The Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) released the August review [DATA HERE] of producer prices for last month.  August rose 0.7% with cumulative results now showing an 8.3% increase in prices; the largest year-over-year jump in prices for final demand products in the history of tracking. The prior record was July with 7.8%.

Inflation is skyrocketing for consumer goods at all levels of production: Origination (commodity/raw material), Intermediate (Mfr/Wholesale) and Final products (retail).

In part, the extreme upward cost pressure from escalating fuel and energy costs are accumulating throughout the supply chain and surfacing in the prices of the finished products. We are all witnessing this in the prices at stores; especially in the quick turning products, like groceries (fast turn consumable goods), which reflect price increases the fastest.

Final demand prices moved up 0.7 percent in August, 1.0 percent in July and 1.0 percent in June. The year-over-year inflation rate on final demand products now stands at 8.3%.

MEDIA – […] “The data comes amid heightened inflation fears fed by supply chain issues, a shortage of various consumer and producer goods and heightened demand related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Federal Reserve officials expect inflationary pressures to ease through the year, but they have remained stubbornly persistent, with Friday’s numbers indicating that the trend likely will continue.

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The U.S. Census Department releases retail sales data today showing a strong contraction in consumer spending for July [MSM LINK].  The out-of-touch financial pundits were looking for a 0.3% decline; however, the drop was four times greater with a contraction of 1.1% in spending.

“The slide in retail sales comes after Friday’s preliminary consumer sentiment report from the University of Michigan showed one of the largest drops on record, leading some strategists and economists to warn of downside risk to the sales data.” (link)

This should not be unexpected for those who read here.  Massive price inflation on essential goods is eating up wages.  Food, fuel and energy price increases are changing consumer spending habits.  Non-essential purchases have stopped….. they haven’t slowed, they have stopped. ←Emphasize this because it is not showing up yet in the data lag.

The data reflects that auto sales were the primary contributor to the decline in spending (-4.3%).  This should make sense to people because auto purchases are the largest general consumer purchase outside of home purchasing.

When purchase decisions are made by families; and food and fuel prices are skyrocketing; replacing a vehicle is not essential.  Auto sales are a key indicator of consumer confidence and income.

Overall inflation is the primary driver.  Real wages are declining (wages – inflation), and disposable income is dropping quickly.  Americans need to start talking very deliberately about what is about to happen.  CTH predicted this and has been walking through the visible outcomes as each set of new data surfaces {SEARCH BOX}.  Nothing happening right now is unforeseen or not easily understandable.

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During our previous discussion on historic, predictable and purposeful food inflation, on August 13th CTH noted “BigAg has likely already made deals for increases in government welfare payments (EBT and Foodstamps, WIC etc.). BigAg lobbies congress for higher reimbursement rates so they can raise the prices of food and export domestic product to other nations. Food assistance payments increase, and BigAg benefits. In essence, BigAg takes the fed food subsidies and fattens their profit margin. Then, they payback the politicians. It’s a circle of money.“….

If you know how the game is rigged, it’s actually easy to predict the background.  Today, exactly on cue, several media outlets are now reporting that Joe Biden is going to increase the amount of food stamp assistance by 25% per recipient, and expand the program.

New York Times – WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has revised the nutrition standards of the food stamp program and prompted the largest permanent increase to benefits in the program’s history, a move that will give poor people more power to fill their grocery carts but add billions of dollars to the cost of a program that feeds one in eight Americans.

Under rules to be announced on Monday and put in place in October, average benefits will rise more than 25 percent from prepandemic levels. All 42 million people in the program will receive additional aid. The move does not require congressional approval, and unlike the large pandemic-era expansions, which are starting to expire, the changes are intended to last. (read more)

This announcement is actually revealing in more ways than just the predictability of it.

♦ First, the 25% permanent increase is an admission by the Biden administration that food price inflation is here to stay.  The massive scale of the increase also highlights the actual reality of how much food prices are rising.   This massive and permanent increase directly undercuts the previous White House and Biden claims that inflation was “temporary”, “transitional” and likely to end soon.

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AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka rose to power in combination with President Obama.  Trumka became president of the AFL-CIO at the same time President Obama took office in January 2009.

The Chicago machine organized a pact between the revolutionary communists (RevCom) and labor unions in 2007; specifically to assist the installation of Obama in the 2008 presidential election.  The AFL-CIO (Nicholas), SEIU (Andy Stern), UFCW, UAW and AFSCME labor unions all agreed to assemble their foot-soldiers in common cause.  That union army defeated Hillary Clinton in a brutal 2008 presidential primary.  The communists won. The rest is history.

It was around the time of Richard Trumka’s 60th birthday celebration when the deal was signed.  The Communists would get President Obama, in return the labor unions would get the massive pension liability of union member healthcare removed from their books.  This is the origin of ObamaCare; by any means necessary.

