Style...

 

Policy...

 

Xenophobic...

 

Sink...

 

Inflation is rapidly becoming a problem for the Democratic party and President Joe Biden. They need to get a grip on it before it imperils their wider agenda and sinks their chances of keeping control of Congress in the midterm elections next year. 

As they think about how to address it, one thing is certain: what they’ve been doing so far isn’t working. A recent poll found that two-thirds of Americans disapprove of how Biden is handling inflation, and the same number consider the issue “very important” in their evaluations of his presidency. 

Among those Americans concerned about the state of the economy, nearly nine in 10 ranked inflation as a reason why. Clearly something has to change.

Deaf...

 

When President Biden announced the federal government would be releasing 50 million barrels of crude from the strategic petroleum reserve, expected prices to go down significantly and stay down. Instead, prices rose, and OPEC+ gave a heavy hint it might cut supply. 

Energy analysts warned that the SPR crude is sour, and refiners don't like it because it needs additional processing to reduce the sulfur content—a process that requires natural gas, which is also expensive currently. These explanations fell on deaf but determined ears. Now, analysts are warning about $100 Brent.

"It's not going to work simply because the strategic petroleum reserve — any country's strategic petroleum reserve is not there to try to manipulate price," said Stephen Schork, editor of the Schork Report, speaking to CNBC earlier this week. "There's a considerable amount of bets out there that we will see $100 a barrel oil," he added.

If it is not going to achieve lower prices, why do it? 

It is for local consumption, sound bites, the President is doing all what he can to etc. etc. ...... . Just to convince some that we are doing something, not worth it but something.

 Just a thought.

May be...

 

Although the World Health Organization continues to classify Mu as a 'variant of interest' globally, the CDC lists Mu simply as a 'variant being monitored. ' The CDC counts 10 variants in the variant being monitored group.

 The lambda variant, has been spreading rapidly in South America, particularly in Peru where the earliest documented samples of the virus date from August 2020.

Infectivity can occur 1-3 days before the onset of symptoms. Infected persons can spread the disease even if they are pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic. Most commonly, the peak viral load in upper respiratory tract samples occurs close to the time of symptom onset and declines after the first week after symptoms begin.

COVID-19 reinfections are rare, but they do happen. Reinfections might become more common with time and as new COVID-19 variants arise.

The new Omicron variant may be just much ado about nothing. Just a thought.

Devilshly...

 

But inflation, a complicated product of economics and mass psychology, is also devilishly difficult to understand, and even more difficult to control. 

Presidents have few tools to tame it, and the ones they do have can backfire. The inflation of the 1970s crippled Gerald Ford’s presidency and was doing the same to Jimmy Carter until he opted for an extreme cure – installing a chair of the Federal Reserve who dramatically raised interest rates, stopping inflation but also plunging the economy into a deep recession.   That handed the White House to Ronald Reagan. 

These experiences left inflation with a reputation as a presidency-killer, with either the disease itself or the medicine taken to combat it ultimately killing the patient.

Despite this, Democratic party elites have been slow to take the latest round of inflation as seriously as they should. American policymakers have not had to deal with levels of inflation as high as this for 30 years, and it shows. Many latched on to the message that inflation was “transitory”, a temporary consequence of the economy revving back into high gear as the country emerged from the coronavirus pandemic. 

Some liberals have even lashed out at those warning about rising prices, characterizing their concerns as an attempt to undermine support for Democrats’ plans to spend more to advance social welfare and combat climate change.

It is transitory until it isn't. Just a "permeant" thought.

Nitrates...

 

Used as a preservative and to enhance color in deli slices and cured meats like bacon, salami and sausage, nitrates may be connected with depression.

One recent study even suggests that nitrates can alter gut bacteria in such a way as to tip the scales toward bipolar disorder.

Sodium nitrate, a preservative that's used in some processed meats, such as bacon, jerky and luncheon meats, could increase your heart disease risk. It's thought that sodium nitrate may damage your blood vessels, making your arteries more likely to harden and narrow, leading to heart disease.

If you simply can't live without salami and sausages, seek out those containing buckwheat flour, which is used as a filler. Buckwheat flour contains important antioxidants that can counter some of the negative health effects of these meats.

Risk...

 

 

On Feb. 4, as President JOE BIDEN’s nearly $2 trillion stimulus bill was making its way through Congress, LARRY SUMMERS took to the Washington Post with a warning:

“[W]hile there are enormous uncertainties, there is a chance that macroeconomic stimulus on a scale closer to World War II levels than normal recession levels will set off inflationary pressures of a kind we have not seen in a generation, with consequences for the value of the dollar and financial stability. 

This will be manageable if monetary and fiscal policy can be rapidly adjusted to address the problem. But given the commitments the Fed has made, administration officials’ dismissal of even the possibility of inflation, and the difficulties in mobilizing congressional support for tax increases or spending cuts, there is the risk of inflation expectations rising sharply. Stimulus measures of the magnitude contemplated are steps into the unknown.”

The reaction from the White House was fierce. Top advisers repeated the Biden mantra: “the risks of doing too little are far greater than the risks of going big.”

Complacency...

 

Larry Summers is urging Washington to tap the brakes on stimulus or risk unleashing a serious burst of inflation.

"I think policy is rather overdoing it," Summers said in recorded comments at a CoinDesk conference that were released Wednesday. "The sense of serenity and complacency being projected by the economic policymakers, that this is all something that can easily be managed, is misplaced."

The former Clinton and Obama official and Harvared professorl took issue with how the Federal Reserve and fiscal powers continue to turbo-charge the economy even though the once-real risk of a catastrophic deflationary spiral has since faded.

So what's Larry's saying?  

This White House is creating policies which will take the Country and the world to the abyss with speed.  Just a "Complacent" thought.