A young colleague of mine at work said that he thought that gas prices would only affect the rich. It boggles my mind, how people think this kind of nonsense.

 

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/S...e-AirPods-output-amid-Ukraine-war-uncertainty

TAIPEI -- Apple plans to make about 20% fewer iPhone SEs next quarter than originally planned, in one of the first signs that the Ukraine war and looming inflation have started to dent consumer electronics demand, sources briefed on the matter told Nikkei Asia.

People feeling it at the gas pump and the supermarket are postponing upgrades.

 

https://markets.businessinsider.com...st-rate-hikes-deutsche-bank-prediction-2022-4

Deutsche Bank predicts the US will tumble into recession in 2023 as the Fed hikes interest rates hard

 

https://www.bankrate.com/mortgages/analysis/

With inflation raging and the U.S. economy running hot, the average rate on 30-year mortgages surged to 5.12 percent this week from 4.95 percent last week, the highest level since February 2011, according to Bankrate’s national survey of large lenders.

Those rates will cost new home buyers plenty over the life of the mortgage.

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/08/1091...buying-a-home-has-become-a-lot-more-expensive

Here's how the numbers look for the typical home in the U.S.: The median price for a home has risen from $309,200 in December 2020 to $357,300.

Over that same period, interest rates rose from 2.67% to 5.08% this week. With a 10% down payment, that has pushed the monthly payment up from $1,124 to $1,742 — a whopping 55% increase. That's upward of $600 a month on that $357,000 home. That's the impact of higher prices together with rising rates.

 

$4.3B at 2.25%
$49B at 2.50%.
Fight for every basis point.

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/tech-stocks-economy-crash-2022-rcna27563

The party's ending: Silicon Valley braces for a new era of financial and political upheaval

Some people have begun to use the phrase “zombie unicorns” to refer to highly valued but shaky startups that might need new investors to rescue them.

“A lot of this is about companies that never thought the VC gravy train would slow,” Dan Primack, a widely read tech and finance columnist for Axios, wrote this week.

The massive markdown is causing some observers to pause and reflect on the current state of tech. The mood has shifted: Our economic environment is less certain, and the ground on which the tech landscape stood is beginning to look, as tech executive and venture capitalist Dan Rose called it in a tweet, like an “abyss.”

https://www.cnn.com/markets/fear-and-greed

Fear & Greed Index

 

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/crypto-billionaires-vast-wealth-destroyed-183042529.html

Crypto Billionaires’ Vast Fortunes Are Destroyed in Weeks

Coinbase’s bonds have also plunged, recently trading in line with some of the riskiest junk-rated notes.

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/baby-formula-shortage-abbott-recall/629828/

America’s baby-formula shortage has gone from curious inconvenience to full-blown national crisis.

In many states, including Texas and Tennessee, more than half of formula is sold out in stores. Nationwide, 40 percent of formula is out of stock—a twenty-fold increase since the first half of 2021. As parents have started to stockpile formula, retailers such as Walgreens, CVS, and Target have all moved to limit purchases.

The everything shortage isn’t new. But rationing essentials for desperate parents? That’s a twisted turn in the story of American scarcity.

 

As someone who will retire in a few months, this are my two cents:
I am sure many people here have played the game of Jenga.
For those who have not, this is a game of wooden blocks which you use to build a tall tower. The game consists that each player take turns removing one block at the time.
With the first blocks nothing happens, the tower remains rigid. Eventually the tower begins to sway, a little at first then more and more with each block that is removed. Finally it reaches a point where no matter what you do, the tower comes crashing down.
In my humble little opinion, the western world has been playing Jenga with their economies far too long. This has been a fully bipartisan endeavor, and the economies are way too structurally damaged now. As bad as the economy is actually now, it may become worse.

As I mentioned I am close to retirement, but All the careful plans to have a comfortable income are being crushed. It is a harrowing feeling watching the depths of the economic abyss, and knowing that one more unfortunate event could send me crashing down.

https://www.riteaid.com/shop/jenga-...g&utm_term=4580771605519422&utm_content=Games

 

https://dnyuz.com/2022/05/13/the-worlds-a-mess-so-theyve-stopped-saving-for-tomorrow/

The World’s a Mess. So They’ve Stopped Saving for Tomorrow.

In a tumultuous time, many adults under 35 have stopped playing it safe. Instead of banking as much of their pay as they used to, they’re saving less, spending more and pursuing passion projects or risky careers.

