inflation

America First Policy Institute: Inflation Reduction Act Will Raise Prices, Taxes, & Kill 218,000 Jobs

The reconciliation bill crafted by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and supported by the Biden administration will raise electricity and gas prices, hike taxes, and kill about 218,000 blue-collar jobs in 2023, said Marc Lotter, the chief communications officer of the America First Policy Institute.

On Fox News @Night, Aug. 1, Lotter said, “The National Association of Manufacturers says this bill will cost 218,000 blue-collar workers their jobs next year. Your electric and heating bills are going up, your gas is going to go up by $25 billion as a tax increase for oil companies that’s going to get passed along at the pumps.”

“This is just going to make the inflation problem even worse,” he added. Source: CNS News

Amazon Cuts 100,000 Employees From Workforce In A Single Quarter

Amazon, one of the largest tech employers in the world, has revealed that it is now hiring at the slowest pace since 2019 and has cut over 100,000 employees globally in the June quarter, likely due to the dramatic economic slowdown since 2021.  It is the largest workforce cut in a single quarter in the history of the company.  The layoffs are part of an increasing trend of protecting the bottom line within the tech industry.  The cuts likely played a large role in Amazon’s recent revenues beat and their rosy profit projections for the third quarter, though it still lost a net $2 billion in the second quarter.

The more employees lose their jobs, the more healthy the company appears to be when shareholders examine quarterly earnings; it is inevitable that layoffs will continue.  There have been over 30,000 job cuts by tech companies in the US in the past few months alone, and unemployment claims have climbed to 8-month highs.

The covid pandemic lockdowns and subsequent stimulus checks created an enormous artificial boost for tech companies like Amazon in 2020 and 2021, but the $6 trillion stimulus has since circulated out of the pockets of most Americans and globally the lockdowns did incredible harm to existing economic stability.  Demand for peripheral goods is in steep decline as inflation in necessities continues to rise.  In 2022, the stagflation crisis is leading to imminent demand destruction.  Source: ZeroHedge

Cost-of-living increase for Social Security may push seniors into higher tax bracket, say experts

Retirees on fixed incomes and Social Security could get a double whammy from inflation because benefits, which rise with the cost of living, might push them into a higher tax bracket.

The Senior Citizens League, a nonpartisan group that researches issues important to older Americans, estimated seniors could see a 10.5% increase in their monthly checks next year as part of a cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, due to red-hot inflation, according to a Fox Business report.

That sounds pretty nice but the amount of Social Security benefits exempted from tax hasn’t changed since 1984, so retirees owe tax on benefits if their income and payments total more than $25,000 for a single person or $32,000 for a married couple. Source: Washington Times

Fed Chairman: Inflation Was High Before the War in Ukraine

At the end of May, Biden seized on an Oval Office meeting with Fed Chair Powell to argue that while fighting price increases is his top priority, that work was primarily the purview of the Federal Reserve.

“My plan is to address inflation. That starts with a simple proposition: respect the Fed, respect the Fed’s independence, which I have done and will continue to do,” Biden said.

Additionally, Biden placed the blame for Americans’ suffering squarely on the shoulders of Russian president Vladimir Putin and his “Putin Price Hike.”

Sen Bill Hagerty (R-TN) addressed the Biden narrative, noting that “the problem [of inflation] hasn’t sprung out of nowhere,” before asking Powell the following question:

“Would you say that the war in Ukraine is the primary driver of inflation in America?”

Powell’s response:

“No. Inflation was high, certainly before the war in Ukraine broke out.”