Lots of economic news today, all of it bad, much of it too little, too late.
For example, the treasury secretary admits she “was wrong … about the path inflation would take” and the administration waited too long to react. You think she might feel bad enough about such a colossal mistake to submit her resignation. I think this is a firing offense, but not in this administration. I expect Biden will shake up his cabinet after the Dems suffer midterm losses. Why not cut to the chase and get some fresh ideas now?
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told investors, “You’d better brace yourselves” for economic fallout from the Russian war in Ukraine and the Fed’s tightening of the money supply. Thanks, Jamie, but the war started more than two months ago. Investors have lost trillions of dollars since. Where were you then?
Gasoline prices increased almost 50 cents in May. No, not 50 cents this year, but 50 cents in a single month. Gas Buddy expect the average price to hit $5 by mid-June.
May auto sales in the U.S. collapsed, led by Mazda (down 63.7 percent) and Honda (down 57.3 percent). Why? Because auto loan rates are rising and no one wants to add a big monthly car payment when they can’t even afford the gas to put in it. Housing starts aren’t doing too well either. The recession warning bells are ringing louder and louder, but they are falling on too many deaf ears.
If any of this news is a surprise to you, then you haven’t been paying attention. By the time this stuff hits the main stream media, it’s too late to get ahead of the wave. I hope you have been preparing because the United States is heading for a recession, a food crisis, a summer of blackouts and hurricanes of historic proportion, a shortage of DEF that threatens to leave 18-wheelers stranded on the side of the road, gasoline that costs $8 or $10 per gallon, a winter where people cannot afford heat or food, and a war. Possibly more than one war.
The Ukraine War Gets Worse
Have you noticed that the war in Ukraine hasn’t been in the news much lately? That’s because it is not going well. After getting off to a terrible start, Russia is making progress. After winning the propaganda war, Ukraine appears to be losing the battle on the ground in Donbas. The united front presented by the NATO countries is seeing stress cracks as Germany and France disagree with the more aggressive stance taken by the U.S., the U.K., and the countries like Poland and Latvia who fear they may be next on Russia’s decades-long plan to regain the territory it ruled prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
When America promises more weapons, U.S. taxpayers foot the bill and Ukrainian soldiers pay in blood. Both countries are weaker as a result. Each time we send more advanced weapons, Russia comes closer to escalating their response. Their media already tells their populace that WWIII has started and threaten to nuke the U.K. and the U.S.
At the same time, China is escalating its threats to Taiwan, with 30 planes that penetrated their air space. Taiwan not only sent fighters to meet them but turned on its anti-aircraft missile systems. We are one mistake away from war in the South China Sea.
Iran continues to move closer to a nuclear weapon, and Israel remains determined not to let them get one. That looks like a looming hot spot.
Go Beyond Food
I’ve been talking about the importance of having a prepper pantry since the very first blog post. I sure hope you are prepared to feed yourself and your family, and possibly a few friends and neighbors, for at least a few months.
Given the breadth of the problems facing our nation and the globe, we’ve shifted our focus beyond food. We’re now focusing more on shelter: making our home more livable should a disaster strike, putting up more firewood to heat us in the winter, improving our self-sufficiency so we can leave home less often, making sure we have enough supplies to plant next year’s garden, stocking other consumables that will see price increases, making sure our self-defense skills are sharp, and planning with family, friends and neighbors.
You’ve heard of the form of torture known as “death of a thousand cuts?” If that can happen to a country, it’s happening to the United States. I don’t know how many cuts remain, or if we can recover, but you need to be ready for its death throws. Things are getting worse, not better, and that trends looks to continue for some time.
