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Key inflation indicator surges 18% in 2024. Fed admits it is powerless to help?

Photo above - no, you CAN'T use the public space in front of city hall. Tent squatters have called dibs.

It was AMAZING that the Fed decided inflation was licked 2 months ago. Just before the election. They began cutting rates. The stock market soared.

That was yesterday. This month, 30 days after Kamala lost, the Fed has again turned bearish. Not so many rate cuts coming ahead. Inflation probably not licked. The markets crashed on cue.

Housing is still unaffordable. Homelessness up 18%. See link below.

People who took “economics 101”, or simply skimmed the pamphlet “economics for dummies” may already be already aware home building doesn't take off when interest rates get jacked up by government agencies. All rate hikes do is convince people who already HAVE an affordable mortgage is to hang onto their home, and not move. Who in their right mind would jump out of a 3% mortgage into a 7.5% mortgage?

Okay, so homelessness is up. Home construction is down. This was President Bidens big opportunity, as he prepares to leave office under a cloud called Bidenomics. The president COULD have issued an executive order to help housing construction. To sweep away red tape, pointless zoning restrictions, and layers of fees and permits. But clearly the lame duck president has higher priorities. Forgiving more student loans. Because those folks actually vote. The homeless? Not so much into voting. Spare change is top of mind. I’m just pointing out the obvious here.

Last week’s loan forgiveness was cleverly targeted to fall into the laps of 55,000 federal employees. Because, you know . . . the government takes care of its own first. The December giveaway was $4 billion. Someone who doesn't even have $4,000, let alone $4 billion, will now start singing and dancing and clapping. “$4 billion is a drop in the bucket of federal spending. You can’t end homelessness with that."

No, you can't. But it could have purchased 40,000 mobile homes. Or constructed 20,000 apartments. That wouldn’t have fixed everything, certainly. But it would have made more sense that sending government checks to people already sleeping indoors, with heat and electricity.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

[i]US homelessness up 18% as affordable housing remains out of reach for many people

Biden-Harris Administration Approves Additional $4.28 Billion in Student Debt Relief for Nearly 55,000 Public Service Workers | U.S. Department of Education
[/i]

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Onestarlitnight

They keep throwing money at student loans to buy votes but it doesn’t solve the problem which is high interest rates and penalties.
Student loans average around 100 billion dollars annually with current debt at well over a trillion dollars!
Forgiveness of some of that debt doesn’t help the borrowers who will face the same challenges five, ten or twenty years from now unless we change the system!!

We need to make all student loans federal, recognizing the need for an educated populous! And these loans need to be dischargable in bankruptcy with conditions!

And NO CO-SIGNERS!! Parents shouldn’t have to take responsibility for the debt of their ADULT children PERIOD!!

But the loans need to be structured in a way that makes sense!!
Cap interest rates at the level of annual inflation rates plus half a percentage point, place a HARD CAP on interest at a level equal to one and a half times the original loan amount! Including penalties! That way the loan amount will stop increasing if the borrower has trouble paying it down!!

Next, ELIMINATE current loan balances where the debt holder has already paid the full amount of the principal MINUS penalties and interest and where the debt has been in existence for more than ten years. Next freeze or reduce current loan balances to a level equivalent to the values laid out in the new program less any payments already made.

Fix the problem! Don’t just pass it down to the next generation of taxpayers

View 2 more replies »

independentone · M

@LeopoldBloom Weren't those great times, I went to Long Beach State, and it was 75 bucks a semester.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@Onestarlitnight i'm not sure what making "all student loans federal" is supposed to solve.

would america be a better place if all mortgages were provided by the government?

Onestarlitnight

@SusanInFlorida
It would remove for profit financing and provide a single regulatory framework for student loans. The government controls the majority of the student loan market right now so this is only a minor change,
As far as mortgage loans, sure, make them all federal loans with a tiered rate schedule and ban the trading of mortgage backed derivatives in all forms.
This is probably where we’re heading anyway, the system is broken and it’s not going to work anymore.

