There are increasing reports of widespread consumer shortage for baby formula, many parents are now growing increasingly desperate, and retailers are starting to ration purchases.

The Abbott Nutrition plant in Sturgis, Michigan, shut down in February due to an FDA inspection and several food sanitation concerns. That plant was one of the biggest suppliers of baby formula nationally including Similac, and a major supplier of specialty formulas that are a lifeline for thousands of infants with medical conditions, including metabolic, allergic and gastrointestinal disorders.

Oddly, after several months the plant remains closed.

Politico has this interesting aspect noted, “Neither FDA nor Abbott will answer specific questions about the status of the investigation or what the plan is to reopen the facility, which has further strained the infant formula supply chain. Among other types of infant formula, the plant is a major producer of Similac, the top brand on the market. Parents across the country have posted on social media about near-empty shelves of formula at the retail level.”

In response to the supply shortages several retailers have now begun rationing infant formula to customers:

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Comrades, in his weekly monologue Neil Oliver walks through the stages of mental exhaustion the corrupt globalists have created in order to retain power.  Looking at the landscape through the prism of George Orwell’s prescient warnings, Oliver ponders if the mirrored reality is actually their roadmap.

The Ministry of Abundance positioned to discharge the pending scarcity.  The Ministry of Peace now used to carry out wars without authority.  The Ministry of Truth purposefully created to retain lies…. and so it goes.  Indeed as the warning was predicted, even “to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak, facecrime it was called.”

The Global Ministry of Nutrition now instructs us to enjoy the benefits of eating bugs, slugs and “lab-grown meat” amid rising costs of farming. The Ministry of Residential Equity promotes the benefits of tiny houses; shared space cubicles where owning nothing leads to increased happiness.  The Ministry of Education replaces academic endeavors with emotional learning.  Math replaced by pansexual dance lessons for the non-binary kindergarteners.   Smile Comrade, smile.  WATCH:

[Transcript] “Given all that’s happened, I might have expected overwhelming anger in the country by now, loud calls for answers and apologies. Promises that mistakes made in the recent past, liberties taken, would not be repeated in the future. Also maybe demands for change.

Many are the dissenting voices – I know because I hear them every day – but the silencing and ridiculing still goes on.

What I sense around me most of all now, however, is weariness. Council elections have been held up and down Great Britain and apart from anything else, I think we can agree that turnout was low.”

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Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador (AMLO) is not wrong on this one.  AMLO is calling out Joe Biden for sending $33 billion more to Ukraine, while doing nothing financially in central America which would alleviate the migration pressure.

The article, as written, and general tone from President Lopez-Obrador, are expressed from the perspective that Biden has his foreign policy problem solving emphasis on the wrong syllable.

Put that level of subsidy into support within Central America and the migration issue would correct.  Unfortunately, as more people are becoming aware, the location of Biden’s financial emphasis is a feature of the White House plans, not a foreign policy flaw.

Ukraine is viewed as a priority because the DC politicians and corporations gain financial benefit from Ukraine spending.  If Biden were to drop $30 billion in central America, it would impede the White House agenda to keep the southern border crisis going.  The border collapse is a goal of the White House, not a mistake.

GUATEMALA CITY — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador started a five-day tour to four Central American countries and Cuba on Thursday by lashing out at the U.S. government.

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Fox News conducted a poll last week [Data Here] asking about views on the economy overall.  As would be expected the majority of Americans see the economy as the #1 issue right now.

When asked for their view on how long the issue of rising prices are likely to remain a problem, 65% of the respondants said a year or more, while 29% had a more short-term view.

It is very hard to see a short-term end to inflation, accepting the status of energy prices and the looming issue of much higher food prices later this summer and fall.  In both the energy sector and the food sector the upward pressure on prices remains incredibly strong; perhaps the strongest ever predictable scenario for much higher prices yet to follow.

Fox News – […] Three-quarters say recent price increases pose a financial hardship for their family.  And increasing numbers say they are a “serious” hardship.  Higher grocery prices are a serious problem for 44%, up from 36% in February. Same story on gas prices:  44% serious hardship, up from 35%.  (more) 

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The employment news has everyone confused.  The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) reports today 428,000 jobs were added [DATA HERE] which is good.  We want to see people getting back to work.  However, simultaneously the number of people employed dropped by 363,000 and the labor participation rate dropped from 62.4 last month to 62.2 this month [Table A, DATA].  The unemployment rate remains unchanged at 3.6 percent.

That wildly conflicting set of data has led to a seriously frantic discussion about what is going on.  Here’s my take….  The majority of the irreconcilable data can be reconciled on this one basic Main Street employment scenario that is never tracked, people are job jumping.

Inflation is crushing main street workers at an astounding pace.  Housing, energy, gas and food prices -all the unavoidable stuff- are hitting blue collar workers the hardest.

