Household Essentials Cost Far More Under Bidenomics! Gasoline Prices Up 72%, Rent Of Primary Residence Up 16%, Food At Home Up 20% Under Biden! (30Y Mortgage Rate UP 163% Under “Middle Class Joe”)

Middle class Joe my ^%&!

Joe Biden will always be remembered for lying about never raising taxes on households making under $400,000. Inflation is a permanent tax, mostly on those making under $400,000 per year. And household essentials are up substantially under Biden: gasoline prices are up 72%, rent CPI of Primary Residence is up 16%, and food at home CPI is up 20%! That is a HUGE tax on the middle class.

When mainstream economists and politicians cite “improvements” to the inflation problem in the US in recent months, what they are commonly referencing are changes to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). However, the CPI is not a measure of total inflation, rather, it is a median snapshot of prices at a particular point and time. True inflation is cumulative – A 10% increase one year and a 5% increase the next year is not a win, it means that you are now paying 15% more on average for everything you buy in the span of only two years.

When CPI falls this does not mean that prices on goods and services are going down, it only indicates that prices are rising slower than they were the month or the year before.

Another misconception about CPI is that it measures the inflation rate accurately for regular consumers on common purchases. In reality, the CPI represents mean average price rate increase for a vast basket of goods; over 94,000 items and services with over 200 separate categories. Most of these items and services you will never use or rarely purchase in the span of a year. In other words, inflation declines in uncommon goods can dilute the numbers, making it seem like inflation is dropping while prices on daily necessities continue to spike.

The CPI is weighted according to consumer spending patterns, which is where the calculations can be “adjusted” to a certain extent in an arbitrary manner. Then there is outright government manipulation through various means. As we witnessed recently with the Biden Administration’s claims that “Bidenomics” has defeated the inflation threat, what these reports don’t mention is that Biden has been dumping US strategic oil reserves on the market for the past year. And since energy prices effect the inflation of so many other categories, Biden has artificially manipulated the CPI down using one key resource.

Now that his ability to dump oil reserves has ended, CPI will rise once again along with energy prices.

The point is, it’s impossible to get a sense of the real damage from inflation without looking at the cumulative inflation in necessities (the goods and services that people are required to purchase on a regular basis to live day to day). If we throw out the CPI distraction and look at common necessities since 2020, the economic picture is far more bleak.

Overall food prices have soared by 25%-30% in only three years (again, this means that you are now paying 30% more this year for food than you were paying at the beginning of 2020). Chicken is up from $3 per pound to $4 per pound. Beef is up from $3.50 to $6 per pound. Corn is up from $3.50 per pound to $4.70 per pound. Wheat is up from $5 per pound to $7 per pound. In 2019 the average American household was spending $8100 on food annually; with a 30% increase, in 2023 Americans will be spending at least $10,500 per household.

By the end of 2019, the average rental price of a single family home was around $1450 per month. This year the price is around $2000 per month. At the beginning of 2020, the median cost of a home was $320,000; by 2023 the price skyrocketed to an average of $416,000.

For gasoline, the price in early 2020 was around $2.50 per gallon. The price has fluctuated dramatically due to Biden’s manipulation of the market using strategic reserves, but still remains high today at $3.80 per gallon.

The cost of electricity has risen swiftly, holding steady around .13 cents per kilowatt hour for a decade, then spiking to at least .17 cents per kilowatt hour by 2023.

Remember, most of these costs are static and are difficult to reduce through household spending cuts. These are not items that are easily removed from a monthly budget and the expenditures add up to considerable pressure on consumer accounts. This is probably why around 74% of the public in polls say that the economy is getting worse, not better. It’s because government statistics are not highlighting the true inflationary crisis.

When we look at the cumulative climb of prices in necessities since before the inflation crisis officially began, the truth is that Americans now have to increase their wages by at least 25%-30% on average to maintain the same standard of living they had three years ago. This is a disaster not seen since the stagflationary event of the 1970s and early 1980s. If you have a strange feeling like your bank account is being rapidly drained in recent months, that’s because it is.

And the 30-year mortgage rate is up 163% under Middle Class Joe.

Used Electric Vehicle Prices Crashing As Fed Pushes Auto Loan Rates Above 7% (60M Auto Loan Rates Up 74.4% Under Bidenomics)

Yes, one of the cornerstones of Bidenomics is the massive expansion of (impractical) electric vehicles (or EVs). You know, those mondo expensive cars that run out of power after a couple of hundred miles requiring a lengthy recharge (kind of makes long distance trips the domain of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) cars.

But as Biden/Congress spent trillions on green energy (massive subsidies for anything green), we noticed that 1) inflation hit 40 year highs and 2) The Fed intervened to raise rates. So, now we see that 60-month auto loan rates are now around 7.36%, up 74.4% under “Middle Class Joe.”

And we see used EV prices collapsing like a week-old soufflé.

