Why these food items are still cheap - "“Bananas are serviced by a highly vertically integrated supply chain, so you have farmers being supported by multinationals,” Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, said... banana production grew at a compound annual rate of 3.2 per cent from 2000 to 2017, up from 67 million tonnes to 114 million tonnes. Extra supply allows bananas to stay at a consistent price despite other products suffering in volatile markets. The fruit is also a “loss-leader,” meaning it will be priced low to keep consumers coming back. “It hasn't been impacted by this anti-plastic movement, because a peel is very compostable,” Charlebois said. The price of products encased in plastic, such as berries, will continue to increase as the federal government cracks down on single-use plastics, he predicted... Statistics Canada shows year-over-year in August, the cost of bananas rose 3 per cent, with other fruits like apples and oranges rising 11.8 percent and 18.5 per cent each. Other items worth adding to the grocery list include tofu, which is manufactured locally for the Canadian market. The high-protein, plant-based product has only inflated slightly in the last 15 to 20 years, Charlebois said. The made-in-Canada supply chain aids tofu price consistency and is not often impacted by climate-related fluctuations. “A lot of things can happen with animal livestock, the production cycle is much more complicated”... “I would say to visit the freezer aisle much more often,” Charlebois said. “Because you can actually control the flow of the supply chain, you basically can capture all the nutrition you need at harvest, but you can actually sell your product at any given time.”"
How Government Spending Fuels Inflation - WSJ - "Annual inflation in the U.S. rose to 7.5% in January, the highest it’s been since February 1982, when it was 7.6% and declining. This current crisis, economist John Cochrane says, came as “a complete surprise” to the Federal Reserve. “All of the governors who reported forecasts, all of the staff, missed it.” When he calls this an “institutional failure,” he sounds almost kind... The Covid checks, Mr. Cochrane says, were “an immense fiscal helicopter drop. People are spending the money, driving prices up.” Why didn’t the Fed see that this massive stimulus would cause inflation? Mr. Cochrane sees a “big blind spot” in the institution and its “large circle of policy commentators.” The Fed’s “modeling and understanding of ‘supply’ constraints is very simplistic,” he says. It focuses only on unemployment “as a measure of slack in the economy. There is no group of analysts at the Fed measuring how many containers can get through the ports.” More deeply, he says, “the Fed and its larger intellectual circle don’t think about supply at all. All variation in the economy is more or less demand.” This “intellectual failing” showed up first in the recession that followed Covid. “The economy didn’t need demand-side stimulus,” Mr. Cochrane says. “It’s not 1933 again and again. A pandemic is, to the economy, like a huge snowstorm. Sending people money won’t get them out to closed bars, restaurants, airlines and businesses.” The government did have to act “as a sort of insurer, making sure there wasn’t a wave of bankruptcy and helping people really hurt by the recession.” But it should have been obvious that supply constraints would lead to inflation after the recession ended. “The Fed being surprised by supply shocks is as excusable as the Army losing a battle because its leaders are surprised the enemy might attack,” Mr. Cochrane says."... “The Fiscal Theory of the Price Level” is the title of Mr. Cochrane’s next book, to be published in the fall. It’s a challenge to monetarism, the theory of controlling money as the chief method of stabilizing the economy. The new theory holds that when the overall amount of government debt is more than people expect the government to repay, we see inflation. The price of everything goes up, and the value of the dollar declines. How does this work? “The U.S. government has $20 trillion of debt outstanding,” Mr. Cochrane says. “That means, over the long run, people must expect taxes to exceed spending by $20 trillion to repay the debt.” But if they think the government will be able to pay back only $10 trillion in today’s money, “people will try to get rid of their government debt fast, before it is worth less. They try to sell it in order to buy other things,” driving up the price of everything else. “That keeps going until all prices have doubled—until the $20 trillion promise is only worth $10 trillion at today’s prices.”... Mr. Cochrane says, raising rates is a “crude tool to fight inflation, especially when the source is fiscal policy.” He likens the situation to a car going too fast. “Fiscal policy is the accelerator; monetary policy controls the oil. OK, if fiscal policy has floored it, you can slow the car down by draining oil, but that’s not a terribly good way to drive.” Fiscal policy sends checks, stoking inflation; monetary policy raises interest rates to discourage borrowing or encourage savers to hold the extra Treasury debt. To change the analogy slightly, the driver is accelerating and braking at the same time... An additional complication is that any increase in interest rates raises interest costs of servicing the debt... Historically, inflations have always come “to countries in trouble, primarily fiscal trouble, but fiscal trouble caused by bad macroeconomic policies.”"
