Whenever we are discussing the intentionally managed decline of the western countries, it is important to remember the closely connected relationship between multinational corporations and the political leaders of those nations. Specifically, their public-private connections as they run through the World Economic Forum assembly.
An intentionally managed decline of western economic activity should have a direct impact on the private corporations within those economies. If the politicians are collectively going to stop energy development, raise energy prices (inflation), then use monetary policy to shrink the economy down to the level of energy available, we would normally think corporations were going to make less money.
That preceding paragraph is not controversial. It simply explains exactly what is happening; that is the situation. However, for some weird reason the system that evaluates corporate wealth is not responding negatively to the reality of the situation.
Traditionally, we would think destroying the economy would be against the interests of the multinational corporations who benefit from economic expansion. However, in the era of subsidized and controlled economic management, I’m not so sure the corporations are stakeholders in economic growth. Something is profoundly disconnected, or else the corporations would be raising hell with the politicians.
BERLIN, Aug 3 (Reuters) – BMW (BMWG.DE) lowered its output forecast and warned of a highly volatile second half on Wednesday, pinpointing supplies of energy in Europe and chips worldwide as the two crucial factors to the carmaker hitting full-year earnings targets.
New incoming orders were beginning to fall but order books remained filled for the next few months, chief executive Oliver Zipse said. (read more)
All of the basic indicators point in one direction.
Energy prices are squeezing consumers and paychecks. Energy driven inflation is high. Rising housing costs, food costs, gasoline costs and energy costs have hit the consumer hard. Credit card balances have jumped. Consumer sales on non-essential items have dropped. Factory activity around the world (Asia and Eurozone) is slowing or has stopped. Durable goods inventories have climbed everywhere, without customers to purchase them. All of these facets are happening exactly as we would expect.
However, the value of the companies negatively impacted by everything above, is not dropping at the same rate of the financial impact each company is incurring. It’s as if the entire financial system is pretending that things are not as bad as they are. This announcement from BMW is a good example of that.
Consider another example. According to the employment data, and even accepting the data is skewed, somewhere around 3.9 million jobs restarted or were created in the first six months of this year. Yet, despite that job growth the GDP declined -1.6% in the first quarter and -0.9% in the second.
How does an economy add almost 4 million jobs while simultaneously shrinking?
Either people are (1) less productive, or (2) working less hours, or (3) holding multiple jobs…. or a combination of the three.
Trying to filter through the economic noise to see beyond the horizon is becoming more difficult.
So, let’s bring this conversation down to Main Street. What do you see around you? What’s going on economically in your community?
Do you see lots of people in stores and shopping malls?
Do you see a lot of new purchases being made?
How are your family, friends and the people in your community being affected by this economy?
However, for some weird reason the system that evaluates corporate wealth is not responding negatively to the reality of the situation.
Great article Sundance! I more inclined to think some of the big players are the true market makers and are keeping stock prices high. It means more money for them when they charge a percentage for managing funds.
BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, and other are all in on wokism, and they manage a good chunk of shares listed on the various stock markets. Larry Fink, CEO of Black Rock, who has a seat on the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum, as well as the Council of Foreign Relations, sends out his instructions to the thousands of CEOs of the various corporations BlackRock holds shares in.
I suggest everyone read his letters to CEOs from 2020, 2021, 2022 at the BlackRock website. The message is clear to me. You support their Social and Environmental ideology, or we dump your shares.
I will continue to say the Sherman Anti-Trust Act needs to be amended and break up these larger investment firms, and also limit their voting rights to only shares actually owned by the firm.
I agree. The New World Order is built upon China’s model of Neo-Fascism.
It has taken root much deeper and much broader than can been seen on the surface here, because unlike China it’s been implemented in parallel with decades of pumping of cash, debt and capital, creating an air of prosperity. America’s neo-fascism has come with complete ownership of our government systems and politicians, so everyone who could initiate anti-trust, or enforce it, has already been bought, blackmailed, cancelled or extorted.
Collapse seems inevitable maybe even necessary. So what will arise from that?
