from Kitco NEWS
“This is Not Transitory”: Hyperinflation Fears Are Soaring Across America
from Zero Hedge
There was some good news for the (transitorily hyper–)inflation-ravaged US economy today when copper, wheat and lumber futures all fell after days of surging – in the case of the latter, the first drop in 13 days…
… pushing the Bloomberg commodity index lower after six straight days of gains.
Yet while today’s boiling-off in commodities may have been a faint validation of the Fed’s claim that this inflation is “transitory”, inflation pressures are unmistakably building, with Bloomberg’s Vince Cignarella noting that the five-year/five-year inflation swap is above 2.5% and rising: “that’s the highest since January 2018 and just 10 basis points below levels we saw in January 2017.”
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of ‘School Hesitancy’
Shocker: When you keep schools closed, lie about them being death mills, then call opening advocates white supremacists, parents may not be in a hurry to send their kids back to part-time Zoom-in-a-room.
by Matt Welch
Reason.com
As the 2020-21 school year wheezes toward expiration, a foul new public policy term has arisen to meet our fallen moment.
“Experts have coined the term ‘school hesitancy’ to describe the remarkably durable resistance to a return to traditional learning,” The New York Times reported over the weekend. “More than [one-]third of fourth- and eighth-graders, and an even larger group of high school students,” are still learning remote-only, the paper found. “A majority of Black, Hispanic and Asian-American students remain out of school.”
Teachers unions and their apologists are fond of portraying this reluctance as largely an exercise of choice by minority parents who have understandable mistrust of their system’s dedication to safety.
Consumers Expect Surging Inflation to Crush the Purchasing Power of Their Labor: Fed’s Survey
by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
And there are some whoppers.
Consumers are picking up on the rise of inflation, and the Fed, which has been trying to heat up inflation, is pleased. The Fed watches “inflation expectations” carefully. The minutes from the March FOMC meeting mention “inflation expectations” 12 times.
The New York Fed’s Survey of Consumer Expectations for April, released today, showed that median inflation expectations for one year from now rose to 3.4%, matching the prior highs in 2013 (the surveys began in June 2013).
But wait… the median earnings growth expectations 12 months from now was only 2.1%, and remains near the low end of the spectrum, a sign that consumers are grappling with consumer price inflation outrunning earnings growth. The whoppers were in the major specific categories.
Over-Fed but Malnourished
by David Haggith
GoldSeek
Is the inflation I’ve been writing about really all just transitory as Papa Powell claims it is? The Fed Head assures us he has this under control. Would that be just like Father Fed and friends had bank reserves under control right before the repo crisis blew up in late 2019? Or just like they had their Great Rewind under control right before the stock market imploded in late 2018 due to Fed tightening that was promised to be as boring as watching paint dry?
Or just like Janet Yellen, the author of paint-by-numbers boredom, now has everything under control, except apparently her yellin’ mouth:
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent markets into a tizzy on Tuesday when she said interest rates may have to rise to keep the economy from overheating with all the government stimulus. But later in the day, she walked those comments back, claiming inflation isn’t going to be a problem and insisting that she wasn’t suggesting or predicting rate hikes. – Shiff Gold
The important thing to observe here is not Yellen’s statement, which was really not yelling at all, but a whisper that the market responded to as if she yelled.
The End of the Present Dark Age
by Hugo Salinas Price
Plata.com.mx
The Central Banks of the World – Russia and China both perhaps excepted – are all members of an International Club of Central Banks. This Club is run according to the rules dictated by the BIS, the Bank for International Settlements, located in Basel, Switzerland.
Events that took place years’ ago, resulted in the conversion of all currencies administered by the Banks under the sway of the BIS, into fiat currencies; that is to say, currencies which have no support or connection with the precious metals, silver or gold.
All things human are subject to change, except human nature itself. The current financial institutions of the present have fallen into a condition which is at odds with human nature – they function with the exclusive use of fiat money. In the nature of things, the condition of the financial institutions of our time will doubtless be subject to radical change.
Former FDA Head Calls for End to Mask Mandates
by Damjan Tutarkov
LaCorte News
Former Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb on Sunday called for the complete lifting of mask mandates and other Covid-19 restrictions as infection rates across the country continue to stabilize.
In an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Gottlieb, who served as FDA chief under Trump between 2017 and 2019, said that “COVID won’t disappear” and “we’re going to have to learn to live with it.”
Gottlieb highlighted the fact that “the risk is substantially reduced as a result of vaccination, as a result of immunity that people have required there prior infection.”
He told host John Dickerson people should be allowed to “take precautions based on their individual risk.”
Oldest Millennials Near 40
1 in 5 are single dads and more than 40 percent do not live with a family of their own.
from My Budget 360
A big portion of the baby boomer controlled media tends to talk about Millennials as if they are children or young adults. So it should be sobering to many to know that this year, the oldest Millennials are 39-years old. That is not a kid or a young adult. That is a grown person that is beyond the “adulting” stage but somehow the narrative continues to paint Millennials as young avocado toast eating hippies that need to figure it out pronto. Maybe this is a generational thing, but Millennials have faced bigger economic challenges than baby boomers. Housing seems to be the biggest issue given it consumes the largest portion of a household budget. The inability to buy a home is startling whereas many baby boomers were able to purchase homes with one blue collar job – now many households are facing the two income trap. So what can we gather from new data on Millennials as they reach their 40s?