The Meme Policeman - Posts | Facebook - "I almost forgot about the OD Bush/Obama gas prices meme! This was before they decided presidents have no effect on gas prices. And, of course the meme was false back then because gas was actually cheaper under Bush on average. If you want a flash from the past, check out the original bust."
Clearly presidents affect gas prices only when they go down under a Democrat or if they go up under a Republican
Meme - "DO NOT TAKE OFF THE BIDEN STICKERS! IF YOU VOTED FOR HIM YOU SHOULD BE PROUD TO pay THESE PRICES. OTHERWISE, DO NOT RIP THEM OFF THATS CONSIDERED YANADALISM. YOU ARE ON CAMERAS"
Why you can blame crazy gas prices on Joe Biden - "You shouldn’t, say some experts. It’s Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fault, they say. The US had to cut off Russian oil imports to punish Putin for invading Ukraine. Meanwhile, Biden himself has blamed the American energy industry. “At a time of war,” Biden wrote in an open letter to the industry on June 15, “high refinery profit margins being passed directly onto American families are not acceptable… companies must take immediate actions to increase the supply of gasoline, diesel, and other refined product.” But US refineries are already operating at 94 percent of their capacity, with US refineries in the Gulf of Mexico running at 98 percent, which is the highest rate in 30 years. Running refineries at a higher capacity than that risks damaging the equipment. As such, Biden isn’t just wrong, he insulted some of the hardest working people operating in one of the most dangerous industries in America. But, on May 12, Biden’s Interior Department blocked a proposal to open up more than one million acres of land in Alaska for oil and gas drilling. Two days later, Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency blocked plans to expand an oil refinery in the US Virgin Islands... had Biden’s EPA allowed the Virgin Island refinery to expand, the owners would have poured nearly $3 billion into retrofitting the plant so it produced gasoline and other products more cleanly, while significantly increasing production at the same time. Furthermore, anybody who cares about air pollution and climate change should want more oil and gas drilling, not less. US emissions declined 22% between 2005 and 2020, mostly because cheap natural gas has replaced coal. In truth, there are many things Biden could have done, and still should do, to lower energy prices. He could invoke the National Defense Act to accelerate the rate of oil and gas permits. He could set a floor of $80/barrel for re-filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which would be a powerful incentive for the industry, because it would prevent prices from falling to unprofitable levels. Biden could announce trade agreements with American allies to supply them with liquified natural gas, which would incentivize more natural gas production and lower prices. If Biden got America on a wartime footing, as he should be given Russia’s aggression in Europe, we would see the lowering of oil, gas and petroleum prices in less than one year. Why won’t Biden do it? Because he has declared war on fossil fuels. “I guarantee you, we’re going to end fossil fuel,” Biden promised a student climate activist in 2019. “I am not going to cooperate with them,” he said, referring to the oil and gas industry. And indeed, he hasn’t. When oil and gas executives visited the White House in June, Biden snubbed them by refusing to attend the meeting. Instead, at the very same moment, he met with wind industry executives. A few days earlier, Biden administration officials signaled they may support a large new tax on the oil industry proposed by a Senator from Oregon. All of this has soured the oil and gas industry on investing in production... And it’s about to get more insane. At the G-7 meeting in Germany earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron was overheard telling Biden that he couldn’t count on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to produce much more oil. Implicit in Macron’s remarks was that the US needs to produce far more than Biden has been willing to allow. The problem is that Biden is in the grip of a pro-scarcity ideology that demands humankind return to relying 100 percent on renewables, like we did before the industrial revolution. But that’s a delusion. Solar panels and electric cars, which rely on lithium battery power, have indeed become cheaper in recent years, but that’s mostly because China uses coerced Uyghur Muslim labor to produce those batteries. If those technologies were made in the US by workers paid a living wage, they would never be affordable."
