Inflation Hits a 40-Year High–And Businesses Ponder the R-Word | Inc.com

April 14, 2022April 12, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

While the cost of capital remains relatively inexpensive and consumers keep their foot on the pedal of the economy, the recent inflationary surge will likely drive the Federal Reserve to act to cool the economy. The big question: Can the Fed apply the brakes without slowing the economy into a recession.

In March, inflation rose 8.5 percent, a 40-year high, according to the latest reading of the Labor Department’s consumer price index, or CPI. Meanwhile, groceries surged 10 percent in March from a year ago, while food overall rose 8.8 percent. Used car prices are more than 35 percent higher than they were a year ago, dropping slightly since January, and nationally a gallon of gas is currently hovering at around $4, up 18.3 percent in March and nearing a record set in 2008.

Trump says the economy is booming. He’s right — but you don’t feel it | CNN

September 29, 2020September 28, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

President Donald Trump touts the economy’s quick recovery as evidence of his administration’s success. He’s not wrong, but it’s not the full picture.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell spent all last week testifying about the recovery on Capital Hill. His message: This is a tale of two economies, and one looks much stronger than the other.

On paper, the economy is roaring back even stronger than Powell and many economists expected.: More than 22 million jobs vanished in the spring lockdown, but 10.6 million jobs have since been added back.

Here’s What the Federal Reserve’s Interest Rate Cut Means for You and Your Savings | Inc.com

August 1, 2019July 31, 2019 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that it would cut interest rates for the first time in a decade.

In an effort to sustain the US economy’s longest expansion on record, the Federal Reserve is cutting interest rates by a quarter-percentage-point, bringing the target range for the federal funds rate to between 2 percent and 2.25 percent.

US opioid abuse ‘linked to jobs market’ says Fed boss | BBC News

July 14, 2017July 14, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Widespread opioid abuse is tied to a fall in the share of Americans working or looking for work, the head of the US central bank said on Thursday.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said she was not sure if it was a cause of the decline or a symptom revealing more longstanding economic problems.

Technological changes and an ageing workforce also contributed, she said.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate that prescription drug abuse costs $78.5bn (£61.5bn) annually.

Final nail in coffin for Federal Reserve, central bank independence | Business Insider

November 28, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

One of the central tenets of the Federal Reserve and most central banks throughout the developed world in the modern era has been their ability to stay above the political fray.

With a few notable — and fairly disastrous — exceptions, the Fed has acted without fear of political retribution from the executive branch, although the chair still has to testify to Congress and the president periodically.

The assumption of independence, however, has come under fire in recent months. After President-elect Donald Trump floated the conspiracy theory that the Fed was intentionally manipulating interest rates to help President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, a hostile congressional questioning of Board Chair Janet Yellen in September, and the possibility of Trump packing the Board of Governors with sympathetic members, it no longer is a given that the Fed will be able to maintain its freedom going forward.

US Factory Production Rebounded in September | ABC News

October 17, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

U.S. manufacturers boosted output modestly last month, led by greater production of construction supplies, autos and petroleum products.

Factory production rose 0.2 percent in September, following a decline of 0.5 percent in the previous month, the Federal Reserve said Monday. The broader industrial production category, which includes mining and utilities, ticked up 0.1 percent.

Even with the gain, manufacturing output has been flat in the past year. Factories have been hit by several headwinds: weak business spending on machinery and other equipment, a strong dollar that has made U.S. goods more expensive overseas, and sharp cutbacks in oil and gas drilling that have lowered demand for pipeline and other supplies.

The Fed is handcuffing itself. Here’s how | Money CNN

September 8, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Wall Street is in the throes of a wild guessing game. The question on everyone’s minds: September or December?

That’s because the U.S. Federal Reserve has said that its historic rate hike will come this year. And Wall Street has pinned its hopes on exactly those two months.

Few believe it could be October. That’s not because Fed chief Janet Yellen is afraid of Halloween.

It’s entirely because unlike its September and December meetings, the Fed doesn’t hold a press conference following its October meeting. Investors know that these televised events — which occur just four times a year — are the perfect time for Yellen to carefully explain to the world the rationale behind key decisions that could

New York Fed Chief Levels Explosive Charge Against Big Banks | Huffington Post

November 7, 2013 ~ CBPS ~ Leave a comment

“There is evidence of deep-seated cultural and ethical failures at many large financial institutions,” he continued. “Whether this is due to size and complexity, bad incentives, or some other issues is difficult to judge, but it is another critical problem that needs to be addressed.”

via New York Fed Chief Levels Explosive Charge Against Big Banks.

Federal Reserve Seeks Real-Time Monitoring of Social Networks, Bloggers, Forums, and “Influencers”

September 27, 2011 ~ CBPS ~ Leave a comment

…the Fed will be able to specifically target information being put out by news web sites and even individual users (in forums or comments) and then respond to that information in kind by either contacting “key bloggers” and “influencers,” or simply ramping up their public relations machine to either discredit the message…

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Required Reading: How To Fake An Economic Recovery | Niethercorp Press

February 17, 2011February 17, 2011 ~ CBPS ~ Leave a comment

‘You can take the blue pill and wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want. Or you can take the red pill and see how far down the rabbit hole goes…’ That line from ‘The Matrix’ applies to this piece by Giordano Bruno. If you’re having a tough time wondering how the stock market can go up while people are losing jobs and homes, this will give you something to hang your hat on.

WARNING: You can’t unlearn this information.

This may be a highly distasteful proposition, but just for a moment, I want you to sit back, and imagine that you are a member of the corporate banking elite. You are a walking talking disease ridden power mad pustule who naively believes himself intellectually superior to the vast majority of humanity and above the inherent laws of conscience, honor, and general good taste. You are a villain in the purest sense, in that you not only do great harm to the world, you actually SEEK to do great harm to the world, if only to benefit yourself and your exclusive circle of “friends”; a clan of degenerate blood thirsty sociopaths with delusions of omnipotence that stalk the night like Armani wearing Chupacabra exsanguinating the joy from poor unsuspecting cultures. You are capable of anything, and sadly, you take “pride” in this fact…

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