Biden Ally Admits: Biden Most Far-Left President Ever, but ‘the Public Thinks He’s a Moderate’
by Ryan Saavedra
Daily Wire
An ally of the Biden White House admitted in leftist magazine that Democrat President Joe Biden has been the most far-left U.S. president in history and that he gets away with it because the public views him as being a moderate.
The New York Magazine article, which teetered on being pro-Biden propaganda, admitted that the Biden administration seeks to “control the narrative (and often succeeds) by controlling the press and the president himself.”
The article said that the orders policing what will be said and the spin on issues come from a “cliquish and secretive environment.”
Buried near the bottom of the article, the author wrote (emphasis added):
Republicans Push Back as Biden Admin Remains Confident Despite Low Immigration Approval Rating
by Henry Rodgers and Shelby Talcott
DailyCaller.com
President Joe Biden’s administration is confident of its immigration policies as Republicans push back on them and a new poll shows a majority of Americans disapprove of how the border crisis is being handled.
Ninety-six percent of Democrats, 62% of Independents and 23% of Republicans said they approve of Biden’s work so far, an Associated Press–NORC poll released Monday shows. His overall approval is up 2% from an AP poll released in March with a 63% rating.
While these numbers were positive, Biden’s polling for his handling on the immigration crisis showed a far different result. Overall, 43% of those polled approve of Biden’s handling of this issue and 54% disapprove. Among Republicans, a whopping 87% disapprove of his handling and just 11% approve. Independents largely voiced disapproval as well, with 55% disapproving and 41% approving.
Large Group of Iranian Fast Attack Boats Harass U.S. Navy Ships in Hormuz Strait, Third Incident Since Early April
by Kristina Wong
Breitbart.com
A large group of Iranian military fast attack boats on Monday harassed six United States Navy ships escorting a guided missile submarine into the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon said.
“Earlier today a large group of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, also known as the IRGCN, fast boats conducted unsafe and unprofessional maneuvers and failed to exercise due regard for the safety of U.S. forces as required under international law while operating in close proximity to U.S. Naval vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said.
He said the Navy ships that were escorting the USS Georgia were exercising the right of transit passage in accordance with customary international law in the Strait when 13 IRGCN fast attack boats approached the U.S. formation of ships at “high speed,” getting within 150 yards.
Biden’s “America the Beautiful” Vision Ignores Feds’ Dreadful Record
by James Bovard
The American Institute for Economic Research
Will Biden’s “America the Beautiful” program save America’s environment? On January 27, President Joe Biden issued an executive order proclaiming “the goal of conserving at least 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030.” That target would require almost tripling the amount of land under government restrictions – an area twice the size of the state of Texas. Last week, the Biden administration released a 22-page “America the Beautiful” vision statement short on details but overflowing with bromides including the following gem: “The road to a full recovery remains steep, but President Biden is determined to lead America to new heights.”
Biden has not yet specified which provision of the Constitution entitles the president to proclaim national land use goals. Regardless, he is reaping applause for pledging to fight climate change, protect biodiversity, expand parkland, and other courageous positions. Biden is launching the initiative regardless of the feds’ own dreadful environmental record. As law professor Jonathan Turley observed, “the government remains the nation’s premiere environmental felon.”
The Energy Sector Has All the Makings of a Mania
by Kris Sayce
Casey Research
Growth is back.
But is it real growth, or fake growth?
Real growth happens when entrepreneurs and capitalists put their minds and money to work.
Fake growth happens when governments and central banks (central planners) put their laws and printing presses to work.
At Casey Research, we prefer the former. It’s the only true path to wealth.
But we’re also realists. That means rather than fighting against the central planners, we look for ways to profit from their actions.
Covid Variants Could “Emerge” That Can “Escape” Vaccines
by Mac Slavo
SHTF Plan
The mainstream media and ruling class have already started their push to get this experimental gene therapy into as many as possible and for as long as possible. But now comes an added layer to their agenda, with the warning that new variants can escape the falsely labeled “vaccines.”
We have said from the beginning of this scamdemic, that if they can pull off another lockdown they will do so. They will also push to have people injected as many times as possible until the agenda is fulfilled. Again, that end game is anyone’s guess but we do know it involves this “vaccine.”
As new variants emerge around the world, however, scientists say it is critical to look out for these rare cases. They could be signs of something more serious.
Stocks and Precious Metals Charts – Risk Off
[…] Stocks moved sharply lower after some rose to new all time highs in the morning.
Declines were led by the big cap tech bubble.
The crypto bubble, or ponzi scheme, deflated a bit.
Gold was up slightly as silver edged lower.
The Dollar was unchanged.
The VIX was higher.
In a liquidation event everything declines. The object at that point is survival.
I am taking a little break, and my trading account has been sitting in cash since Friday.
Lyin’ Biden: No Evidence ‘People Being Paid to Stay Home Rather Than Go to Work’
Actually tons of evidence shows exactly that — businesses can’t compete with generous government unemployment benefits.
by Jamie White
Info Wars
Joe Biden gaslighted the American people once again on Monday, insisting that “we don’t see much evidence” of people choosing to stay home collecting government welfare rather than work.
“There’s been a lot of discussion since a Friday’s report that people are being paid to stay home rather than go to work. We don’t see much evidence of that,” Biden said during a speech.
Biden is lying: there is a plethora of evidence showing precisely that.
For example, many restaurants in New York City claim they’re suffering a shortage of workers because they “can’t compete” with Biden’s unemployment payments.
“If I was working a back-breaking job and making $600 a week and I had had the option of making $600 and not breaking my back — the choice is obvious,” said Philippe Massoud, CEO of the Lebanese eatery Ilili.