|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Wall Street Journal is no fan of Trump or the administration and the article takes care to offer no praise to the man at the top, only muted criticism, but it can’t argue with the results.
The vital signs of the American economy are pointing in the same, favorable direction more convincingly than at any point since before the pandemic. Inflation is falling. The labor market is holding. Growth has been solid.
It is a snapshot, not a verdict—but it is the closest the economy has come to achieving a soft landing, a moderation in inflation without recession. Just four years ago, many economists said that was impossible. This past April, as the economy closed in on a soft landing, steep tariffs had forecasters bracing for a new surge in inflation.
Now, it again looks plausible that inflation could return to the Federal Reserve’s 2% goal without a recession.
Friday’s inflation report showed so-called core prices, which strip out volatile food and energy costs, rose 2.5% in January from a year earlier—the lowest since the pandemic price surge began in 2021. While that number has been held down artificially by a data gap from last fall’s government shutdown, it nonetheless showed less of the start-of-the-year price pressure that tripped up the falling-inflation story in each of the past three years.
Meanwhile, separate data Wednesday showed the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3% in January, with employers adding a larger-than-anticipated 130,000 jobs.
“The worst calamity that everyone had in mind didn’t happen,” said Jeffrey Cleveland, chief economist at Payden & Rygel. “People would say to me, ‘The only way you’ll get to 2% inflation is the unemployment rate has to spike.’”
This is big in terms of the economy, but the question is how much will ordinary voters care? It’s entirely possible (especially with the current media and social media we have now) for Trump to succeed and get no credit for it, not only from the Journal, but from anybody. There’s precedent for that. Clinton got credit for Bush’s economy. Trump’s economic success was undeniable to the ordinary person before the pandemic the way that Reaganomics had been.
But only so many people will appreciate a soft landing. And the administration has not been effective about communicating its economic plans and there have been too many distractions. It’s only so much time to make the sales pitch for its economic management ahead of the terms. If it doesn’t refocus on that, it will have limited scope for doing anything else.
I think its something they call Deflation. Rosebud
Trump has gone straight for the central banker jugular, attacking the fallacy that low interest rates, robust employment, and higher wages cause inflation. These are what men like Jerome Powell blame inflation on to provide cover for what they do, which is print money and drive up asset prices to enrich themselves and their friends, while leaving the people with high inflation and ever higher bills to pay. Trump has proven that tariffs do not cause inflation either, which they already knew. Smoot Hawley put effective tariffs on of well over 50% but it resulted in only about 5% higher prices-and that only on the select imported goods affected by tariffs. The damage of Smoot Hawley was done by escalating tariffs and trade barriers going up in response. The exact opposite is happening now with tariffs and trade barriers coming down. Trump has exposed the central banker rules- based order cabal for the charlatans they are.
And tariffs on scummy foreign countries have been a huge success.
For those who are curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot%E2%80%93Hawley_Tariff_Act
You can see why Trump doesn’t listen to the “experts.” They say this and that can’t happen, then Trump using common sense and intuition delivers against all objections.
“Expert” is generally a synonym for “lying sack of shit.” Just talk to any D-Bag lefty.
I tend to think of them as establishment ass wipes who’ll say anything and support any policies or economic conditions that maintains the status quo and keeps them employed.
They’re the kind of people who have no qualms about screwing the American people while enriching themselves, their families and friends.
And the American people, for the most part, buy the bullsh*t the MSM reports about economic conditions.
The Wall Street Journal has readers outside the DNC? Who? The Karen hags on “The View?” George Soros? The ayatollah? That rag had to almost admit President Trump fixed the economy Alzheimer Joe’s handlers and the D-Bags in Congress sabotaged, just as he said he would? There are more copies of that rag in NYC Mayor Mudbaby’s garbage heaps than in American homes.
It’s not like everyday Americans care about the stock market or the economy, except how the economy affects our standard of living and how much it costs. We all know Trump is responsible for America’s return to greatness and affordability. against the concerted effort of the D-Bags and their representatives like the WSJ. The only difference between us patriots and those seditionists is that we admit the truth rather than deny it.
I enjoy paying a buck forty five for a dozen eggs instead of going without for twelve to twenty five bucks a dozen. And gold and silver are worth a fortune. Real Americans don’t want or need Wall Street, and fart in its general direction.
“… I enjoy paying a buck forty five for a dozen egg…”
Really? Where in the heck do you live and where do you shop at? Are those eggs from industrial raised chickens or farm raised chicken? There is a difference you know.
Not that it matters though. You’d probably call me a “whackaloon” because I only eat “real food” (i.e., food that is not ultra-processed “food” or industrially manufactured “food” products which by the American dictionary definition of food, IS NOT FOOD!)
One can live their entire life doing quite well without investing or playing the stock market.
For the stock market players, you’re up against now AI hedge fund trading.
For those who invest, dollar cost averaging, you will be rewarded.
Benjamin Graham “The Intelligent Investor” is Warren Buffet’s tunnel vision that made him billions and indeed the most successful buy and hold investor in history.
Charles Payne is an excellent commenter on the stock market.
My late pop told me when I was a teenager that he likes mutual funds over stocks so he can sleep at night.
1997 I discovered Bob Brinker’s Money Talk that I listened for 20 years. Bob talked about Vanguard Funds with lowest fees and brokers are paid salary not commission. John Bogle who started Vanguard was often called to Congress as Warren Buffett was to testify in order for Congress to set a bench mark on mutual funds and stock trading. Note that benchmark doesn’t include CONgrASS who become filthy wealthy from insider trading.
USA and the world would not be aware of the insidious and pervasive fraud of our tax dollars enriching the deep state and their puppets who get elected and swear and oath to serve elected positions but are sociopaths and psychopaths that make Somali pirates blush and say Shame Shame Shame….as they are stuffing their pockets with our tax dollars that have been enabled by those elected who swear and oath of office…Shame Shame Shame …. and burn in Hell!
I “played” the stock market from 1992 until February 2020 and made far more money than I lost over that time. So much so that I retired 18 years ago at age 50. Why work for money when money can work for me?
Although I’ve been retired since 2008, I still pay taxes on interest & dividend income and capital gains income which I no qualms about paying because I consider the income “house money” plus the tax rates are lower than the rates working people pay on payroll income.
FWIW:
I learned long ago that there’s no inherent bias in the tax system towards rich people. Tax laws apply equally to everyone. The rich just have the extra money to invest and take advantage of the tax laws to the fullest extent possible. People who’s sole source of income is from a paycheck simply don’t have the excess income to do this.
Plus in the American education system, people are not taught about money and how to obtain wealth and keep it. The only thing we’re even remotely taught in school is how to get and stay in debt for all our adult lives. And now they’re teaching that crap to kids! Just look at the plethora of financial institution commercials, credit card commercials, new car commercials, etc., on TV, billboards and the internet.
You can have all your wants and desires and sh*t you don’t need and will never use for the monthly low payment of…….
Even legitimate news networks are pushing the lie that “voters (are) mixed on Trump(‘s) economic policies.” EVERYBODY knows their dollar goes further than the toilet bowl of the four years prior to Trump’s triumphant return.
The WSJ says we may have avoided a recession. We may have but I see the potential biggest problem for Trump is that he is always talking about the stock market. That should not be the measure of success.
Wouldn’t it be wiser if he said, “I inherited a terrible economy and it will take time, 2-3 years, for the changes we have made to bear fruit. Short term performance is anyone’s guess. Be patient.”
Yes, he needs to make sure the ordinary voters feel good about their personal economic situation.