It's the Economy, Stupid!

[Haighus]

Whilst on the subject of the economy, the Bank of England have officially declared the UK is in a wage-price spiral.

This shows how far their heads are up their own arses, as wages are nowhere near keeping up with inflation for the bottom 90% of earners, so clearly not driving inflation.

If anything, there is a profit-price spiral continuing to drive inflation beyond the supply-side shortages. Unfortunately, this is apparently beyond the capability of the BoE's neoliberal framework to consider, as profits are supposed to be solely and universally good, right? Inflation is happening, so the poors must be asking for too much and should be put back in their place to suck it up.

[herzlos]

I wonder if BoE is under some pressure to avoid admitting the real problems.

All I've found out about the current Governor Andrew Bailey is that he went to Queens College alongside a lot of MP's and has been pretty ineffective so far but is in a fixed 8-year term.

Certainly I've not seen anything that indicate wages are going up fast. The ONS confirms that in stating that reckons wages are down in real life terms, only increasing by about 3% (vs inflation of up to 11%):
www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/averageweeklyearningsingreatbritain/april2023

So I'm curious as to who's getting the epic pay rises, since MP's "only" got 2.9% (bringing them up to £86,584). I'm not *that* curious, because it's almost certainly bankers and lobbyists.

[Haighus]

Fair point. The BoE is supposed to be independent but I highly doubt they are.

[easye]

I am in the US, and we are having our semi-annual hostage negotiation over the debt ceiling. We got to skip it during the Trump years, but now that a Democrat is in charge we have to be deeply concerned about spending.

For the first time, I am actually a bit concerned. The leading R candidate for President, who is very popular in his party; is openly advocating for a default. I also have no faith in the skill or intelligence of the current House Speaker. Therefore, I feel like this might be the time where brinkmanship turns into a real crisis.

I might actually do some stocking up on essentials before June 1st. That is completely out-of-character for me.

[skyth]

Biden is apparently considering invoking the 14th amendment and just telling the treasury to pay the bills via executive order and ignore the debt ceiling as it's technically not Constitutional. The spending has already been approved by congress and the 14th says that the US debts can't be questioned.

Granted, this will lead to a court case and who knows if the activist judges on the Supreme Court will agree to a plain reading of the Constitution.

[easye]

I have heard this too.... but there is no reason to believe it anymore than believing he will cave to all of McCarthy's demands.

[Disciple of Fate]

If only certain posters were still here to remind us that the Republicans are just trying to hold the Democrats accountable for being fiscally irresponsible.

[Emblematic Wolfblade]

We all know that was just a lie for him to justify voting for republicans. The real question is if he knows it's a lie.

[Haighus]

Apparently now the Bank of England has stated they think the economy is slowing down because the City is not taking enough risks...


...Have they not heard of the 2008 financial crash?!

I think the BoE needs a reset.

[skyth]

Now the Republicans are admitting that they are holding the economy hostage to get their way. Gaetz was quoted as saying that he doesn't think they should negotiate with their hostage...

[easye]

Gaetz is to stupid to not say the quiet parts out loud. How did this guy get elected to anything?

[Disciple of Fate]

Does it being quiet still matter? Feels like that bridge was crossed and thoroughly burned in 2016, with very few consequences so far.

[pacific]

Or, how someone like Gaetz is allowed anywhere near public office.

It wouldn't have happened at one time, and the rest of the party would have closed ranks to get rid of them.

[skyth]

The Republican party has shifted to Authoritarian. Obey us. We are your betters and what we do doesn't matter.

[easye]

www.npr.org/2023/05/25/1177675684/debt-ceiling-limit-explained

5 things people get wrong about the debt ceiling saga

My two favorite points:

Did runaway spending by President Biden and congressional Democrats leave the U.S. on the brink of default?

In a word, no.

*************

Two unfunded wars, three recessions, a global pandemic and three rounds of tax cuts all contributed to the tide of red ink.

In fact, of the total debt on the books today, 16% was added during the eight years George W. Bush was in office, 30% was added during the eight years Barack Obama was in office, 25% was added during the four years Donald Trump was in office – and 12% was added since President Biden took office.

and then this, which I did not even realize was a talking point..... because it is so dumb and clearly has no understanding of how the government works.....

What about the war in Ukraine? Did that contribute to the national debt?

It was negligible at best.

********************

It represents less than 5% of this year's projected deficit and just 2/10ths of 1% of the government's accumulated debt.

I also read a "helpful" article about how to prepare for a potential default that was full of "helpful" advice.

www.npr.org/2023/05/25/1177624176/money-tips-debt-ceiling-default

You know "helpful" advice like:

That means tamping down on excess spending, making a budget, and shoring up emergency savings to cover at least three months of living expenses.

Since a debt default would likely send interest rates soaring, any credit card debt you're saddled with may soon cost you more. Personal finance experts advise paying off those debts with the highest interest rates as quickly as possible.

This is literally what finance people tell you to do 24/7, so they really have no helpful advice. If people could do these things, they would have done them all ready! The majority of Americans can not come up with $1,000 dollars in an emergency, do "experts" think folks can follow this advice now, but were choosing not to before?

We are so fethed.  If everyone did follow that advice we would be in a recession for sure anyway.