Commentary
By now you’ve digested the June CPI report. It’s been all over the media, pulled apart and dissected for mainstream, rudimentary analysis. The headline above 9 percent (annual) for the first time in a very long time, being the highest again in more than forty years primarily due to the usual suspects food and energy (responsible for more than half of the increase).
From that perspective, anyone can understand the politics of the situation. The average American has to eat, and will likely fill up their automobile (a lot of them trucks and SUVs) regularly.
Mainstream media and politics demand your attention focus on the Federal Reserve and rate hikes (QT thrown in). However, there’s nothing that moving an antiquated money market rate around is going to do about gasoline supply or vegetables and meat. Officials have tried to sell the public—and the markets—on a Phillips Curve version of consumer prices so as to sell rate hikes by proxy as a plausible solution….