Hmmm… I wonder why Sloe Joe re-nominated swamper Powell. OTOH, he may not be a swamper. He may just be blind and deaf.
Inflation will stay at 6% to 9% until 2024, Fed’s rate hikes won’t stop that now
The U.S. Federal Reserve hiked the Fed Funds rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday, the first rate hike since 2018.
While this move was largely anticipated, the markets still rallied on the news; both the stock markets and safe haven assets like gold rose. The dollar fell slightly.
Steve Hanke, professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University told David Lin, anchor for Kitco News, that the stock markets interpreted this news as quite dovish.
Additionally, gold rallied because the gold market understands that this 25 basis point hike won’t be enough to combat inflation, which is likely to remain in the 6% to 9% range until 2024.
“[Inflation] is definitely not transitory,” he said. “[People] are still droning on about supply chain problems, and the fact that those have not been fixed as fast as people thought they would be fixed, and that is the reason that inflation has been dragging on longer than people thought.”
Hanke stressed that the narrative that inflation has been caused by supply chain problems is simply false. Rather, inflation is caused by an increase in the money supply.
Could those I bonds look much better? Don’t think so. 
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But didn’t I read about it being transient? Didn’t Buttagig just say something like that?
Gas prices, a closer look on their tax component and whether that gets your better roads. Sometimes less is more.
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Bloomberg: To fight inflation, save money by allowing your sick pets to die
Bloomberg News published an article last week offering tips for working Americans who are struggling with inflation — and among them is the suggestion that people allow their pets to die rather than paying for expensive medical treatments.
Among other advice, including eating lentils and beans instead of meat, Bloomberg News suggests letting sick pets pass on: “If you’re one of the many Americans who became a new pet owner during the pandemic, you might want to rethink those costly pet medical needs. It may sound harsh, but researchers actually don’t recommend pet chemotherapy — which can cost up to $10,000 — for ethical reasons.”
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So much for begging for Saudi oil
SAUDI ARABIA SAYS ABSOLVES ITSELF OF ANY RESPONSIBILITY OF SHORTAGE OF OIL SUPPLY IN LIGHT OF RECENT ATTACKS BY HOUTHIS - STATE NEWS AGENCY
Let’s remember those campaign promises shall we? Somehow begging them for $100+ oil doesn’t quite sound like making them into an international pariah, but maybe someone from CNN or Psaki could explain it to me.
That attack on Saudi Arabia by the Iran-backed Houthis just happened yesterday.
It is no wonder the Saudis detest Biden
But it is MUCH worse that all that:
The Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen, delisted as terrorists by President Joe Biden as one of his first acts in office, launched a massive terrorist strike on Saudi oil facilities and water desalination plants on Sunday.
So after using Saudi as his toilet, and uplifting their sworn enemies, Biden turns around and begs Saudi Arabia to help us by sending more oil to ease our inflation.
This is insanity. But note:
Not one word of this asinine foreign policy is heard in the American mainstream media.
Much is ballyhooed today about Putin’s news management in Russia. Censorship is equally present in the USA. These events impact inflation here BIG TIME! Americans are entitled to know this folly is going on, just as the Russian people are entitled to know the truth of events in Ukraine.
But any news which reflects poorly on Biden is suppressed here, especially if it relates to inflation America’s current #1 concern. And this sort of subterfuge allows Biden to blame Putin for our rising prices and avoid the inflation hotseat he himself has created.
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That’s just good advice and has nothing to do with inflation. And I say that as a pet owner who might not follow this advice (decision will probably depend on diagnosis, prognosis, and the cost).
Another good advice – let old people die in peace too. The US spends way too much for the final hours or days of a person’s life. And I say that as a relative of old people and a future old person (hopefully).
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But what will your opinion be then?
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Ha. Hopefully the same if I manage to keep my wits. The alternative is emotional and illogical.
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as of now the 10 year treasury note is at 2.38%.
it is interesting to calculate the additional interest payments by the treasury for each 100 basis point increase in the overall interest rate on federal debt. The 10 year notie is a part of the overall debt so I’m not saying that its increase in interest applies to the whole debt. but it’s an interesting calculation.
The national debt is roughly $30 trillion. using scientific notation,
one million = $1e6
one billion is 1000 million (in the US) = $1e9
1 trillion is 1000 billion = $1e12
so the national debt is $3e13.
100 basis points is 1e-2
so the additional interest payments are 3e13*1e-2=$3e11 = $300 billion
even in DC that’s real money.
Edit. To put that in perspective the latest omnibus budget bill for annual spending by the government is $1.5 trillion. so this is 1/5 of that amount. I haven’t checked but I bet it’s bigger than all Agencies except possibly Social Security and Medicare. The only way to pay that interest will be to issue more debt leading to an inflationary spiral of monetary supply. The fed’s hands to fight inflation with increased interest rates are effectively tied IMO.
