Oozed!
It's getting nasty. WaPo is saying "oozed" in "Prices climbed 7.5% in January compared with last year, continuing inflation’s fastest pace in 40 years/High inflation is undermining a robust recovery, testing policymakers at the Federal Reserve and White House."
The White House has been touting its actions to lower prices, including targeting corporate consolidation to help create product markets that are more competitive. But inflation has proved a blistering political handicap for Biden, and a litmus test for how many Americans judge the economy. Republicans largely blame Democrats’ $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan for overheating the economy, and the GOP is set to hammer on inflation going into the midterm elections this fall.
ADDED: The word "ooze" — according to the OED — comes from the same line as the Old Frisian word wāse, which means mud, the Old Icelandic word veisa (wetness, mud, marshy ground), the Norwegian veis (marshy soil), and the Danish regional vejs, which means something that is more fun to say in English: oozy bottom. As a noun meaning wet mud or slime, "ooze" goes back to early Old English. The verb "ooze" is more recent, and I can see that the earliest uses had to do with bodily fluids. Example: "Ulcers that lye deep, and ouze out their Matter thro'..winding Passages" (1737).
Some of the greatest wordsmiths have deployed the verb "ooze":
1820 J. Keats Hyperion: a Fragm. i, in Lamia & Other Poems 153 This passion..made..His Druid locks to shake and ooze with sweat.
1824 W. Irving Tales of Traveller I. 46 The wind oozing through the rat-holes of the old mansion
1845 E. A. Poe Gold-bug in Tales 2 A scarcely perceptible creek, oozing its way through a wilderness of reeds and slime.
1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xiv. 129 Any such violent expression as ‘breaking up’, would have been quite inapplicable to that polite establishment. The young gentlemen oozed away, semi-annually, to their own homes; but they never broke up.
1864 Ld. Tennyson Sea Dreams 150 He..then began to bloat himself, and ooze All over with the fat affectionate smile That makes the widow lean.
1912 G. B. Shaw Androcles & Lion (1916) 37 What he would have called my faith has been oozing away minute by minute whilst I've been sitting here.
1915 V. Woolf Voy. Out v The wall behind him oozed with damp, which collected into drops and slid down.
I really think the OED should add WaPo's "higher prices oozed into just about every sector of the economy." It would fit nicely in the examples of " II. Figurative uses. 3. To pass slowly, gradually, or imperceptibly, as if through pores or small openings. a. intransitive. Of an immaterial quality (frequently with away)."
AND: Here's the full text of "Hyperion." Longer excerpt:
This passion lifted him upon his feet,
And made his hands to struggle in the air,
His Druid locks to shake and ooze with sweat,
His eyes to fever out, his voice to cease.
He stood, and heard not Thea's sobbing deep;
A little time, and then again he snatch'd
Utterance thus.—"But cannot I create?
Cannot I form? Cannot I fashion forth
Another world, another universe,
To overbear and crumble this to nought?
Where is another chaos? Where?"
Put that in the category of Things Read Out Loud at Meadhouse, and know that I immediately followed it with: "This is all about Biden's inflation."
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116 comments:
That Jo Biden! Is there NOTHING he can't f*ck up?
“Robust recovery.” LOL.
Leftmediaswine just can’t help themselves.
I bought Biden “I did that” stickers from Amazon and it dawned on me, I might be on some enemies list somewhere.
Could explain U*ber’s rejection. 🤷🏽♂️
Prices aren't 'oozing'. They are spreading like an angry small pox rash - an outcome of the pestilence the biden administration has become.
Republicans hammer! That’s way more violent than pouncing!
A good start would be to encourage fracking to reduce energy costs and lift vaccine mandates so industries can function properly.
"The White House has been touting its actions to lower prices, including targeting corporate consolidation to help create product markets that are more competitive."
Inflation is, and always has been, a monetary problem.
MV=PY
The cause of inflation is well known. The cures are well known. The Fed needs to tighten the money supply and can do so by simply increasing the Fed Fund rate. It can also stop dumping more money into the economy.
Everything else is garbage, no matter what Elizabeth Warren may say. Everything else has been tried and discarded as ineffectual.
It is so frustrating that our leaders are so fucking bad at the fundamentals of all this.
But inflation has proved a blistering political handicap for Biden, and a litmus test for how many Americans judge the economy.
Inflation is a Rorschach test for how all Americans judge the economy; it's a litmus test among those who do judge the economy by inflation.
Republicans to hammer the issue they seized while pouncing on inflation news, right?
Paying people to stay home and consume and no longer produce is a big part of it. More money, fewer goods.
7.5% increase in one month is “oozing in”? Highest inflation in 40 years? And “high inflation is undermining a robust recovery…”? What the actual Fuck?
Can this administration (or this in the tank media) say one damn thing that’s not utter Bullshit?
Can someone give me an example of the Biden administration "targeting corporate consolidation"?
First of all, IF they had any intention of doing this, it would be months and months, at least a few years, before that would have any effect on increasing competition in the marketplace. Frankly, this sounds like WaPo and team are running out of things to point to that the Biden team is actually working on that can help the economy.
One needs only listen to our completely over her head Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, to know that they haven't a clue what to do with the economy. Nada. Zero.
This is the most bungling and obtuse bunch running this country in my lifetime.
Once again, a subject of immense importance to nearly every person in the country gives way to etymology on the Althouse blog.
"and the GOP is set to hammer . . ."
It's the new "Republicans pounce"!
Poor Democrats! Things just ooze in, passive-style, undermining their robust recovery. And then the Republicans, violent as always, go from pouncing to hammering! Leaving poor Biden with a blistering political handicap! Oh dear.
