1. Supply Inflation - Since 90% of our supplies are manufactured by China, and they have been shutting thr country down every time someone gets COVID the past several years, it shuts down manufacturing and shipping, This causes months of delays, so IF there are still Widget A in stock in the USA, the price climbs because there are few of them and no guarantee of when we will bet more. Solution…bring manufacturing back to USA p, BUT not so fast. Workers in in China make A lot less than workers in USA, so that would send the prices of our products even more. No easy solution.

2. When FEDs raise interest rates, then when banks loan money it costs the consumer more for that product (aka mortgages, etc). Thereby, consumers stop purchasing those products and the prices then have to drop to compete with the shrinking group of purchasers that can still afford to purchase. It slows down the economic engine, so prices have to come down to try an attract buyers that have been pushed out of the market. It’s a fine line…reduce consumer spending without pushing the econ9my into a recession. The number to watch is unemployment. There has never been a recession with low unemployment. People are working, so we aren’t in a recession. If unemployment goes from 3% to 5%: then long term hurt on the horizon. So farm things are looking very good…gas is down, and some other prices down. It’s working.

3. Take responsibility for yourself. No one forced anyone to take drugs. Not even your doctor. Several times I’ve had doctors try to prescribe a pill and I say, “No” and I ask the alternative. Like too high of blood pressure, or glucose….losing weight helped me being the numbers back to normal. If a person is abusing a pill, it’s the person taking the pills fault. No one else. Take response your actions. Also, read up on stuff you put in your mouth. Read articles from the Mayo or Cleveland clinic, or WebMD about the product or issue. Educate yourself on alternatives. It’s your body, and YOUR responsibility what you ingest into it. BTW…”happiness” is a choice. Either you see the glass half-full, or you see the glass half-empty. Same two people looking at the exact same glass, and see something different. It’s not the glass fault….it’s you perspective. Change your perspective (turn lemons into lemonade in your head) and you’ll change your life.

Precisely...

I stopped reading after this:

"For months, the world’s largest economy has been teetering on the brink of collapse because America’s latter-day robber barons can’t comprehend that workers sometimes get sick."

:icon_bored:::popcorn:

My company has found and implemented a solution, we have no set number of vacation or sick days, we have a quoted number of billable hours that must be reached and it is that simple.

Excellent Response!
We are a spoiled generation..

God Bless

Excellent

Raising the interest rate to cool off our super-heated economy is the only solution to inflation. This is a global situation, and our government is doing the right thing, although it is painful.

I'll take a shot at that. Supply inflation is caused by the higher cost of a barrel of oil due to Russia's war with Ukraine. Also, China mismanaged its Covid problem which leaves fewer imports from China which drives up prices, resulting in increased inflation. The answer to the 2nd question is that the FED uses its only tool, the prime interest rate increases, to make large companies and home buyers pay more for loans thus discouraging building more factories and homes. The ripple effect is like applying BRAKES to the general overheated economy. Thus hoping to cool the general economy down. many experts think that the FED began the BRAKING too LATE this time and now may NOT get it exactly right - thus driving the economy into a recession. Historically, the FED has misjudged roughly 80% of the time.

As to "happy pills"........I believe that the Pharmaceutical Industry got EXTRA greedy and OVERHYPED oxycodone. Then China and maybe Mexico wanted to cause chaos and make drug money in the US and ended up supplying Fentanyl, which has succeeded in killing a whole middle age demographic group in the US. Lots of ruined lives!!!!!!!

With respect to # 1 .....The US could make products at prices competitive with China. Shipping costs would be saved. The US would need to be to invest further in A.I. and automated manufacturing, which it will have to do in the future anyway. Right now CEOs are reluctant to change away from outsourcing to China and other countries because they are making solid profits from outsourcing as it exists and CHANGE is always difficult.
One big mistake that the US made a few decades ago was moving R +D out of the Universities and into the various industries. Also, everyone knows that China steals our technology. WE built up China into a world power, now we have to deal with the Frankenstein's monster of our own creation.

Hard times make for hard people. Hard people make for soft times. Soft times make for soft people. Soft people make for hard times.....

We are entering the last phase of the cycle folks. Might be there for a while.

The other solution to cool off the economy would be for our govt to stop running a huge deficit.

Spending public money is popular , never fail , tactic for political success, cut social spending ? ,raise taxes ? , businesses move " offshore" to lower expenses / prices, first it was manufacturing, when's the last time you called customer services and talked to someone who's first language was english,, "one's demeanor at the feast depends on who's ox was gored to provide said feast"

We are reducing the deficit NOW. 1.4 Trillion reduction this year.

Why don't you tell the whole story? The deficit for FY 2021 was $2.8T. The deficit for FY 2022 was $1.4T. So, instead of spending $2.8T more than the amount of tax revenue in FY 2021, the government only spent $1.4T more than the amount of tax revenue in FY 2022. Yes, I guess that is a $1.4T reduction in the deficit. The government only collected $4.9T in taxes for FY 2022 and they spent $6.3T. Doesn't sound so great anymore, does it? Numbers are meaningless without context.

It is a shame the people in charge don't have any idea how to run a business, or even a household budget.