Idelto

Cryptocurrency news website

Biden Administration

230 Economists Warn the US Government’s Proposed Inflation Reduction Act Will Fuel Inflation

by

230 Economists Warn the US Government's Proposed Inflation Reduction Act Will Fuel Inflation

Last week, Democrats unveiled climate and health care legislation called the “Inflation Reduction Act,” and there’s a lot of debate over the name of the proposed public policy measures. After the legislation was revealed, 230 economists sent a letter to the country’s House and Senate leaders warning that the proposed policies will actually fuel inflation. The letter stresses that there is an urgent need to curb America’s inflationary pressures, ​​but further notes the “‘Inflation Reduction Act of 2022’ is a misleading label applied to a bill that would likely achieve the exact opposite effect.”

230 Economists Tell House and Senate Leaders That the Proposed Climate and Health Care Legislation Is Not a Good Idea While the US Faces ‘Dangerous Crossroads’

Inflation has been high in 2022 and the Federal Reserve has been trying to curb the problem by raising the federal funds rate. There’s been a lot of debate over whether or not the U.S. is in a recession after two consecutive quarters of negative gross domestic product (GDP) growth. On Friday, there was some positive news, as the latest U.S. jobs report indicated that 528,000 jobs were added in July and unemployment data slid to pre-pandemic levels.

Amid the Ukraine-Russia war, tensions between China and Taiwan, and a gloomy global economy, U.S. Democrats have introduced new legislation to address climate change and health care called the Inflation Reduction Act. Democrats claim that the legislation will “make a historic down payment on deficit reduction to fight inflation.” The $739 billion Inflation Reduction Act package recently got the green light from U.S. politicians Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer. The Arizona Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema was the last to show support for the proposed climate and health care legislation.

The politicians sponsoring the initiative also insist the policies will “invest in domestic energy production and manufacturing, and reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40 percent by 2030.” The act will be voted on Saturday and many people believe the legislation’s label is inaccurate and misleading. In fact, 230 economists wrote a letter to Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, and Kevin McCarthy to tell them that the bill would increase inflation.

“At a time when the economy already faces supply/demand imbalances, the residual effects of stimulus, labor shortages, and supply chain disruptions, this bill would compound rather than alleviate many of these problems,” the letter states. The economists’ letter to the House and Senate leaders adds:

In particular, its $433 billion in proposed government spending would create immediate inflation pressures by boosting demand, which the supply-side tax hikes would constrain supply by discouraging investment draining the private sector of much-need resources.

Redditors From r/Economy Subreddit Openly Mock Analysis by the Global Warming Advocacy Group That Claims Inflation Reduction Act Will Help Americans Save Money

Of course, Democrats, left-leaning media publications, and non-profit think tanks have stated that the Inflation Reduction Act would reduce inflation and allegedly lead to savings. A Yahoo Finance article written by Akiko Fujita attempts to prove the bill will help Americans save money by citing a new analysis published by the non-profit group Rewiring America.

The 501(c)(3) Rewiring America is a global warming advocacy group managed by Arabella Advisors. The Washington, D.C.-based for-profit consulting company Arabella controls the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the New Venture Fund, the Hopewell Fund, and the Windward Fund. Arabella itself was founded by the former Clinton administration appointee Eric Kessler.

While the analysis asserts the Inflation Reduction Act could lead to $1,800 in savings for the average household, a significant majority of Redditors from the subreddit r/economy did not agree with Rewiring America’s claims. One person quoted Rewiring America’s modern home installation requirements, and stressed: “How the f*** can a low-income household afford these?” The person who posted the article to r/economy replied to the individual by saying it was “typical government idiocy.” The Redditor added:

The entire green movement is a money grab for this generation.

Many other Redditors discussed how politicians have a “higher than the average” point of view when it comes to what is perceived as “low income” in the United States. “Just skimming through the article shows that the ‘$1,800’ in savings the average household would ‘get’ is actually tax breaks for low-income families to install more efficient electrical equipment. Is this a joke?” another Redditor asked.

“Unfortunately for us, it isn’t a joke,” the thread’s author wrote in response to the joke question.

Republican Senators have made it clear that Joe Manchin’s and Chuck Schumer’s Inflation Reduction Act reforms deal will not get traction from the right-leaning party. “Senator Manchin, if you think you’re gonna get 60 votes to get the sweeteners that can’t be done in reconciliation, you need to think long and hard about what you’re doing,” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wrote on Friday.

What do you think about the letter 230 economists sent to House and Senate leaders about the proposed Inflation Reduction Act? Let us know your thoughts about this subject in the comments section below.

