Virus numbers diving down….
Consumer, gas and house prices climbing higher…..
Jobless number’s high…
Employer’s can’t find people to work?
We are in a whole new world in America?
What is going on?
This is a strange moment for the U.S. economy.
Unemployment is still high, but companies are complaining they can’t find enough workers. Prices are shooting up for some goods and services, but not for others. Supply-chain bottlenecks are making it hard for homebuilders, automakers and other manufacturers to get the materials they need to ramp up production. A variety of indicators that normally move more or less together are right now telling vastly different stories about the state of the economy.
Most forecasters, including policymakers at the Federal Reserve, expect the confusion to be short-lived. They see what amounts to a temporary mismatch between supply and demand, brought on by the relatively swift ebbing of the pandemic: Consumers, flush with stimulus cash and ready to re-engage with the world after a year of lockdowns, are eager to spend, but some businesses lack the staff and supplies they need to serve them. Once companies have had a chance to bring on workers and restock shelves — and people have begun to catch up on long-delayed hair appointments and family vacations — economic data should begin to return to normal.
But no one knows for sure. It is possible that the pandemic changed the economy in ways that aren’t yet fully understood, or that short-term disruptions could have long-lasting ripple effects. Some prominent economists are publicly fretting that today’s price increases could set the stage for faster inflation down the road. Historical analogues such as the postwar boom of the 1950s or the “stagflation” era of the 1970s provide at best limited insight into the present moment.
“We can’t dismiss anything at this point because there’s no precedent for any of this,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, a forecasting firm….
Meanwhile rising star in the Jan 6 Party Josh Hawley is calling on Dr. Fauci to step down.
Let it be known I will root for any sane Republican to defeat Hawley in his next Senate primary in Missouri.
If any current or former Republican on this blog know of anyone in Missouri who meets that criteria and is willing to challenge Hawley please forward that name my way.
I just want it known I will support the least Trumpy Republican who runs in my state. If such a person exists.
Hawley raised his closed fist to that mob on Jan.6.
That pretty much clinches his renomination in my view.