Excellent write up.
The things we think are true about corporations operating to turn a profit and make shareholders money just don’t add up when they tank themselves with woke practices. Take that Gillette commercial, where they basically sandbagged their primary customer demographic.
It’s just confounding.
Three generations of Soviet style mind-control indoctrination are now paying off with dividends in all US organizations.
Popular culture is intentionally misleading, and the effects are largely permanent. All part of central planning…
Bertrand Russell, in his “The Impact of Science on Society, 1951” talks about how one could program a society to think snow is black rather than white:
“First, that the influence of home is obstructive. Second, that not much can be done unless indoctrination begins before the age of ten. Third, that verses set to music and repeatedly intoned are very effective. Fourth, that the opinion that snow is white must be held to show a morbid taste for eccentricity. But I anticipate. It is for future scientists to make these maxims precise and discover exactly how much it costs per head to make children believe that snow is black, and how much less it would cost to make them believe it is dark gray.”
This is a great interview with Martin Armstrong, he lays it all out concerning what’s in our future. It’s not good news. Uncensored: Martin Armstrong – Hell in 2023, Recession, Civil Unrest but Schwab Will Fail! | Armstrong Economics
I’m one of the millions, I suppose, who are working multiple jobs. My daughter is working less hours. Other daughter is trying to change jobs. As for the mall….that’s one of my jobs, retail. Our store is incredibly slow. Some stores, however, are doing pretty good: Old Navy, Aeropostle, and Ulta. When I went in on an off day, the parking lot was fairly full but it’s also back-to-school season so that would account for the uptick in cheaper clothing stores. Our store is pushing nonstop for us to get credit applications (even more so than usual) and giving out incentives for us to do so. Surprisingly, I’ve actually had people come up to me to apply and put their purchase on it immediately.
I live outside Huntsville, AL. I see NO DIFFERENCE from any other year. I live on a highway and the traffic is no different. The people I associate with (friends and family) never mention a thing and seem to do everything they did in 2019. I don’t get it. I read about everything on multiple blogs and I believe commenters saying they see and experience stuff. It is very strange for me.
Same here. I think the they will hide as much as they can from the public, and then suddenly let the bottom fall out on everything at once. That way it cannot be stopped while in action, until its too late.
So store shelves are still full. Prices have not risen and traffic is the same.
Here in my small community the stores where I shop, shelves are minus items that used to be plentiful and prices have increased on everything I buy even if only a quarter. A loaf of bread price has more than doubled. A gallon of milk has been $3.54 to $4.25 for at least three weeks, that’s at least a dollar higher than I used to pay. Meat prices last week doubled. This week they went down to what they were before, still high but not ridiculous. The sale on milk is still $3.95. Egg prices have doubled. Friends and a few others I’ve spoken to have the same experience. However, traffic is still the same.
Just last week, I terminated my lease on a BMW 540, btw a great car for anyone in the market. I turned it in one month early for a cash payout. Bottom line, the dealer has very few new cars for sale. The 5 and 7 series are made in Germany and you have to order about 4 months in advance and hope it arrives. The X5 SUV is made in South Carolina and those are still being delivered. The X3 SUV assembly was shifted from South Carolina to South Africa and now dealers aren’t getting the X3. Prices are up quite a bit on all lines.
I can totally understand that. International shipping is completely screwed up and most people who work in logistics have learned to not expect anything approximating on-time shipment. In the past 12 months, the expectations have changed from “goods will mostly be shipped on the ship they are booked on or else they are rolled over to the next ship departing a week later or in the worst case 2-3 weeks later” to the new standard of “no idea on which ship the goods will land and no idea how long they are stuck at transshipment ports, there is no such thing as credible information anymore”.
Mind you, during the initial Covid lockdown period, I shipped containers to Japan weekly and on time. And that was when most shipping companies stopped accepting bookings for Japan. Things only got really bad AFTER the US elections when every time the system was about to balance itself from one major disturbance (yearly reoccurring storm and typhoon seasons, congestion in some ports, etc.) strikes at ports started happening at random locations around the world every few months. The congestion issues stayed on higher than usual levels for longer and longer, until they became structural issues at some ports. We stopped using Hamburg for shipping over a year ago as it’s too congested.
