Social Security COLA for 2022 Biggest since 1982, But Still Won’t Cover Actual Cost of Living Increases for Many Retirees by Wolf Richter • Oct 13, 2021 • 87 Comments For retirees, 2021 was a nasty year: Red hot inflation and a stingy COLA. In 2022, they might fall behind more slowly.
What the Record Spike in “Quits” Says about the Job Market, Inflation, and How Labor Gained Pricing Power by Wolf Richter • Oct 12, 2021 • 120 Comments One more reason “transitory” and “temporary” have become a silly joke. Even the Fed is backing off promoting it.
Inflation Expectations Come Unanchored: People Expect Red-Hot Price Increases to Eat Wage Gains plus their Lunch & Dinner by Wolf Richter • Oct 12, 2021 • 202 Comments The Fed is going to have a heck of a time calling inflation expectations “well anchored.”
My Thoughts on the Biggest Mess in Decades: New & Used Autos, Chip Shortages, Inflation, and the Nasty Possibility of Stagflation by Wolf Richter • Oct 9, 2021 • 130 Comments Discussing mind-boggling distortions and some of the craziest market conditions.
Incomes Got Chewed Up by Inflation. Americans Spent Heroically on Goods, But Not on Services. Eviction Moratoriums & Forbearance Implicated by Wolf Richter • Oct 1, 2021 • 144 Comments Millions of people didn’t spend on two big services: rent & interest. How spending got skewed in bizarre ways.
Fed’s Lowest Lowball Inflation Measure Hits 30-Year High by Wolf Richter • Oct 1, 2021 • 118 Comments “Transitory” is the new Spandex.
“Transitory” is the New Spandex: Powell Admits it, Still Denies its Cause. Why this Inflation Won’t Go Away on its Own by Wolf Richter • Sep 29, 2021 • 206 Comments Blames tangled-up supply chains but not what’s causing supply chains to get tangled up: The most grotesquely overstimulated economy ever.
Unfinished Houses for Sale Pile Up, Total Inventory Highest since 2008, amid Material Shortages & Worst Spike in Construction Costs since 1979 by Wolf Richter • Sep 24, 2021 • 253 Comments Sales of new single-family houses fall 24% from a year ago. The lower end has died.
Social Security COLA for 2022 to be Near 5.8%, Could Match 2009, Biggest since 1982 by Wolf Richter • Sep 14, 2021 • 137 Comments But it still won’t cover the dollar’s actual loss of purchasing power.
Inflation Whac-A-Mole: New Vehicle Prices Spike as Used Vehicle Prices Dip, while Housing Inflation, which Exploded in Reality, Barely Budged in the CPI by Wolf Richter • Sep 14, 2021 • 86 Comments CPI inflation remains at 12-year high.