Bread & Circus News

Tag: inflation

  • Wholesale and producer prices soaring, consumers feeling the heat…

    Wholesale and producer prices soaring, consumers feeling the heat…

    Welp, even with a brand spanking new Bureau of Labor Statistics chief, Trump is not getting the news he so desperately wants. The economy is still shrinking, and now wholesale prices are up far higher than Wall Street expected. This is bad news for consumers

    From CNN Business backed by BLS report :

    “Costs were sharply on the rise for producers and manufacturers in July, a sign that higher prices could soon filter down to American consumers. US inflation on the wholesale level picked up steam last month, with prices rising by the fastest monthly pace since June 2022, new data showed Thursday.

    The latest Producer Price Index, which measures the average change in prices paid to producers, jumped 0.9% from June, lifting the annual rate to 3.3%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. PPI serves as a potential bellwether for the prices consumers may see in the months ahead.”

    Then again, the numbers could even be worse because we know the Trump admin censors information and statistics that are not favorable to him.

    Here’s another troubling sign. The producer price index is also way up. And if you exclude energy and food from it, it is up almost 4% to 3.7%. It means manufacturers who produce goods are paying higher prices than they ever have. And of course, they will pass those costs onto us, as well all the companies who are paying Trump insane tariffs. More bad news for consumers.

    Then again, as I’ve said many times, you don’t need government reports to tell you what’s really going on with Main Street economy, which, for the record, is not the same thing as the Wall Street economy, especially when you understand that the Wall Street economy is being held up by technology and energy companies. just compare the prices you are paying for groceries now compared to the prices you paid this time last year. I guarantee they are significantly higher. Beef alone is up 15 to 20% depending on where you live.

    It’s also noteworthy that gas prices are oddly falling again. Why now? Trump has had eight months to bring them down. I have a theory. When gas prices come down it is factored into the inflation numbers. By bringing the gas prices down, they mask the inflation in all the other areas— especially at the grocery store. Calm down it’s just a theory.

    One thing is for sure, the main street economy has not improved since Biden. It has definitely become worse. We are by no means in any sort of golden age as Trump promised, and there is no sign we will ever be in a golden age. However, conversely, the upper classes are getting richer and richer and richer and richer by the day. For them, the golden age has arrived, at the expense of we the peasants. 

  • Think your state pension is safe? Think again.

    Multiple states are facing massive budget shortfalls due to decades of fiscal mismanagement, and if not addressed ASAP, they will wipe out state pensions.

    Here’s an example for the state of Ohio published today on Fox News:

    “My own state of Ohio is, regrettably, at the center of this crisis. According to a new report by the nonpartisan Equable Institute, the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio (STRS) is between $20 and $30 billion in debt and will be unable to fully pay back the teachers who funded it throughout their careers. Equable also noted in its report that a stunning 44% of unfunded liabilities are from underperforming investments.”

    The word is, lazy legislators will just pass the shortfalls on to taxpayers in multiple ways: mismanage the funds, wreck the pensions, and then just make the taxpayers pay for them. That’s the way of American government. But there is a strong possibility that might not happen this time because taxpayers are fed up and already on the verge of revolting. What if taxpayers say “hell no we’re not paying for that“? this time? Goodbye pensions.

    Like it or not, we are on a massive economic bubble that is about to break in many ways. economic report release today says inflation is still rising by 3% and grocery prices are still going up. What happened to that golden age? Oh yeah that’s right, there is no golden edge. Oh but you’ll be happy to know that multiple new billionaires were made this year due to Trump‘s support of AI.

    Politicians can only prop up the economy with loans, printed money, political slogans and propaganda for so long. Sooner or later, the chickens will come home to roost, and I do believe they are getting closer and closer every day. America has been living on borrowed time, and it is about to come to a screeching halt. All I’m saying is: set your house in order and be prepared.

  • Restaurants hurting bad and closing as food prices continue to soar…

    Restaurants hurting bad and closing as food prices continue to soar…

    Donald Trump started his inauguration off by saying we were entering the Golden Age. Since that time he has boasted repeatedly about how “the cost of everything have come down and Americans are enjoying a much higher quality of life than ever before” on his watch. But is that true?

    According to restaurants and bars, that is definitely not true.

    Many food and beverage establishments are struggling. Wholesale food prices are up 17%, beef is up 21%, produce is up 10% or more, and they aren’t hiring anymore. They are cutting hours and reducing food portion sizes in order to survive.

