Everyone is aware of the Consumer Price Index. Another less known indicator of price levels is the Producer Price Index, or PPI.
(Discussion cross-posted from Attestation Update because the inflation we are now seeing is a direct and expected consequence of policies at the federal level. Serious levels of inflation impact our economic and political freedom.)
The PPI suggests prices have been shooting up since the January 2021.
This index is explained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Above video is parody of the song “Imagine”, showing the actual results from communism every time it has been ever been tried: empty store shelves, hunger, poverty, repression, political prisons, and death. I could go into depth on the consequences from adopting communism. In fact, have a very short discussion: Read more…
Two years ago it would have been stupid, preposterous, outlandish, tin-foil-hat-wearing, coocoo-bird-crazy to even suggest we could get to the place of needing internal passports in the United States.
Your papers please.
German: Bitte deine Papiere.
Russian: vashi dokumenty, pozhaluysta
English: Your papers please.
On the off chance you missed the implications, the phrase “your papers please” was used in Nazi Germany and communist Soviet Union by those dictatorial governments to check whether people were allowed to be where they were.
Internal passports were needed to move around the country.
Official papers had to be produced upon demand, at any time, even in your own neighborhood.
Sliding down the slippery slope to “your papers please.”
Because of travel and other matters, I’ve taken a break from blogging the last few weeks. Have been on a rigorous news diet as well, which was delightful.
In the last couple of days I started tuning in to the news.
The craziness from allegedly educated people in the public health sector is staggering. Lots of officials have moved to crazyland while I took a short break.
Today’s discussion:
LAUSD will require all students and staff to be tested weekly for infection even if vaccinated.
Protests emerging worldwide against lockdowns.
Maine church files for preemptive injunction in attempt to prevent future repression of religious freedom.
The slide into crazyland
Things can always get worse…
You thought CDC recommending everyone wear masks indoors was bad. Just wait…
Early yesterday the US Secretary of Defense arrived in the Philippines for consultations.
He is fully vaccinated so he is safe from the ‘rona, at least that is what the ‘science’ has boldly declared morning, noon, and night for the last year.
Get ready for another lockdown. The warning signs are everywhere.
Oh, another round of hypocrisy from our esteemed Governor here in California.
Warning signs
About a week ago, the state of California announced when school resumes this summer, all school children will be required to wear a mask during the entire school day. Vaccination status is irrelevant. Past infection is irrelevant. The exquisitely low infection rate among children is irrelevant. The infinitesimal fatality rate it is irrelevant.
Over the past weekend the state of California and federal Department of Veteran Affairs announced they will require all employees to prove they are vaccinated or get tested weekly and show a negative result.
There is a hint, a whiff in the air, of a strong pushback emerging against the destruction caused by politicians and public health officials during the pandemic.
Everyone knows about the recall effort underway attempting to remove California Governor Gavin Newsom from office.
Did you know there are lots of other recall efforts in the state?
Did you know over a dozen state legislatures are moving towards placing limits and restraints on the currently unlimited and unrestrained power of public health agencies to destroy at will?
Perhaps, just perhaps, we may see some accountability for the widespread destruction caused by a host of elected officials and unelected bureaucrats responsible for public health care issues.
We are finally getting back to normal next Tuesday. Mostly. Sort of. Certain mask requirements will stay in place on June 15, 2021. Importantly, the emergency is not over and all of the emergency orders issued in the last year stay in place for another few months.
It also means public health officials and the governor can reinstate any restrictions they want or impose new restrictions they want and can do so anytime they want.
The good news portion of changes on June 15 is the four level color-coded system is gone. No more of the purple, red, orange, and yellow grading based on arbitrary numerical targets (which as we have seen the state can unilaterally shift as desired). The stay-at-home orders will officially end.
Best part of the good news is the capacity limits and physical distancing requirements are gone.
Destruction from earthquake. Visual description of what lockdowns did to the economy overall, public health in general, and mental health in particular. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
Even though all the statistics in all the locations I’m tracking are showing a decline from the peak counts in the range of 95% to 98%, we urgently need to pay attention to constantly emerging reports of the destruction caused by government edicts.
This two-day series is mentioning only a minor fraction of the articles in recent weeks describing the devastation.
Today’s post will discuss:
Severe damage has been caused, only in part yet still a big part, by the inability to comprehend there are tradeoffs in every decision that has ever been made. This applies even more so to the pandemic. As another wag pointed out: there are no solutions, only tradeoffs.
Yet another research analysis shows lockdowns had minimal impact on death rates yet caused extensive unemployment.
Destructive and death-causing policies continued even after evidence emerged that policies were causing harm. Liberty has been shredded. Financial damage is widespread.
Educational, psychological, and social damage to children has been severe. It will take a horribly long time for kids to recover.
Behold the emerging legacy of the public health sector and our so-called political leaders:
4/19/21 – Wall Street Journal – An American Epidemic of “Covid Mania”– Op-ed by an associate professor of medicine at UCLA uses the phrase “Covid mania” as a catch-all for the loss of any semblance of risk assessment, elevation of Covid fear above every other factor, damaging the reputation of scientists and public health officials, and stating as an absolute certainty what was a mere hypothesis.