"Is This What Winning Looks Like? Modern Monetary Theory, the buzziest economic idea in decades, got a pandemic tryout of sorts.
Spoiler: "The Secret" didn't work either.
Ignorance piled on ignorance.
Remember, inflation is, on average neutral. When a price goes up $1, the purchaser pays $1 more (bad for the purchaser), but the seller receives $1 more (good for the seller). $1 - $1 = $0, so on average the $1 inflation is neutral. If you don't start by recognizing this fundamental accounting identity, then you have no idea what you are talking about.
"Oozed". "To pass slowly, gradually, or imperceptibly, as if through pores or small openings."
This is actually pretty good usage. Inflation spreads by a zillion little actions taken by a zillion different economic actors and it does spread from sector to sector as higher prices here force price increases there and there and there.
It's oozed when the Democrats are in office. When the Republicans are in charge, it's gushed.
The White House has been touting its actions to lower prices, including targeting corporate consolidation to help create product markets that are more competitive.
Hahahahaha.
Right. Because the inflation that started a year ago was due to all the corporate consolidation that took place exactly a year ago. And the White House's actions will be so fast acting that inflation will be gone in a month or two. Right. Is there anything that corporate consolidation CAN'T do?
We can thank Joe "two-scoops" Biden and his Democrat coconspirators for inflation. Joe dissed Milton Friedman. Milton Friedman for the win, from the grave. We got inflation because the government goosed the money supply with all this so-called covid relief and so-called infrastructure money while at the same time kept people from working and screwed up the supply chain.
Only Democrats could do that. Just ask LBJ and Jimmy Carter. Nixon didn't have a clue on how to kill inflation. The Dems in Washington State want to impose price controls on medicine. Price controls didn't work for Nixon and they're not going to work to control pharmacy prices.
They are going to cut Biden loose soon.
I don't know if Joe Biden will thank Joe Manchin for putting a stop to another multi-trillion dollar spending orgy, but I sure will.
leaving households to feel the strain at the deli counter, shopping mall and just about everywhere else.
"Deli counter" and "shopping mall" imply the problem isn't all that serious, like maybe Americans just can't treat themselves quite as often these days with luxury purchases and impulse buys like they used to. They went out of their way to avoid saying directly that people are feeling the strain when they buy necessities like food, clothing and just about everything else.
Higher prices aren't oozing like mud, they're rising rapidly like flood water.
Can everyone finally see that they have been lying to us? A lot of us figured this out long before the "official word" that they are killing the middle class. They don't live it. They live in their own little elite bubbles and they look down on us plebes complaining about what they are purposely doing to us.
Fortunately for us, the Federal Reserve Board has been considering thinking about changing their zero-interest rate policy. I understand they've even moved up the schedule due to their urgency over these inflation data. Now they are flat-out thinking about it! Maybe next month we will hear that they discussed some of their thoughts about it. They did say they are going to stop pumping more money into the system one of these months. But not yet.
Democrats shut down domestic energy... then let Putin build his, and how we pay Putin for energy.
Brilliant!
Democrats hate law and order and they hate secure borders.
Pay up - America. and worship your democratical betters. Or else.
"Remember, inflation is, on average neutral. When a price goes up $1, the purchaser pays $1 more (bad for the purchaser), but the seller receives $1 more (good for the seller). $1 - $1 = $0, so on average the $1 inflation is neutral. If you don't start by recognizing this fundamental accounting identity, then you have no idea what you are talking about."
Ok. Now tell me how your "accounting identity" is in conflict with the saying "The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer."
The Cantillon Effect is a monetary concept by French economist Richard Cantillon
Cantillon noticed that when the kingdom discovered a new gold mine that added coin to the realm, the people who benefited were the friends of the king, while prices went up for everyone else
The chi-com lab virus /get democrats elected+ + + facebook drop-boxes and mules in targeted precincts (and secret closed-door late night counting) (hush anyone who dare say so) killed everything.
the media gush over their manufactured glimmer of economic hope. Laughable.
and old Joe - he's the gonna take the credit.
As for inflation - the left are thrilled. Oozing with thrills.. Nancy and Co have what they need.
The real number is much higher.
And as I learned in college, prices are sticky downwards.
Ya know, real "Whip Inflation Now" has never been tried.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whip_inflation_now
Jog #1 for the media - stop the Rs from pouncing.
Crude oil is at $90 a barrel, and those costs (heating and transportation) do tend to affect most other goods and services in the economy. So the writer's uses of "oozes" is good here.
In my mind, though, the hammer doesn't fit. I see a sunny morning after election, with a body oozing life. And someone sneaking round the corner, could that someone be Mitch the....
7.5% increase in one month is “oozing in”?
No, they do specifically compare it to “last January” so it is an annualized number but many headlines and talking heads are loosely phrasing it. So it sounds like a one-month jump in some presentations. Mass media is yugely ignorant of economic matters and deliberately obtuse when oozing bad news about Biden.
The Biden administration is an oozing, festering sore on teh body politic.
Gerda Sprinchorn said: "ignorance piled on ignorance.
Remember, inflation is, on average neutral. When a price goes up $1, the purchaser pays $1 more (bad for the purchaser), but the seller receives $1 more (good for the seller). $1 - $1 = $0, so on average the $1 inflation is neutral. If you don't start by recognizing this fundamental accounting identity, then you have no idea what you are talking about."
You're talking as if the increased prices paid by the end user- the consumer- don't have an impact on the economy. Though you do note it as a bad thing for the consumer.
Then you state the increase in price is good for the seller. Wrong. The seller's price went up as well to cover his/her new cost of goods. That happened because the manufacturer's price also had to go up to cover his cost of goods because his material supplier's prices also went up. And on and on.
