Post about inflation in general

To start it off, here's our illustrative story of the day;
https://www.startribune.com/inflation-smacks-target-hard-sending-profit-sharply-lower/600174286/

Target Corporation posted massive gains during the pandemic after Covid relief checks started going out. From May 2020, they soared from $120 to a high of $260 in Aug 2021. CEO Brian Cornell made a very boastful public appearance just this March in New York City to talk about the success of the company, saying one of the biggest contributors was the Covid relief boosting consumer spending and semi-luxury sales. There were many months smaller mom and pop stores were closed down by state and local authorities for Covid restrictions, but most Targets having groceries allowed them to stay open as essential businesses, and rake in the money printed by the federal reserve and mailed out to citizens.
Today alone in trading, Target shed 24.93% of its stock value after posting an earnings report that missed its targets. They detailed how due to rampant inflation, consumers are less willing to spend, and transportation and labor costs have skyrocketed. Inflation has hit them hard, and the gains they posted are now crumbling.

And the reason for that inflation? In large part the funny money from the fed to prop up the economy. Printing trillions of dollars, both before and after the pandemic, to artificially keep us chugging along without real underlying growth. We had it under Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden. Only in the Trump years pre-pandemic did we have an actual economic boom to offset that spending, but always the feds kept printing money. Now those same feds are ratcheting up interest rates when we're already at the precipice of an economic collapse and depression. The wishful scenario of a 'soft landing' is hard to believe when every indicator points to a bubble bursting. Just the impact on the astronomically overheated housing market alone when mortgage rates just skyrocketed overnight could risk a revisit of the 2008 bubble, but we're adding that on top of an economy struggling in every sector, stores closing down everywhere and supply chains faltering.
...and Joe Biden just sent $54 billion to Ukraine

This is my boilerplate response to inflation topics:

In 1971 when Nixon closed the gold window, severing the last tie between the dollar and the greenback, the minimum wage was $1.60/hour and the average price of gold was $40.80/oz. A full year's wage at minimum wage was worth ~78 oz of gold. At today's prices, 78 oz of gold is worth ~$140,000 - or $70/hour. True inflation is a lie. #EndtheFed

Inflation is good. It means I can pay off my student loans with a wheelbarrow of worthless cash. I don’t care who has to starve to serve my personal interests.

The Dow and particularly stocks vulnerable to inflation still continue to tumble today, and the fed has made it clear they intend to continue cutting rates. At this point the only options are 'soft landing recession' or 'hard landing depression'

Inflation is good. Joe Biden says so.

“You will own nothing, and you will be happy”

This post was edited by ofthevoid on May 19 2022 01:29pm

Whatever biden-ish or trump-clown-ish there's no difference you are bamboozled.

It's theft a government's + Feds way to control the non investing pleb

My company was positioned to start organic growth again before COVID, literally just got the IT systems ready for any type of order scenario between B&M and Online working the season before COVID so sales and product kept moving during lockdown. Anyways, we still making record profits, I think a lot of it is because our competitors in this space are debters and not able to manage the fractured supply chains.

Anyways, inflation and broken supply chains are ruining things. Shit continues to go up in price and its continually harder and harder to secure goods in a timely fashion. Even the dirt/gravel runners around my parts are elusive as hell, maybe struggling with pricing out diesel into the quotes?

This post was edited by RedFromWinter on May 19 2022 02:09pm

I'm cautiously optimistic considering it's so heavily weighted in energy, commodities and transport. A smart government can ease the cost of living through energy subsidies and the higher inflation erodes the insane amount of debt accumulated by the public sector during the pandemic. We've hit the peak in terms of staple commodities and oil production is increasing. It will be a shit 2022 but we'll be ok