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Do you recognize that fellow, Bunky? That’s Jamal Khashoggi. He is dead, by the way. He was offed a few years ago by the guy currently in charge of Saudi Arabia. And for the record I do not approve.
Much more importantly, Biden continues to harbor disapproval so overwhelming that it is interfering with America’s ability to obtain desperately needed oil from the Saudis. The current Saudi big guy has, in essence, told Biden to f*** off. Meanwhile inflation continues to surge and Americans suffer at the gasoline pumps from coast to coast.
Biden is not good at realpolitik, or much of anything else for that matter. His moralizing is harming real Americans, especially less well off Americans least able to afford his folly. Bloomberg says:
Biden backed himself into a corner during his presidential campaign by calling Saudi Arabia a “pariah,” a reflection of his revulsion over the 2018 murder of critic Jamal Khashoggi and a desire to retreat from his predecessor’s cozier relations. Donald Trump deployed his son-in-law Jared Kushner to work directly with MBS – as the prince is usually called
Biden from the outset has taken pride in being the un-Trump. And right now that means America does not get the oil we so desperately need, something which contributes mightily to the inflation engulfing us today.
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Energy hedge fund commentary and interview
today’s higher oil and gas (and gasoline prices) are a direct economic result of the active divestment of institutions, suppression of lending by banks, and increased regulatory burden on oil and gas
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I just checked. NYMEX (natural) gas is at $5.24. That is the highest price I’m able to recall since I leased my land over a decade ago. Of course NG prices vary all across this country and there are many prices, all different. I just follow the NYMEX price out of habit. Some folks prefer to follow the Henry Hub price, or others.
Thing is, while a wonderful boost for my monthly royalty checks, this sort of price inflation is really tough on others, on people who need to buy NG to heat their homes, for example.
Back when NG was half what it is now, or even less, I had the satisfaction of making a little money with my sales while helping others be able to afford to stay warm. It was sort of a win-win, a happy outcome for both sides.
Now I’m the only winner. It’s not as good a feeling as you might suppose. You don’t want to take advantage of less fortunate people to where they cannot afford to warm their homes. Things were better before all this inflation.
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Hair finally on fire at the Fed?
Better late than never, I guess. 
Fed officials discuss more aggressive rate hikes to control inflation
With inflation soaring at 40-year highs, Federal Reserve officials and economists are talking about more aggressive interest rate hikes to combat rising prices, even as so much uncertainty swirls around the U.S. and global economy.
On Wednesday, both Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said they would be open to rate hikes as high as half a percentage point, which is sharper than the quarter-point hike Fed officials announced just last week.
Read the entire WaPo piece here
ETA
Analysis:
OK, we have millions of real American people suffering real hardships right now, today . . . . . .
and these two old biddies are discussing doing five weeks hence what should have been done months ago!!
Of course those two gals are rich, like the rest of the FOMC members, and are not suffering at all personally from this inflation. What a sack of crap!
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They’re just scared. They know the side effects of rate hikes, and know the fingers are all going to be pointing at them, even though the adverse consequences are inevitable and necessary.
This is what happens when you focus on irrelevant feel-good agendas over actual competency and leadership.
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It’s something but it’s also a bit of cold comfort on two fronts.
One, rate hikes have inertia before being effectively felt in the economy so it’s not going to impact real inflation for another few months in ways that are meaningful for many people struggling.
Second, why did it take so long for these so-called experts to realize something that was obvious to everyone else at least 3 months ago.
As one who initially dismissed inflation as transitory, I consider myself in the cautious category if I had to decide on when to start rate hikes. But by December 2021, it was obvious that it was not that transitory, and since the economy had almost fully reopened, unemployment had mostly recovered, it was clear that small rate hikes were needed. Risks of recession were much lower than risk of having out of control inflation. The whole thing leaves me with the impression of the Fed being afraid of making tough decisions despite overwhelming data pointing to their necessity. That’s not encouraging going forward. But I guess I should hope they learned from their slow reaction and are finally getting it together now.
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Inflation expectations
- U.S. TIPS 5-YEAR BREAK-EVEN INFLATION RATE HITS RECORD 3.6132%, ACCORDING TO REFINITIV DATA
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Nymex natural gas is going nuts.
And Nymex crude oil is also back up and heading north.
This is highly inflationary and is not good for our country at all. 
Aren’t we now the largest LNG exporter? Should it not help our trade deficits if NG prices go up?
At least, that should help balance a bit the impact of inflation, something other countries in Europe or Asia may not have.