Compared with one year ago, consumers are paying significantly more for goods and services, according to recent data released by the Department of Labor. It came as the agency reported that the consumer price index, a key inflation gauge that measures how much Americans pay for goods and services, rose approximately 0.4 percent in September, up 5.4 percent year-over-year.
Americans are paying about 42 percent more on average for a gallon of gas than a year before. They’re also paying 10.5 percent more for eggs, meat, poultry, and fish; 4 percent more for coffee; 19 percent more for bacon; 6 percent more for peanut butter; 27 percent more for propane, kerosene, and firewood; 5.2 percent more for electricity; 24.4 percent more for used vehicles; and 7.1 percent more for appliances.
John Catsimatidis, the billionaire supermarket owner of Gristedes and D’Agostino Foods, warned that food prices could soar another 10% in the coming months.
“I see over 10 percent [price increase] in the next 60 days,” he said in an interview with Fox Business on Monday, adding that the trend will not drop “anytime soon.” Catsimatidis cited rising inflation and supply chain bottlenecks that are currently plaguing supermarkets and other retailers around the United States.
John Catsimatidis, CEO of the Red Apple Group is building a spectacular new high-rise condominium in St. Petersburg, FL. The Residence at 400 Central. a whole downtown city block, replacing a series of early 1900’s decrepit ugly derelict buildings in the former City known as God’s Waiting Room. He has the foresight to do great things. Hopefully his message about inflation hits the voters’ intelligence knot hard enough to think before casting ballots for ‘parties’.
In the last two weeks or so, gas up this way jumped $.35 cents up to $3.70 a gallon for 89-octane.
And in the meantime, after doing all that it could to cut down on the use of oil in this country, the Biden administration is whining and crying for OPEC to produce more oil, to wit:
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“WTI Futures Back On Rise Again”
by Bloomberg | Julia Fanzeres
Thursday, October 28, 2021
Oil eked out a gain with OPEC and its allies expecting a tighter global oil market in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is pushing for higher production as oil prices remain elevated.
U.S. Senior Advisor for Global Energy Security Amos Hochstein said the global economy is facing an energy crisis at the IEF Special Gas Market Dialogue.
This comes as the White House has attempted to pressure OPEC+ to increase output as demand for crude rebounds due to the global economic recovery and gasoline prices increase.
“We found ourselves in an energy crisis,” Hochstein said.
“Producers should ensure that global oil markets and gas markets are balanced.”
end quotes
Maybe the “Corn Poppers” should have thought about that earlier.
But that would presume they are capable of actually being able to think, as opposed to emoting and going by their guts and their feelings.
Out of one side of his mouth, goofy old Joe Biden is saying he is going to cut back our oil consumption to zero as we go all-electric, and out the other side of his mouth, the dude is whining about how mean Russia and Saudi Arabia aren’t doing their part to make sure we have enough oil:
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“Oil Futures Post Modest Gain”
by Bloomberg | Julia Fanzeres
Monday, November 01, 2021
Crude has soared this year as economies recover from the pandemic and amid an energy squeeze marked by shortages of gas and coal.
Bank of America even said it expects Brent crude to hit to hit $120 a barrel by the end of June.
Meanwhile, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will meet virtually on Thursday to discuss output policy.
The group have loosened supply curbs only gradually, and top exporter Saudi Arabia has maintained a cautious stance.
U.S. President Joe Biden criticized Saudi Arabia and Russia for an inadequate response to the energy crunch while speaking after a Group of 20 summit on Sunday.
However, OPEC+ has remained steadfast in resisting the pressure, with Kuwait becoming the latest country to say the group should stick with its plan to increase output only gradually.
REUTERS
“TREASURIES-Yields tumble, curve steepens with focus on Fed”
By Karen Pierog
November 2, 2021
“Given that strong price action that we saw last week, the market decided to consolidate a bit into the Fed meeting tomorrow,” said Kevin Flanagan, head of fixed income strategy at WisdomTree Investments.
Flanagan said tapering is “pretty much a foregone conclusion,” as the market’s focus has turned to the timing and magnitude of future Fed rate hikes and the central bank’s latest view on “transitory” inflation.
“What is transitory?”
“Transitory, we were all thought to believe, was a couple of months.”
“It’s now turning into a year.”
“Corn Pop” Biden has nobody to blame for his inflationary pressures, especially with respect to oil, but himself:
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“Oil Falters 3.6% on Rising US Inventory”
by Bloomberg | Julia Fanzeres
Wednesday, November 03, 2021
OPEC+ meets virtually Thursday to review output plans.
The U.S. has called on the group to raise supplies faster to quell high domestic gasoline prices.
“It’s doubtful that OPEC will want to pull the trigger on increasing supply just because the U.S. is uncomfortable with gasoline prices politically,” said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities.