Guy Benson on Twitter - "Biden falsely claims "inflation is higher around the rest of the world" The U.S. has one of the highest inflation rates in the developed world."
"why keep lying about something so easily checkable?"
Stephen L. Miller on Twitter - "We have to treat climate change like the existential threat it is. As president, I will: - End subsidies for fossil fuel corporations - Ban new drilling on federal lands & waters - Hold oil executives accountable - Rally the world to raise the commitments of the Paris Agreement"
"So any WH reporter gonna ask about this one?"
Meme - BrooklynDad_Defiant! @mmpadellan: "Gas has gone up 40 cents per gallon here in NYC since trump "won." Not a coincidence."
BrooklynDad_Defiant! @mmpadellan: "Who else fully understands that high gas prices are NOT President Biden's fault?"
Meme Tony From Long Island @Super_Shazbot: "Gas has gone down 80 cents here in a month! Thanks president Biden!"
Tony From Long Island @Super_Shazbot: "You do realize that a president doesn't control gas prices, right?"
Meme - Matthew Chapman @fawfulfan: "Those Biden "I DID THAT!" stickers Republicans keep slapping on gas station pumps are going to look really stupid in a couple weeks."
"National average gas prices hit record high: Analysis"
Facebook - "President Biden is taking historic action to lower gas prices for families, and gas prices have declined by an average of 50 cents per gallon over the last 34 days. According to industry analysts, around 20,000 gas stations across over 30 states now offer gas at $3.99 per gallon or less."
Weird. Not too long ago we were told that the President didn't control gas prices
What is an Oligopoly? - 2020 - Robinhood - "The next characteristic of an oligopoly is that a few large firms control most sales in the industry. It allows them to control the market."
OPEC still looming threat despite heightened oil prices | BOE Report - "OPEC has the power to control the market and set the price by controlling its production output."
A Timelapse of the Tech Sector, Part 2: After the Internet — Wagner Road Capital Management - "At the bottom layer of Internet software, Microsoft controlled the market for operating systems."
I saw someone who claimed that if someone controls the market, no one else can influence it. Damn, looks like everyone else except him doesn't know what "control" means!
The Meme Policeman - Posts | Facebook - "If you thought the memes claiming higher gas prices are “fighting for freedom” were cringey, let me introduce you to the “drive 55 mph to preserve democracy” memes 😂 Not only is it cringey, it reveres a terrible law which was ineffectual and stuck around for over 2 decades. ▪️When Nixon ordered a 55 mph speed limit in 1973 (and Congress later followed with a “temporary” extension), it was ostensibly to conserve fuel. But this rationale was quickly changed to safety, even the government stopped touting fuel conservation as a significant effect. ▪️In 1982, the government commissioned a study to bolster the 55 mph law, but it backfired. The Transportation Research Board (TRB) estimated that raising the speed limit from 55-65 would increase fuel consumption by just 0.018%, practically nothing... almost no one followed the 55 limit. The TRB found 76% of drivers exceeded it in 1986! New York, one of the last states to abandon the 55 limit, saw compliance fall below 5% before they raised it. Thus, raising the limit 55-65 mph generally increased avg speeds by just 2-4 mph. The 55 mph limit was perhaps the most violated federal law ever. Which bred normalizing of breaking the law and subjective law enforcement. Essentially, cops could pull over almost anyone for speeding, leading to arbitrary stings and millions of drivers fined for driving at otherwise safe speeds... The marginal amount of gas saved by mandating 55 mph is offset by the inefficiencies it creates in reality. If 1/4 of drivers are dutifully obeying the 55 limit, the other 3/4 who can’t stand going that slow are darting and weaving around to pass them. This is not only a safety issue, but causes more congestion, braking and accelerating, which burns far more gas. The most efficient highways are those where traffic flows and faster cars can easily pass in the inside lane."
Facebook - "I paid $87 for gas today. But you know what I didn’t do today?
