Prickly City by Scott Stantis for May 15, 2024

WIN was loser Republican Gerald Ford’s thing, our only unelected president.

Did you hear that lying criminal Trump called Jimmy Carter the worst president ever when the historians have rated liar Trump as the worst USA president?

I think I still have a Whip Inflation Now button, probably with my Goldwater and Nixon/Lodge buttons. Yes, I was once a Republican, but that was before T-Rump ruined the GOP and forced me to do something I never dreamed I could: vote for a Democrat for President.

Even back then, Republicans could not figure out how to govern with more complexity than bumper stickers.

Now, they no longer even try.

So what does Stantis was the President to do about the CEO controlled inflation?

Smelly punchline. The pandemic, combined with all the giveaways, caused global inflation.

The irony being that President Carter wound up being blamed for the inflation that started with Nixon and Ford? And the recent spate of inflation started with Trump?

I also don’t know what other people are experiencing, but for me, prices are pretty much back to where they were, at least my grocery bill is.

And if inflation is that bad, maybe stop paying for everything with a card that adds 4% to the price. I don’’t think I have ever heard anybody suggest that as a contributing factor, and it’s so obvious. But I guess inflation that’s imposed by private banks for no good reason is fine, because private banks are Holy Capitalists.

“The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then they get elected and prove it.” — P. J. O’Rourke

W.I.N. Stagflation. Ah, the good old days.

Very timely as the Cpi release shows continued improvement.

Historically, America has always encountered periods of inflation and other economic crises and has recovered very well and in a relatively short period of time. Historically, any country that succumbs to authoritarianism tends not to recover from that without prolonged hardship if it recovers at all . Think about that when you cast your vote.

The annualized inflation rate is just under 3.5% now. Under Ford it was 8%. Also, it came and went pretty quickly under Biden, but really lingered under Ford. (For so long that they had time to come up with a slogan and print “WIN” buttons.)

By Vivien Lou Chen at Market Watch updated ~30 minutes ago

All three major U.S. stock indexes finished at their highest-ever levels on Wednesday, fueled by signs of slowing inflation on a monthly basis in April’s consumer price index.

It was the first time since March 21 that all three indexes reached record closing highs on the same day.

The Dow Jones finished up by 349.89 points, or 0.9%, at 39,908, based on preliminary data. It surpassed its prior record closing high of 39,807.37, reached on March 28.The S&P 500 closed up by 61.47 points, or 1.2%, at 5,308,15. It finished above its prior record closing high of 5,254.35, also reached on March 28.The Nasdaq Composite ended up by 231.21 points, or 1.4%, at 16,742.39 — above its prior record closing high of 16,511.18, which was hit on Tuesday.“The April inflation reading is the first good data point for the Fed this year," said Mace McCain, chief investment officer at Frost Investment Advisors, which manages $5.1 billion in assets from San Antonio, Texas.

In an email, McCain said "this report comes on the heels of first-quarter numbers that threw a wrench in the Fed’s plans to ease rates early in 2024… Rates at present level are slowing the economy.”

This is not good news for RWNJ MAGA Trump-fluffers, it is not good for Trump and his campaign, and if it results in one or more cuts by the Fed in interest rates prior to 11/7/2024 it will be REALLY good for “Bidenomics”.

From Jim Wright, Stonekettle Station:

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Republicans tell you that the world is in crisis. America, Republicans tell us, is on the brink of destruction, invasion, and ruin. Woe! Woe! Panic! Worry! War! Woe! SOMETHING MUST BE DONE RIGHT NOW!And yet, somehow, they’re managed to accomplish exactly dick legislation wise and don’t appear to have any sort of urgency to actually DO anything in any fashion, AND they’ve seemly got plenty of time to hang out on a sidewalk in New York like some sort of groupie for a really, really sh!tty band.Remember this, come November.