Our weak economy has been propped up by government spending fueled by borrowing. That gravy train is threatening to slow down as the interest to pay that debt balloons. We are headed for a very bad time. None of what we are arguing about now will matter when the national debt crushes the economy. Neither Kamala nor Trump seem to give a dang. Frankly, why would they? The American people don’t seem to give a dang either.

The broad market index dropped 1.84% to end at 5,346.56. The Nasdaq Composite lost 2.43% to close at 16,776.16, bringing the decline for the tech-heavy index from its recent all-time high to more than 10%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 610.71 points, or 1.51%, to finish at 39,737.26. At its session low, the 30-stock index was down 989 points.

 

Stocks sank after July job growth in the U.S. slowed more than expected, while the unemployment rate rose to the highest since October 2021. Nonfarm payrolls grew by just 114,000 last month, the Labor Department reported, a slowing from 179,000 jobs added in June and below the 185,000 expected by economists polled by Dow Jones. The unemployment rate increased to 4.3%.

 

The 10-year Treasury yield fell to its lowest since December as investors flooded into bonds for safety on the fear the Federal Reserve made a mistake this week by keeping interest rates at current levels.

We’ve cultivated a generation of deadbeats.

At the end of March, six months after the hiatus ended, nearly 20 million borrowers were making their payments as scheduled. But almost 19 million were not, leaving their accounts delinquent, in default or still on pause, according to the latest Education Department data.

“The nonpayment rate really is emblematic of a system that’s not doing its job,” said Persis Yu, the managing counsel for the Student Borrower Protection Center, an advocacy group.

 

Some 7 million borrowers with federally managed loans were at least 30 days overdue on their payments at the end of 2023. That’s the highest delinquency rate since 2016, as far back as the department’s public records go. Because of a policy adopted by the Biden administration, those borrowers will face no penalties for their nonpayment until October at the earliest.

 

Millions more had their accounts frozen through deferment or forbearance (which allows borrowers to temporarily stop making payments), and nearly 6 million borrowers remain mired in defaults that began before the pandemic.

Owning a home is a central part of the American Dream for most Americans. Biden’s policy decisions are making that dream more and more difficult to realize.

Such frustrations are spreading, fuelling dissatisfaction and contributing to the widespread pessimism about the US economy that is looming over the country’s upcoming election.

 

The median home sale price in the US has jumped by nearly 30% since the end of 2019, hitting $420,000 this spring.

 

At a time of rising property values globally, the leap has been one of the most dramatic in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund.

 

And that’s not factoring in the added costs from higher interest rates, which now stand at roughly 7% for the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage that is typical in the US, up from about 3% in 2020.

 

Homebuyers today need an annual income of more than $100,000 – well above the country’s household median of about $75,000 – to comfortably afford a home in most places in the US, research firms such as Zillow and Bankrate say, and face monthly payments that have roughly doubled in just four years.

One of the myriad reasons we are seeing the prices of everything increase is the omnipresent finger of regulation unnecessarily shoved into every market.

As Congress begins the process of passing a new version of the farm bill this week — a twice a decade process — House Republicans are hoping to include a provision that prevents states such as California from determining how others raise their livestock.

In effect, the provision would allow California to apply its law to California pig farmers, but not to farmers in states such as Kansas and Missouri.

 

“My farmers and ranchers love their animals, they want to treat them as humanely as possible,” said Sen. Roger Marshall, a Kansas Republican. “We don’t need California to tell Kansas ranchers how to raise Kansas beef. It’s that simple.”

 

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is in favor of legislation the curb the impact of the California law, saying that the Supreme Court decision could result in all 50 states setting their own rules and regulations.

 

“If we don’t take this issue seriously, we’re going to have chaos in the market,” Vilsack said. “Because there’s nothing preventing any state from doing what California did.”

 

He acknowledged, though, that there may not be interest in dealing with this during the current Congress.

 

[…]

 

Californians, who make up 13% of the pork market but less than 1% of U.S. production, voted to set standards for in-state sales to ensure consumers knew they were buying animal products that weren’t raised in cramped spaces.

 

[…]

 

Early studies have found that the provision has already increased prices for pork products covered by the regulation by 20%, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

 

That means products like pork chops, pork loin and bacon have risen for California customers compared to the national average, in a moment when many customers are already dealing with high inflation.

Why is everything getting so expensive?

Millions of salaried workers will soon qualify for overtime pay under a final rule released by the US Department of Labor on Tuesday.

The new rule raises the salary threshold under which salaried employees are eligible for overtime in two stages. The threshold will increase to the equivalent of an annual salary of $43,888, or $844 a week, starting July 1, and then to $58,656, or $1,128 a week, on January 1, 2025.

About 4 million more workers will qualify for overtime when the rule is fully implemented in January, the agency estimates. In its first year, the rule is expected to result in an income transfer of about $1.5 billion from employers to workers, mainly from new overtime premiums or from pay raises to maintain the exempt status of some affected employees.