Things are relatively quiet today with no economic news releases. I guess about the only ‘news’ that is out there is news on whether the house and senate can pass a budget bill and what will it contain. I guarantee that no matter what they pass it will have too much spending in it to suit me. I have little faith in the DC folks and it doesn’t matter which party they belong to.
I am really curious about what prices are doing out there in the retail space. I hardly ever ‘shop’–my wife does 95% of our shopping–the other 5% I do on Amazon. The few items I buy haven’t changed in price yet and I guarantee most of the stuff is manufactured in China. Next week we get the release of the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) report–but it is for April so not as recent as what I would like to see.
So for now I am just sitting back and watching the politics play out—I am waiting for someone brave enough to tackle the ever growing deficit spending–I may be waiting a long time.
I said I would only initiate posts for 60 days that were my buys and sells. I did not say, I would not respond to others thoughts.
The focus on Washington needs to be on deficit reduction. Tax cuts need to be paid for by spending cuts. Spending increases need to paid for by tax increases. Focusing on just spending cuts or tax rates is mathamatically focusing on only one part of an equation. It is impossible to solve any math problem by one side of an equation.
Both parties are not the same when you look at levels of the deficit. That is just a historical fact.
I will reserve judgement until I see the real effect of the much touted DOGE cuts. At this point, it sure looks like a massive increase to the deficit.
I myself have not seen any price increases while shopping that concern me. The deficit is what I believe will move the bond rates more than tariffs. Even with tariff revenue, it still looks like a massive deficit increase to me. But lets wait and see what the actual budget is.
Hello Steve, I agree with what you are saying. I expect we will see a large increase in revenue from the tariffs. But I seem to remember reading tariff revenue is short lived and mainly the first few years they are put in place. Especially when they are starting at 50% then dropped to 30 or even 10%.
I have seen how politicians here in California take these short term revenue increases and pass long term spending budgets that lead to more debt when they end up with shortfalls on revenue.
Please go back to lurking. You’re just spewing more leftist propaganda, yet again. Were you spewing this during Biden’s, I mean Susan Rice’s term – “The focus on Washington needs to be on deficit reduction. “? Doubtful.
Were you or your party focused on 40+yr high inflation?
How about the monthly lies posted and revised in the jobs numbers for jobs that never actually existed?
Were you or your party focused on the record high numbers of auto loan delinquencies, record high credit card payment delinquencies, # of people living less than week to week or record high home loan payment delinquencies?
How about the record high student loan delinquencies?
Were you or your party focused on the complete invasion of our country by would-be Democrat voters getting every kind of taxpayer funded freebie imaginable including 5 star hotels, Medicaid et al, debit cards preloaded with cash, etc.?
How about the fact that your team was in control of Congress the last 2 yrs of the 1st Trump presidency and spent every bit of that time burying this country in unimaginable debt and handouts under the guise of “Covid relief”?
The Inflation Reduction Act Scam. Don’t get me started.
Had enough? Or should we keep going? There is a very long list of ‘record destruction’ under the reign of whomever was running the last regime because we know who wasn’t and we also know that the Red team didn’t do much of anything those 4 long terrible years to undo the catastrophic disaster of the previous 2 with Dems in control of Congress and the purse.
If you haven’t seen price increases that concern you then you do not drive. Record high gasoline prices. You do not grocery shop. Record high grocery prices. You do not have insurances on home/auto. Record high insurance costs/increases. You do not have healthcare. Record high increases to premiums and costs.
1. You are a fake Franklin. I am the real one.
2. Notice how politics is largely avoided on this site? It’s part of Tim’s guidelines. If you want to spew your political opinions (especially in such an agressive way) try social media.
You’re right brother Franklin. I should have used Charles M’s and others standard disclaimer of ‘I don’t mean to sound political’ yet that is totally what my post is going to be about. Then, all is good to go. All fair game.