Fear of War, Monkeypox Causes Stock and Crypto Markets to Churn While Precious Metal Spike Higher

by

Fear of War, Monkeypox Causes Equity and Crypto Markets to Churn While Precious Metal Spike Higher

Stock and cryptocurrency markets on Thursday saw volatility, after experiencing fluctuations during the tensions between China and Taiwan on Tuesday and Wednesday. Major indexes like the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and NYSE have shed a few percentages today, while the global cryptocurrency market capitalization lost 2.5% in 24 hours, dropping to just above the $1.1 trillion range. Precious metals, on the other hand, traded higher as U.S. president Joe Biden’s administration declared the Monkeypox virus a public health emergency in the United States.

China and Taiwan Tensions and Monkeypox Reports Cause Stock and Crypto Prices to Fluctuate, Precious Metal Markets Rise Catching ‘Safe-Haven Demand’

Stock and crypto traders faced some headwinds on August 4, the day after the American representative from California, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan to discuss democracy with the Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen. Global markets saw some fluctuations before the U.S. diplomat visited Taipei and during the visit on Wednesday as well.

Equities and precious metals markets slid the day before on August 3, while the crypto economy managed to consolidate for another day. U.S. equities markets took a dip again on Thursday as the Dow Jones dropped 85 points lower during the afternoon (EST) trading sessions. Cryptocurrencies followed the drop in stock markets during the course of the day.

While Nasdaq was up, the S&P 500, NYSE, and many other stocks saw losses during the course of the afternoon trading sessions. The crypto economy saw losses as well, as the entire lot of digital assets lost 2.5% in the last 24 hours against the U.S. dollar.

Fear of War, Monkeypox Causes Equity and Crypto Markets to Churn While Precious Metal Spike Higher

The leading crypto asset bitcoin (BTC) slipped 5% on Thursday afternoon from $23,548 to $22,395 in value. Ethereum (ETH) too lost 5% today after tapping a 24-hour high at $1,666 per unit down to a low of $1,545 per coin. Out of the top ten crypto market cap contenders, solana (SOL) lost the most losing 5.6% during the day and polkadot (DOT) shed 5.5%.

In Europe, the Ukraine-Russia war rages on and tensions between China and Taiwan have escalated this week. While Asia deals with the tensions, Europe is dealing with an energy crisis and a recession. The U.S. is also dealing with what many believe is a recession even though American bureaucrats and their experts have stated otherwise.

On Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department published the weekly jobless claims data, which notes claims increased by 6,000 to 260,000. As the weekend approaches, stock traders have been interested in America’s July jobs report, which is due to be published on Friday. A couple of hours before the closing bell on Thursday, a few of the top Wall Street indexes like the Dow, and the S&P 500 rebounded slightly. By the end of Wall Street’s trading day on Thursday, three out of the four major indexes were down.

Meanwhile, gold and silver markets saw some relief on Thursday as both assets climbed higher. Gold’s price per ounce jumped 1.64%, while silver’s value per ounce against the U.S. dollar increased 1.04%. On August 4, Kitco’s Jim Wyckoff attributed the precious metals spike to tensions in Asia when he said that gold and silver prices were higher in the U.S. due to “on safe-haven demand as China-Taiwan-U.S. tensions have escalated this week.”

Furthermore, on Thursday, reports detail that the U.S. has officially declared the virus Monkeypox a public health emergency. The Washington Post (WP) reporter Dan Diamond explained that “two officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity” said that the Biden administration would declare monkeypox an outbreak and a public health emergency. Diamond wrote that the message would stem from the White House Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra.

Following the report, Becerra ended up declaring monkeypox a public health emergency in the U.S., during an afternoon news briefing. “We’re prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus, and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously,” the health secretary stressed to the press.

What do you think about the stock and crypto market action on Thursday while gold and silver prices saw some gains? Let us know your thoughts about this subject in the comments section below.

Biden Administration Accused of Propaganda and ‘Redefining’ a Recession’s Technical Definition

by

Biden Administration Accused of Propaganda and 'Redefining' a Recession's Technical Definition

After people have accused bureaucrats and government agencies of changing definitions during the last few years, Joe Biden’s administration now claims that a second consecutive quarter of negative gross domestic product (GDP) does not indicate the U.S. is in a recession. This is despite the fact that two negative GDPs have always been considered a recession in the eyes of economists worldwide for years. Furthermore, U.S. treasury secretary Janet Yellen now insists that two declining GDPs is “not the technical definition.”