There is no 'evening out' because those people doing the buying of goods along the line have finite sources of their own money. Price goes up, they have less buying power. In inflation, all of the prices along the manufacturing path go up. Virtually everyone on that path feels the increase. There is no evening out that is felt in inflation except in the classrooms and offices of economic theorists.
So far Joe Biden has blamed automobiles for inflation, then hamburger, then automobiles made of hamburger.
But the problem, of course, is Biden and the Dems. AND, yes, Republicans AND TRUMP have their share of the blame. You cannot spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, and spend and rack up $30,000,000,000,000 in debt and not realize that it's gonna leave a mark. Putting ice on it won't help.
Quicksand oozes, too.
Slimey Joe Biden bringing us ooze-down economics - we're all standing in the bottom of his outhouse.
The cures are well known. The Fed needs to tighten the money supply and can do so by simply increasing the Fed Fund rate.
Fortunately for us, the Federal Reserve Board has been considering thinking about changing their zero-interest rate policy.
You can't raise interest rates with $30 TRILLION in debt.
Because you then have to pay out the raised interest on that debt. Which means that government expenditures is nothing but interest payments. Most of it to China.
Face it. The Government f***ed us. Again.
etbass said: "Once again, a subject of immense importance to nearly every person in the country gives way to etymology on the Althouse blog."
I have to say, I think it's one of the stand-out features of this blog. Keeps me sharp. Keeps the grey matter from oozing out of my ears.
Simple example. Just got garbage collection bill. $107.84 for 3 months, last February's bill $91.76, up 17.5%.
It’s the oil price, stupid. Biden made the oil price go from $40 to $90 a barrel by intentionally shutting down the beautiful USA energy industry that had been set loose by DJT. Totally fake Global Warming myths now rule us.
Oil still is the key to victory in war and peace as it was 80 years ago when it started WWII.That is why our enemy wants our oil industry destroyed. So Biden took the ChiComs cash and executed ours.
Oozeflation?
Fracking was making oil ooze out of old oil fields. Who shut that down?
"A good start would be to encourage fracking to reduce energy costs and lift vaccine mandates so industries can function properly."
Sure, if you think actions that will lead to more illness and deaths (from fracking and COVID) is worth it so "industries can function properly," (whatever that means).
How can it be a robust recovery with this level of inflation?
Silicious ooze will one day evolve into cryptocrystalline quartz. Not fear, we won't lose our chert.
"Because you then have to pay out the raised interest on that debt. Which means that government expenditures is nothing but interest payments. Most of it to China."
It almost sounds like the trillions in "default swaps" all over again, doesn't it?
Actually, fracking started many decades ago in the silicious ooze of the Monterey Formation.
Gerda Sprinchorn said... "Remember, inflation is, on average neutral. When a price goes up $1, the purchaser pays $1 more (bad for the purchaser), but the seller receives $1 more (good for the seller). $1 - $1 = $0, so on average the $1 inflation is neutral. If you don't start by recognizing this fundamental accounting identity, then you have no idea what you are talking about."
Inflation is in no way neutral. Ask the people of Germany in the 1930s, the people of Venezuela, or the people of Zimbabwe.
This is the most bungling and obtuse bunch running this country in my lifetime.
I would say this bunch approaches the talents of Buchanan and his team. Of course he might have been doing things like shipping arms to the South on purpose. As for the $30 trillion, it will be defaulted. Larry Summers was tweeting about the Fed nomination that we need more Marxism. Things are going swimmingly.
“Remember, inflation is, on average neutral. When a price goes up $1, the purchaser pays $1 more (bad for the purchaser), but the seller receives $1 more (good for the seller). $1 - $1 = $0, so on average the $1 inflation is neutral. If you don't start by recognizing this fundamental accounting identity, then you have no idea what you are talking about.”
Yes, a thoroughly silly way of thinking about it. Bezos, Gates, Musk, etc made many billions last year, and most of the rest of us came out behind. The billionaire class own much of the means of production and distribution, so can easily push up their prices, while anyone on a fixed income, or even one that is sticky upwards, suffers, while the billionaires just crank up the inequality. But, it’s all good because $1-$1=$0. The ChiComs own a bunch of our sovereign debt, and now charge more for it, forcing our debt service to explode, that much of our budget being taken over by debt financing so that there is little left for anything else, whether it be our military, or Social Security and Medicare. But since $1-$1=$0, it’s all good.
There is a case for the inflation fading back to much lower levels. One part of it is certainly the disruption of economic activity, particularly all the shipping logistics; and another big part of it is the multiple "stimulus" checks the government sent out, which stimulated demand just when supply was getting limited through those logistics. So there should be some significant degree of correction downwards in inflation as the stimuli have stopped; also, Omicron is fading fast, so logistic snafus should clear up at least somewhat.
But the Fed will have to raise rates since the bond market has taken some of its function back from the government. The Fed will follow the bond market if it keeps raising all the prevailing rates. And the government will have to find a way to deal with the rising costs of debt service. The Fed bailed them out on debt service by making it so easy to keep borrowing more, more, evermore with no additional costs. Great deal, as long as It could last. And the Fed made it last over a decade.
So what happens to the inflation that got pumped into all those financial assets during Fedtopia?
Bidenomics(TM) oozes.
If Modern Monetary Theory was right then we would not be looking at inflation at all. MMT tells politicians (from both parties) what they want to hear — that there are no real-world consequences for runaway spending. But the consequences are coming, in the form of inflation, regardless of the politicians’ wishes and the econ professors’ crazy theories.