Speaking of green energy fraud, here is the leader of the green energy fraud movement, John F’ing Kerry. Aka, Heinz Planes Grifter.

Bidenomics? US Pending Home Sales Plunge More Than Expected In May To -20.8% YoY (Negative On Top Of 25 Straigth Months Of Negative REAL Wage Growth)

Bidenomics? Yes, an economy where inflation crushes the middle class and low wage workers with 2 years of negative wage growth and now 24 or the last 25 months of negative growth rates of Pending Home Sales YoY.

After existing home sales were flat and new home sales exploded higher, pending home sales once again are the tie-breaker on May’s housing market (and were expected to decline 0.5% MoM). The actual print was considerably worse than expected, down 2.7% MoM (and April was revised down from unchanged to -0.4% MoM). Pending Home Sales were down -20.8% YoY in May.

This is not exactly surprising given that Americans have suffered from 25 straight months of NEGATIVE real weekly earnings growth.

“C’mon man! The Biden clan is getting filthy rich with foreign bribes! Stop the malarkey about Bidenomics being a disaster!”

Biden Meal! Treasury Bill Barrage Is Just a Prelude to Longer-Term Debt Deluge (Ticking Time Bomb Of Debt With Interest Payments Skyrocketing!)

Jay Leno once quipped about the Obama meal. “Order anything you want and hand the bill to the person standing behind you.” Biden, like his boss Obama, is praciticing a similar strategy. Spend like a drunken sailor and just keep borrowing until the whole thing breaks.

The barrage of fresh Treasury bills poised to hit the market over the next few months is merely a prelude of what’s yet to come: a wave of longer-term debt sales that’s seen driving bond yields even higher.

Sales of government notes and bonds are set to begin rising in August, with net new issuance estimated to top $1 trillion in 2023 and nearly double next year to fund a widening deficit. The Treasury is already in the middle of an estimated $1 trillion bump in bills as it seeks to replenish its cash coffers in the wake of the debt-limit deal.

It’s an explosive mix for borrowing costs as debt sales are swelling and the Federal Reserve continues to reduce its balance sheet at a time when traditional buyers of Treasuries overseas are discouraged by currency hedging costs.

“A worsening fiscal profile, amid fairly modest spending cuts, suggests that the upcoming supply deluge will not be limited to T-bills,” wrote Anshul Pradhan, head of US rates strategy at Barclays Plc. “The Treasury will soon need to increase auction sizes meaningfully across the curve. We believe the rates market is too complacent.”

Barclays strategists predict the net rise in coupon-bearing debt from August to year-end will be nearly $600 billion. And that would only ramp up in 2024, they say, with an annual figure of $1.7 trillion. That would be nearly double this year’s expected debt issuance.

Pradhan says he doesn’t think the market appreciates the increase in issuance that’s going to be needed due to wide budget deficits and the fact the Treasury won’t want bills to become a substantial share of the total debt.

Total net new bill sales are set to bring their share of US debt to about 20%, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. The issuance would hit a threshold seen by the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee as the upper limit for the US to fund deficits at the least possible cost to taxpayers.

Bank of America Corp. says the supply deluge could result in a “demand vacuum” for longer maturity bonds that could push yields higher and tighten financial conditions.

The problem isn’t purely a function of more debt. The bigger issue is that this new debt comes with a much steeper price tag. Interest on the national debt is rising at an alarming clip.

The trailing 12-month (TTM) interest on the debt clocked in at just under $600 billion in May. This was up from $350 billion at the start of 2022, less than 18 months ago. The government has added an extra $250 billion in expenses per year on just debt service.

This is just the beginning of an upward trend. Based on the current interest payments, the Treasury is paying less than 2% interest on the total debt. But a lot of the debt currently on the books was financed at very low rates before the Federal Reserve started its hiking cycle. Every month, some of that super-low-yielding paper matures and has to be replaced by bills, notes and bonds yielding much higher rates. That means interest payments will quickly climb much higher unless rates fall.

Looking at the Treasury sale on June 26 reveals the extent of the problem. The Treasury sold $162 billion in securities, with $120 billion in short-term Treasury bills with high yields.

$58 billion in six-month bills at an investment yield of 5.45%
$62 billion in three-month bills at an investment yield of 5.34%.
$42 billion in two-year notes at a high yield of 4.67%, amid very strong demand. Longer-term yields are still far below short-term yields.

With this flood of Treasury bills, the share of short-term paper underpinning the debt is approaching 20%. That’s considered the upper limit, meaning the Treasury will soon have to turn to issuing longer-term notes and bonds. That means the Treasury will be locking in higher interest rates for the long term.

Tweedle dee and tweedle dum(ber).

50 Shades Of Joe! Misery Indices All Point To Americans Being Almost Twice As Miserable Under Biden Than Pre-Covid Trump (25 Straight Months Of Negative Weekly Wage Growth)

I could have used 3 shades of Joe, but 50 shades of Joe sounds better!