I didn’t flee from my home that is being invaded.
I didn’t grab my dogs and hurriedly pack a bag, leaving everything else behind.
I didn’t spend the night in a bomb shelter.
I didn’t lose every member of my family.
I didn’t place my trust in a stranger to keep me alive.
I didn’t say goodbye to the life I know and enter into a world of unpredictability.
I didn’t sleep in a Red Cross tent.
I didn’t call loved ones to say goodbye.
I’ll pay the $87 every time, because comparatively, it’s such a small price to pay."
These are the same people who, when you point out their "oppression" is nonsense, claim that just because someone is suffering more doesn't mean you can't be suffering too
Diane Francis: Supply-chain disruptions are derailing the global economy - "All of the pillars of prosperity are now wobbly from just-in-time manufacturing to offshore sourcing. The average supply chain journey, from materials to store shelves, involves at least 15 steps and the disruption of just one step creates world-class backups. This year the cost of transporting a 40-foot ocean-worthy container between North America and Asia soared from US$5,000 to US$27,000... Higher energy prices impede growth. For instance, China shot itself in the foot by banning Australian coal imports in retaliation after Canberra launched a probe into the Wuhan China laboratory where COVID-19 began. Some 70 per cent of China’s power is coal-based and excessive prices have forced huge regional power authorities to shut down access to tens of thousands of factories... The danger, according to financial guru Mohamed El-Erian who is adviser to the insurance giant Allianz, is “stagflation” may result — a combination of low growth and high inflation."
Damn governments printing money!
Meme - "Angela Belcamino @AngelaBelcamino: "Cancel student debt."
Angela Belcamino: "If you didn't leave room for #inflation in your families' budget... it's your own fault."
Meme - Matt Kibbe @mkibbe: "The solution to rampant inflation is simple enough: Just stop. Stop spending, stop printing, stop "helping," stop meddling. Let the economy heal from years of government abuse. These are politically intolerable solutions, of course."
Weird how inflation in Somalia has always been high
Townhall.com on Twitter - "KJP: "The president has been very clear in making sure that he does everything that he can to elevate—to alleviate the pain that American families are feeling when it comes to gas prices."
I thought we're told that the President doesn't control gas prices?
Meme - "Diesel fuel is $5.85 a gallon in Texas. I filled my truck up it took 32 gallons. That's a of total $187.20 I drove off with out paying. My court date is July 19 or I can pay $85.00 fine online now . That's a grand savings of $102.20. Follow me for more Money - Saving Tips."
Fourth of July far costlier one year after White House 16-cent savings boast - "The cost of a July Fourth cookout is expected to be 17% higher than last year, according to a market basket survey by the American Farm Bureau Federation. That is a number that outpaces headline inflation, as prices on average are 8.6% higher from a year ago, according to the consumer price index. It also represents a major reversal from the small savings for the holiday that the Biden White House infamously touted in 2021 — to the derision of commentators."
Of course, Biden is to be praised for 2021's tiny fall in costs, but he's not to blame for 2022's surge
The same people who claim Trump was responsible for everything that happened when he was President (and continue to blame him today) will claim Biden is not responsible for inflation
zerohedge on Twitter - "California prepares to send out $2100 "inflation relief" checks to offset the inflation caused by the $1050 "inflation relief" checks Next week California will send out $4200 "inflation relief" checks to offset the inflation from the $2100 "inflation relief" check"
Clearly the way to reduce inflation is to increase taxes
Meme - "$240 for 4 bags of groceries, $150 for a tank of fuel, and an electricity bill forecast at $500 for the quarter. This is what happens when you shut down an economy for 2 years, blindly believing it doesn't matter and there'll be no repercussions. "Building Back Better' y'all."