    Case in point. Just recently, my wife and I went to a breakfast joint in our neighborhood. I was shocked that the food barely even covered my plate. They had cut the egg and hash brown size by HALF. I paid $15 for a meal that didn’t even fill me. We said we would never go there again. Since then, I found out that many of my neighbors have decided the same. Sad.

    A growing number of businesses are hurting just as bad as they did during the pandemic or worse. Many are closing for good. Consumers are eating at home way more often now. And it’s all because of continuing inflation that Donald Trump has failed to make a priority of his admin.

    I can’t help but wonder if the situation would be different if Donald Trump actually focused on bringing prices down. Instead, he is focused on punishing universities, slapping massive tariffs on all kinds of businesses, more tax breaks for the ultra rich and investor class, suing and silencing his critics, AI, crypto, expanding his Trump empire, building data centers, and now making marijuana legal and readily available to everyone in every state (as if already dumbed down Americans need one more thing to numb and sedate them).

    Given Trump’s priorities, you could never convince me that this is a man for we the working class people. This is a man who is for the elite class. He is totally out of touch with the majority of American people and our needs, and everyone will feel the pain of his apathy and ignorance on an increasing basis —until people stand up and stay “enough!”

  • Michigan governor warns Trump in private that tariffs are wrecking auto industry…

    Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer met privately in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump FOR THE THIRD TIME to make a case he did not want to hear: the automotive industry he said he wants to save were being hurt badly by his tariffs.

    Sources she even brought a PowerPoint deck and showed Mr Tariffism evidence packed data proving how his tariffs are killing the auto industry and absolutely will lead to major closures, job loss, and catastrophic economic outcomes on the state of Michigan and other states.

    This is nothing short of mind blowing, considering she is a democrat who has been very critical of Trump in the past. Most Democrats avoid him like the plague. Not her. She has been to the oval office three times now, literally begging him to stop his tariffs.

    If you’ve been following this page or “operation deep truth” on Facebook, you know that we have been predicting this very outcome for months. Collapse is absolutely inevitable. Unfortunately, Trump and his team do not understand macro or microeconomics. In a quest to cement his legacy as the most innovative and powerful president of all time, they have taken a baseball bat to a highly complex trade system without any regards whatsoever about the consequences.

    Sadly, the American people are also clueless about economics, so very few people are even making any noise about it. Most people have no clue what’s coming. They blindly trust the government to take care of them and always make the right decision, even though the government has a track record of doing the exact opposite over and over and over again, including this administration.

  • 70% Americans are stressing about rising grocery prices…

    70% Americans are stressing about rising grocery prices…

    Trump ran on groceries. He said “we won on the word groceries.” He promised Americans would be enjoying lower grocery prices soon after he took office. But nearly 7 months later, not only are Americans not enjoying lower grocery prices, they are still going up… and people are stressed about it.

    Nearly 70% (!) of people polled by a recent Associated Press survey said they have some level of stress about grocery prices. A staggering 53% said they have “major” stress about it. This means nearly 3/4 of the country is financially hurting from grocery prices (!).

    As for Trump, he hasn’t said anything about grocery prices, nor has he offered an explanation as to why prices keep rising despite his promises that they would go down, and despite the fact that every time he is interviewed, he dishonestly says “the prices on everything have come down!”

    I for one have not seen prices drop on anything other than eggs, and even those are still fluctuating. Gas is back up to almost $3.70 a gallon in my town. Good steak runs $15 a pound if you’re lucky. And don’t even get me started about prices for products at Home Depot, such as latex house paint, which runs $47.99 a gallon (!).

    Evidently, Trump doesn’t care about prices. Again it’s not like he has ever gone to a grocery store or even filled his car up with gas. I doubt he’s ever painted a room or even so much as fixed a flat tire. He is the most out of touch president in the history of America.

    But, hey, look on the bright side, at least we’re getting 5 million square-foot data centers on our farmlands that will do nothing other than steal our jobs and ruin our quality of life. Oh, and Skittles, which go for about three dollars a pack now, won’t have food dye in them. MAGA, baby!

  • OUCH! Consumers starting to feel pain of Trump’s insane tariff obsession…

    OUCH! Consumers starting to feel pain of Trump’s insane tariff obsession…

    There are increasing signs that Trump’s tariff TAXES are cascading down to consumer prices, as companies run out of options for keeping prices down. On average prices on imports have risen 3%, and it’s about to get a whole lot worse.