And then the shipping lines started changing schedules of ships, so you’d never know when the ships arrive and which ship it will be. Port calls are constantly omitted and departures can change 1-2 weeks on a moment’s notice. Nobody can plan anything anymore, but the purchase numbers stay high. The reason being that the companies have to order extra containers in the hope that some of the containers arrive when they need them for production. No more precision planning, it’s all about increasing stock levels to keep production going.
Great article & info. Combination of factors, some can be explained, but still something is amiss as you point which has been bothering me for awhile; my hunch is that it is caused by two many subsidy or lack of free market movement which hinders the self correcting market (supply/demand/prices/inflation).
Too many subsidies also creates a situation where the unproductive are further supported while putting extra strain on good business models (positive customer services for fair price exchange). This is creating, or at least contributing too, a topsy turvey economy where it is hard to rationalize what the heck is going on…
I do know that here (BC Can) that we are experiencing a HUGE staffing crisis, and this has been going on for awhile. It started pre COVID. This is starting to just become realized by the masses. For while our front end staff was instructed to say that we were just extremely busy rather than try to explain to Joe Blow that the reason he couldn’t get xyz delivered same day was due to lack of workers. Joe Blow would just blame the company for lack of staff (must be evil business fault). Now (last couple months it is finally ok to say we are short staff in the public opinion court).
There is huge fall out now happening here because of the worker situation. I have seen grown men close to retirement age with tears in their eyes due to the situation of a) not being able to get help (physical industry) b) not being able to meet there customer service goals for long-term customers c) scared for losing their long term small business due to lack of help. Young men in the industry upset at the opportunities lost – if you’re only a one man band, you can only march so many hours in a week. Some of these guys are putting in huge hours 12+ hrs/ day 6 days a week trying to cover for lack of help and are burning out. Not just from the very work days which they do but also the extra demands; boomers, regulators – inc any workers, and the taxman which they, as an evil business person must also keep satisfied.
Lack of workers causing decline; work is thankfully there but can’t get done.
So why? What is causing this…. Have some thoughts on that too…
Plainly put it is a combination of: Too much socialism already in our economy and mindset of the governing decision makers.
A) Drugs and the support matrix to support homelessness and drug use does effect you; any mid size employer can tell you that there is an overhead cost contributed down, not to mention wasted resources because of this. Good looking resume, passes interview, gets 3 weeks in (inc company orientation/training etc) and then things start to fall apart; no shows, the looking a bit rough, the mood swings and by 5-8 weeks – another one gone. It’s frustrating, and these people should be our ecomny prodcuers; both by being productive workers AND by being healthy fathers/mothers for our society. The drug support bs is backwards and is destroyed our society, and economy in part. 1. Lack of productivity. 2. Government spending (inflation).
B) Too many government and municipal workers, and being paid too much for what is produced. This category includes crown corporations and the health field. Private business (the only model which will right the economy) is having to compete with the wage rates, the working hours and the benefits offered. On top of that a private business needs to have some productivity to justify wages paid. This is a hard concept for some. In BC even the municipal staff is short staffed now (or maybe think they are as no one is actually productive – whole new topic) so how does a small business compete well? Just adding money to a budget does not actually solve anything, arguably it can actually make the problem worse as cause does not get addressed. Not only are the increasing wages for non-productivity also driving inflation they are removing potential workers from the pool. IN addition – what do a lot of these workers do – they monitor and regulate small business furthing stifling economy. Now don’t get me wrong – yes, some regulations are needed, however, in BC this is getting completely out of control across multiple agencies. I’m a fairly seasoned employer; i have no idea how someone new to our industry would survive the red tape. The red tape does have a stifling affect and most is completely un needed, and is only used as choice weapons when chosen too. What was one of the first things P. Trump did? I rest my case.