 

https://dnyuz.com/2022/05/13/the-worlds-a-mess-so-theyve-stopped-saving-for-tomorrow/

The World’s a Mess. So They’ve Stopped Saving for Tomorrow.

In a tumultuous time, many adults under 35 have stopped playing it safe. Instead of banking as much of their pay as they used to, they’re saving less, spending more and pursuing passion projects or risky careers.

I don't know if I'll still be around ... but it would be interesting to see the results of today's young people attitude after a generation has passed ... The only thing that I can predict with more or less certainty, is the inevitable population collapse in the western world. This is already happening, so it's probably not fair of me calling it a prediction. Anyway, this is going to leave a void which is going to be filled with something else ... and God help us after that.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61490433

Germany beer bottle shortage: Industry warns of 'tense' situation

 

 

https://www.ocregister.com/2022/05/...-pent-up-inflation-driving-food-costs-higher/

With a gallon of milk up about 25% since before the pandemic, and retail bacon 35% higher, it’s hard to imagine how US food inflation could get any worse. But evidence suggests that even higher prices are on the horizon.
...
Take the case of Jeff Good, who co-founded three restaurants in Jackson, Mississippi. Around 18 months ago, a 40-pound box of chicken wings cost him about $85. Now, it can go as high as roughly $150. Expenses for cooking oil and flour have nearly doubled in the past five months, he said. But it’s not just ingredient prices going up. He’s paying more for labor and services, too. Even the company that maintains his air conditioners has tacked on a $40 fuel charge per visit. To cope, he’s raised menu prices.

A 15-piece order of chicken wings, a signature dish at his Sal and Mookie’s pizzeria, went for $13.95 before Covid hit. Now, wing costs can vary so much they’re labeled at “market price,” like some restaurants do with lobster. At peaks, the menu price can be be about $27.95 — but that represents a barely-there margin — and Good estimates the “real cost” is closer to about $34. He’s trying to decide whether to keep raising prices or take wings off the menu.

“We have never, ever seen anything like what we’re seeing right now,” said Good, who opened his restaurants nearly 30 years ago.

 

https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/107984/E56303.pdf

Infant feeding in emergencies

 

Those rates will cost new home buyers plenty over the life of the mortgage.

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/08/1091...buying-a-home-has-become-a-lot-more-expensive

Well, they will cost more until the rates go back down and a refinance makes sense.

This is really a good deal for those with cash or solid income looking for a house in the near future. High interest = cheap houses.

 

Higher rates won’t create more housing supply. If fact higher rates might increase building costs, restricting supply even more. I hope prices are constrained but I don't see cheap happening anytime, anywhere soon.

 

Higher rates won’t create more housing supply. If fact higher rates might increase building costs, restricting supply even more. I hope prices are constrained but I don't see cheap happening anytime, anywhere soon.

Housing prices are ultimately limited by mortgage lending standards and incomes. Houses will still need to be sold. People die, lose jobs, downsize, upsize, etc. Houses will always be sold. No matter how restricted the supply is, lower demand (inability to obtain large mortgages) will push prices down.

 

Housing prices are ultimately limited by mortgage lending standards and incomes. Houses will still need to be sold. People die, lose jobs, downsize, upsize, etc. Houses will always be sold. No matter how restricted the supply is, lower demand (inability to obtain large mortgages) will push prices down.

Normally I would agree with you but we live in strange financial times.

https://time.com/nextadvisor/mortgages/mortgage-news/when-will-home-prices-drop/
Waiting For Home Prices to Drop? ‘You’ll Likely Be Waiting for a Long Time,’ Experts Say

While price growth is likely to slow, that doesn’t mean prices will drop. They’ll just go up by less than the current rate, perhaps by closer to 3% rather than 20%, experts say. Freddie Mac predicted home price growth will slow this year, from 17.8% last year to 10.4% in 2022 and 5% next year. “Firstly, demand for homeownership has to fall,” Losey says. “If that happens and in any particular market there is able to be more of a balance between the demand for homeownership and the accompanying supply of homes, price growth should certainly moderate. Not to say that home prices would decline, but the rate of growth should certainly decline.”

To actually drop, there would have to be some changes on the supply side – an influx of newly built houses, or a lot of people moving out and not just into other single-family homes. “You’re still going to have the inventory constrained across the country, so prices will probably moderate,” Green says. “I don’t see them coming down in any material manner in the coming months absent there being a true shock to the system, a really bad recession or something like that.”