    Ever since Trump announced his “liberation day” tariffs, I have been sounding the alarm that they will lead to inflation unlike any we’ve seen in years and ultimately a recession— if not a depression. Modern America is built on global trade. It’s one thing to surgically improve trade relationships, it’s quite another to take a baseball bat to them.

    From NYT today:

    “Before Trump announced tariffs for much of the world on Thursday night – Adidas, Procter & Gamble, Stanley Black & Decker and many other large corporations told investors that they either had increased prices or planned to do so soon to offset the tariff costs.

    Companies like Walmart and the toymakers Hasbro and Mattel had already warned that tariffs would lead to higher prices.

    “We have no interest in running a lower-margin business, particularly due to tariffs,” Richard Westenberger, the chief financial officer of Carter’s, a children’s apparel maker,”

    Well duh. For the hundredth time, companies cannot absorb hundreds of billions of dollars and losses. As the CEO of a major corporation said yesterday on a conference call “we do not intend to run a low margin business.“ Well duh. I’ve said the same exact thing for months now. They have to recover their costs. They will do it through layoffs, shrinkflation, quality shortcuts, plant and location closures, and alas, price increases.

    I’d like to pause to gasp at the ignorance of Americans who can’t or won’t comprehend these fundamental principles of economics. Every day on social media, I see hoards of people celebrating Trump’s tariffs like they’re the greatest thing since sliced bread. The willful ignorance is beyond stupefying.

    Anyone, including a sixth grader, who took a moment to understand basic economic principles could see there will be terrible consequences for both America and many other countries, especially small businesses and the lower classes, who rely on lower in prices for imports that cannot be purchased in America. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.

    One more thing. It’s a fool’s errand to judge the economy by the stock market. The stock market is being propped up by energy, AI technology, and healthcare (sick care) investments: three industries that will not lead to economic growth for the majority of Americans. If anything, those industries steal jobs, not create them.

    Get ready for hard times. Due to Trump’s ignorance and ego, and a brain-dead republic who is easily distracted and appeased by bread and circuses, the good time are gradually coming to an end.

    What will it take for Americans to wake up? Widespread poverty.

  • Just in: your dollar does not go as far as it did this time last year…

    Despite the nonstop flood of “golden age” economic optimism pouring out of the White House 24/7, in the real world the prices of everything continue to rise with no end in sight (which, by the way, is the reason the federal reserve will not lower the interest rate any further).

    Today the Federal Reserve is reporting that the PCE index, which measures consumer expenses and buying behavior, rose again this June by almost a half a percentage point. At present it is 2.6% higher than it was this time last year. This means inflation is not stopping in consumers are going further into debt to stay afloat.

    Then again, who needs economic indicators from the Federal Reserve statistics? Just go to your local grocery store and see for yourself. Better yet, go to Home Depot, like I just did, and buy some house paint, and prepare to have your jaw hit the floor when it rings up $47.99 a gallon As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

    Not fun fact: unless you received at least a 3% raise this year, you are indeed getting poorer, while the rich are indeed getting richer. That is the trend, and evidently most people agree…

  • FOX NEWS falsely reports tariffs are collected from “foreign countries“

    I had to do a double take when I saw a Fox News post on Facebook claiming that the staggering $150 BILLION in tariffs that Trump has collected through Customs have been paid by “foreign countries.“

    It’s hard to fathom how a full-blown “news agency“ could make such a colossal misinformation error. They leave us no other choice but to think they are either willfully blind or they are complicit in deceiving people into thinking that America is “winning” the trade war when in fact, American companies are paying the tariff taxes, all of which are being passed on to us consumers through various methods such as shrinkflation, closures, layoffs, price increases, etc.

    Just today Reuters reported “American companies have decided how they’re going to respond to Trump’s tariffs: price increases.” Read it for yourself via the link below. Get informed. Double and triple check everything media is feeding you, because a lot of it is highly misleading, deceptive, and even fraudulent.

    Shockingly, thousands of people responded to the Fox News article congratulating President Trump for “winning” by taking so much money from foreign countries — evidently completely unaware that the money is ultimately going to be taken from them one companies recoup all of their costs, which they are right now in the process of doing.

    More: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-gets-tariffs-americans-get-price-hikes-2025-07-29/