US Credit Rating at Risk of Fitch Cut on Debt-Limit Impasse (Even Japanese Yen Is Whipsawwing)

What happened to Biden? He used to be a “reasonable” Senator (reasonable for a racist Democrat, that is), willing to negotiate with the opposition on budgetary issues and the debt ceiling. Now we have “Progressive Joe” who is acting like crazy Progressive Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal from Seattle. {Aka, Seattle’s Worst!} But his newly found Progressive identiy is leading down a terrible path. Rating agencies are putting the US of credit watch because of Biden’s newly found Progressive back bone. (Progressive means progressing towards full blown Communism).

Ratings company warns on worsening political partisanship
US AAA ratings on review with negative implications at DBRS

The tension around the US debt-limit negotiations ratcheted up after Fitch Ratings warned the nation’s AAA rating was under threat from a political standoff that’s preventing a deal.

Fitch may downgrade its assessment to reflect the increased partisanship that is hindering a resolution despite the fast-approaching so-called X date, it said, referring to the point at which Washington runs out of cash. It moved the US to “rating watch negative” under its classification. Meantime, DBRS Morningstar placed the US ratings of AAA under review “with negative implications.”

Markets have been showing increasing nervousness over the standoff, with Treasury-bill yields slated to mature early next month surging past 7%, while the S&P 500 Index has declined for two days. Economists project a US default could trigger a recession, with widespread job losses and a surge in borrowing costs.

Fitch’s warning “underscores the need for swift bipartisan action by Congress to raise or suspend the debt limit and avoid a manufactured crisis for our economy,” said Lily Adams, a spokesperson from Treasury.

Biden’s childish refusal to reduce his insanely huge budget (crammed with pork for large donors and Progressives) is causing ripples to be felt overseas. Look look at the Japanese Yen.

Pramila Jayapal, Joe Biden’s intellectual soulmate.

Like Persistent Inflation, New Home Sales Rise 4.1% MoM In April Despite M2 Money Collapse (Taylor Rule Suggests Target Rate Of 11.78%, So The Fed Is STILL Overstimulating Markets)

Remember when former Fed Chair and current Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that inflation was transitory? As usual, Yellen was wrong. Look at April’s new home sales. Up 4.1% since March even through M2 Money growth has collapsed.

The Taylor Rule, based on Core CPI of 5.25% (persistent, not transitory inflation Janet) suggest a Fed target rate of 11.78%. The Fed is at 5.25% and likely to pause rate hikes and maybe even lower rates again.

Gov’t Gone Wild! Biden Refuses To Cut Bloated Budget, Cory Bush’s $14 TRILLION Reparations Demand (US Dollar DOWN -21% Since Sept 2022 While Bitcoin UP 41%, Gold UP 21%, Silver UP 28%)

This is truly the new version of “Girls Gone Wild!” except this time it is elderly politicians in Washington DC acting like demented children. Biden will not budge on spending cuts with the debt limit soooo close to the point of no return. But Biden may not budge since he has the corporate media spewing hate against Republicans nonstop.

And on top of Biden’s outrageous budget, largely payoffs to progressive groups, Missouri Representative Cori Bush (D-of course) is demanding $14 TRILLION in slave reparations. Or what?? More BLM riots? Even California Governor Gavin “Gruesome” Newsom isn’t stupid enough to approve budgetary disaster like reparations.

But that is where we are in the US. A President who acts like a spoiled 12 year old bully, members of Congress like Cori Bush and AOC who think The Fed can just print trillions MORE and give it to preferred groups. Senator Diane Feinstein (soon to be replaced by a horrible human being in the person of Adam Schiff). John Fetterman, the next Bernie Sanders?? C’mon DC. A true ship of fools. And dangerous ones at that.

So since September 26, 2022, we have seen a fundametal shift in markets. The US Dollar is down -21% since September 26, 2022 while Bitcoin is up 41%, Gold is up 21% and Silver is up 28%.

Biden is sitting pretty, If McCarthy chickens out and agrees to Biden’s outrageous budget, Biden looks like a hero. If Biden defaults, the MSM media will blame McCarthy and Republicans, so Biden wins. No wonder Biden said he isn’t worried about the debt ceiling negotations. He wins no matter what, And we the 99% get screwed.

US Treasury Cash Balance Down To $68 Billion As Fed Crashes M2 Money Growth (Clock Is Ticking With One Day Of Spending Left!)

Yes, the clock is ticking on a possible debt default and Biden is off in Hiroshima Japan instead of negotiating with House Speaker McCarthy.

The treasury cash balance is only $18 billion away from Yellen’s minimum balance redline of $50 billion. That’s one day of spending in crazy spending Washington DC.

Battered By BidenInflation, 90 Million Americans Struggle Paying Bills As Credit Card Usage Spikes (Biden/Yellen/Schumer Dither As Debt Hits $32 TRILLION With $188 TRILLION In Unfunded Liabilities)

Reminder, the US already has $32 TRILLION in debt and politicians have promised $188 TRILLION in entitlement spending. yet we are sending billions to Ukraine, etc. Yet Biden is visiting Japan (hide your little girls, Hiroshima!) and Biden/Congress still haven’t solved the debt limit crisis and Biden’s insane budget yet. Meanwhile, Americans are suffering from Biden’s inflation (aka, Bidenflation) and bad economic policies.