Today, Richard Trumka died.

[Media] – Trumka, 72, has served as president of the massive 12.5 million-member labor union for more than a decade. Democratic politicians quickly memorialized him as a titan for worker rights.

“We are heartbroken to inform you that our brother and leader Rich Trumka passed away this morning at the age of 72,” said Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer in a note to staff.   President Joe Biden addressed Trumka’s death on Thursday, after apologizing for being late to a meeting with Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander civil rights leaders, he said to reporters, “I just learned a very close friend passed away.”

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Generally speaking, the working-class Mexicans support Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador (AMLO), but find themselves frustrated by his seemed naivete about the scale of internal corruption.  AMLO is in a tough spot, because of the corrupt influence of cartel money combined with the influence of multinational corporations taking advantage of his nation.

President Lopez-Obrador and President Trump found their common partnership easy, because the Trump doctrine was essentially supporting the authentic voice of the Mexican people; while asking for help on specific issues (border security).

President Trump supported America-First, and President Lopez-Obrador supported Mexico-First; neither Trump nor AMLO put corporate needs in front of their citizens.

The United States, Mexico-Canada trade Agreement (USMCA) was built upon that foundation.  However, the CoC multinationals were unhappy about the overall USMCA agreement, because it did not protect them from economic nationalism.

Economic nationalism is exactly what President Lopez-Obrador is attempting to leverage against Big Agriculture, specifically Monsanto Inc, and we support it 100%.

The Counter – […] On December 31, 2020, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador signed a decree that could enable Mexican farmers to reclaim their livelihoods within their home country. The order calls for the phase-out by 2024 of two pillars of American agribusiness: glyphosate and genetically engineered (GE) corn, particularly corn grain consumed as part of “the diet of Mexican women and men.” 

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In April of this year the federal reserve announced they will support the economic agenda of the Biden administration by allowing rapid inflation. The FED was trying to provide cover for JoeBama’s economic plan. The era when the FED could impact inflation is long past. However, the Joe Biden policy impact will be clear, immediate and concise. The U.S. middle-class and blue-collar worker are about to be crushed under rising prices for consumable products.

Increases in inflation hit the working class (Main St) much harder than the investment class (Wall St) and financial elites. Factually the multinationals benefit from U.S. inflation as it puts pressure on domestic companies to ship their manufacturing overseas. Wall Street likes that. This dynamic has been an issue not-discussed by the financial media for decades. First, the Reuters article (when you see “commodity prices” think about the term “consumables”):

REUTERS – The U.S. Federal Reserve has signaled it will tolerate faster inflation for a time to cement the post-pandemic recovery and boost employment, but the side effect is likely to be a faster rise in commodity prices.

[…] After its latest meeting on Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee confirmed it will seek to achieve the *twin objectives of maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2% over the longer run.

[*NOTE: in the new era of global economics these two are mutually exclusive. The FED is intentionally ignoring this point.]

[…] The committee noted price rises have been running persistently below target, so it aims to achieve inflation moderately above 2% for some time to make up the shortfall and anchor expectations at around the 2% level.

[…] The plan is to run the economy hot to achieve faster job gains, especially among disadvantaged groups that are marginally attached to the labour force, before shifting back to inflation control later in the cycle.

But the resulting pressure on global supply chains while the Fed pursues employment increases is likely to generate significantly quicker price rises for raw materials and a range of manufactured items. (read more)

This perspective is fundamentally false and based on assumptions that are decades old economic arguments. The reality of what will happen is exactly the opposite on the employment front.

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We noted last month the inflation issues were not going to get better and indeed they are getting worse.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released the latest inflation data, and the rate of inflation continues to increase at an alarming rate; now at 5% year over year for all items.

With only six months of JoeBama economic policy hitting so far, the rate of inflation is now four times larger under Biden than it was under Trump policies.

Everything the Biden administration is doing is making things worse, and now we are seeing big drops in real wages as the inflation rate is far beyond wage growth.   Under Biden inflation is massive and wage growth is non-existent.  This is an exact reversal of the Trump-era outcome where inflation was low and wage growth rates were high.

Year-over-year price comparisons for regular unleaded gasoline are now +58.2%.  [Table 7] Stunning increases in fuel. Natural gas is up 13.5%.  The prices of durable goods like furniture are up 9.8% while the prices for washers/dryers have jumped up over 26%.  Used car prices are up 29.7%, while every durable good is showing massive increases (appliances, clothes, furniture, jewelry, etc).  Even televisions are up almost 5%, after years of continually lower prices.

The May increase in energy prices “was the largest 12-month increase since the period ending April 1980”, over forty years ago. Yes, with 28% increases in overall energy prices Biden is mirroring Jimmy Carter in the outcome of his economic policy (this is not accidental).