The Energy 202: Conservatives predict gas prices will spike under Biden. Experts say those fears are overblown. - The Washington Post (2020) - "The theory is that the president-elect's coming efforts to wean the United States off oil will nail people's pocketbooks"
Oops. Especially since he explicitly said he was going to do that
Gas prices too high? It's all part of Biden's plan to eliminate fossil fuels - "experts warn this crisis will continue even after Biden’s term ends because he’s dismantling fossil fuel production. When Biden was running for president, he promised to shut down oil producers: “No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period.” He pledged to put the country on “an irreversible” path toward “doing away with” fossil fuels. On Day One as president, Biden shut down the Keystone pipeline, sending a message of no new pipelines anywhere, period. In the months that followed, he stopped all sales of leases to drill on federal lands or offshore, meaning zero new leases allowing oil to be brought out of the ground. And in September, House Democrats introduced legislation to stop banks from lending money or investing capital for new or expanded fossil fuel production. That legislation hasn’t passed, but it sent a clear message. The oil industry is being shut down. Now, as outrage over gas prices pushes Biden’s poll numbers down, the president is trying to shift the blame. He told Jimmy Kimmel last week that oil producers refuse to expand operations. “Why aren’t they drilling? Because they make more money not producing more oil.” He accused oil companies of deliberately “making things worse for American families.”... Biden confessed his actual plan just six weeks ago, when gas was already more than $4 a gallon. He marveled at the “incredible transition” of the US economy away from fossil fuels. “God willing, when it’s over,” we’ll be “less reliant on fossil fuels.” In a congressional hearing the same week, Biden’s interior secretary, Deb Haaland, repeatedly declined to agree that gas prices are too high. Climate zealots in the Biden administration want high prices to deter the public from buying gas. Biden’s media toadies are singing the same song. High gas prices will force us to make “good choices,” claims Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson. “The right long-term solution, for the sake of the planet, is not increasing the supply of fossil fuels.” It’s to compel consumers to switch to electric vehicles. It’s one thing to choose electric vehicles. Soviet-style compulsion is another matter. EVs are about one-third more expensive than gas-powered cars. That doesn’t matter to out-of-touch Democrat Debbie Stabenow. The Michigan senator brags about driving past gas stations in her EV, not caring how high prices are. But what’s the average family supposed to do, take out a mortgage to afford an electric vehicle? Another problem: EVs generally go about 200 miles on a charge and less in cold temperatures, per Consumer Reports. About a quarter of charging stations are broken at any one time. Imagine running low on charge and driving into a charging station that’s out of order. When EVs are ready for prime time, the Wall Street Journal’s Allysia Finley concludes, consumers will decide to buy them. In the meantime, people are feeling pain at the pump. And Team Biden is rolling out the blame game. Playing defense, a gas station outside St. Paul, Minn., put up a sign telling its customers, “We hate our gas prices too.” That’s credible. Gas stations are not to blame for today’s prices, according to an analysis in Barron’s. House Democrats eyeing the polls are trying to fault “price gougers” and urging the Federal Trade Commission to punish oil companies that charge “excessive” prices. It’s all theatrics. The FTC has concluded several times that gas prices are the result of market conditions, not illegalities — rising demand and inadequate supply. Who’s to blame for inadequate supply? Worldwide, there are many factors, but here in the United States, blame drivers with Biden bumper stickers. They heard candidate Biden announce his “irreversible” plan, and they voted for him anyway."
The Hill on Twitter - ".@SecYellen on inflation being transitory: "I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take. As I mentioned, there have been unanticipated and large shocks to the economy [...] that I, at the time, didn't fully understand.""
