Hey Big Spenders! 16 Nobel Prize-winning economists say Trump policies will fuel inflation (big spending gov’t +37.7%, US debt up 50% under Biden driving the economy, along with Federal Reserve)

Hey big spenders (Biden, Congress and the 16 Nobel prize winning economists).

June 25 (Reuters) – Sixteen Nobel prize-winning economists signed a letter on Tuesday warning that the U.S. and world economy will suffer if Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election in November.

The jointly signed letter, first reported by Axios, says the economic agenda of U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, is “vastly superior” to Trump’s, the former Republican president seeking a second term.

Read the source article from Reuters for the rest of the Marxist clown show. What Joe Stiglitz and other Leftist economists are cheerleading in the excessive post Covid spending spree that Biden and Congress went on. There is a different between a free market system and government directed spending, usually on large donors.

One source of crippling inflation under Biden is (wasteful) government spending, up 37.7% under Biden. Federal debt is up a nauseating 50% under Biden. These levels of spending and debt are NOT sustainable!

Another souce of inflation under Biden has been The Federal Reserve. With Covid. The Fed entered like gangbusters dropping their target rate to 25 basis points and massively increasing their balance sheet. Call this BIDEN 1. Then to squelch inflation, The Fed raised their target rate and slowly started to unwind the balance sheet. We saw a slowing of inflation. Nothing to do with Biden, although I am sure he will take credit for it at Thursday’s debate with Trump.

Inflation was growing rapidly in Biden 1, but inflation started to slow (Biden 2) as The Fed rapidly raised their target rate.

Dallas After Midnight! “Poor National Leadership” As Stagflation ‘Erodes Business Confidence’

Dallas after midnight! Especially with a broken Congress and President.

Philly Fed Services jumped into expansion (to two year highs?), Chicago Fed National Activity Index surged, Case-Shiller home prices hit a new record high but appreciation slowed, Conference Board Expectations hovers near decade lows, Richmond Fed Manufacturing tumbled, Dallas Fed Services improved but remains in contraction

But, below the hood of the last one we see some more interesting dynamics evolving as revenues and employment decline while prices re-accelerate

Source: Bloomberg

This is the 25th straight month of contraction (sub-zero) for the Dallas Fed Services index and judging by the respondents’ comments, there is a clear place to point the finger of blame:

Poor national leadership and lack of confidence have eroded the business environment.

  • The Federal Reserve’s recent  announcement of no rate cuts in the near future is concerning regarding the  immediate and lag effect it could  have on the local economy. We have received  direct feedback from many of our clients in various industries, and they are  increasingly concerned. They are freezing hires and spending, with many  reducing spending. The primary reason is the economic stagnation locally and  nationally affecting their businesses.
  • People are adjusting to new economic realities. Few are expecting salary increases and are instead making lifestyle  adjustments to deal with higher living costs. Reality is also setting  in for the apartment owners we serve. They understand rents aren’t going up and  interest rates aren’t coming down. As rate caps expire and loans mature,  lenders are having to adapt as well. Ultimately, a lot of private equity (much  in the form of individual retirement savings put into syndications) is getting  wiped out.
  • We need a rate cut before we will  see any revenue improvement from home sales.
  • As elections draw near, the political environment worsens, creating more uncertainty in our business.
  • We feel inflation and fear of more inflation plus the rise in cost of living are holding consumers back. Hopefully we will adapt to the new realities soon.

Customers are concerned about the election, so they are holding off on large purchases.

  • The lack of building activity is  shutting down the appliance industry.
  • Affordability has become an ever-increasing problem for new car dealers. The price increases of new cars combined with  higher interest rates have put new cars out of reach for more and more people.
  • [Car] inventories continue to swell, and  interest rates remain high. Our grosses are off, and margins continue to  decline. Profits are down 20  percent from the prior year.
  • The economy is slowing. The consumer  is more cautious and more reluctant to purchase at higher prices and payments.

And finally, this seemed to sum up just how business-owners feel in general about the current occupant of The White House:

“Our outlook depends heavily on the presidential  election.

Worst Monthly Spike of “Core Services” PCE Inflation in 22 Years (Will This Lead The Fed To Hike Rates?)

Well, this might keep The Fed talking heads up at night.

Over the past year or so, the Fed has been intensely discussing inflation in “core services,” which is where inflation had shifted to in 2022, from goods inflation which had spiked into mid-2022 but then cooled dramatically. So “core services” is where it’s at. Core services is where consumers spend the majority of their money. Core services are all services except energy services. Core services inflation has been behaving badly for months, and in January, it spiked out the wazoo.

The “core services” PCE price index spiked to 7.15% annualized in January from December, the worst month-to-month jump in 22 years (blue line), according to index data released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Drivers of the spike were non-housing measures as well as housing inflation. More on each category in a moment.

The bad behavior of core services inflation that we have been lamenting since June – and which was confirmed earlier this month by the nasty surprise in the CPI – is why Fed governors have said this year in near unison that they’re in no hurry to cut rates, but have taken a wait-and-see approach. And now the concept of rate hikes is cropping up in their speeches again.

For example, Fed governor Michelle Bowman said in the speech yesterday, that she was “willing to raise the federal funds rate at a future meeting should the incoming data indicate that progress on inflation has stalled or reversed.”

Even year-over-year, core services inflation has now reversed and accelerated to 3.5%.

This reversal of fortune may be big enough to lead The Fed to raise rates.

Speaking of coping with inflation …