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Now that we know the Obama administration was directly involved in the creation of SARS-CoV-2 as a biological weapon that was released from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China (an accidental or purposeful release still undetermined) {Go Deep}, we have the background to understand why the JoeBama administration has to defend Anthony Fauci.

All of the originating activity surrounding U.S. collaboration with the Wuhan Institute, the funding of the Wuhan Institute and the approvals for the Wuhan Institute to conduct “gain of function” research (weaponizing the virus) took place during the Obama administration.  Including the events on January 9, 2017, eleven days before leaving office, when President Obama’s administration lifted the funding moratorium to weaponize SARS bat viruses.

Sharri Markson has a book that details how the Wuhan Lab was used to create SARS-CoV-2 and how Anthony Fauci was the key decisionmaker in the U.S. who organized funding for the Chinese experiments.  In this commentary she discusses some of the issues.

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The bigger question of why the U.S. would fund, support and facilitate the creation of a biological weapon by the Chinese is where things really get interesting.  The only reason the Pentagon (U.S. Military) would enjoin that relationship with China would be to benefit their own interests.

What interests would the U.S. military and U.S. Intelligence hold in the creation of a biological weapon in China?

What is that they say about “means”, “motive”, and “opportunity”?

The most likely answer is the one that makes people very uncomfortable.

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You’ve likely seen mentions of inflation popping up amid some MSM discussions. Without a doubt you have seen significant price jumps at your local supermarket.

The reason is simple, JoeBama’s economic policies are beneficial to the multinationals, crushing to the domestic U.S. economy and driving massive increases in prices in a variety of sectors.  As a consequence the leftist financial media (almost all financial media) are churning out deflection points, but if you understand the background you can predictably see the cause and effect.

USA Today –  From tortillas to cornbread, some of your favorite corn-based dishes may go up in price late this summer.  Corn has been leading the rally among grain commodities, rising more than 30% in 2021, according to MarketWatch. (more)

NOTE: Wheat, corn and soybeans are the foundation of the U.S. food supply. They are primarily used as ingredients in processed foods, oils, and are fed to the cattle, hogs, and poultry that supply meat and eggs for the American diet.  When those grain harvests go up in price the downstream increase in price is far reaching.

Remember, there is no such thing as a “commodity” market in the free market sense of the word.  Those commodity markets are now “controlled markets“, and fully under the control of massive multinational agricultural corporations.

[…]  “Americans should definitely expect an eventual rise in prices later in the year,” says Moya. “The surge with grain prices should not immediately be visible at supermarkets, since retailers absorb the initial increase. (But) eventually, the margin pressure will be too big and probably at some point late in the summer, Americans will start to take notice to some increases on grocery shelves.” (more)

Many Americans are recently awake to the singular ideology that surrounds DC politics.  The UniParty political fraud also applies to our political economy. However, just like the election, understanding the deception in modern economics means understanding previous false and promoted assumptions.

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The federal reserve has announced they will support the economic agenda of the Biden administration by allowing rapid inflation.  The FED is trying to provide cover for JoeBama’s economic plan.  The era when the FED could impact inflation is long past.  However, the Joe Biden policy impact will be clear, immediate and concise.  The U.S. middle-class and blue-collar worker are about to be crushed under rising prices for consumable products.

Increases in inflation hit the working class (Main St) much harder than the investment class (Wall St) and financial elites.  Factually the multinationals benefit from U.S. inflation as it puts pressure on domestic companies to ship their manufacturing overseas.  Wall Street likes that.  This dynamic has been an issue not-discussed by the financial media for decades.   First, the Reuters article (when you see “commodity prices” think about the term “consumables”):

REUTERS – The U.S. Federal Reserve has signaled it will tolerate faster inflation for a time to cement the post-pandemic recovery and boost employment, but the side effect is likely to be a faster rise in commodity prices.

[…]  After its latest meeting on Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee confirmed it will seek to achieve the *twin objectives of maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2% over the longer run.

[*NOTE: in the new era of global economics these two are mutually exclusive.  The FED is intentionally ignoring this point.]

[…] The committee noted price rises have been running persistently below target, so it aims to achieve inflation moderately above 2% for some time to make up the shortfall and anchor expectations at around the 2% level.

[…]  The plan is to run the economy hot to achieve faster job gains, especially among disadvantaged groups that are marginally attached to the labour force, before shifting back to inflation control later in the cycle.

But the resulting pressure on global supply chains while the Fed pursues employment increases is likely to generate significantly quicker price rises for raw materials and a range of manufactured items. (read more)

This perspective is fundamentally false and based on assumptions that are decades old economic arguments.  The reality of what will happen is exactly the opposite on the employment front.

(more…)