Container Port Chaos in China, Soaring Freight Rates, Spiking US Producer Prices, as Fiscal & Monetary Stimulus Still Rage by Wolf Richter • Aug 12, 2021 • 146 Comments Some disruptions are “transitory,” but the spiral that the mix of ongoing over-stimulation has set off is anything but “transitory.”
Social Security COLA for 2022 Could Be Biggest since 2009 or even 1982, But Won’t Cover Cost Increases for Many Retirees by Wolf Richter • Aug 11, 2021 • 198 Comments It’s based on CPI-W for the third quarter. July came in at 6.0%.
Dollar’s Purchasing Power Plunged at Constant Speed by Wolf Richter • Aug 11, 2021 • 154 Comments Now it’s new vehicles, restaurants, energy. Game of Whac-A-Mole as some price spikes slow while others begin. But it’s a lot worse than it seems.
This Reddit Lament Sums up Wonderfully What Lots of Home Buyers Will Grapple with as Housing Market “Normalizes” and Work from Home Fizzles by Wolf Richter • Aug 10, 2021 • 284 Comments The price of FOMO.
The State of the Small Business: Hiring Problems, Inventory Shortages, and Big Price Increases by Wolf Richter • Aug 10, 2021 • 99 Comments In the current era of Stimulus Good Times, with its huge kinks.
AMC Sold Three Times More Shares than Movie Tickets in Q2, Revenues Down 70% from Q2 2019, as Business Model Collapsed by Wolf Richter • Aug 9, 2021 • 95 Comments It should just forget about selling movie tickets, and stick to selling its shares to future meme-stock billionaires.
Amid Clamoring of “Labor Shortages” as 13 Million People Claim Unemployment Benefits, Job Openings Spike Sky-High. Sector by Sector by Wolf Richter • Aug 9, 2021 • 218 Comments And many people quit their job to take a better job with higher starting wage & signing bonus, offered by desperate employers.
$1.1 Trillion Flood of Liquidity from Drawdown of Treasury General Account Peters Out by Wolf Richter • Aug 7, 2021 • 201 Comments And as the Fed pumps out cash via QE on one side, it mops up $1 trillion in cash via reverse repos on the other.
Used-Vehicle Madness Unwinds Teeny-Weenie Bit, 2nd Month by Wolf Richter • Aug 6, 2021 • 97 Comments I’d say, prices at wholesale are still idiotic, but slightly less idiotic. Retail prices lag a month or two.
Weird Phenomenon of “Labor Shortages” as Millions of People Still Aren’t Working: Employers Hired 2.5 Million in 3 Months by Wolf Richter • Aug 6, 2021 • 122 Comments The Fed is looking for jobs reports to justify tapering its asset purchases, and this was one. But the labor market is still messed up.
