Gov’t Gone Wild! Purchasing Power Of US Dollar Declined 97% Since 1915, US Debt Up 317% Since Jan 2009 (M2 Money Up 210% Since Jan 2009)

It’s Gov’t Gone Wild! That includes The House, Senate, President and Federal Reserve.

The purchasing power of the US Dollar was $1004.4 on 1915-03-01. By 2025-05-01, the purchasing power fell to $31.1, a loss of 97%. Public debt since the last year of GW Bush, Obama/Biden (with a brief hiatus with Trump) rose 317% since January 2009.

M2 Money printing grew 210% since January 2009.

The music??

Bits And Pieces? US Household Net Worth Fell By -0.93% In Q1 2025 As Bitcoin Falls Below 100k

The housing markets is in bits and pieces following The Fed’s fickle management of interest rates and Biden’s disastrous spending policies. U.S. household net worth fell by 0.93% in 1Q2025 … largest decline since 3Q2022, but not necessarily comparable to that quarter in terms of magnitude.

Bitcoin just broke below $100k.

What will The Fed? As I have said over and over again, The Fed needs to cut rates.

Those Were The Days? Atlanta Fed GDP Q2 Now At 3.8% (Fed Rate Cut Looks Unlikely)

The dismal days of Biden/Harris/Yellen are gone. Although Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries and my in-laws are all singing “Those Were The Days.” Of immense government corruption and waste.

The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the second quarter of 2025 is 3.8 percent on June 5, down from 4.6 percent on June 2. After recent releases from the US Census Bureau, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Institute for Supply Management, the nowcasts of second-quarter real personal consumption expenditures growth and real gross private domestic investment growth decreased from 4.0 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively, to 2.6 percent and -2.2 percent, while the nowcast of the contribution of net exports to annualized second-quarter real GDP growth increased from 1.36 percentage points to 2.01 percentage points.

Here is the breakdown.

The Fed still needs to lower rates by 100 basis points, but that looks unlikely.

Core PCE Fell In April To Lowest Since April 2021, +2.5% YoY (Fed M2 Money Printing UP 4.3% YoY)

The Fed’s favorite inflation indicator – Core PCE – fell once again in April to its lowest since April 2021 at +2.5% YoY.

And The Fed keeps on printing money!

Supercore inflation is down to -0.023 MoM.

The Fed is thinking that they can help.

US Wealth Gap (Top 1% Versus Bottom 50%) Remains Daunting (Trump Urges Fed Chair Powell To Cut Rates)

Republicans are trying to lock in Trump’s tax cuts and Democrats are resisting. We now know that DOGE is trying to end the wasteful spending in DC. But I would really like to see tax rates on the middle class fall.

The wealth gap between the top 1% of taxpayers and the bottom 50% of taxpayers is enormous. And has gotten worse since 1990.

Meanwhile. to fight off the temporary effects of the tariff war, Trump is urging Fed Chair Powell to cut rates.

Powell will likely NOT cut rates. But what does “Lunatic Liz” Warren say about rate cuts??

Fear! Tariff Fears Are Spooking Markets (China Is Acting Childish)

Markets are ranked by fear about tariffs. Particularly since China is acting like a child.

Bond vs equity fear

Bond volatility has shot up higher, but remains “muted” compared to the VIX move.

Source: Refinitiv

FX vs equity fear

FX volatility has shot up higher as well, but is pale in comparison to the VIX move.

Source: Refinitiv

Credit “crunched”

Credit protection has surged during the “chaos”. Chart shows the US and the European versions.

Source: Refinitiv

Equity vs credit protection

VIX vs CDX IG.

Source: Refinitiv

Europe as well

V2X vs iTraxx main.

Source: Refinitiv

Correlation – the upside crash

Implied correlations showing a lot of “fear” as pretty much everything has been treated as if it were the “same” during the crash.

Source: Refinitiv

Massive

Intraday range was huge during yesterday’s session, but close to close very modest. Imagine trading short gamma….and hedging the extremes.

Source: GS

The Yuan is having a volatile day.

Fear!

DOGE Donkeys? Initial Jobless Claims SOAR In Washington DC, Over 2 Million, As “The Borg King” (Elon Musk) Takes Control (DOGE Has Saved Taxpayers Over $143 BILLION So Far)

Elon Musk, who Democrats consider to be The Borg King, and DOGE have laid-off many Federal workers. Today’s jobless claims report revealed that over 2 million Federal workers filed for unemployment benefits.

DOGE has saved taxpayers over $143 BILLION thus far.

How Democrats view Elon Musk.

Keep On Printin’! US Home Prices Accelerated To New Record High In December As Fed Kept On Printing Money (But 14 Of Top 20 Metro Areas Fell In Price From November To December 2024)

To keep house prices soaring to new highs, The Fed need to keep on printing!

For the second straight month, US home prices accelerated YoY in December (according to the latest data from S&P Global’s Case-Shiller Index). The 20-City Composite saw prices jump 0.5% MoM (faster than expected and the biggest jump since June) and accelerating MoM for the 3rd straight month.

Only Tampa FLA of the top 20 metro areas had a negative YoY price change, but 14 of the top 20 metro areas experienced price declines from November to December: Atlanta, Charlotte, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa and Washington DC.

Keep on printin’!

Doesn’t the lead singer for The Gentrys sorty of look like Matt Damon??