Crude prices, alongside other commodities, have soared this year as economies recover from the pandemic, boosting consumption.
Despite the pressure from the U.S. and other importers, the cartel is expected to stick to a plan to raise output by a modest 400,000 barrels a day.
U.S. President Joe Biden blamed OPEC and its allies for inflationary pressure, while Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged his counterpart in the United Arab Emirates to increase production.
In FEDSPEAK, a gobble-de-gook gibberish language employed by fed speakers, the word “transistory” is a word with no specific meaning:
REUTERS
“Fed rolls out bond-buying ‘taper,’ holds to ‘transitory’ inflation belief”
By Howard Schneider, Ann Saphir
NOVEMBER 3, 2021
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it will begin trimming its monthly bond purchases in November with plans to end them in 2022, but held to its belief that high inflation would prove “transitory” and likely not require a fast rise in interest rates.
However, the U.S. central bank nodded to global supply difficulties as adding to inflation risks, saying that those factors “are expected to be transitory,” but would need to ease to deliver the anticipated drop in inflation.
“As the pandemic subsides, supply-chain bottlenecks will abate and job growth will move back up,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a news conference after the release of the central bank’s latest policy statement.
“And as that happens, inflation will decline from today’s elevated levels.”
“Of course, the timing of that is highly uncertain.”
Overall, the central bank said it still believed that recent high inflation would abate, but the small change in language indicated Fed officials see the process taking longer.
Inflation by the Fed’s preferred measure, the personal consumption expenditures price index, has run at double the target rate since May, but officials are reluctant to change their policy outlook until it is clear that the pace of price increases won’t ease on its own.
“They’re hedging their bets, but that’s not anything new, because we’ve heard publicly they’re a little less confident that things are going to come down as quickly on the inflation side as they thought,” said Joseph LaVorgna, Americas chief economist at Natixis in New York.
And as Joe Biden was just at COPS or whatever it was called touting how he is going to cut our CO2 emissions back to zero, we have:
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“Oil Drops as OPEC+ Denies Appeals for More Crude”
by Bloomberg |Julia Fanzeres and Alex Longley
Thursday, November 04, 2021
After a brief meeting, OPEC and its allies approved a 400,000 barrel-a-day production hike for December, a delegate said.
That’s a pace that major consumer countries say is too slow to sustain the post-Covid economic recovery.
U.S. President Joe Biden has led calls from major consumers for higher OPEC+ production, but Saudi Arabia and others in the alliance pushed back, saying coronavirus outbreaks continue to threaten the market.
The U.S. said Thursday it is encouraging major oil producers to stabilize energy prices.
The White House also said it is considering a range of tools to deal with oil prices, according to a National Security council spokesperson after the OPEC+ decision.
“It’s being considered an emergency, or a crisis at this point,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC.
“I would expect the aggressive action on the consumer side.”
What happens in the coming weeks will have major implications for a global economy that has been battered by high energy prices, and for the domestic political agenda of a U.S. president whose popularity is sinking as inflation rises.
The showdown also puts further strain on America’s increasingly fragile relationship with its strongest Middle Eastern ally — Saudi Arabia.
“If you released 60 million barrels from the SPR, now you’re looking at maybe $3 a downside,” said Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Management.
“What’s starting to get priced in is the fact that the Biden administration painted themselves a little bit in a corner where they have to do something in response to OPEC not doing anything.”
King Joe the First should have thought about the fact that the future always comes, and winter with it, before he made all these cock-a-mamie plans of his to cut our CO2 emissions to zero.
Now there will be a lot of older people on fixed incomes who will be unable to heat their homes this winter, thanks to Joe’s inflationary policies:
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“Oil Spiked Friday but Down on the Week”
by Bloomberg | Julia Fanzeres
Friday, November 05, 2021
Oil pared its weekly loss as Saudi Arabia cranked up prices for its global crude exports and the U.S. demurred on a potential release of oil from the strategic reserve.
The Kingdom boosted its prices just days after refusing to concede to U.S. pressure to pump more oil.
With the cartel unanimously agreeing to stick to its plans, attention now turns to whether U.S. President Joe Biden will respond.
“The key focus for the market right now remains the U.S.’s response to the OPEC+ meeting yesterday,” said Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Management.
A global energy crunch due to coal and natural gas shortages has exacerbated the tightness in the oil market and increased inflationary pressures in the U.S., prompting the Biden administration to seek ways to lower fuel costs.
Earlier Friday, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said that the Administration is looking at a potential release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Japan said it is in close contact with the U.S. and the IEA as pressure from consumers grows.
For months, President Joe Biden has led calls for OPEC+ to add more barrels to tame high oil prices.
The U.S. was seeking an increase of as much as double the amount that was agreed and has been among key consumers that previously raised the prospect of tapping their own strategic reserves if the alliance didn’t cooperate.