White House Claims Two Consecutive Quarters of Falling GDP Does Not Constitute a Recession

This week market analysts, news outlets, and economists are accusing the White House of “Soviet-level propaganda” after the Biden administration redefined the technical definition of a recession. On July 21, 2022, the Biden administration published a blog post called “How do economists determine whether the economy is in a recession?”

“While some maintain that two consecutive quarters of falling real GDP constitute a recession, that is neither the official definition nor the way economists evaluate the state of the business cycle,” the White House report says.

Furthermore, a few days later, the White House published another blog post that says U.S. treasury secretary Janet Yellen also claims that two declining GDPs in a row is not the correct definition. Yellen appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with Chuck Todd and when he asked: “If the technical definition is two-quarters of contraction, you’re saying that’s not a recession?”

“That’s not the technical definition,” Yellen replied. “There is an organization called the National Bureau of Economic Research that looks at a broad range of data in deciding whether or not there is a recession. And most of the data that they look at right now continues to be strong. I would be amazed if they would declare this period to be a recession, even if it happens to have two-quarters of negative growth. We have a very strong labor market. when you are creating almost 400,000 jobs a month, that is not a recession.”

Yellen and the Biden administration’s recession arguments are not being taken too kindly, as many people have said that two declining GDPs equals a recession and have said so for decades. Investopedia defines a recession as “two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth as measured by a country’s gross domestic product.” Many other economic resources and textbooks declare that it is the technical definition of a recession, despite the bureaucrats’ comments.

Gold bug and economist Peter Schiff mocked Yellen’s definition on Twitter when he said: “According to Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen, even if the U.S. economy experiences two consecutive quarters of negative GDP, the economy won’t be in recession. Bust is the new boom. Will she be singing the same tune after GDP drops more in Q3 than either of the first two quarters?”

Redefining Vaccination to Economic Definitions Showcases Similarities to Orwell’s 1984

Northman Trader’s Sven Henrich predicted that politicians would change the definition on July 6, and the Trends Journal trends forecaster Gerald Celente said the same thing when Bitcoin.com News interviewed him on July 9.

Will O’Grady, a Republican National Committee spokesperson explained on Monday that “redefining” the definition of a recession showcases how “out of touch” Biden’s team is with Americans.

“Joe Biden turned a recovery into a likely recession. Redefining the word will not fix the fact that Democrats wasted $1.9 trillion, resulting in skyrocketing costs for Americans. This further underscores how out of touch Biden and Democrats are with the pain families are feeling,” O’Grady stressed.

Republican Thomas Massie has also criticized the White House for attempting to change the technical definition of a recession and compared it to how bureaucrats worldwide changed the definition of a vaccine. “When the vaccines failed to prevent infection, they redefined vaccination,” Massie said on Monday. “When the economy fails to grow, they redefine recession.”

What do you think about the White House being accused of changing the definition of a recession? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Krugman Says He Was ‘Wrong About Inflation,’ Summers Talks Recession, Biden Criticized Over ‘Half-Truths and Fibs’

by

In mid-June red hot inflation reared its ugly head in America once again, as the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index (CPI) report indicated that inflation in June rose at the fastest pace in over 40 years. U.S. president Joe Biden has been in office for 18 months now, and media reports are beginning to note he was wrong about transitory inflation and his administration has made “dubious claims about inflation’s peak.” Meanwhile, the Biden administration and a few reports suggest there are “signs inflation may have peaked” in the U.S., as prices of commodities and oil have dropped in recent times.

Paul Krugman Says ‘I Was Wrong About Inflation,’ Larry Summers Claims ‘Odds Are Probably Better Than Half That a Recession Will Start Next Year’


On July 13, Bitcoin.com News reported on the June CPI report that noted inflation metrics that month reflected a 9.1% year-over-year increase. The increase in inflation in America recorded in June 2022 rose at the fastest pace since November 1981. The White House at the time noted that the CPI report was already out of date the day the Bureau of Labor published the data.

Following the latest CPI data, reports noted that West Virginia’s senator Joe Manchin snubbed Biden’s climate bill over inflationary concerns. While the sitting president has been criticized heavily for the inflation, on July 15, senior White House correspondent Alexander Nazaryan stressed in an editorial that inflation has become “Biden’s political nightmare.”

Inflation has jumped so high that the American economist and Nobel winner, Paul Krugman, wrote an article for the New York Times noting that he was “wrong about inflation.” Krugman specifically talked about the American Rescue Plan and he mentioned that some economists warned it would lead to rising inflation. Krugman said that he like many other Keynesian economists were more “relaxed” about the stimulus package.

