Boots & Sabers

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Owen

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1929, 13 Sep 22

Raging Inflation Pervades Economy

It’s not just that the core inflation rate remains very high. It’s that the inflation is spreading far and wide through the economy. As predicted by everyone with a brain, the early inflation in energy due to disastrous policies combined with the trillions of dollars spraying out of Washington combined to inflate the underlying cost structure of the entire economy. That isn’t going away any time soon.

For the better part of a year, the inflation narrative among many economists and policymakers was that it was essentially a food and fuel problem. Once supply chains eased and gas prices abated, the thinking went, that would help lower food costs and in turn ease price pressures across the economy.

 

August’s consumer price index numbers, however, tested that narrative severely, with broadening increases indicating now that inflation could be more persistent and entrenched than previously thought.

 

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Rather than fuel, it was food, shelter and medical services that drove costs higher in August, slapping a costly tax on those least able to afford it and raising important questions about where inflation goes from here.

 

“The core inflation numbers were hot across the board. The breadth of the strong price increases, from new vehicles to medical care services to rent growth, everything was up strongly,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “That was the most disconcerting aspect of the report.”

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1929, 13 September 2022

7 Comments

  1. penquin

    >the early inflation in energy due to disastrous policies

    The record-high profits seem to suggest that profiteering is also a major factor.

    >raising important questions about where inflation goes from here.

    No question about it – it is going into the pockets of the upper 1% (see above link)

  2. Jason

    >No question about it – it is going into the pockets of the upper 1% (see above link)

    Above link points to 5 “Big Oil” companies, thanks Penquni…. really helpful…

    >The core inflation numbers were hot across the board. The breadth of the strong price increases, from new vehicles to medical care services to rent growth, everything was up strongly,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “That was the most disconcerting aspect of the report.”

    Missed something again? eh P?

  3. Tuerqas

    Yeah, but that is the conservative point isn’t it? Government interfered and the wealthy benefited.
    Your point seems to be that the wealthy CAUSED the inflation, but I must be mistaken as I could never understand your level of intelligence (something I agree with, btw).

    I mean, your last direct statement says that INFLATION is going into the pockets of the wealthy. Who could understand that depth…of…

  4. penquin

    >Your point seems to be that the wealthy CAUSED the inflation

    Mostly yes, specifically the oil oligarchs and their cartels. Practically everything else is tied into energy prices.

    There are other factors involved of course, but profiteering by Big Oil appears to be the biggest.

  5. Tuerqas

    Do you think that the price of oil would have skyrocketed if the extra pipeline had been finished? And do you blame big oil first because they CAUSED the regulations to be added and the pipeline stopped? Personally, I blame Gov’t first because I think that had, for instance, Trump been re-elected it would not have occurred. I do believe the Gov’t decisions made by the Biden admin allowed the oil companies to sit back on less production and charge more. I believe it was Gov’t decisions during the Bush admin that caused the housing collapse first and foremost as well for the same reasons. If you order a bank to take bad loans, I do not blame the banks for taking them out.
    I could see big oil ultimately being behind the legislation, but then I would still blame politicians first for taking the bribes that caused the bad legislation. Maybe it is chicken and the egg, but I do believe legislation has caused both this crisis and the housing crisis back in 2008.

  6. penquin

    >Personally, I blame Gov’t first because I think that had, for instance, Trump been re-elected it would not have occurred. I do believe the Gov’t decisions made by the Biden admin allowed the oil companies to sit back on less production and charge more. I believe it was Gov’t decisions during the Bush admin that caused the housing collapse first and foremost as well for the same reasons. If you order a bank to take bad loans, I do not blame the banks for taking them out. I could see big oil ultimately being behind the legislation, but then I would still blame politicians first for taking the bribes that caused the bad legislation. Maybe it is chicken and the egg, but I do believe legislation has caused both this crisis and the housing crisis back in 2008.

    Cool story, bro. Thanks for sharing.

  7. Tuerqas

    Hey I am not saying that the primary sub-prime lenders weren’t the giants at fault, but the bank my wife worked for refused to give out risky loans and paid millions in fines each year for not lending to anyone that did not have good enough credit. And their profit pool was less than 2 million most years.
    The ‘banks’ did get a bad rap because legislation was passed that relaxed good lending policies and started penalizing good ones. Sure it sucks to have bad credit, but there is often a reason one has bad credit. The big bank penalties would have been in the billions annually. So do they pay billions to the fed by keeping good lending practices, or make billions by following the new lending guidelines the Government set out?

    It was the large home lenders like Countrywide, New Century et al that brought on the crisis. They were not bound by banking regulations and could just lend willy-nilly, but the good lending practices could only be stretched so far without possible Fed intervention. The relaxed lending laws on banks, however, was the gun shot starting the high risk lending race, and then the big investment banks joined in. But the enemy named by the press were ‘banks’ and I think that was inaccurate.

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