Companies keep reminding us that low end consumers are being squeezed by inflation. They are cutting back on non-essentials. That seems to be spreading as cruise lines announce new specials. Target and grocery stores announcing price cuts.
Higher interest rates continue to slow things down. We hope for continued growth with less inflation.
Look at the chart. Doesn’t look like inflation is cooling off significantly if at all.
Wendy
The nowflation chart shows very little change during this quarter. It is, however, significantly lower than the same quarter a year ago.
DB2
Keep in mind there will be price reductions coming into play.
Housing prices are set in some markets to fall. Or have been falling as we speak.
No, keep in mind that perception always lags reality, sometimes by months, occasionally by years.
It’s June. That leaves June, July, August, September until people’s political opinions set (many, of course, are already cast in stone and will not change no matter what). October pretty much doesn’t matter, absent a stunning October Surprise. People’s opinions firm up in September, when everybody starts paying attention to real life again.
Sometimes perceptions can change on a dime, 2008, for instance, was so hard and so instantaneous that people understood immediately how bad things got. The long, slow climb back out took years (and years) for perceptions to change because it was so slow and gradual. That’s usually the case for recoveries. That’s the case now re: inflation.
The press begins to set a stage.
Heard a small little bubble come to the surface today on NPR. People are concerned in a larger way this cycle with healthcare.
I knew promises over the economy were the critical point. Who does not know that? I thought student loans, still do think, will matter. I thought daycare will matter, still do…etc
But just that little suggestion that we care mostly about healthcare has a huge impact. Most of us only see one path to get our healthcare mess fixed.
Note I said fixed. We are getting the factories back. To make us more competitive we need to manage healthcare costs. We can do that with more or more total control over the healthcare costs by the federal government.
That counts out the murderers who leave bodies on the side of the road dead.
Gasoline is dropping fast. No idea how low it goes or for how long. This is a bear market?
Gasoline is dropping fast. No idea how low it goes or for how long. This is a bear market?
It is after Memorial Day.
Steve
And OPEC+ has indicated it will phase out some cuts. Of course, most of the world don’t know Memorial Day.
DB2
We will see if US gas prices drop in late July, then rise into Labor Day.
Steve
This is an election year, so it probably won’t rise as much as usual. Unless of course there are exogenous events that occur.
If the “JCs” see advantage to squeezing consumers until they squawk, they will.
Steve