In Between Times 4-19-2023
Is inflation hurting America?, The guardians of the rain forest, What is advanced recycling?, Talking to one another with open hearts for a better America
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Inflation is hurting Americans
In the attached article are 5 charts that starkly illustrate the degree to which inflation is impacting the lives of Americans. Everything is more expensive. In some cases much more expensive.
Cars, eggs, meat, fuel, pretty much everything but flat screen TVs have increased in price over the past couple of years.
I do the grocery shopping for my family. I like to cook and wandering through the grocery store is a great way to get a reasonable idea of what is going on in the economy at the consumer level. I pay close attention.
Everything is more expensive. My beloved Fosters oil cans (of beer) have gone from $2.25 to $3.50 over the past 2 years. Steak? The good cuts are at least 1/3 higher. And last week I saw that the generic brand of soda in my local store had jumped from 89 cents to $1.19 overnight. Granted, the world will survive without beer, steak and diet soda, but everything else is more expensive too.
Consider fast food. Now, fast food is another thing most of us could do without (or should do without) but a Big Mac meal in Connecticut recently clocked in at $16.89.
I have 3 kids. (And a spouse.) If we stopped at McDonald’s for Big Macs, fries, and Cokes the meal would cost almost $100. $100.
This rate of inflation is not sustainable (for families) and there are some signs that it is cooling. We hope so. Too much more of this and many people will be feeling significant hardship.
(From CNBC)
As of April, the pace of inflation has slowed from a year-over-year peak of 9.1% to 5%. That’s good news for struggling consumers, but doesn’t tell the whole story of how much more Americans are spending due to rising prices.
That’s because the year-over-year inflation only looks back one year, even though inflation has been persistently high for the last two years.To get a more accurate sense of how prices have risen, CNBC Make It looked at consumer price index data since April 2021 to see how much more Americans are actually paying for everyday items.
In that time, the cost of essentials like groceries, utilities and gas increased by 20% or more. The cost of all items on the index increased by 13% in that time.
Click here for the article.
WSJ: Brazil battles for Amazon tribe known as guardian of the rain forest
In the vast hinterlands of Brazil the rule of law is spotty at best. Property rights are unclear. Law enforcement is overtaxed. Illegal miners and loggers take advantage of the lack of the rule of law. The terrain is challenging. The desire to make a living, illegal or not, is great. The demand for the resources of the rain forest from places like China is immense.
The challenges are not new. Brazil has been dealing with them for at least 5 decades. But the technology has changed. As has the government recently.
(From The Wall Street Journal)
The challenges now facing Mr. da Silva are immense. Chinese demand for commodities has enriched Brazilian agribusiness over recent years, giving the sector an ever-more powerful voice in national politics—often used to thwart environmental legislation in Congress.
With the agribusiness lobby now making up a majority of federal deputies and senators, Mr. da Silva must win their support. Development of a carbon-trading system that swaps environmental protection for financial reward is one option, said Dan Nepstad, who heads the California-based Earth Innovation Institute and has worked in the Amazon for more than 30 years.
Deforestation has continued during Mr. da Silva’s first months in office, rising 14% in March from the previous year in Brazil’s Amazon as loggers continued to illegally clear the forest, often in preparation for farmland. An area of 326 square miles has already been razed since January, INPE’s satellite data showed.
Click here for the article.
How old is your head of state?
This is a fascinating breakdown. Watch out everyone, GenX is coming for the Baby Boomers in presidential palaces around the globe.
Carbon capture is coming to California.
The National Week of Conversation is happening right now. What is it? How can you participate?
We are constantly told that we are a polarized country. And we are. But most people have the ability to discuss difficult topics civilly. There are ideologues lost to the extremes but most of us can talk to one another. And we must, for the sake of this great country.
Here is a list of ways you can participate in this very worthwhile event.
What is advanced recycling? Does it change the plastics game?
Where I live we had, for a while, a “single stream” recycling system. One could throw everything into one bin and the recyclable materials were then pulled out of the trash. No need to sort or anything. Unfortunately after a few years the project died as it became less than economically feasible.
That was 5 years ago.
Now a facility that does most of the sorting has opened up in Houston and in addition to making recycling easier (one can now recycle dry cleaning bags and pizza boxes and throw them into the same bin with the soda bottles and regular cardboard) the plastics extracted are actually processed down to the molecular level to make clean, usable plastic.
This technology is only now coming online in Houston but it will soon be in other areas.
Bipartisan group floats debt ceiling compromise to avoid a Congressional/White House showdown
You editor will admit to being a deficit hawk. We keep spending and spending with what we think is an unending credit card. Thing is, and people were talking about it seriously this morning on Bloomberg, the special status that the dollar currently enjoys as what is called a “reserve currency” to the world is now being visibly eroded. This is partly because of our spending habits over decades and partly because large geopolitical shifts that are happening right now. Regardless, we had better be a little wiser with how we borrow money because this eroding reserve currency status is what underwrites our seemingly unending ability to take on debt.
It is potentially a dangerous situation that could develop one day very quickly.
But probably not tomorrow which is why in the end this can will be kicked down the road yet again we suspect.
(From Allsides)
The plan would suspend the debt ceiling through December 31, 2023, create a Fiscal Commission to recommend steps to stabilize deficits long-term, add controls to limit 2024 spending, and reform the budget and appropriations process. The group proposing the plan includes 32 Democrats and 31 Republicans from the 435-member House. It is unclear whether the proposal stands a chance in either the House or the Senate…
…While Fox News (Right bias) framed McCarthy’s proposal as capping spending at 2022 levels, AP (Lean Left bias) noted that it would place a 1% cap on yearly non-defense spending increases over the next decade.
Click here for the article.
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