Robert is upset that the workers of the world are uniting.
"Not like that!" said Robert, "I will tell you how to unite! You don't know what's good for you! You are suffering a 'false consciousness!" he further intoned.
"Remember, inflation is, on average neutral. When a price goes up $1, the purchaser pays $1 more (bad for the purchaser), but the seller receives $1 more (good for the seller). $1 - $1 = $0, so on average the $1 inflation is neutral. If you don't start by recognizing this fundamental accounting identity, then you have no idea what you are talking about."
Except that, if the $1 price increase causes me not to buy something I would have otherwise purchased, then the seller of that item gets $0. IOW, I don't get a new putter (bad for me) and the golf shop doesn't get to seller the putter (bad for golf shop).
Tell me what has gone up in cost only 7.5%. Seems to me that 10% is the base. 7.5 is a lie.
My verb for inflation is "leapt".
Temujin said: There is no 'evening out' because those people doing the buying of goods along the line have finite sources of their own money
No.
Incomes generally go up, on average, in inflationary times. Lets say we are talking about someone who works in a restaurant. Wages of restaurant workers have been going up. Hence restaurant workers have higher incomes on average now because of inflation. Are they better off? Depends on whether their income goes up faster than the prices they pay. In fact, higher wages to attract workers seems to be one of the reasons for the current inflation.
Every additional dollar paid due to inflation is one more dollar received by someone else due to inflation. Its an accounting identity. It is always and everywhere true.
Depending on how fast various prices and incomes are rising, some people will be better off and some will be worse off, but you have to look at the numbers to see.
Bond holders are being slammed because interest rates are so low. On the other hand, people who have mortgages are doing very well because of this inflation. People with mortgages are basically bond sellers. Stockholders have been doing pretty well because investors don't like bonds right now. Social Security is indexed to inflation so recipients don't care. House prices are going up which is good for sellers and bad for buyers. Depends on which you are.
Just saying prices are going up doesn't tell you anything about who is being hurt. Every transaction has two sides.
Oh, is you local deli counter open? Not at my closest grocery store. The last two weeks when I have visited they have no staff there so too bad if you want corned beef or pastrami.
I bought 3 bags of ice yesterday for $2.99 a bag. They were 7-lbs each. In the past, three bags of ice were sufficient to cool my 5-gallons of beer homebrew. Not this time. I had to raid my wife's bag of ice and use 4 frozen bottle of water to get the temperature down to 80-deg F. Safeway's reduced the amount ice in a bag to keep the price at $2.99. I suspect those bags use to hold 9- or 10-lbs of ice.
The same thing has happened to Tillamook ice cream packages. Decades ago, they were 2-qt. Then they were 1.75-qt. Now they're 1.5-qt. Same price point.
Thanks Joe "two-scoops" Biden. He just loves his chocolate, chocolate-chip ice cream cones. Going to a Baskin-Robbins for his ice cream cones is his greatest achievement as a Senator, Vice President and President.
If you think prices are high now, wait until all the electric utilities start borrowing billions to achieve net carbon zero.
I figure that OPPD will have to borrow $20b on a current revenue base of $1b. Rates will double or triple.
I heard the Duke Energy CEO today. They are headed to net carbon zero. German utilities have been pursuing net carbon zero for years. German rates are 3X of that in the US.
"Do not crucify Americans on a cross of wind turbine blades." Begley the Elder.
Temujin said: In inflation, all of the prices along the manufacturing path go up. Virtually everyone on that path feels the increase.
Exactly! This is my point!
Everybody's costs go up and everybody's revenues go up on average! On average, it averages out to zero. You have to go deeper to say who is hurt and who benefits.
It appears the Fed is waiting for inflation to hit 15% before doing anything about it. First year economics majors would be doing a better job than the current Fed Board of Governors. Had the BBB bill passed we would have gotten to 15% next month.
***Democrats shut down domestic energy... then let Putin build his pipelines. Now we pay Putin for energy.
Brilliant!
but somehow Chi Com rare earth mineral mining is groovy.
If you think energy production leads to more illness and deaths, just try "no energy production" for a while.
Sure, if you think actions that will lead to more illness and deaths (from fracking and COVID) is worth it so "industries can function properly," (whatever that means).
There is some point at which the cost of the measures we took, and in some places are still taking, to reduce people's risk of contracting (and therefore the 1%-ish risk, over all of society, not excluding the very old and the already infirm, of their dying from it) crosses the cost in lives of COVID itself. Where is that point? Are you honestly in the "if it saves just one life" camp? Because you know that's BS, don't you?
I don't know many people getting 7.5% pay raises. Average people are losing ground. This may help the Republicans in November, but of course, the Congressional R's will do nothing to stop inflation if it continues into 2023.
“The cures are well known. The Fed needs to tighten the money supply and can do so by simply increasing the Fed Fund rate.”
To start with, trying to keep interest rates down is what caused the inflation throughout the 1970s. Moreover, the Fed Funds rate is only good for tweaking things a little. For fine tuning. What it affects is the cost of overnight borrowing by banks to make their reserve requirements. This borrowing lets these banks run closer to the edge, in terms of reserves that they have to be holding. If they borrow to make their reserve requirements, they can essentially, based on their deposits, lend out a little more. And that translates into slightly higher Velocity (V) of the money supply.