It isn’t avoided. The slickly veiled wording only convinces some of you low IQ individuals that you’re actually reading something that you’re not. The grenades started yesterday or the day before and so here we go again unless it is confronted head-on.
Familiarize yourself with the reasons why SteveA and Charles M gave themselves timeout’s recently. Then you’ll be up to speed with what the actual factual.
Dear Fake Franklin,
I honestly don’t care about your political opinions or others or why SteveA and Charles M allegedly gave themselves time outs. This site isn’t about the vitriol you seem intent on bringing. At least show some respect for Tim, who provides this valuable resource for free. Lots of other places for you to argue with people over your views and call people “low IQ individuals.” Godspeed.
The Real Franklin, thank you. I did not start a post saying I was not posting anything political. I was agreeing with Steve’s observation about the math.
No problem, Charles M. I know you didn’t start a post that way. I just don’t understand why some people like him come to this site to spew venom and insult others.
I know Tim can lock a thread and he sees the the IP address and can block it.
I’m not mad , just a little queasy in the stomach that someone feels they can post something hateful because they are anonymous.
I just didn’t want anybody to think it was me acting in that manner and perhaps to remind that this is not the place for those comments.
From the Real Franklin (there is more than one of us in the Country),
What about the post at 217pm wasn’t on topic WRT most everyone else on here talking about deficits, unsustainable spending, inflation, Congressional dysfunction, record debts, etc. It led directly into red vs blue as it usually does and then out of the woodwork comes the usual grenade launchers. You are avoiding the substance as is Charles M as is SteveA. It is interesting. Those that throw the grenades never jump on them afterwards. They want to cry wolf and take juvenile timeouts as though they are the victims of being corrected for initially lobbing the grenade.
To address you Charles, all one has to do is review the archives of your posts to see all the grenades you’ve thrown and the veiled wording you try to be coy with. Again, it sounds like you are the victim here after admitting to what you’ve done.
Has anyone heard from Dick Whitman? I was concerned that his health problems had gotten worse.
GLTA. Red day for some in their portfolios of fixed income.
Do you really need attention this badly?
If you are a parent and your child behaved this way woud you discipline him/her?
I simply don’t understand why you post here in such a confrontational and rude way. So carry on, Fake Franklin (lol), not meaning to insult you just to say this place has been a refuge from the vitriol on other sites.
I have to do all the shopping because my wife has dementia and can’t be at left home alone. I just bought a choice rump roast for 5.99/lb and a couple of choice grilling steaks for 6.99/lb with a small bone.A few weeks ago I bought a 11 lb butt-end -cooked-ham ready to eat hot or cold for 0.99 cent/lb. Also filled the gas tank at $2.88/ gal and they pump it. I think some things are coming down.
Nel, in my area Safeway used to advertise they sold prime beef. Now it’s quietly changed to select and a lot more fat left on the cuts. This reminded me I was looking at steak at WinCo and decided to pass as even the chuck steak as it was about 8.00 a lb
Tim, just my observations I think are correct. I stopped at an IKEA store and it seemed like there was less of a selection of products. Merchandise was arranged on the shelves but it seemed like the same items were located in multiple locations like they were filling gaps. My example was normally they have a wide selection of water bottles for the type of customer that shops there. I found 1 stainless steel water bottle, one plastic and a stainless vacuum bottle.
Also maybe a little late in the season, especially as retail likes bringing seasonal merchandise early but I normally see a lot of wooden outdoor furniture here made with Indonesia hardwood and there was very little.
Since I wasn’t there to buy anything but a water bottle I made a choice of what was available and the price seemed fine.
Also stopped in a large grocery chain store called WinCo and they seemed to have a lot of summer picnic junk from China but I didn’t look at prices. I bought some fresh salmon grown in Canada at $9.90# that I thought was a good price. But one item I have found is in limited availability at multiple grocery stores is small to medium size frozen shrimp. Seems like jumbo and extra large is all that they can get. Again prices are reasonable to me, it’s just the selection seems limited.