The Biden Presidency 2021

Quote: missedhervee

Seems to me that the question is very personal and applies only to the person asking the question: ".

I agree with that. Until otherwise proven that there is some specific meaning, we all decide if life is meaningful. And how meaningful it may be to us.

Quote: missedhervee

Pragmatic perhaps, but is it desirable to limit the scope of your concern to your lifetime only?

Were that so why then would people put so much effort into reproducing and trying to ensure that their offspring survive and if possible flourish?

Isn't "the meaning of life" to reproduce and ensure the survival of your offspring?

It's good for the ego too as it gives people a sort of hedge against death and dying, the idea being that "a part of them" can continue to live on after they perish.

A single person can probably get away with harboring your attitude but a good parent will work for and be concerned about both the present and the future.

The, "Meaning of Life," is whatever you decide that it is. If you want to make an argument that the continued propagation of the human race is a worth goal in and of itself, then you can, but nobody has ever given me a compelling reason for why that might be the case.

Good parents just teach their kids critical thinking skills (in my opinion) so they can come up with their own worldview when the time comes for them to consider such questions. I obviously don't tell the kids that life does not have much in the way of inherent meaning, in my opinion.

The April Producer Price Index, year to year inflation rate of 6.17% was the largest since the data were first calculated in 2010.

"On an unadjusted basis, the final demand index moved up 6.2 percent for the 12 months ended in April, the largest advance since 12-month data were first calculated in November 2010" -BLS

Monthly Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) for April 2021, increased 0.9%. The highest increase in 39 years.

Annual CPI increased 3.0%. Highest rate in 25 years.

"The increase in the annual headline 2021 CPI rate was the fastest since September 2008, while the monthly gain in core inflation was the largest since 1981."

Neel Kaskari, President of the Minneapolis Fed, says this inflation is transitory. Hope so, but the recovery is just getting started.

If the Fed is forced to raise interest rates, it could cause a stock market correction.

Quote: Tanko

The April Producer Price Index, year to year inflation rate of 6.17% was the largest since the data were first calculated in 2010.

"On an unadjusted basis, the final demand index moved up 6.2 percent for the 12 months ended in April, the largest advance since 12-month data were first calculated in November 2010" -BLS

Monthly Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) for April 2021, increased 0.9%. The highest increase in 39 years.

Annual CPI increased 3.0%. Highest rate in 25 years.

"The increase in the annual headline 2021 CPI rate was the fastest since September 2008, while the monthly gain in core inflation was the largest since 1981."

Neel Kaskari, President of the Minneapolis Fed, says this inflation is transitory. Hope so, but the recovery is just getting started.

If the Fed is forced to raise interest rates, it could cause a stock market correction.

Yawn
Stock market is up today
Pent up demand will drive a thriving economy
I'm certainly enjoying the market
Making more then I am spending
Doesn't get better then that
Life is good

What goes up

Must come down

Yesterday, Esther George, president of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, said “I am not inclined to dismiss today’s pricing signals or to be overly reliant on historical relationships and dynamics in judging the outlook for inflation”.

Which is word salad for “We’re going to see a surge in inflation”.

The Velocity of Money, the pulse of the economy, is at a record low. It began to decline just after NAFTA, then accelerated its decline, starting in 1999, when China was admitted into the WTO, and millions of American jobs and trillions in wealth started to move out of the country. Beginning in 2010, when the Fed bypassed natural market forces with $4 trillion in QE, it declined faster than at any time in the previous fifty years. That decline is the main reason we didn’t see rampant inflation from the QE. Economic activity declined despite all that cash being injected into it. It is still declining, even as the Fed continues to spend $120 billion per month on bond purchases. Normally, inflation picks up as money velocity increases. Today, we’re seeing inflation as M2V is decreasing. M2V picked up slightly in early 2017, only to begin declining again in the second quarter of 2019. Then it fell off the cliff, three years faster than it would have, due to the pandemic. That short one minute uptick in Q4 2020, was due to consumers spending their stimulus checks. The hoped for, post pandemic economic boom, could end up being more like a bounce.

I agree with an analysis I heard that Biden has put Harris in possibly unenviable positions with his two public assignments. I'll be interested to see how she handles those situations overall in the long run, whether she shows any progress at all. Her success as a future candidate will probably hinge on how she handles it, even if she is unable to show significant work result then she can still show merit in how she deals with it.

I suspect she is grinding her teeth at night though.

16 years of Bushes/Trump vs. 4 months of Biden vs. 16 years of Clinton/Obama



Hot damn, GOP presidents suck!

Just checked my bank acct on a whim today
Wow, more money
WTF
I see over 2k from the IRS
I had to look this up in the news
Looks like a tax refund on unemployment benefits from last year
Yippee
I love free unexpected money
This and my SSA monthly, govt treating me well
On top of that, stock market roaring
Wealth is increasing during my retirement
Life is good

Ditto.

Given my frugal nature it sometimes seems I've got more money than god can count.

Work diligently, save, invest, retire: ka-ching, hello, Easy Street!