C) the work from home bs. This is causing huge lack of productivity, and is affecting our economy. While some can work well from home, majority struggle with it. The logistics (tech) are also a pain and much wasted time now is being contributed to lack of productivity / virtual meetings etc. Some may find fault with me for stating this, however, it is my personal experience to which i speak. In the last year i could give multiple examples but ill settle for one here; trying to have a needed business meeting with our long term accountant (well known firm, partner etc) over the phone who was working from home, and it was just “off”. After awhile he says “I’m sorry, XX, I’m just really struggling had too many drinks last night, I can’t do this”. This was after cancelling the previous two phone meetings scheduled. Get a new accountant. right? But yeah, back to the worker shortage most firms are not taking new clients, h*l, most don’t even return calls or are able to answer the phone. Yeah – its that bad! (doctors, lawyers, accountants)
This is getting too long – so one final point. The common thought is too blame the young people for a lack of work ethic in our current situation. And yes, we have some serious challenges there. Trust me – I’m hiring in a small family business. It’s bad. BUT – we need to think about this a bit deeper…
We are to blame – yes you too. Why did we think it ok to remove the rights of a parent to discipline their child? We are the ones which have allowed our economy to digress to the point where a family needs two working parents and leave the state to childcare.
But mostly – back when we were all 16 – we have OBTAINABLE goals – a) get a drivers license b) work hard for 5years – put a down payment down on a house. C) start a independent life, wife , family. IN THE CURRENT Situation this simple goals are unobtainable for an average healthy working person. They will fail before even starting. Now don’t go telling me that, well my child blah blah blah. Your child had you – and quite frankly, if you are reading this, was already a step ahead and was supported in such a way that these things were more easily accomplished. I’m speaking generally, and from experience in what i have seen in our young work force AND there is no debating that here in BC the average new family/worker can get into the housing market in a sustainable manner.
Starting with a drivers licence. If you are a young person and your parents don’t drive (maybe a subsidized 1/2 family situation) a drivers license is hard to accomplish plus you’ve been conditioned to think you don’t need it (and yes, of course, an employer can juggle your shift.hours around the schedule. No problem at all Hmmm, but now routes are being cut as municipal short on workers, hmm pay more and they will show up…) sarc.
Thanks for the rant.. apologies for length. Will wrap it even though not done as have still more points which would help if fixed 🙂 Cheers to all, Stay informed & positive – we need to. & talking about it – many normies are also starting to think something amiss which is good :). Finally. Lol.
This is good stuff. No one but those who have been sounding the demographics alarm has been clued to the prospects of a vanishing workforce and a workforce that doesn’t work. This is new and may be it marks the success of socialist indoctrination- so many are now fully convinced after the Covid helicopter money and streets full of junkies being paid that govt is going to be there no matter what. So, stay high, tune out. The destruction of personal values is part of this. In other words, it is a moral failure and it has taken at least two generations to instill. It is very telling that abortion is the sacrament of this failing society that is adamant in its nihilism.
Matthew Chapter 24.
Main Street shuttered during Covid, only approved Establishment stores remained open. That war against small business hasn’t gone away in fact has intensified with the macro economy blast effects and at the local level where only govt projects generate income that trickles to retail, construction, and services. That trickle is erratic at best. Construction and related services going bananas but tapering off fast lately. Projects are going to wind up and no new ones over the winter. Home Depot and wholesalers have to notice it’s getting different as this year goes on, slowing but in a way that doesn’t look good for next spring. Durable goods orders notice, they are tanking.
No one is opening a small business at the street level, many have just faded away. Small towns are ghosting faster. Larger communities with retail clusters are all franchises and many are foundering. McDonalds has to be seeing a drop off lately – $10 for burger, fries and a coke slams the door to families. Look who is in the order queue – singles in a hurry. No one with kids in the car. Inside it’s an older, much smaller group of patrons.
Gig attempts at e-commerce are the last gasp for independents, but crafts products and grandma’s undies are not a solid. We are in the hustle phase and when that fails, as it will, the money runs out, the gigs dry up, bad things will happen.
