There's never any discussion about how core inflation vaulted to the current levels well before the war in Ukraine even began.
The reason for the inflation surge is Biden's war for green energy, the one input which makes everything cost more because green energy costs much more than conventional energy from coal, oil, and natural gas.
Add trillion$ in COVID stimulus chasing too few goods and it's a recipe for the disaster which is ongoing, not moderating.
Some people get it. Most don't.
About 1.04 million without power this morning.
It's going to be a rough Christmas Eve without power with forecast real lows in the single digits.
The government's chief inflation measure, so-called core inflation which excludes food and energy (third graph), ticked down to 6% in November. Big whoop. Core inflation has now averaged 6.3% throughout 2022, and was actually slightly lower year over year for two months in the summer than it was in November.
The Fed is failing in its effort to bring inflation down, plain and simple.
Higher prices are the new normal.
Meanwhile food inflation is up 12% year over year after peaking above 13% in the summer. Under Trump food inflation was practically non-existent, but Americans have been forced to cope with it month after month for over a year now, with no end in sight.
And energy inflation year over year has been north of 13% for 21 consecutive months. Go ahead. Count 'em. Under Trump we actually had energy disinflation because his administration, unlike Biden's, enthusiastically supported fracking.
Rising food and energy costs are absolutely core, especially when they deliver a one-two punch to the gut like this.
The people hardest hit don't have a voice, however. They never do. The chattering classes are doing just fine, and all they want to talk about is nonsense. Their lot is with the profiteers from inflation, not with the bottom half of the country.
The poor get poorer.
Same as it ever was.
Biden still hasn't "shut down the virus".
Twelve Republicans voted with all Democrats to move forward on the bill, after negotiators reached a bipartisan deal to include protections for religious liberty.
In a 62-37 vote, 12 Republicans voted with all Democrats to move forward on the bill, after negotiators reached a bipartisan deal to include protections for religious liberty. The vote on final passage could occur as soon as this week. ...
Wednesday’s vote showed Majority Leader Chuck Schumer might get what he hoped for when he delayed the bill to protect same-sex marriage rights from coming to the floor in September, agreeing to Republican requests that the chamber take it up after the election. ... negotiators bet that waiting would help solidify support and allow senators to vote without considering the midterms. ...
While the House passed its same-sex marriage bill in July with support from nearly 50 House Republicans, the process in the Senate has taken more time amid GOP concerns about religious liberty. If the Senate does pass its version, the legislation will need another vote of approval from the House to head to President Joe Biden’s desk. ...
It also would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act signed in 1996, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman under federal laws.
The US Army was 25% short, while all the other branches had to dip into delayed-entry recruits to make their goals for this cycle.
Active duty military fell to 1.347m in 2020 from 1.388m in 2019.
In 2021 we're down to 1.195m, a year over year decline of 11.3% and 13.9% from 2019.
Look at this fearsome lot. These supposedly still meet US Army standards.
I'm sure our enemies tremble with fear.
The BBC reports:
There are questions about the reliability of the FBI's crime report as it excluded data from some of the biggest US cities, including New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
It's important to point out that last year, the FBI switched to a new data collection system. According to one analysis, nearly 40% of law enforcement agencies have failed to report their 2021 crime figures - so we may only have a partial picture of the most recent crime rates.
Encounters have exploded by 2.4 times under Biden.
It is estimated that well over 1 million of these illegal immigrants have simply been released into the US by the Biden administration using phony interpretations of immigration law.
This does not count the illegal immigrants who have snuck in because they were missed by the border authorities overwhelmed by the consequences of the Biden administration's lax border policies.
The fund is down to $8.36 tonight, 2 cents away from its all time low set on October 19, 1987 at $8.34. That was 35 years ago last night, when the stock market fell 20% in one day.
The 30-year US Treasury back then paid 10.25% on that date. Tonight it pays just 4.24%.
The FDA would have to use the normal process for approving the vaccines, and based on the corners cut to get the vaccines to market, that looks unlikely.
Furthermore, removal of the emergency authorizations would then expose the manufacturers to lawsuits.
I agree with the guy in the last paragraph below.
Expect indefinite emergency use authorization, at least until Republicans take over the federal government in 2025.
The FDA’s ability to issue emergency authorizations for vaccines, drugs and medical devices would not necessarily end when the Covid public health emergency is lifted. These authorizations rely on a separate determination made by the U.S. health secretary under the law that governs the FDA.
But it could become increasingly difficult for HHS and FDA to justify
clearing vaccines and treatments through an expedited process that
shortcuts the normal system of approval when the emergency declaration
is no longer in place.
Trump administration Health Secretary Alex Azar activated the FDA’s emergency authorization powers in March 2020, about two months after first declaring the public health emergency.
“It could affect emergency use authorization, where you couldn’t give these EUAs and so the FDA would have to fully approve the drug,” Gostin said. “It could have enormous knock-on effects that need to be very carefully thought through,” he said of ending the public health emergency.
But James Hodge, an expert on public health law at Arizona State University, said the PREP Act declaration that supports Covid vaccinations at pharmacies and the FDA’s power to grant emergency use authorizations will probably remain in place for years to come.
More.