As noted above, MV=PQ (or PY). Money is a Veil (name of the book for our monetary Econ class). The way it works out is that V (Velocity) and Q (quantity of goods and services) are relatively constant, though there tends to be some positive correlation between Price (P) and Velocity (V) (since high inflation (P) causes the money supply (M) to turn over faster (↑P⇒↑V)). But with relatively stable V and Q, the major effect is that the money supply (M) drives the Price (P): ↑M⇒↑P. In the very late 1970s, the Fed switched from trying to control interest rates, to controlling money supply (M) growth, with M=PQ/V, and with Velocity fairly constant, and a Price level target of zero inflation, Money supply (M) target increases were set to roughly the growth in nominal GDP (Q). And, just as Uncle Miltie predicted, inflation came to a halt.
What’s the problem then? Much of the national debt is essentially funded by printing money (actually by the Fed issuing its own obligations to banks, in order to buy Treasury securities). To the extent that the ChiComs (etc) don’t want to fund our deficit spending, the Fed has to make up the difference, and does it by increasing the money supply (M). To shorten this, excess deficit spending is financed by money supply growth, which drives inflation. Politicians lose track of this, because they really like deficit spending (because they can increase spending without increasing taxes), and ultimately, that means that the Fed did too (since their Governors are placed on the Boards by those politicians). It doesn’t hurt that the Fed really hasn’t had to address inflation for 40 years now.
Basically we have a political set up where the Democrats ruin the country, and the Republicans do nothing except NOT ruin the country. Nobody is making things better. Except for the upper class Funny dat.
“The cures are well known. The Fed needs to tighten the money supply and can do so by simply increasing the Fed Fund rate.”
To start with, trying to keep interest rates down is what caused the inflation throughout the 1970s. Moreover, the Fed Funds rate is only good for tweaking things a little. For fine tuning. What it affects is the cost of overnight borrowing by banks to make their reserve requirements. This borrowing lets these banks run closer to the edge, in terms of reserves that they have to be holding. If they borrow to make their reserve requirements, they can essentially, based on their deposits, lend out a little more. And that translates into slightly higher Velocity (V) of the money supply.
As noted above, MV=PQ (or PY). Money is a Veil (name of the book for our monetary Econ class). The way it works out is that V (Velocity) and Q (quantity of goods and services) are relatively constant, though there tends to be some positive correlation between Price (P) and Velocity (V) (since high inflation (P) causes the money supply (M) to turn over faster (↑P⇒↑V)). But with relatively stable V and Q, the major effect is that the money supply (M) drives the Price (P): ↑M⇒↑P. In the very late 1970s, the Fed switched from trying to control interest rates, to controlling money supply (M) growth, with M=PQ/V, and with Velocity fairly constant, and a Price level target of zero inflation, Money supply (M) target increases were set to roughly the growth in nominal GDP (Q). And, just as Uncle Miltie predicted, inflation came to a halt.
What’s the problem then? Much of the national debt is essentially funded by printing money (actually by the Fed issuing its own obligations to banks, in order to buy Treasury securities). To the extent that the ChiComs (etc) don’t want to fund our deficit spending, the Fed has to make up the difference, and does it by increasing the money supply (M). To shorten this, excess deficit spending is financed by money supply growth, which drives inflation. Politicians lose track of this, because they really like deficit spending (because they can increase spending without increasing taxes), and ultimately, that means that the Fed did too (since their Governors are placed on the Boards by those politicians). It doesn’t hurt that the Fed really hasn’t had to address inflation for 40 years now.
Higher prices are very noticeable at the Grocery Store. I also breakfast weekly at a Diner, and I'm surprised the prices there haven't gone up. I did notice my favorite cookie on campus -- chocolate chip at Aldo's -- went from $1.30 to $1.60!
ou can't raise interest rates with $30 TRILLION in debt.
No the debt interest is already set. Its not variable. Its fixed. what you can't do is pay high interest on the NEW debt. except by printing money or raising taxes. BTW, a large part of our new debt is financed by the Chicoms, so all the bluster about Taiwan and human right is just that, meaningless bluster.
Inflation is far higher 7.5% if you use the pre-1982 CPI calculator. It's running closer to 15-18%. One of the reasons people's "seat-of-the-pants" inflation calculator is getting pegged. pun intended.
Sure, if you think actions that will lead to more illness and deaths (from fracking and COVID) is worth it so "industries can function properly," (whatever that means).
So, Cook thinks fracking causes death and illness? What other conspiracy theories do you subscribe to? The usual Bolshevik ones ?
2% is ooze. 7.5% is a significant flow. I expect double digit gushing soon.
The passive use of ooze makes this inflation seem like an unavoidable, inexorable process that no one is responsible for, that it is amorphous and uncontrollable . It rhetorically hides the agents that caused it. . No one is responsible. Deliberate policies, however, are definitely responsible: reckless spending, insanely low interest rates , and the deliberate war on fossil fuels. Energy inflation is tearing trough the economy, raising costs all over. It is not just oozing through the economy. Biden’ s economic advisers seem to be willfully ignorant of Hayek’ s important books: “The Road to Serfdom”, and “The Fatal Conceit: the Errors of Socialism.” I suggest that they revisit them.
"Sure, if you think actions that will lead to more illness and deaths (from fracking and COVID) is worth it so "industries can function properly," (whatever that means)."
Fracking causes "illness and deaths"? I expect better of you, Robert.
Gerda said "Remember, inflation is, on average neutral."
Tell it to folks who have financial-account savings, denominated in plain-old dollars, not inflation-adjusted. Those savings shrink through inflation. Nothing neutral about that.
You would almost think that it's a sneaky way to get the effects of a wealth tax that they wouldn't be able to pass through Congress or sustain against constitutional challenge. Back-door wealth tax.
Devious Dems!
"High inflation is undermining a robust recovery, testing policymakers at the Federal Reserve and White House."
What "recovery"?
Let us know when we have as many Americans employed as we did on Feb 1, 2020.