“As it turned out, of course, that was a very bad call,” Krugman wrote on July 21.

Krugman also quickly mentioned Larry Summers, a former economic adviser to ex-president Barack Obama. Summers spoke about a recession recently at the Aspen Security Forum. Summers explained that the “odds are probably better than half that a recession will start next year.” The economist also touched upon the prices of crude oil and commodities, and further highlighted problems with “the geopolitical situation.”

“I think this will depend a lot on what happens outside the economic realm,” Summers said at the Aspen Security Forum. “It will also depend on how lucky and, you know, how skillful the [Federal Reserve] turns out to be … They’ve got a very, very difficult problem of balance in setting monetary policy, given the situation in which we find ourselves,” he added.

Biden’s ‘Half-Truths and Outright Fibs’ Called Out


A few recently published reports are started to call out the Biden administration’s “dubious claims about inflation’s peak.” For instance, Kevin A. Hasset, an author from nationalreview.com discussed Biden’s excuses and a “new all-time low for economic communication.”

“Biden is even claiming that two negative quarters in a row are not a recession,” Hasset writes. Hasset, a senior adviser to the National Review Capital Matters, concludes by saying “students of economic history know better. Indeed, there will be no controversy whatsoever when the story of this year is written, and that history is worth keeping in mind while the spin machine spins.”

On July 20, 2022, two opinion contributors for The Hill, EJ Antoni and Stephen Moore, published a post called “Biden’s six favorite lies about inflation and the economy.” The authors summarize “the most economically consequential deceptions of the Biden administration.”

Deceptions include telling people “Nobody making under four hundred thousand bucks will have their taxes raised,” which turned out to be false. The authors criticized the White House for saying inflation is worse everywhere except for the United States, and when Biden said the economy stalled when he entered office 18 months ago. Moore and Antoni accuse Biden of exaggerating like when the U.S. president told the press he was responsible for the strongest job creation economy in modern times.

“This is more an exaggeration than a bold-faced lie,” The Hill’s opinion contributors wrote. Lastly, the authors give Biden flak for saying American families are carry less debt and savings are up under his administration and how Biden has noted that he’s been doing everything he can to get gas prices lower.

“Perhaps none of these half-truths and outright fibs should be too surprising — What should we expect from the administration that first denied inflation, then said inflation was transitory, then claimed it was only a high-class problem?” the opinion authors conclude.

Meanwhile, Biden is also accused of telling people if they got vaccinated they would not catch Covid-19, at least four times in the past. Yet, the U.S. president is currently in isolation for contracting the illness after taking all of the recommended vaccinations and boosters.

Moreover, a report published by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) now claims “there are signs inflation may have peaked,” according to specific signals in the U.S. economy. The WSJ cites the chairman of Evercore ISI, Ed Hyman, when he “pointed to many indicators that 9.1% might have been the top.”

What do you think about Krugman’s latest article and Summer’s odds concerning a recession in the U.S.? What do you think about the flak U.S. president Joe Biden is getting for his statements about the economy? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

White House Reporter Says Inflation Has Become ‘Biden’s Political Nightmare’ as Critics Slam Government Spending

by

White House Reporter Says Inflation Has Become 'Biden's Political Nightmare' as Critics Slam Government Spending

While the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index (CPI) report indicates U.S. inflation has continued to print perpetual new highs, U.S. president Joe Biden is losing ground on his climate bill. The Biden administration’s recent budget negotiations and tactics toward dealing with inflation have been criticized by West Virginia’s senator Joe Manchin who thinks specific parts of the climate bill could wait. Amid the political tussle, the U.S. government and Federal Reserve have been accused of massive spending, as bureaucrats continue to fuel weapons contractors, war, and the Fed’s balance sheet has not been reduced.

Political Strategist Says Inflation Knocked the Biden Administration and Democrats Down, but Not Out


U.S. president Joe Biden and his administration have been catching a lot of flak over the most recent CPI report, which detailed consumer prices in June increased at the fastest yearly rate since 1981. In the United States, the cost of oil, gasoline, electricity, food, and cars has continued to rise month after month.

While noting that rising inflation has been an issue for Americans, The Hill opinion contributor, Brad Bannon, believes “inflation has knocked Democrats down — but not out.” In an opinion editorial, Bannon says that Republicans face “political headwinds” that could challenge the party’s prospects.

Despite the knockdown from inflation, Bannon claims that the “continued visibility of Trump,” and the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade may lead to Republicans failing to appeal to voters. “If that wasn’t enough, the ongoing congressional investigation of the failed Jan. 6 Capitol coup keeps Trump in the middle of the media screen when the GOP wants the focus to be fixed on the incumbent president,” Bannon wrote.