"Trust the experts". If you don't, you're a "denier" and a "conspiracy theorist"
Everybody except Democrats sees inflation as the big issue - "pollsters from Quinnipiac University asked 1,526 adults what is "the most urgent issue facing the country today?" For Republican respondents, the easy winner was inflation, at 46%. For self-described independents, it was also inflation, at 37%. In both cases, the next most important issue was a very distant second. In fact, nearly every demographic group agreed that inflation is the most important issue. Men (39%), women (28%), white people (36%), black people (21%), Hispanic people (36%), youngsters (29%), millennials (41%), baby boomers (39%), seniors (26%), white college graduates (34%), and white non-college graduates (37%) all agreed that inflation is the most important issue facing the country right now. The one group that didn't agree? Democrats. For them, abortion (18%) is the most important issue facing the country right now. Inflation is in second place at just 14%, just barely ahead of election laws (13%) and climate change (10%). Maybe this explains why Democrats think they can survive the 2022 midterm elections, so long as the Supreme Court justices follow through with their anticipated ruling overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion decision. But as we have noted previously, their basis for such hopes is pretty weak. We are talking about an issue that only 11% of U.S. adults prioritize overall — and don't forget that a sizable number of those abortion-focused voters oppose abortion. Perhaps the more appropriate and obvious conclusion to draw here is that the Democrats are way out of sync with the daily realities that most other groups are facing. And if they are being pinched personally by inflation, they are willing to turn a blind eye to the biggest problem facing the country — to do otherwise would require an admission that the Biden administration is not going so well. After all, the same poll shows Biden with a 32% approval rating and a 63% disapproval rating on his handling of the economy. Any election run on that issue will become a rout."
The Meme Policeman - Posts | Facebook - "It’s time to start the 2021 Memeys! The first award is for Worst Government Meme, which was handily won by the White House’s “you saved 16 cents on your 4th of July BBQ” meme. Not only was this gaslighting, as price inflation was already significant in many areas by July, it quickly became laughably absurd. In just another few months, the price of almost everything had risen, and the CPI was at the highest levels seen in decades. The avg household will spend about $3,500 more in 2021. The administration then pivoted from this meme to blaming greedy meat producers for jacking up prices."
Comment (elsewhere): "stop saying “president doesn’t control prices” because biden already said he DOES control prices"
The Meme Policeman - Posts | Facebook - "Once again, the Producer Price Index (PPI) outpaced the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Feb. While the CPI hit a well-publicized 7.9% YoY, the PPI (announced today) was up a whopping 10.0% YoY, for the second month in a row... This means that businesses are continuing to eat price increases more than they are passing them on to consumers. Businesses are actually dampening the effects of inflation on consumers, not exacerbating them, like this meme would suggest... for now the inflation = corporate greed memes have it exactly backwards."
Meme - Doug Newman: "If high gas prices are a result of "corporate greed" how do you explain drops in gas prices? Do the CEOs of Exxon, Shell, BP, etc. meet in some secret location in Switzerland or the Caribbean and say "we're not going to be greedy anymore"? Or is there more to it?"
The New Keynesian inflation experiment - "Given the New Keynesian proposition that inflation is determined by the supply-demand balance in labour and product markets, they made two further judgments. The first was that the pandemic would dampen upward pressures on the price level and the second was that the resulting disinflation would persist into the medium term... The New Keynesians — with their dominance of research at the Federal Reserve — were confident that the quantity of money was irrelevant to the economy’s future. Taking their cue from Clarida and his colleagues, the FOMC minutes at no stage in 2020 made any reference to a money aggregate, despite the dramatic changes in policy and the sky-high money growth rates."
Global Economic Outlook - December 2021 - "A strong recovery in global aggregate demand in nominal terms over the past year has not been matched by an equal recovery in output. Supply bottlenecks resulted in real GDP expanding by less than expected in 3Q21, with inflation being stronger than expected"
People are mocking Keynesians for not knowing that increasing the money supply causes inflation. But they themselves don't understand the Keynesian theory about what causes inflation (usually they love to hate on Keynesians since they promote understanding the role of the government)
Bureau of Labor Statistics Data (CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U))
From historical data, 0.5% m-o-m is a good benchmark for an upper bound on reasonable inflation . In the US in 2021, inflation only started rising above this level in March (and even then, was below that in August and September)
M1 (M1SL) | FRED | St. Louis Fed
M1 only started surging in April 2020
Money Supply, Inflation and the Two-Year Lag - WSJ - "The lag between money growth and inflation is typically about two years"
Weird how inflation rose so much faster this time
The Surprising Relationship Between Money Supply and Inflation
Plotting US year on year inflation against year on year M2 growth with a 6 month lag, the R squared is only 0.0259. This suggests that the two are only weakly correlated in the short term. Other studies I've seen say that in the long run it does lead to inflation.