The Establishment retailers going full bore now, but the future is murky, the buyers are grinding sellers and inventory sell-offs will be big in the Fall. Those with money have already bought, those with credit maxxed it out. The rest of us will do without. If food goes ballistic then really bad things will happen for big box retailers, too. Walmart sees the trouble already. Go there and check out the purchases. If it ain’t food, it ain’t much.
No one thinks a Repub Congress means anything different, btw, not really. Failure is written all over govt at every level and that won’t change. It is a beast gnawing away at the body politic and has drawn blood with Covid, people notice now, they feel its effects, see them. In schools, healthcare, energy, food the govt has made itself a key player, a bad one, and people are living with the bad effects, getting worse.
A foreign war makes sense about now, using old school metrics of govt power and control. Joe Biden is the quintessential old school Fudd, so plan accordingly. But the Establishment has decimated the rank and file military and populated it with an officer corps of woke fools. Our owners live in a bubble of financial manipulation and if a foreign war makes sense, that is, to maintain domestic power, so be it. A hoax epidemic worked. Keeping the plebes off balance and in perpetual crisis is the current game plan.
We are arming ourselves at a rate that scares the bejesus out of the Establishment. Gun control first and confiscation next is essential. They are sure of themselves if nothing else. The surprise the owners will experience won’t be televised.
Harsh but probable commentary. Trump could fix it if he was allowed. The masses who support the Democrat Party are fools and deserve all of this. The rest of us don’t. How do they get what they deserve, and we get the fruit of our commonsense?
“Something is profoundly disconnected, or else the corporations would be raising hell with the politicians.”
It’s probably a combination of things:
1. With regard to Corporations:
The boards are being replaced by liberal activists who won’t complain.
Many board members don’t own stocks in the company (Twitter…for example).
So, they don’t care if the company crashes.
They collect a paycheck as long as they keep their mouths shut.
Why would they complain to the politicians?
2. With regard to the stock market:
The fund managers can buy the losing ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance)
stocks with funds from pension funds and individual 401K or IRA investments.
The largest loss ratio compared to portfolio size for this past year has been to Main Street portfolios…
not Wall Street Big League portfolios.
As long as they can keep transferring the losses to Main Street portfolios, why would Wall Street care?
They certainly aren’t going to complain to the politicians because this is a break of their fiduciary trust to their clients
and is illegal.
I am seeing more older folks, in their 70’s, returning to work. They are doing a great job, but it is sad to know they had to return to work because their pensions and Social Security are taking a beating due to inflation.
Prices have definitely gone up; eggs, milk and bread have doubled in price since Dec. 2019, pre-covid. So has gasoline.
My natural gas bill went from $33/ month to $55/ month, on budget billing, and that was after what was a relatively mild winter in Montana, and me turning my thermostat down several degrees. I used less gas, but am paying much more for it.
More people are gardening and raising chickens, which is good, but I noticed that local hay farmers cut their first crop of hay about a month later than normal, and it wasn’t due to bad weather for haying.
I am not sure if they will cut a second crop this year.
Maybe there is less demand for hay,( fewer animals being raised?) Maybe it is just too expensive to pay for the fuel for the tractors?
There are still help wanted signs, but the starting wages seem to be several dollars less per hour than they were right after our state reopened after covid.
The economy just feels like it is shrinking. Fewer goods on the grocery shelves, stores and restaurants understaffed, people driving a bit less, some stores and restaurants cutting back on hours or just closing down.
Reminds me of the old Soviet Union a bit. Not yet as severe, but not the America I grew up in.
The 4th option, beyond less hours less productivity, multiple jobs-the numbers are completely fabricated and they are lying to us.
Companies going up, bailout is baked in.
Great writing. Read the comments and I’m not smart enough to figure it out. The way I see it – we’re off the edge and falling. The bottom approaches and when we hit, then people will realize they drove us off the cliff
the stores and streets are still flooded with people & cars by me (Naperville, IL)
restaurants and bars are filled at same levels as previous weeks
I’m surprised by so much driving and spending based on gas prices alone.