Until then, there's no recovery
Robert Cook said...
=Sure, if you think actions that will lead to more illness and deaths
Leaving the home leads to "more illness and deaths", over the short term, than staying in your home does.
GFY, you pathetic loser
Bob Boyd said...
leaving households to feel the strain at the deli counter, shopping mall and just about everywhere else.
"Deli counter" and "shopping mall" imply the problem isn't all that serious,
Actually, what I think that's about is telling their urban hip sophisticated hard core Democrat readers that it really is a problem!!11!
Because they're relating it to things that matter to those readers
I blame the hoarders and wreckers.
"Sure, if you think actions that will lead to more illness and deaths (from fracking and COVID) is worth it so "industries can function properly," (whatever that means)."
The risks of lifting COVID restrictions is apparently low enough for Democrats who want to increase their chances in November to do exactly that. As to fracking, you'd have to be able to prove the health risks involved are greater than the health risks of the poverty produced by high energy prices. None of the smug rich environmentalists who supported Biden's energy policies have to choose between food and heat this winter.
"Cannot I fashion forth
Another world, another universe,
To overbear and crumble this to nought?
Where is another chaos? Where?"
Probably in the Ukraine, unless you want to accuse Republicans of being Russian agents again.
Conrad said: Except that, if the $1 price increase causes me not to buy something I would have otherwise purchased, then the seller of that item gets $0.
Correct. It is possible inflation can have various effects like this. Or it might have the opposite effect. The higher price may make suppliers want to sell more putters. Or whatever. You can make up lots of stories like this.
All I am saying is that the simple fact that a price went up by a dollar is a wash for the parties involved because there are two sides to the transaction and the effects on the two parties are exactly equal and opposite.
There are lots of other effects inflation can have, some of them very very bad. Out of control inflation can notoriously lead to a breakdown in the economy because people don't have a reliable currency for transactions. Modest inflation can be good because it makes prices more flexible.
"Oozing charm from every pore
He oiled his way around the floor."
From the song "Tonight, Old Man, You Did It!" in "My Fair Lady" when Prof. Higgins is describing a rival's attempt to unmask Eliza Doolittle at the Embassy Ball.
Inflation is racist as fuck.
It hurts me, but it hurts janitors and teachers and bus drivers a lot more.
And everyone on welfare who are disproportionally black.
So why is the GOP not pushing this as a political message?
Because they're morons who don't know how to fight.
As a radio host said this morning, if Trump were POTUS, every news story would be about starving families.
They are going to cut Biden loose soon.
I don't think that people understand Biden's role. He is their sacrificial lamb accomplishing exactly what the Democrats want to accomplish.
I look forward to Gerda Sprinchorn's coming entry into the millionaire class due to inflation. She won't be able to buy anything of value with her million-dollar income, but at least she'll be able to crow about her new status. Way to go, Gerda!
Sundance at the Treehouse makes the point that what is being measured is the RATE of inflation. He suggests that it's quite possible that Biden's claim that future inflation will decrease, but that may be a very deceptive claim: the YOY, monthly, etc., RATE of inflation may fall, depending on the base from which you're measuring, but it's still built into the overall economic history.
Sundance explains it, very simply, this way:
♦ 2021: A loaf of bread increases in price 50¢ from $1.00 to $1.50, a rate of inflation of 50%.
♦ 2022: That same loaf of bread increases in price by 60¢, from $1.50 to $2.10, a rate of inflation at 40%.
=> The RATE of inflation has decreased in 2022 from 2021, but the price is still higher.
Bruce Hayden said: But since $1-$1=$0, it’s all good.
That's not what I said. I only said $1-$1=$0. Inflation can have some very bad effects. It can also have some modestly good effects. But that doesn't invalidate that $1-$1=$0. You have to start by acknowledging that $1-$1=$0, which clears away some obvious nonsense, and then you can start to seriously talk about negative and positive effects of inflation. But if you can't acknowledge that $1-$1=$0, you are arguing with arithmetic.
"Just saying prices are going up doesn't tell you anything about who is being hurt. Every transaction has two sides."
I know who was hurt during the 1980's inflation, me. I paid 18% interest on a mortgage for a house that was overpriced. My annual wage increase was after the fact so I was always 10% behind on purchasing power. Companies were in the same shape because their labor and raw material costs were going up. Everyone in the nation pays for everyone else's cost increases. Even raw material producers pay more for inputs. If you say inflation does not cost anyone, that is not true, its a circle of cost increases in a lagging sequence that keeps everyone loosing money until wages or prices can be raised again.
The big looser are retirees who have the savings they suffered to keep and live off of stolen from them at a rate of 10% per year.
'And as I learned in college, prices are sticky downwards.'
Exactly this.
Prices go up quickly and go down slowly, if at all.
Once you get used to paying 50% more for bacon, do you think Oscar Meyer has any incentive to drop the price?
Incomes generally go up, on average, in inflationary times.
Obviously isn’t a retiree trying to live on a fixed pension. Nor does she recognize that Social Security COLAs almost always fail to reach the real year over year inflation rate.
Tell it to folks who have financial-account savings, denominated in plain-old dollars, not inflation-adjusted. Those savings shrink through inflation. Nothing neutral about that.
Almost all financial accounts pay interest. Right now, interest rates are abnormally low, so those people are being hurt. So who is on the other side of that transaction? The people who are paying abnormally low interest rates when they borrow. Their benefit is equal and opposite. The net benefit is zero. Homeowners with mortgages benefit. Companies' costs are lower because they are paying less to borrow. Therefore, inflation is neutral ON AVERAGE. There's no doubt that some are hurt and some benefit. But the average is zero.
