Is the "cheap RV camping" fading into the sunset?

[Kevin D Pem]

The US dollar is a fiat currency the opposite of a commodity currency (a currency backed by a commodity like gold or silver or corndogs even). The canary in the coal mine in as far as the health of the US economy is the interest paid on T-bills, that's how much interest the gov't pays for example to sovereign wealth funds which own US Treasury Bills. It's very very low, indicating we're still in the cat birds seat. Or in other words we can pay very low interest because T-Bills are still the most trusted (i.e., secure) long term investment instruments on the planet. On the domestic front, a sign the economy is headed for trouble is when the bond market starts lighting up. That's when worried investors start moving their assets to a lower yield but a more secure refuge. At the end of the day the US economy is still the healthiest on the planet.

I think you hit the jackpot!(Corndogs). Just about as useless by the next paystub.

 

[Holdmybeer]

For clarity.....There is more then one reason for inflation. We are clearly in #2. due to tariffs and fuel prices. Those two are driving the current economy. People are spending more because they have to, not because they want to.
Inflation happens when the general price level of goods and services rises, which reduces the purchasing power of money. Economists and financial guides like Investopedia group the main causes into a few key categories: [1, 2]

1. Demand-Pull Inflation

• • What it is: This occurs when consumer, business, or government demand for goods and services outpaces the economy's ability to produce or supply them. [1, 2]
  • How it works: When "too much money chases too few goods," sellers and producers respond by raising prices. [1, 2]
  • Common drivers: Strong consumer spending, low interest rates, high employment rates, or massive government stimulus and relief packages. [1, 2, 3]

2. Cost-Push Inflation

• • What it is: This happens when the overall cost of producing goods and services increases significantly. [1]
  • How it works: When raw materials, energy, or labor become more expensive, producers pass those higher production costs on to consumers in the form of higher retail prices. [1]
  • Common drivers: Global supply chain disruptions, wars (such as conflicts affecting oil or grain supply), natural disasters, tariffs, and rising wage demands during labor shortages. [1, 2, 3, 4]

3. Built-In (or Expectation-Driven) Inflation

• • What it is: This is tied to how people and businesses expect future prices to behave.
  • How it works: If workers expect the cost of living to rise, they demand higher wages to keep up. When businesses raise wages to keep staff, they turn around and raise product prices further, creating a self-fulfilling wage-price spiral. [1, 2, 3]

4. Expansion of the Money Supply

• • What it is: When a central bank or government prints or circulates money faster than the actual growth of the economy's output.
  • How it works: More currency in circulation dilutes the value of each individual unit, meaning it takes more units of currency to buy the exact same item. [1, 2, 3, 4]

And then you have two philosophies at the Fed. One believes the primary purpose of the Fed is too wrangle inflation, the other that it's controlling the unemployment rate.
Alan Greenspan said after a Senate hearing, " If you understood anything I said then I didn't do a very good job of it".

 

[Underboss]

Ah! The problem with AI! accuracy of it's conclusion depends on accuracy in Internet information. Load down the Internet with mind control data and AI becomes useless.

It's all about who bought the debt to produce the fiat, and if that buyer continues to believe in the country producing it.

Super inflation happens when those bonds are returned (debt unloaded). Now that OPEC trades in currency other that the petrodollar, that is exactly what is happening.

Believe what you will! That won't change the outcome. Just know the problem has been addressed.

I believe what I see and experience first hand, AI or not.