Is the Economy as Strong as it appears? | Schaftlein Report

Is the Economy as Strong as it appears? | Schaftlein Report
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Guest: Jerry Bowyer – Economist, Journalist, Author of multiple books including The Maker Versus the Takers, Founder of the Allegheny Institute
Topics:
1) Inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index is up 5.4% – Jerry discusses if will be lasting or Transitory as Fed officials lead us to believe
2) The Fed announced a reduction in bond buying of $15B per month starting this month and concluding around May 2022
*They have been buying $120B of bonds and mortgages a month – Why not taper further and just stop while the economy appears to be running hot?
*60% of Investors say the Fed should stop buying bonds
3) Interest rates remain low (10 year at 1.5%) despite having added 500K jobs last month – The initial projected rate hike is in July 2022
Why are rates so low if the economy is Really growing strong – or is this just an increased demand coming our of the pandemic?
4) The unemployment rate is around 4.75% – We still have 8.0M+ job openings – The labor force participation rate is stubbornly around 61%
5) Will the average price of gas go above $4 per gallon? Pipeline closure effects? Biden Administration fails to lift regulatory rules on oil and gas, fails to lift drilling moratoriums, high gas taxes –> An anti fossil fuel agenda
6) How do we get out of the supply chain disruption issue?
7) The stock market is at record highs – Real estate prices are through the roof