Commentary 
Wall Street, we have a margin problem. Shares of Target (TGT) fell by 25 percent on Wednesday, May 18 as their margins shrank by the same amount. TGT margins collapsed due to higher input costs, overstocking, and overstaffing. So much for the mantra that stocks are a great hedge against inflation. In reality, inflation is destroying American corporations, the economy, and the middle class.
Walmart (WMT) is America’s and the world’s largest private employer. Its earnings report on Tuesday, May 17 had a lot to say about the U.S. economy. The company missed earnings primarily because of inflation and margin pressure. One of the primary drivers for the margin compression was that WMT has too many employees. The reason is clear: after the COVID stimulus checks expired, these furloughed workers found themselves out of savings and in need of money. Hence, they returned to work en masse.  The key point here is that the world’s largest employer is no longer hiring, but instead will be letting workers go. There are over 2.7 million people employed by WMT and TGT….