Also, if they are invested in stocks, they have done very well over the past few years and one reason stocks have done well is because interest rates are so low.
The first step in controlling inflation should be to unlock the U.S. energy industry to reduce the artificial, government-imposed constraints on petroleum discovery, production and distribution.
Petroleum may not only be used for transportation and heating your home or business. Petroleum is the basic foundation for thousands of common products, the price of each one of which is vulnerable to price increases due to petroleum supply constraints imposed by the Biden administration in its earliest days.
"Crude oils are sent to refineries where they become feedstock. The feedstock is used in petrochemical plants and turned into plastic to make essential products used in our everyday lives. More than 6,000 everyday products get their start from oil, including dishwashing liquid, solar panels, food preservatives, eyeglasses, DVDs, children’s toys, tires and heart valves."
https://www.capp.ca/oil/uses-for-oil/
Mike said: I look forward to Gerda Sprinchorn's coming entry into the millionaire class due to inflation. She won't be able to buy anything of value with her million-dollar income
My point exactly!
When prices go up, incomes go up, costs go up, etc., everything goes up (on average). So yes, everyone will earn more, but everyone will pay more. It all cancels out on average. So if you want to talk about the effects of inflation, you need to talk about other things than simply saying "higher prices are bad."
etbass said...
Once again, a subject of immense importance to nearly every person in the country gives way to etymology on the Althouse blog.
Well, we all need hobbies.
Personally, I think the use of "ooze" here is suboptimal. Oozing implies a slow flow. For that matter, it often implies a near passive process where the thing flowing is not aiming at any particular goal but simply doing what comes naturally, taking advantage of the path of least resistance. 7.5% is not slow and the cause has been anything but accidental.
"All I am saying is that the simple fact that a price went up by a dollar is a wash for the parties involved because there are two sides to the transaction and the effects on the two parties are exactly equal and opposite."
Oh my.
John Borell said...
Inflation is, and always has been, a monetary problem.
MV=PY
The cause of inflation is well known. The cures are well known. The Fed needs to tighten the money supply and can do so by simply increasing the Fed Fund rate. It can also stop dumping more money into the economy.
On the face level that is true.
But in the end that is not the real problem.
You can't raise interest rates now. You just can't. 1% on 30 Trillion is 300 Billion.
The only way out of this is growth now. The economy needs to grow faster than government spending for a while.
“No the debt interest is already set. Its not variable. Its fixed. what you can't do is pay high interest on the NEW debt. except by printing money or raising taxes. BTW, a large part of our new debt is financed by the Chicoms, so all the bluster about Taiwan and human right is just that, meaningless bluster.”
Except that our national debt has to be rolled over periodically, and that is when inflation hits the interest rates our government pays.
Inflation Hits Another High, Marking Its Highest Level in 40 Years
—Ace
Now let me tell you a little story.
The Democrats used to push a strategy of taxing the rich at very high levels, and then wasting that money by pissing it down ratholes they claimed was "social spending on the poor."
But under Clinton and then under Obama, the Democrat Party repositioned itself to be the party of the urban corporate elite and the mega-wealthy. And the urban corporate elite and the mega-wealthy do not like paying high tax rates.
But the Democrat Party still wanted to piss money down ratholes.
So the Democrat Party became enamored of a new "theory" of money: That they could literally spend as much money as they wanted, pissing it down ratholes, and not bother raising taxes on their mega-wealthy donors, because the government could just print as much money as it liked and never worry about balancing the books and nothing bad would ever, ever happen.
This is really their theory. It's called "Modern Monetary Theory" (MMT). They called it that because "Retard Money Theory" was already taken.
Now that this "theory" is being disproven by soaring inflation, people are... questioning it.
minnesota farm guy said...
It appears the Fed is waiting for inflation to hit 15% before doing anything about it.
Apparently they're waiting for "the specter of Trump" to disappear before they raise interest rates.
Why they think the Dems getting bodyslammed in 2022 elections because of high inflation will make "the specter of Trump" go away is not quite clear
"Except that our national debt has to be rolled over periodically,"
Bill Clinton is the guy who noticed that short term debt carried lower interest rates, and so managed to spend more money by financing it with cheaper short term debt that had to be periodically rolled over. Think of it as a variable rate mortgage, because the ramifications are the same.
"The economy needs to grow faster than government spending for a while."
Meanwhile the Biden administration is killing pipelines and a huge new world class nickel and cobalt mine in Minnesota, so it's hard to see where thee growth is going to come from, because importing everything we need does not create growth.
" So if you want to talk about the effects of inflation, you need to talk about other things than simply saying "higher prices are bad."
Some of us have seen this movie before, and it was a miserable slog. It could end up a financial debacle, look at Venezuela. So yeah, rising prices are bad until proven otherwise.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Prices go up, wages go up? Get off the pipe Gerda! Seek professional therapy. I did my shopping today on last week's take home pay. Inflation is "oozing" like the starboard bow of the Titanic.
From the NY Fish Wrap comes the story of hair dye oozing from the scalp of "America's Mayor." Note, however, that the NYT avoided the word "oozing."
Rudolph W. Giuliani gave a news conference on Thursday, Nov. 19, in which, as he attempted to cast doubt on the results of the presidential election, it appeared he, or perhaps his hair, was starting to melt.
Thursday’s event was the latest in an unusual series of public appearances for Mr. Giuliani. On Nov. 7, he delivered remarks from the parking lot of Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a Philadelphia landscaping company close to a crematory and a pornography shop.
Manhattan hair stylists differed on whether or not the black stuff running down his face was hair dye.