However, in reality the key businesses inside the sectors with the most rapid employment gains, Leisure and Hospitality, are the last to raise prices.

Generally those jobs fall under the category of service workers.  The leisure and hospitality sector gained 78,000 jobs last month.

What we are seeing in the sporadic data is wage growth being driven in majority by increased entry wages on the hiring end of the employment relationship.

Because inflation is hitting so hard, so high and so quickly; and because businesses are slower to respond to the wage needs of current payroll staff; people are quitting one employer to take a linear job at another employer at a higher entry wage.   This is the fastest way to get a raise. This is job jumping.

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As CTH has noted since last October the rapid increases in fertilizer costs could potentially create a major issue for global food supplies later this summer.  As the farming costs continue escalating, including fertilizer and diesel fuel prices, this will eventually lead to major price increases on the harvests.   Field to fork inflation is looking increasingly severe later this year; what we have called the third wave of inflation.

Beyond prices, a primary impact in the U.S. market, concerns are now escalating about grain shortages {SEE HERE} and lower European crop yields which will lead to less food products on a global basis.   According to information shared by ZeroHedge, “We think it will take at least 2-3 years to replenish global grains stocks,” Illinois-based CF Industries Holdings Inc.’s president and chief executive officer Tony Will said in a statement in Wednesday’s earnings report.”

Axios is reporting on the continued escalation of fertilizer prices; however, they conveniently and purposefully avoid noting the origin of the problem in North America is directly the result of Joe Biden’s immediate energy policies that drove up the costs of natural gas (a critical component):

AXIOS – “Skyrocketing fertilizer costs — like those made from nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK) — are driving up food prices and, worse, threatening food security around the globe.

State of play: Prices for NPK were up 125% in January from a year before, and rose another 17% from the beginning of the year to March, according to data compiled by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

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CTH puts released economic data into ‘what does it mean‘ terms as a conversational priority.  The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) releases the first quarter productivity and costs report today [BLS Data Here].

Outputs, what was created, dropped 2.4 percent, yet labor hours used to create those outputs increased 5.5 percent.   This creates a productivity drop of 7.5% for the overall business.  The largest quarterly drop in productivity since 1947.

This is a warning indicator inside the economy to employees of large organizations.  CTH has been tracking productivity for quite a while, and the signs have all looked foreboding. {Go Deep}   Businesses cannot afford to keep employees on payroll if customer demand drops.

The per unit labor cost to make the products has increased 11.6%.   Wages have gone up 3.2% (pay increases) and productivity has dropped 7.5%, combined that creates the 11.6% increase in per unit cost to producers.

I have often used the example of making bread {Go Deep}.  If you are making 10 loaves of bread, there is a set amount of cost associated with each loaf created.  The total cost of each loaf is the total cost to produce the entire batch divided by ten.

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CNN conducted another poll to evaluate voter trends [pdf data here].  The results show a significant drop in American opinion of the economy with 77% rating the current status as “poor,” and 23% saying it’s “good.”  Additionally, 66% of people polled disapprove of the way Biden is handling the economy.

As CNN painfully noted: “Even within the Democratic Party, just 7 in 10 approve of Biden on the economy (71%) and helping the middle class (71%), considerably lower than the 86% of Democrats who approve of his performance overall. Fewer than half of Democrats say Biden has improved the nation’s economic standing (45%), down from 58% in December.” (article link)

In the video discussion, CNN Political Director David Chalian is just gobsmacked, stunned and amazed that 63% of these people are saying they are buying fewer groceries because stuff is just too expensive. WATCH:

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Whenever voters put democrats in charge of the economy, it just sucks.

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As expected, the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates .50%.  However, inflation is expected to remain high as prior spending debt bubble remains in place.

WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by half a percentage point, the biggest jump in 22 years, and the U.S. central bank’s chief made an appeal to Americans struggling with high inflation to be patient while officials take the hard measures to bring it under control. (read more)

Within hours of the announcement, major U.S. banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Wells Fargo Bank and Citibank raised their prime rate to 4%, effective Thursday.

The timing of the rate increase is what was expected.  Last year’s inflation spikes started appearing in June of 2021.  By delaying the 2022 FED response until right now, the political operatives in control of U.S. monetary policy create a scenario where the Fed impact will appear to surface in June of 2022. Exactly one year from the date of the first wave of inflation from the prior COVID spend.

Year-over-year inflation will statistically begin to give the appearance of moderation, once the June (’21) to June (’22) comparison cycle arrives.  The Fed and White House will use the intentionally timed statistical outcome to claim inflation is diminishing.  It’s a political trick we expected.

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Defying threats from the European Union, Hungary has announced they will not stop purchasing oil and gas from Russia and join a blockade of energy products by the 27 member EU alliance.