About 30% of the idiots out here still wear masks everywhere (even walking dog alone…)
Maybe they all expect JoeBama to keep paying them off???
I had to buy a diswasher couple weeks ago. Asked the Home Depot guy how appliance inventories were looking. He said “we finally have a few more products in stock”
My guess is that most recent big ticket purchases (appliances, cars) are people who filling needs after waiting so long on supply to come into stores. Expect mostly purchases to replace broken stuff – that is when we will really see the total collapse…
First – I am not assuming the employment or any other govt. guarded, govt. produced figure is accurate.
Numbers are words. Govt. controls the narrative and the numbers. You’re correct; when the numbers tell a different story, then what you see, the numbers you can’t see are likely wrong. Missing are the massive number of Retirees no longer “unemployed” or looking for work. This expanding group isn’t counted with “the unemployed but looking for work.”
I see “consumption” no matter the price and indifference to high prices for those with relevant needed jobs.
I don’t see friends lacking or needing corporate manufactured goods. They updated homes and cars during the Trump era winnings.
I see them all taking repeated vacations, flying to other nations, renting houses for cross country weddings, graduations for week long celebrations of every family event. Can’t think of a friend stuck at home not traveling every 2-4 weeks. Not one. But they all are working professionals.
The subsidy dollars didn’t evaporate. I see plenty of money circulating here; locals profits from locally owned businesses spending locally and hiring locals, prudent retirees who pay more to shop here and not the big box stores 10 miles away in another county.
Tourists who keep returning for the peaceful town of individualism. Corporate owned chains are prohibited here.
Except for hotel, grocery and gas station chains because of the massive investment needed.
We are preserved from the late 19th century bridged with 21st century expectations of food, safety, restful view of landscapes and amenities. And yes, some from the unemployed’s retirement funds or investments. There’s balance. The goal is to preserve a lifestyle for the locals who have invested in the town, who vote here and not in delivering dividends to strangers in cities that will never spend their dividend here.
Money is filtering down. Hastily printed cash is still circulating.
We have zero corporate brick and mortar entertainment for children. You walk around town, in parks between streets and in hills between towns, there are bike lanes on all main streets and most streets, dog walking everywhere, sidewalks for baby strollers. We are a version of earlier American towns, you can safely walk, acknowledging faces walking past you, with the brief, “hello” to strangers.
Yesterday, 8/3, a Wednesday mid-day, downtown, parking spaces on streets full to capacity, 2 free parking city lots were full, the restaurants, bakeries and independent shops were busy. Expanded outdoor seating, because of Covid, and indoor seats were filled. Teslas left and right with middle age drivers, BMW’s and Range Rovers with drivers definitely under 35 years old.
Individualism, localism, punctuated by the corporatism of car, gasoline and tire manufacturers.
Business ownership is typically private. People are not flipping houses to investment firm buyers because they don’t want to leave. They won’t find the lifestyle of a 20th century town with incomes from Trump era hot market investments.
People have money, it’s filtering down. They’re spending. I read the reports but see the evidence of strong cash flow. There are “Now Hiring” signs in most stores here and the older high density aged homes now house multiple families or large families with multiple paychecks per unit, ie; 4-5 service workers. Workers house together by work location – they share the ride in one of their many nice cars and small vans, their women walk to markets with carts and walk groceries home. A very social and interactive community.
Are all workers accounted for by paychecks or tips? A force behind digital money plans.
Our county’s labor laws require $12. minimum wage IF employment includes a group medical plan; $15.50 per hour without medical. The county got tired of picking up the tab for the ER visits of the uninsured and cash jobs without taxes and because they want to attract the service classes. Increasingly the workers are proud of their gains, cars, clothing, tools, families, and become self compliant.
Was thinking about this post when watching this The Duran rumble video, 13 minutes, regarding the big players, the markets seeming to keep their stock prices high, etc. while all around us we see signs of recession.
If as this video is so, it looks like the USA, UK and EU are walking back the sanctions on Russian oil, food and fertilizer so was thinking, if this is so, the big players in the market would be aware of this – if not themselves putting pressure on the politicians behind the scenes – while the politicians seek ways to save face while keeping their citizens in the dark?