Senator Joe Manchin Claims ‘Inflation Is Absolutely Killing Many People’


The Biden administration is also dealing with senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), who explained to a West Virginia radio host on Friday, that he was still “engaged” in Biden’s budget negotiations. Manchin told the radio host that “inflation is absolutely killing many, many people,” and he’s been against specific parts of Biden’s climate plan.

“Can’t we wait to make sure that we do nothing to add to that?” Manchin asked on the radio program. The West Virginia Democrat stressed that inflation is a “clear and present danger to our economy.”

“No matter what spending aspirations some in Congress may have, it is clear to anyone who visits a grocery store or a gas station that we cannot add any more fuel to this inflation fire,” Manchin said. “We can’t afford mistakes in the highest inflation we’ve seen in 40 years,” the senator added.

On the same day, Biden conceded to the lack of backing he needs for the administration’s climate change legislation. Biden remarked, however, that he plans to use “every power” that he has as president to continue his fight against global warming.

Congress Increases Military Spending, Gives 1.7 Billion to Ukraine, Federal Reserve Accused of Not Tapering the Central Bank’s Balance Sheet


Amid the scorching hot inflation, government spending continues to rise higher and higher. While Biden and the Democrats fight with Republicans in front of the media, bipartisan efforts have fueled the American government’s expenditure a great deal.

The journalist Glenn Greenwald explained on Saturday how the “establishment wings” of the two bickering political parties seem to agree on military expenditure regularly without much debate. Greenwald highlighted how Biden requested $803 billion to fund military spending in 2023 and Congress “arbitrarily increased it by $37 billion, to $840 billion.”

Five days ago, the U.S. Treasury and the Agency for International Development (USAID) gave the Government of Ukraine another $1.7 billion in aid. Estimates show that the American government has given Ukraine at least $6.8 billion and other benefits like access to Mi-17 helicopters, M777 howitzers, MANPAD systems, anti-tank guided missiles and Cheetah, Javelin, MILAN, and Harpoon missiles as well.

In addition to the U.S. government’s spending, the country’s central bank has been accused of continuing to print massive sums of U.S. dollars as reports show the Federal Reserve’s assets grew by $4 [billion during] the past week to $8.896 [trillion].

At the end of June, the gold bug and economist Peter Schiff remarked that the Fed has not stopped expanding the balance sheet. Schiff has been a critic of the Fed for years and has always been quite vocal against excessive government spending.

“The Fed’s balance sheet just expanded for the third week in a row in June,” Schiff wrote on Twitter. “The rise of $1.9 billion increased the size of the Fed’s balance sheet to $8.934 trillion. I wonder when the Fed will stop creating inflation by ending [quantitative easing] and actually start fighting it by beginning [quantitative tightening].”

Although, some individuals have said the Fed’s balance sheet is shrinking correctly. “They need to keep buying because their assets mature,” one individual noted on Twitter. “They are buying less than is maturing to reach the planned balance sheet shrinkage. To follow it day by day you need to know the exact maturities, but it is definitely still shrinking at the correct rate.”

However, people disagreed with that assessment and stressed that the Fed has “shown repeatedly that they’re buying far more than their own estimates from March.” The Biden administration said after the CPI report came out that because gas prices have dropped the recent CPI numbers were already out-of-date.

High Gas Prices Push Americans Toward Clean Energy, Biden’s Administrations Inflation Arguments and Economic Remedies Have Not Convinced Americans Its the Right Direction


On the other hand, a video of Biden’s Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg during an interview shows Buttigieg bragging about how high gas prices are forcing Americans to lean toward electric vehicles. Jennifer Granholm, Biden’s Energy Secretary recently highlighted that the high gas prices are “accelerating our progress toward clean energy.”

Despite the White House saying the CPI numbers were out of date, Americans don’t seem to be convinced by the excuses. The New York Times published a national poll that shows three-quarters of the public believe the country is heading in the wrong direction.

A survey from the University of Michigan indicates that American citizens have one of the worst outlooks about the U.S. economy in years and another poll shows inflation is the biggest concern to date. In the midst of the gloomy economic outlook, the senior White House correspondent Alexander Nazaryan noted that inflation has become “Biden’s political nightmare.”

What do you think about the rising inflation in America and the flak Joe Biden and his administration have received over the gloomy economic outlook? Do you agree that inflation has become a ‘political nightmare’ for Biden? Let us know your thoughts about this subject in the comments section below.