A large swath of American consumers are facing financial hardship as they grapple with elevated living costs, record-high credit card use, and two years of negative real wage growth. This perfect storm could decimate financially fragile households in the next downturn. (Zero Hedge).

As many as 89.1 million American adults (or about 38.5%) were found to experience some form of difficulty in covering expenses between April 26 and May 8, according to Bloomberg, citing new data from the Household Pulse Survey. This is up from 34.4% in 2022 and 26.7% during the same period in 2021.

The rising trend is alarming but not surprising. Consumers have been battered by two years of negative real wage growth.

As wages fail to outpace the cost of living, many consumers have burned through savings and resorted to credit cards. The latest revolving credit data shows consumers appear to be ‘strong,’ but that’s only because they use their plastic cards more than ever to survive.

The Household Pulse Survey found struggling households were primarily based across West Coast and the South.

Compared with the same period last year, the survey found 2.7 million more households were relying on credit cards to cover expenses.

Consumers have record card debt and ultra-low savings rates and are paying some of the highest borrowing costs in a generation (the average interest rate on cards now exceeds 20%). This debt is becoming insurmountable for some as delinquencies rise.

And what we have now is new debit and credit card data published by the Bank of America Institute that shows not just spending slowdown for lower-income consumers, but also the upper-income cohort is finally starting to crack.

However, it is appropriate that Biden is visiting Hiroshima Japan where a nuke was detonated to help end World War II.. Biden is doing the same to the US.

Living In Biden’s Economy! US Existing Home Sales In April Crash -23.16% Since Last Year, EHS Down -3.4% Since March (Median Price Of EHS Down -2.09% YoY As Inventory Remains MIA)

Living in Biden’s economy. The ongoing train wreck is slow motion.

US existing home sales tanked -23.16% year-over-year (YoY) as the economy slows and The Fed tightens.

On a month-over-month (MoM), existing home sales declined -3.4% in April from March to 4.28 million SAAR.

The median price of existing home sales fell -2.09% from March to April (MoM) as inventory for sales remains depressed.

US Housing Starts In April Crash -22.3% Since Last Year, 12 Consecutive Months Of Negative Growth (But Up 2.19% From March) As Fed Crashes M2 Money Growth

More bad news about the economy and housing sector under Biden/Yellen/Powell’s Reign of Economic Error.

US housing starts are out for April 2023. The bad news? Housing starts tanked -22.3% year-over-year (YoY).

The good news? US housing starts were up 2.19% from March to April. 1-unit detached starts were up 1.56% MoM while 5+ unit starts up 5.24% MoM. Permits for multifamily were down -9.71% from March to April.

The media will no doubt try to ignore the horrifying Durham Report. The report showed that Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration knowingly smeared Presidential candidate Donald Trump with false Russian misinformation and knowingly tried to steal an election. I wonder if Attorney General Merrick Garland will open an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s involvement in election tampering? Oh wait, the IRS was told to stop investigating Hunter Biden’s nefarious dealings. Never mind.

Biden’s Mortgage Market Bad Wine Hangover! Mortgage Purchase Demand Down -42.4% Since 04/16/21 (Mortgage Demand Down -5.7% Since Last Week, Mortgage Purchase Demand Down -26% YoY, Mortgage Refi Demand Down -43% YoY)

Biden’s economy and mortgage market are like a bad wine hangover. Thanks to inflation and The Fed’s tightening to fight inflation, mortgage purchase demand is down a staggering -42.4% since April 2021.

Mortgage applications decreased 5.7 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 12, 2023.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 5.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 6 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 8 percent from the previous week and was 43 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 4.8 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 5 percent compared with the previous week and was 26 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

Bottle of cheap wine, the fruit of Biden’s and Yellen’s BAD economic policies.

Life During Biden! Mortgage Rates UP 140%, Core Inflation UP 291% Under Unaffordable Joe (Fed Pausing Rate Hikes Even As Prices Continue To Soar)

Life under Biden.

Bankrate’s 30-year mortgage rate is down slighty to 6.89%, but that masks the reality that mortgage rates were only 2.88% when Biden was sworn in as President. That is a staggering increase of 140 in the 30-year mortgage rate.

In fairness to Unaffordable Joe, Congress went on a crazy spending spree with Covid, much of which had nothing to do with Covid. Green energy spending for the donor class is helping drive core inflation up 291% since Biden was installed as President.

And yes, The Fed is playing catch up for former Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s “Too low for too long (TLTL) monetary policy. So, now she is creating mayhem as US Treasury Secretary. And she was a terrible Fed Chair, now a terrible Treasury Secretary.

And yes, The Fed looks like they are pausing rate hikes.

Housing Under Biden: Mortgage Demand Increases 6.3% Since Last Week On Rate Declines, But Purchase Demand Down 32% Since Last Year, Refi Demand Down 44% YoY

Resident Biden has been an unmitigated disaster for the US middle class, but fantastic for BIG corporate America and the donor class.

Mortgage applications increased 6.3 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 5, 2023.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 6.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 7 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 10 percent from the previous week and was 44 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 5 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 5.3 percent compared with the previous week and was 32 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

Here is the data.

Middle class Joe as he likes to call himself is actually BIG CORPORATE Joe. A friend of big donor and BIG pharmam, BIG banks, BIG tech, BIG defense contractors, BIG media. No wonder Hunter Biden refers to Joe as “The BIG guy!”