The Core! US March Core PCE Prices Remain HOT At 4.6% YoY Despite Fed Crashing M2 Money Growth, March Personal Spending Slows To 0% MoM (Taylor Rule Suggests 10.27% Target Rate)

March’s Personal Consumption Expenditures Core Prices remain HOT despite The Fed crashing M2 Money growth. PCE Core price growth remained elevated at 4.6%.

Personal spending in March slowed to 0% growth.

The Taylor Rule infers a Fed Funds target rate of 10.27% Alas, we will never get there.

How Bad Are Things Under Biden? US Credit Default Swaps At 162 While Peru And Mexico Are At Under 30 (US Worse Than Third World Nations)

US House Speaker passed on a budget to the US Senate to avoid a US debt default. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schuner said “DOA” and Biden refuses to negotiate with McCarthy. Hence, the US Credit Default Swap 1Y rose to 162 today.

For comparison sake, Peru and Mexico are at under 30. How pathetic is that?

Biden’s Reign of Error is only getting worse. That is why he is Clueless Joe!

US March Pending Home Sales Crash By -23.3% Since Last Year (YoY) And -5.2% Since Last Month (MoM) As Fed Retreats (16th Straight Month Of Negative Growth)

So much for the hopium spread by the Biden Administration and Realtors in general.

US Pending Home Sales crashed -23.3% YoY and -5.2% MoM for the 16th straight month of negative growth in pending home sales.

Wasting again in Bidenville, looking for my lost economy. Biden says Maga Republicans are to blame, but we know its Biden’s and Congress’s fault.

Is That All There Is? US GDP Grows At A Pathetic 1.1% QoQ Rate Despite Massive Spending Spree By Biden, Gross Private Domestic Investment Crashes By -12.5% QoQ (Bad Return On $3.37 TRILLION In Spending)

Crooner Peggy Lee said it best: Is that all there is?

Unfortunately, US GDP grew at a pathetic 1.1% QoQ.

Official estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) show that, since January 2021, legislation signed by President Biden has set in motion a record $3.37 trillion in new spending. And for all that spending, we get a pathetic 1.1% QoQ growth rate?

Inflation continues to be 4% QoQ despite M2 Money growth collapsing.

Gross private domestic investment crashed by -12.5% QoQ.

This is Biden’s idea of a strong economy? His lame campaign slogan is “Let’s finish the job!” Please don’t Joe!

And take Janet “The Evil Hobbit” with you!

Wasting Away In Bidenville! US Mortgage Demand Rises 3.7% Since Last Week (WoW), But Mortgage Purchase Demand Remains -28% Lower Than Last Year (YoY) While Mortage Refi Demand Is -51% Lower

Wasting away again in Bidenville. Nibblin’ on ice cream. Watching the economy boil. Particularly mortgage demand.

Mortgage applications increased 3.7 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending April 21, 2023.

The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, increased 3.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 5 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index increased 2 percent from the previous week and was 51 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 6 percent compared with the previous week and was 28 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

Recession Alert! Philly Fed Crashes To -22.8 For April (Slippin’ Into Darkness)

The US economy is slippin’ into darkness.

The Philly Fed NBOS General Business Activity Region Diffusion Index SA crashed to -22.8 in April.

And today’s Fed Funds Futures data points to a return of The Bernanke/Yellen “Low Rider” policy for rate management.

Why can’t the corporate media, AOC and Tucker Carlson be friends?

In The Garden Of Biden! US Wage Growth Is Above Home Price Growth For First Time Since Trump (But NOT After Controlling For Inflation) Biden Goes Crazy On Mortgage Rules!

In the garden of Biden, not all is well for housing and the mortgage market.

It has been a tough road for the US economy since Covid and Biden’s Reign of Error. For the first time since July 2020 under President Trump, we have finally seen average hourly earnings growth YoY exceed average home price growth YoY.

In REAL terms (after substracting out headline inflation), we see that US housing market is still plagued by 24 straight months of negative wage growth with REAL wage growth still being lower than REAL home price growth.

Then we have Biden’s Marxist mortgage model, making those who who saved and showed care in managing their credit score given money to those who didn’t save and are terrible at financial management. Just like taxpayers trusting DC bureaucrats to carefully spend their money.

Biden’s new theme? “Let’s go crazy!”

Gov’t Gone Wild! The Biden Administration’s Budget Hypocrisy, Federal Spending Out Of Control (What About The $187 TRILLION In UNFUNDED Liabilities?)

James Carter (no, not Mr. Peanut, the smart one at America First Policy Institute’s Center for American Prosperity) had a nice op-ed on American Thinker entitled “The Biden Administration’s Budget Hypocrisy.”

The Biden administration’s claims of deficit reduction come in stark contrast to the president and his team, having added $4.8 trillion to the deficit through 2031.

You might call anyone uttering such claims a hypocrite. As Adlai Stevenson, the grandfather of the future Illinois governor and two-time presidential candidate of the same name, reportedly quipped: “A hypocrite is the kind of politician who would cut down a redwood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for conservation.” Sounds about right.

Why does this matter? It matters because President Joe Biden fancies himself a champion of deficit reduction. As he bragged in a “60 Minutes” interview last month, “By the way, we’ve also … reduced the deficit by $350 billion my first year. This year, it’s going to be over $1.5 trillion, reduced the debt.”

But the president’s attempts to redefine his reckless spending as deficit reduction don’t end there. According to The Washington Post, “Just in the week before the 60 Minutes interview, the president mentioned having reduced the budget deficit by $350 billion six times, sometimes saying he wants to counter accusations that he’s running up the federal tab.” (emphasis added)

What the president fails to mention, however, is that this near-term deficit reduction has nothing to do with him or his administration. Instead, it’s the result of emergency COVID-19 spending that is now ending as planned.

Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, points out what the Biden administration is loath to admit:

“The White House has been trying to paint President Biden as the champion of prudent economic stewardship. Biden’s ‘record on fiscal responsibility is second to none,’ it asserts. As temporary covid measures end — and record-high deficits predictably decline — the administration is congratulating itself for that supposed achievement.

But the administration’s record is, sadly, the opposite of what it argues. Since entering office, the president has approved policies adding $4.8 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. This is an extraordinary sum, which makes it all the more astonishing that the administration would try to pull off this claim.”

According to the Office of Management and Budget, even if the 117th Congress had enacted the Biden administration’s fiscal year 2023 budget in its entirety, net interest costs would more than triple from $352 billion in 2021 to $1.1 trillion by 2032. Is a tripling of future net interest costs something typically associated with an administration committed to tackling the federal budget deficit? No.

President Biden’s rhetoric aside, his mid-session budget review forecasts endless $1 trillion-plus annual deficits totaling more than $14 trillion over the coming decade. Even adjusted for inflation, these deficits would be among the largest ever generated by the federal government. Is that “fiscally responsible?” No.

President Biden is not serious about reducing the deficit. He claims progress on the deficit but obscures the facts that every American should know.

Not only does President Biden fail to try to balance the budget, but he actively pursues policies that he must know will balloon federal spending and deficits.

No, but Biden and Congress are serious about bankrupting the US Treasury and moving to a Socialist model.

And what even James Carter doesn’t mention is the staggering levels of UNFUNDED LIABILITIES of $187 TRILLION. The question for Biden is …. how are deficits and the massive debt going to play out when we are on the hook for $187 TRILLION?

I am sure that Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and The Squad will suggest much higher taxes to cover it. And remember, Biden was the idiot that helped taxed Social Security for seniors. And he has also worked towards cutting Social Security and Medicare in the past.

The only out is 1) default on the US debt which would be catestophic and 2) renegging on the massive unfunded liability load. Remember, France is rioting over raising their retirement age by 2 years. Let’s see if Americans riot over inevitable cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Cut mandatory spending without riots? Please.

The theme song of Biden’s insane, economy destroying, inflation creating budget should be “Keep on printing!”

Yes, this is Government Gone Wild! But no pics or videos of ancient Congress members like Warren or President Biden, please.

Life Under Biden! US Sovereign Risk, US Debt Roar To Record Highs As Inflation Remains High … In One Chart!

This is life under Joe Biden. Record sovereign risk, record high debt, near 40-year highs in inflation, a hot war in Ukraine with Russia, failure of DOJ/FBI to do anything about the content of Hunter Biden’s laptop, repression of free speech, soaring crime, out of control borders. Should I keep going? It is a disastrous mess created by Obama/Biden and their creepy allies.

US sovereign risk just hit 130, the highest since CDS was recorded. This alligns with Biden/Congress massive borrow and spend policies where Federal debt has soared to it highest level in history. Inflation, while cooling, remains high.

On the housing front, REAL national home price growth is negative which makes sense since REAL average hourly wage growth has been negative for the last 24 months.

And just over the past year, commericial bank deposits are falling like a paralyzed falcon.

Biden and Obama’s chief hack in the White House, Susan Rice, are burning down the house.

And she was.

Millennials Are Slowest Generation To Hit 50% Homeownership, Fear That Fed Is Making A Permanent Renter Class (Fed Policy Errors Strike Again!)

Former Federal Reserve Chair and current Treaury Secretary Janet “The Evil Hobbit” Yellen has created numerous catestrophic messes thanks to Fed policy errors, both at The Fed and now as Treasury Secretary.

For example, the massive almost hysterical overreaction of The Fed under Powell (following Yellen’s Reign of Error) to the Covid economic shutdowns resulted in a massive surge in M2 Money growth [green line].

The result? REAL US housing prices soared while REAL averge hourly wage growth was negative for 24 straight months. THAT is the Fed error induced housing policy blunder. But it did increase the US homeownership rate (blue line).

A massive spike in REAL home prices coupled with 24 straight months of negative REAL hourly wages is hitting millenials hard. In fact, millennials are the slowest generation to hit 50% homeownership rate.

In fact, according to Apartment List, millenial rents are giving up on homeownership.

As a result, The Federal government is making yet another idiotic policy error to cope with the effects of Fed money printing. Subsidizing high-risk homebuyers — at the cost of those with good credit.

Under the new rules, high-credit buyers with scores ranging from 680 to above 780 will see a spike in their mortgage costs – with applicants who place 15% to 20% down payment experiencing the biggest increase in fees.

“This was a blatant and significant cut of fees for their highest-risk borrowers and a clear increase in much better credit quality buyers – which just clarified to the world that this move was a pretty significant cross-subsidy pricing change,” added Stevens, who is also the former CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Jeder nach seinen Fähigkeiten, jedem nach seinen Bedürfnissen (German for “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” – Karl Marx.

Remember, the US got into trouble in the early 2000s by pushing homeownership and lowering credit standards for lower income households. It was a Clinton-era policy error called “The National Homeownership Strategy: Partners in the American Dream.” There is a video of then HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo (yes, THAT Andrew Cuomo) saying that the US should risk higher mortgage defaults so low income households could buy a home … then default. Frankly, Washington DC should get out of the housing business altogether. But nooooo. They are now going to make things even worse.

Janet Yellen: The most terrifying person in the world!