Great economy? Not so fast

Every day we hear from Biden and democrats about how great the economy is. It’s great for hedge fund traders and illegal immigrants who are replacing American workers but it sure isn’t great for everyday Americans.

Under Biden inflation is up at least 16% and groceries are up 20%. That’s the tip of the iceberg.

Home foreclosures shoot up 10% amid soaring interest rates, job losses and higher grocery and utility bills eating into earnings – here are the states WORST affected

Home foreclosures are on the up across the US as Americans continue to battle against soaring interest rates and rising costs.

Last month, 37,679 properties had a foreclosure filing, according to fresh figures from real estate data provider ATTOM – up 10 percent from the month prior.

Commercial foreclosures increase 97% from last year to near decade-high

Commercial real estate foreclosures in the U.S. increased 97% in January 2024 compared to last year, reaching a high that has not been seen in nearly a decade, according to new data.

With 635 commercial foreclosures in January 2024, foreclosures increased 17% from December 2023 and 97% from January 2023, according to a report last week from property data analyst ATTOM.

The last time that commercial foreclosures were this high was in May 2015, per agency data.

Americans have not spent this much of their incomes on food since the Gulf War: feds

Soaring grocery bills and restaurant tabs are eating up more of Americans’ paychecks than they have in three decades, according to the federal government.

In 2022, US consumers spent 11.3% of their disposable income on food as raging inflation jacked up prices on everything from bacon, eggs and milk at local supermarkets to burgers and burritos at fast-food joints, according to data from the Agriculture Department.

Delinquency rates on credit cards and auto loans spiked to their highest since the Great Recession, according to a New York Fed and Axios:

Graphics show how Americans’ total credit card debt reached record high

Credit card debt, the amount owed by all Americans on their credit cards, rose to a record $1.13 trillion at the end of last year, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported Tuesday.

Card balances increased by about $50 billion, or 4.6%, in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Credit card delinquencies, the amount of time in which cardholders fall behind in making payments, also increased. The percentage of card delinquencies 90 days or more rose to 6.4% from 4% in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Card debt contributed to the rise in total household debt, the amount owed by all members of a household, which rose to $17.5 trillion, an increase of $212 billion in the same period.

JPMorgan warns investors should brace for 1970s-style ‘stagflation’

In an analyst note to clients, the bank’s chief market strategist Marko Kolanovic warned that the economy may turn away from a “Goldilocks” scenario – in which it is not expanding or contracting by too much – and enter a period of stagflation similar to that experienced in the 1970s.

“Going back to the question of market macro regime, we believe that there is a risk of the narrative turning back from Goldilocks towards something like 1970s stagflation, with significant implications for asset allocation,” Kolanovic wrote.

The Great Unretirement: How millions of senior Americans are heading back to work to pay the bills after soaring prices ate up retirement savings

For Joyce, the only option was to return to work, as she realized her fixed retirement income was not going to cut it if she wanted to continue living the same lifestyle.

And she is by no means alone. One in eight retirees plan to return to work in 2024, according to a survey by Resumebuilder.com – amounting to approximately 6.25 million Americans.

Billionaire Paul Tudor Jones warns of America’s ticking ‘debt bomb’ — CBO projections suggest US interest spending is on track to surpass defense and Medicare in 2024

However, Jones warned that the burgeoning debt issue is bound to impact the market sooner or later, stating, “It could be this year, it could be next year. Productivity may mask and it might be three or four years from now but clearly, clearly we’re on an unsustainable path.”

This is not a healthy economy. It’s an economy on the brink.  Biden’s reckless spending is driving us into a fiscal ditch and Congress shows no sign trying to rein him in. Eventually the debt service is going to become a major problem.
By the numbers: Debt service costs were 1.2% of GDP as recently as the mid-2010s and 1.8% in 2019 just before the pandemic. But the combination of higher interest rates and the swell of debt for pandemic relief spending has pushed that much higher.

• Debt service amounted to 2.4% of the economy last year, CBO said, and is poised to rise to 3.1% this year and 3.9% in 2034.
• In contrast, the previous record net interest cost for the U.S. government in CBO data that goes back to 1962 was 3.2%, reached in 1991.
• In dollar terms, net interest is set to cross the $1 trillion per year mark in 2026 and $1.6 trillion in a decade.

You don’t want to hear what happens if the debt is defaulted or the dollar is devalued.

DrJohn

DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.

DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.

Except for liberals being foolish.