The Duran, video titled: Janet Yellen, UK & EU use oil price cap to retreat from Russian Oil Sanctions”
https://rumble.com/v1em8rp-janet-yellen-uk-and-eu-use-oil-price-cap-to-retreat-from-russian-oil-sancti.html
I recently spent several days going to Targets looking for a specific item, from Northern VA to VA Beach, and they were all busy. I also ate in sit down restaurants from Central VA to VA Beach and they were mostly busy except for in Mechanicsville, VA which is a suburb of Richmond. There there were a lot of empty restaurants.
Dillards rarely have sales.
Lee County Florida is doing okay. Rents have been through the roof with people moving in but, lots of new construction should begin to bring some competitive forces to bear on that. Permitting and inspections are slow because of it. Spent time at some food banks the past two weeks. Numbers picking up due to gas and food prices mostly. Lots of assistance for the less fortunate around here. The main soup kitchen offering a hot meal everyday at noon in the most disadvantaged area is steady with lots of regulars and always a few newbies but no noticeable uptick. Malls died long ago. Hard to say anything about their parking lots since most purchases are delivered by Amazon drivers if not Fedex or UPS drivers nowadays. My own family is doing very well thank you. My adopted family struggles for the same reasons they always struggle and this only makes it harder so sending more money that direction due mostly to gas prices.
On the macro front, many companies and especially big companies are sitting on large cash accounts and can survive a minor or short term downturn easily and equity prices are forward looking expectations of cash flows so much uncertainty remains. Many investors don’t see the full picture or hope it can still be averted by a strong mid term shift perhaps. Most likely, imo, is that there is so much institutional holding of equities for benefit of IRA, 401K, and pension funds beneficiaries that there is simply nowhere else for the money to go and expect a better return so it stays. Some people do actively manage an IRA and 401k holders can change investment allocations between whatever plans are offered but, pension funds are managed by governments or unions mostly. If the next two elections were to translate into a realization that the fix is in and things are going to go to crap quickly, I would expect a bear market for a while. Still 90% of my 401k contributions goes into equities, dollar cost averaging you know. What goes up must come down and what goes down must come up. A few hundred dollars a month here is not going to help support stock prices however. I’m just a grain of sand.
Not really a loss… BMW’s really are a poor choice in automobiles. They are absolute total over engineered trash. Once the warranty is over it’s best to unload the car.
Here in bel Air, Md. Half hour away from Baltimore.
Honda dealer had few cars on the lot a month ago. Dealer said the lead time was 3-4 weeks.
Supermarket prices are up. We, wife and I, are spending about $500/month on food compared to about $420 last year. We buy a little more to stock up. We don’t buy meat unless it is on sale. Picked up chicken thighs for $0.79/lb on sale last week. Meat prices have almost doubled here. Not as much meat on the shelves. I guess less people buying at high prices.
We don’t go out for dinner at all. Traffic to restaurants looks to be down but just a guess on my part.
Our little mall here looks like it is on life support. Been that way for years. We go once a year just to see which stores closed.
I have been teleworking for the past 2-1/2 years so I buy gas every few months and save about $80/month.
We have been buying almost nothing but essentials since the scamdemic. I got a $400/month cost of living raise in Jan which more than covers my inflation costs. Electricity and natural gas are up 50% but I live in an apartment so the increase is only $50/month. My rent went up $42/month this year which matches previous years.
I am very insulated from inflation. Knock on wood, I don’t need to buy anything.
Looking to buy a house but the average here is $400K now and the good houses are sold in one day with buyers waiving inspections, offering cash, and paying over list. We gave up for the time being. Very few houses come on the market. Remote work might be a possibility in the near future so I can maybe move to a different area and get away from the Peoples Republic of Maryland.
My 401K and stocks are down big.
Bank of England just predicted 5 straight quarters of negative GDP for Britain. Buckle up fellow treepers, it looks like things are going to get a lot worse.