Monday, August 17, 2026
Yeah, well, the reports were "benign" but the facts weren't
This is the problem with fake economic news, which isn't meant to inform. It's meant to shape, just like fake polls.
It's disinformation, meant to blunt the bad news every time its ugly head pops up to keep stock markets from falling.
Everybody's talking the stock market book, because everything else sucks. They're afraid that speaking the truth would be all it takes to destroy confidence in the economy, when everyone who must experience the economy on the street knows it is not booming.
What rising Treasury yields are telling us
... The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond ended the week at 5.26%, the highest since June 2007, despite benign reports on consumer and wholesale price inflation. (This is unusual, as long-term yields tend to move lower when inflation becomes less of a worry.) ...
Core wholesale prices have been increasing at an average monthly rate of 4.24% in 2026. Peak before the pandemic was 2.99% in August 2011.
Core consumer inflation averaged 2.62% in 1H2026. Before 2021 there wasn't a reading that high since 2H2006 at 2.72%. Twenty years ago.
The bond market isn't blind to the facts like these reporters are, who have their heads in the sand.
Yields are rising because of persistent inflation.
Only 3.2 million vehicles in the U.S. have a current "park outside" recall lol
Reported here:
... An estimated 3.2 million vehicles nationwide currently have an outstanding “park outside” recall, according to vehicle history provider Carfax, which described the surging numbers as “concerning.” ...
“For consumers, there seems to be no easy choices,” Kane said. “Where are you going to park it?”...
Well of course the choice is easy.
Don't buy a Kia, Hyundai, or Jeep.
TLT and IEF in the bond drawdown news
SPR isn't the only thing in drawdown lol, down 49.5% since the beginning of 2022. Oil. Pffft. Who needs it, right?
Long term bond investors are getting killed, if any are left still standing. The article linked says most fixed income investors have gone ultra short.
Meanwhile the personal saving rate, which includes monies being socked away in retirement accounts, has plunged to 2.7% in June 2026. A prosperous people saves. Ours is doing something else.
Imagine being down 6.7% per year for five years straight in the "safe" part of your portfolio, or even 1%, when inflation has been raging at 4.5% on average. Real return is far, far more negative.
Here:
... The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), for example, has posted an average annual return of negative 6.7% over the past five years, while its 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) has posted an average annual decline of 1%. ...
Nothing in this story indicates to me that Democrats or Republicans are ready to do what is necessary to fix Social Security
What the results of a Connecticut congressional primary race may mean for Social Security
The full retirement age needs to be increased gradually to 69 from 67 over the next forty years, just as it was from 65 to 67 starting in the 1980s, and a two-point increase in the payroll tax, shared equally by employers and employees, needs to be passed immediately.
Sorry, but that's the deal.
You cannot expand benefits, and you cannot tax people to oblivion to pay for a retirement system who will never have a reasonable expectation of receiving benefits under the program commensurate with what they contributed.
The $1.45 trillion spent by Social Security in retirement benefits in 2025 is NOT welfare.
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