Mirko Vergani, the creative color director at the Drawing Room, a salon in downtown Manhattan, said it was far more likely that Mr. Giuliani had used mascara or a touch-up pen to make sure his sideburns matched the rest.
“Sideburns are more gray than the rest of the head,” he said. “You can apply mascara to touch the gray side up a bit so it looks more natural.”
He said that anyone wishing to avoid what happened to Mr. Giuliani should avoid hot weather, and wait for the makeup to dry completely.
“In the picture, it looks really heavy,” Mr. Vergani said, referring to a photograph of Mr. Giuliani during the news conference. “I’m sure they put too much product and that’s why it started to bleed.”
Not everyone agreed. Gene Sarcinello, a stylist and colorist at Takamichi Hair, said that the streaks could have been caused by hair dye.
“If it’s not washed out properly, that’s what’s going to happen,” he said, adding that the dye could be spray-on. “Not knowing exactly what he has on his hair, it’s hair-color related definitely. In some of the pictures I’m seeing, it looks glossy, which looks like a product in his hair.”
I think we should give Rudy a new nickname - call him "The Drip."
"No the debt interest is already set. Its not variable. Its fixed."
My understanding is that the government (stupidly) has been mainly issuing short-term bonds.
I wonder how many of the people describing inflation as no big deal have lived through one ?
There are millions who were not alive, or at least sentient, the last time we had serious inflation. I bought my first house in 1969 for $35,000.
It is currently valued at $1.5 million.
My first new car was a 1968 Mustang convertible. I paid $3050. for it.
The house is part of the crazy California real estate bubble but the car is inflation plus all the nonsense to government has required.
The out of control spending by Democrats will crash the economy. They did it in 1974. Reagan, and to his credit, Carter took the risks of high interest rates but the 16% interest rate on Treasuries in 1984 cannot exist with a $30 trillion national debt. We will default.
Nixon set it off with his decision to let the gold price float, but Johnson spent the money that caused the run on gold.
I have a gold money clip with a gold coin on it. The coin is a quarter eagle, worth $2.50 in 1920. It's current price, depending on condition, is about a thousand dollars.
The average maturity of US debt is 65 months. So, the blended rate is less fixed than one may think. And rates are rising far less quickly than inflation so far. Looking at the money supply numbers we should see peak inflation at 10-12%.
Blogger Achilles said...
You can't raise interest rates now. You just can't. 1% on 30 Trillion is 300 Billion.
The only way out of this is growth now. The economy needs to grow faster than government spending for a while.
The Fed's funds rate has only been raised once by 0.25% while we were flirting with near zero rates in Dec 2015.
So bank savings have been removed from our income streams as interbank rates fell from 5% in June 2006 to 0.1% now. Obviously, banks are making lots of money on short term loans and mortgages but no margin exists to offer any savings rate above .1%.
But hidden inflation has been blowing us up with the QE1, QE2 & QE3 print paper dollars programs that ended up huge National Debt increases. The rich nations of the world are following our example so inflation is worldwide. Liberal expansion of money supply is bankrupting the weakest EU members as the Euro declines in value.
We need to stop the international war by shutting down Trump's idiotic tariffs which have contributed greatly to inflation but getting Democrats to decrease revenues is impossible when somebody else can be blamed - just as the GOP didn't try to get Trump to understand that he was way out of his league and to undo his import duties. Lets start this turnaround by joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership that Trump was told to badmouth by his fellow grifters. Trump's new NASA is a bureaucratic loser and needs to be replaced by the TPP - a worldwide economic miracle.
2/10/22, 1:56 PM
"When prices go up, incomes go up, costs go up, etc., everything goes up (on average). So yes, everyone will earn more, but everyone will pay more. It all cancels out on average. So if you want to talk about the effects of inflation, you need to talk about other things than simply saying "higher prices are bad."
No it is dynamic, you would have to raise wages and prices every millisecond for this to be true. The delay causes losses to everyone. Look back, have inflationary periods ever been neutral? Inflation is a disease to which neither Government nor the Governed are left unharmed. And higher prices are bad for fixed income persons.
Biden's name is gonna be mud.
“The only way out of this is growth now. The economy needs to grow faster than government spending for a while.”
And how are they going to do that? Pass the Build Back Bankrupt Act?
“The Fed's funds rate has only been raised once by 0.25% while we were flirting with near zero rates in Dec 2015.”
“So bank savings have been removed from our income streams as interbank rates fell from 5% in June 2006 to 0.1% now. Obviously, banks are making lots of money on short term loans and mortgages but no margin exists to offer any savings rate above .1%.”
The money isn’t really that good for the banks. They sell off most of the mortgage loans, and, no surprise, Fannie Mac and Freddie Mac are back at their old tricks, of buying subprime mortgage loans, with minimal borrower qualifications. CRA all over again.
“But hidden inflation has been blowing us up with the QE1, QE2 & QE3 print paper dollars programs that ended up huge National Debt increases. The rich nations of the world are following our example so inflation is worldwide. Liberal expansion of money supply is bankrupting the weakest EU members as the Euro declines in value.”
“We need to stop the international war by shutting down Trump's idiotic tariffs which have contributed greatly to inflation but getting Democrats to decrease revenues is impossible when somebody else can be blamed - just as the GOP didn't try to get Trump to understand that he was way out of his league and to undo his import duties. Lets start this turnaround by joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership that Trump was told to badmouth by his fellow grifters. Trump's new NASA is a bureaucratic loser and needs to be replaced by the TPP - a worldwide economic miracle.”
So. It’s Trump’s fault. No surprise - from you. But he didn’t just flush most of a $Trillion$ down the drain. Biden and the Dems did. And want to do it again.
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