economic freedom
Speaking of inflation…how ‘bout paying 40% more for lunch than a year ago?
Picked up lunch at KFC yesterday. My go-to meal is three-piece chicken tender with one side and a soda. Yummy.
Had quite a shock at the price.
(more…)economic freedom
Supply chain continues to deteriorate.
So many articles are describing the deterioration in the supply chain. Lots of comments on twitter show pictures of grocery stores in the United States with a fraction of the stock you would normally see.
Government policies, such as forced lockdowns, work restrictions, flooding the economy with trillions of dollars, and travel restrictions are increasing pressure.
Just a few of recent articles describing increasing troubles:
- Railroad robberies are again a thing in Los Angeles. Those items that got lost in transit are probably off the side of a railroad in LA.
- China’s zero-Covid policy is closing factories and locking down cities.
- China restricting its border with Vietnam is leaving lots of fruit to rot in trucks waiting to get into the country.
- SoCal ports struggling even more with so many dockworkers out sick.
- Currently truck drivers in Canada must be vaccinated and starting 1/22 drivers entering the US must be vaccinated, putting further strains on the supply chain.
economic freedom
The logical conclusion is the British Prime Minister and his senior staff firmly believe the Covid virus is completely harmless. How else to explain their routine, systematic, *weekly* violation of lockdown restrictions?
The level of flaming hypocrisy emerging from #10 Downing Street is growing so fast that I wonder if the issue is actually hypocrisy or instead a belief that the Covid virus is not actually dangerous.
Back on 12/17/21 I discussed Flaming hypocrisy: “It’s good to be the king” of Netherlands or Prime Minister of England edition.
In December news reports said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson attended a pizza and wine party on 5/15/20, just a couple months into the pandemic. He claimed he was there only a few minutes.
Then on 12/18/20 somewhere between 40 and 50 people had a Christmas party at #10 Downing Street.
Journalists (plural) attended but kept quiet about the event. Of course. They wanted to protect their sources and they knew they are part of the elitist elite who are also exempt from Covid rules.
I discussed this on 12/16/21 in my post Still more flaming hypocrites get caught, this time including Prime Ministers of England and Finland.
The Prime Minister’s press spokes-liar at the time, Allegra Stratton, is on video laughing in a mock press conference that they would call this a “business meeting” and therefore could continue partying.
Just to be clear, multiple staff working for the Prime Minister were laughing at us because they can get away with whatever they want.
Oh, at the time the Prime Minister staff was partying hearty, Christmas parties were explicitly banned. In addition, no more than two people were allowed to get together, even indoors.
Senior leadership were laughing at you and me. Well, not me because I am a free American citizen not personal property subject of the Queen.
The story has gotten a lot worse for the Prime Minister in the last week or so. The extent of flagrantly ignoring Covid restrictions has expanded.
(more…)Other stuff
More depressing news on federal judges not recusing themselves from cases. Three resignations by senior officials of the Fed because of their stock trading.
News keeps rolling in about senior Fed officials trading stock when they have extremely valuable inside information. Tally grows of federal judges who did not recuse themselves when they had a financial interest in a case they were hearing. Oh yeah, Chief Justice Roberts of the Supreme Court had his own failure-to-recuse oopsie.
This round of lack-of-integrity-by-senior-officials news reports, federal edition:
- 800 more failure-to-recuse by federal judges. The Chief Justice did not recuse himself until after oral arguments in a case where he had a mere $100K personal investment in one of the litigants.
- Vice Chair of the Fed resigns after news leaks out of timing for his stock trades.
- Previously, two regional bank presidents of the Fed resigned this past October.
Other stuff
Um…About the effectiveness of the vaccination…Let’s look at data from North Dakota.
Might want to not tell your vaccine hesitant friends and family about this discussion.
I have been tracking a lot of data about Covid since the start of the pandemic.
Why? The data is subject to interpretation, misinterpretation, delays, and manipulation.
So again, the question is: Why?
Publicly available data is what our supposed leaders are using to make decisions. By watching the public data we can maybe guess what they are about to do to us.
Anyway, I have been watching the data. Also have a large number of graphs set up so I can better see data and trends.
Something weird is happening with the vaccination.
Fully vaccinated people are getting sick. Lots of them.
People I know who are vaccine hesitant are noticing.
This is where hard numbers come into play.
I don’t know what these numbers tell us about what may happen soon, but the picture I see is distressing to me.
One set of data I have been watching is from North Dakota.
(more…)economic freedom
Record high inflation is going to continue and likely get worse.
There are a lot of indications the inflation rates we’ve seen in the last year or so are going to continue. My guess is we will see higher inflation in the next year than we did in 2021. Author of the article discussing PPP says he expects a shock in the CPI sometime in the next few months.
Merely a few recent items pointing towards sustained and even increasing inflation:
- Dollar Tree is now $1.25 Tree.
- Experienced farmer describes how severely inflation is hitting his operations. Those increases are going to appear on the store shelves soon.
- Producer Price Index is accelerating. Indications that unprocessed and intermediate goods are going up far faster than what we’re seeing at retail, so expect accelerating inflation.
- Unusually high lumber prices are back.
- Decent prices on cars will be harder and harder to find.
Dollar Tree is now Dollar and a Quarter Tree – Bought a couple items at Dollar Tree. They all rang up at $1.25. Glanced around the store noticing all the signs said $1.25.I asked the clerk about it and he said everything in the store is now a dollar and a quarter.
(more…)economic freedom
Why have we knowingly caused so much harm to children? Better question – Why are we allowing our alleged leaders to inflict another round of devastation?
Evidence has been present for well over a year that remote learning, economic shutdowns, and general panic is causing severe harm for kids.
In spite of this our so-called leaders in the political realm, public health world, and educational circles have started another round of school shutdowns.
Even The New York Times is catching on to the devastation inflicted on children. The New York Times!
It is well past time to stop the destruction we are inflicting on children.
Merely three of a growing string of articles pointing out the destruction willfully visited on school children:
- Twitter string from New York Times outlining the devastation inflicted on children.
- Column by medical doctor wondered why we have inflicted such harm on children.
- Research by NBER identifies adverse educational outcomes are a direct result of school shutdowns.
economic freedom
Flaming hypocrisy: “It’s good to be the king” of Netherlands or Prime Minister of England edition.
Today’s illustration of leaders blowing off Covid restrictions include the British Prime Minister and the Dutch Royal family.
That reminds me of a line from one of Mel Brooks’ movies, which I quoted above. More on that in a moment.
Mirror – 12/16/21 – Boris Johnson “joined No 10 staff for a Downing Street party during first lockdown” – Allegations have been raised Boris Johnson attended a pizza and wine party on May 15, 2020, yes a couple months into the pandemic. Reports claim 20 staff were present at the party with some of them staying until late at night. Get together took place after a press conference.
Mild denials suggest the P.M. only dropped by for a bit and left early.
My guess? This will be blown off as a staff meeting.
No biggie.
The Guardian, sourced to Agence France-Presse – 12/15/21 – Dutch Royals sorry for Princess Amalia birthday party that broke Covid rules – Royal family of Netherlands held a birthday bash to celebrate Princess Amalia’s 18th birthday. Reports claim at least 21 people were present.
At the time rules in the country prohibited having more than four guests in your home who were over 13 years old.
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