LeopoldBloom · M

If the problem is high interest rates, you're not going to solve that by "sweeping away red tape, pointless zoning restrictions, and layers of fees and permits," many of which are local, not federal. Those restrictions and permits exist for a reason, by the way. No, it's not evil anti-capitalists seeking to hinder development in the name of the spotted owl or the snail darter. It's to keep Blackrock from building an apartment complex next door to you or a rendering plant next to your elementary school.

Also, it's not the Democrats complaining about free housing for the homeless.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@LeopoldBloom nobody says free housing is the answer. homeless is best tackled by reining in narcotics, treating mental health issues, and building affordable housing for low and middle income citizens.

LeopoldBloom · M

@SusanInFlorida How do we "rein in narcotics?" The War on Drugs has been going on for decades, with no apparent effect other than filling up our prisons.

Treating mental health issues would require a massive increase in taxpayer-funded facilities. Everybody says "treat the mentally ill" until they have to pay for it. Right now, the biggest provider of mental health services is the penal system. Try running for office on the platform of letting people out of prison and putting them in mental institutions and see what happens.

Affordable housing is a great idea. Who pays for this? Where do we put it? You can't just build high-density apartments in cheap exurban areas, because people have to be able to get to work. So this would entail a better public transportation system in most places. And if you bring up "15 minute cities," people start screaming about the government stopping you from leaving your neighborhood.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@LeopoldBloom @LeopoldBloom clearly jailing street dealers is ineffective. I'd try several other approaches.

1. agressively investigate and prosecute police who are being bribed to allowe/facilitate drug dealing in their jurisdictions

2. enhanced border security with mexico to confiscate narcotics

3. same with container ships from asia and the middle east

4. sink cartel cocaine submarines on sight

5. end economic aid to nations which export drugs to the USA - Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

Last week’s loan forgiveness was cleverly targeted to fall into the laps of 55,000 federal employees. Because, you know . . . the government takes care of its own first.

Hmm . . I wonder if you have ever been in the position of potentially not having your salary paid because people are playing politics with public money.

And yes, the president could have lifted every planning restriction under the sun, but there is no evidence that this would encourage any but social housing projects to increase completions (and therefore it would have negiglible impact on house price inflation). In a market in which the private sector exercises a virtual monopoly, there really is little economic incentive to change the status quo.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@SunshineGirl please give a specific instance where government employees didn't get paychecks, at any time in history.

in the meantime, the value of our paychecks is eroded due to constant inflation.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@SusanInFlorida Paying people for services already performed absolutely should be the first call on the government budget.

I am glad if non-payment of salaries has never bevome a reality, but it is absurd that the possibility is a regular occurence.

whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

Actually, in the US ecvironment, Biden signing an exec order wouldnt have helped.. Because much of the US problem is the corporate buy ups of housing stocks and that would have continued. There are things he could have done. but the lead times were too long, or they would have been deemed "socialist" or both..The fact is building housing where it was needed in the quantities required is too expensive. What corporate greed had not killed off, Covid did..😷

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@whowasthatmaskedman everyone keeps posting this. nobody has a link with numbers.

the ball is in your court. duck it, or hit it back.

whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

@SusanInFlorida Fair enough. I will chicken out and duck it. (see what I did there?) Its straight economics and a common problem in western democracies post covid. Its cash looking for an asset to buy as a safe haven with the share market and gold so high.. But frankly the full explanantion is so long and convoluted I cant be bothered laying it all out. Safe to say that because of deregulation it is more extreme in America than most other places..😷

Convivial · 26-30, F

Capitalism at work... They made education a business rather than a right.

DonaldTrumpet · 70-79, M

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@DonaldTrumpet best reply of the thread

DonaldTrumpet · 70-79, M

@SusanInFlorida THnKx U Hummz

This comment is hidden. Show Comment

independentone · M

@Gibbon You're old, if you haven't provided for yourself, why are you now dependent for anything?

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