Supply bottlenecks are pushing up costs for manufacturers | The Economist
There were consistent reports of supply chain bottlenecks from January to March 2021 (e.g. this article is from January
Short-Term Energy Outlook - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Using global oil consumption as a proxy for global demand, we can see that there has been a steady growth of demand since the start of 2021
Inflation's Worldwide Surge May Be a Good Sign - The New York Times - "many economies are experiencing a price pop in tandem, even though they used vastly different policies to cushion the blow of pandemic lockdowns. The shared inflation experience underscores that mismatches between what consumers want to buy and what companies are able to deliver are helping to drive the price increases. While those may be amplified by worldwide stimulus spending, they are not the simple result of nation-specific policy choices — and they should eventually work themselves out... In the eurozone, inflation recently accelerated to the highest level in about a decade. In Britain, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea and Australia, price gains have jumped well above the level central banks set as their goals."
So much for that
Climate Change in Brazil: Fire, Frost, Drought Upends Global Markets - Bloomberg - "No country on Earth puts more breakfasts on kitchen tables than Brazil. The farms that dot the vast plains and highlands that rise above the Atlantic coast produce four-fifths of the world’s orange juice exports, half of its sugar exports, a third of coffee exports and a third of the soy and corn used to feed egg-laying hens and other livestock.
Blaming printing money for inflation is sexy to some because it means they can blame the government for all their problems (as usual). One such government hater claimed all supply chain problems were the government's fault, but when I asked him how the US government caused Brazil's drought, he refused to reply
Money Supply, Class Power, and Inflation: Monetarism Reassessed - "Recent sociological work shows that pro-market neoliberal policies across advanced capitalist countries are due to distributional struggle between classes in the 1970s and 1980s. The orthodox monetarist view, alternatively, sees neoliberal reform as a nonpolitical attempt to end the stagflation crisis of the 1970s. From this perspective, monetary and fiscal expansions brought high inflation, and central bank discipline and government austerity is the solution; but the recent trend of low inflation despite accelerating money growth and government spending contradicts this view. Analyses of time-series cross-section data for 23 OECD countries from 1960 to 2009 support the thesis that the rise and fall of inflation is more about distribution of power between labor and capital than about monetary and fiscal discipline. Inflation in the 1970s originated from a strong working class and hurt capital more than it did workers, while neoliberal repression of workers’ power has kept inflation low from the 1980s onward. Disempowerment of labor created rising inequality and economic imbalances that fueled a financial boom underlying the global financial crisis of 2008. Re-empowering labor is a remedy to such imbalances and the subsequent deflationary pressure."
This study finds that 2 year lagged money supply growth rate doesn't explain inflation as well as wage share
Aus PM backtracks on kids driving forklifts to ease shortage - "Scott Morrison has confirmed, instead, that New Zealand truck licenses will be recognised in Australia. Morrison said that proposal would be better for safety and would help to fill labour shortages faster."
Damn money printing!
Posthaste: Cheer up, Canadians might get relief from hot inflation sooner than they think - "Commodity prices have fallen almost 20% in the past six weeks, bringing them back to levels seen before the invasion of Ukraine. Wholesale gas prices in the U.S. have dropped more than $1 a gallon, wiping out more than two-thirds of the Ukraine conflict spike. And grain prices are also dropping, with wheat futures down about 30%... Globally, demand for goods appears to be easing, reducing pressure on supply chains and bringing down the astronomical freight rates seen during the pandemic. Retail inventories are also climbing."
Britons Brace for More Hardship as Prices Soar Amid Inflation - The New York Times
Czech Republic: Inflation at a new peak but there’s more to come - "The growth of consumer prices amounted to 17.2% year-on-year in June, which was 1.2pp up on May"
On the NYT Facebook most people were crowing about Brexit (when neither Brexit, the EU or Europe are mentioned in the article). Czechia must be regretting its choice to leave the EU too
Euro zone July inflation confirmed at 8.9% y/y, core measure sharply up - "The European Union's statistics office Eurostat said consumer prices in the 19 countries using the euro rose 0.1% month-on-month in July for a 8.9% year-on-year increase, the highest since the euro was created in 1999."
Damn Brexit!
