THE WOLF STREET REPORT: Dollar’s Purchasing Power Gets Zapped. It’s Permanent by Wolf Richter • Aug 1, 2021 • 183 Comments This combo of massive QE, repressed interest rates, huge government stimulus with borrowed money, and raging inflation is new in recent history.
People Made Heroic Efforts to Spend. Inflation Ate Their Lunch by Wolf Richter • Jul 30, 2021 • 255 Comments The big shift from durable goods to services is underway.
Fed’s Lowest Lowball Inflation Measure “Core PCE” Spikes Further. Highest 3-Month Rate since 1982 by Wolf Richter • Jul 30, 2021 • 146 Comments “Way above target”: Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
Steamy Rent Inflation in Single-Family Suburban Houses: Invitation Homes Jacks Up Rents Big Time on its 80,000 Houses by Wolf Richter • Jul 30, 2021 • 209 Comments It isn’t buying whole neighborhoods; it’s buying whole new subdivisions of built-to-rent houses.
Socked by 6.4% Inflation, Record Trade Deficit, Inventory Shortages, and Drop in Government Spending, “Real” GDP Jumps Disappointingly by Wolf Richter • Jul 29, 2021 • 182 Comments Inflation ate my homework: All this stimulus, so little to show for.
My Thoughts on the Fed’s Back-to-the-Future “Standing Repo Facilities” Announced Today by Wolf Richter • Jul 28, 2021 • 164 Comments Repos are different from QE; they’re in-and-out transactions that don’t endlessly pile up, unlike QE.
The Zoo Has Gone Nuts: PayPal Will Give Me $25 if I Buy Cryptos by Wolf Richter • Jul 28, 2021 • 131 Comments Ah, hefty “fees” & fat “spreads.” But wasn’t the promise of bitcoin to buy stuff without using fiat currency payment systems such as PayPal?
The Most Splendid Housing Bubbles in America: July Update, Holy Moly by Wolf Richter • Jul 27, 2021 • 269 Comments Raging mania house-price inflation.
No, Rents Are Not Suddenly Spiking in San Francisco: They Fell Again in July and Are Down 27% since June 2019 by Wolf Richter • Jul 27, 2021 • 84 Comments The rental market is in turmoil after jobs and people left, and price discovery has set in. Falling rents are a market-based solution to the “Housing Crisis.”
US Home Purchases by Foreigners Plunged for 4th Year, to Decade Low. But They Bought More Expensive Homes than Americans by Wolf Richter • Jul 26, 2021 • 133 Comments Purchases by buyers from China collapsed by 84% since the peak in 2017.