But the fact remains that Americans are far more miserable under Biden than they were under Trump before the Chinese Wuhan Covid virus was unleashed. 9.03 today (Core CPI YoY + U-3 Unemployment) than it was in February 2020 under Trump (5.86). While not twice as bad, inflation is continues to cause serious problems for America’s middle class and low-wage workers.

Speaking of the middle class and low wage workers, let’s look at the Renter’s Misery index (CPI Owner’s equivalent rent YoY + Unemployment rate). It was 6.78% in February 2020 under Trump and before Covid struck and is now 11.75% under Inflation Joe.

Speaking of misery, how 25 straight months of negative REAL wage growth? Real weekly wage growth went negative in April 2021, just a few months after Biden was installed as President.

Now, there was winners under Biden. Green energy donors, the big banks, big pharma, big tech, but media … essentially any big donors from big entities got massive payoffs. The middle class and low-wage workers? As Jerry Reid once sang, “They got the coal mine and we got the shaft.”

US Mortgage Rates UP 144% Under Biden’s Reign Of Error (Fed Likely To Pause Today But Raise Rates At July Meeting)

Biden’s “reign of error” is horrific. The inflation caused by Biden’s policies, The Federal Reserve and insane Federal spending has caused mortgage rates to soar 144% since Biden took office.

While The Fed is likely to pause today, but Fed Funds are pricing in a July rate hike.

Banks are not going to like another rate hike!!!

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.

Babbling Biden! The US Budget Deficit Remains Higher Than Before Covid (Biden Lying … Again) Lagarde Trusts in US Common Sense to Avert Catastrophic Default

Joe Biden is the worst public speaker of any President in history. Here is “Babbling Biden” lying about the great reduction in Federal budget deficit.

First, Biden didn’t “balance the budget” liked he claimed at Hiroshima. In fact, the Federal budget deficit, while improving, is still worse than it was before the 2020 Covid economic shutdown.

Biden, Schumer and Yellen are ignoring the $187 TRILLION in UNFUNDED entitlements promised America, even though Biden keeps threatening to halt Social Security payments if Biden and Yellen default on the debt. No discussion of the runaway train of entitlemennts.

I love this Bloomberg headline: “(ECB’s) Lagarde Trusts in US Common Sense to Avert Catastrophic Default.” Has Lagarde actually talked to Biden, Harris or Yellen? America’s REAL 3 Stooges??

Here is a video of Joe Biden tackling the debt ceiling.

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.

Yellen Says Only Good Outcome Is Congress Raising Debt Ceiling (US CDS Remains Elevated As Child-like Biden Refuses To Negotiate The Debt Ceiling)

Treasury Secretary Janet “The Evil Hobbit” Yellen is a Statist. She can only think of an all powerful central government calling the shots since the private sector and individual liberties are something to be eliminated.

So, it is not surprising that Yellen is pushing for Congress to raise the debt ceiling without conditions. Even Democrat Senator Joe Manchin is saying that Biden is ‘Hypocritical’ On Debt-Limit Demands’.

Yellen has mostly declined to spell out what her department would do if Congress fails to raise or suspend the debt limit before the Treasury finds itself unable to cover all the government’s obligations.

Back in Mordor on The Potomac, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy postponed a meeting on the debt ceiling set for Friday. People familiar with the talks said the postponement was a sign that staff-level talks were yielding progress.

Biden and congressional Republicans have been locked in disagreement for weeks over raising the US federal government’s $31.4 trillion borrowing limit. GOP leaders have demanded promises of future spending cuts before they approve a higher ceiling. Biden has jinsisted on a “clean” increase, with budget talks kept separate.

Now what no one in our lame pro-government media or Congress or Administration has said is the a US debt default does NOT necessarily mean that the US walks away from its debt. Very likely, China and Japan, our two biggest foreign debt holders, will insist on debt restructuring so that the US pays some fraction of debt owed, like 80%.

But foreign debt holders are a relatively small percentage of US debt holders. The Federal Reserve is the largest single borrower, thanks in part to Yellen who has formally Federal Reserve Chair,

Of course, financial entities like Vanguard, Blackrock and Fidelity are the largest holders of US debt. Since pensions invest heavily with these enetitites, the Federal government would restructure the debt rather than outright default.

US CDS 1Y continues to remain high as Biden/Yellen/Schumer play chicken with the lives of the American middle class while the political donor class is clamoring for endless spending and wealth transfers.

Remember, Biden, Yellen and Schumer all Statists and believe that their job is growing Federal government to wear it is all powerful and their donors get billions in subsidies and wealth transfers. You don’t think green energy subsidies make any common sense, do you? Wind turbines (aka, whale and eagle killing machines) are ineffective. We need nuclear power but Progressives fear nuclear power as much as they have Donald Trump.