Biden’s Act II – Subsidize Housing for the Poor, Take from the Rich – Adding Gas to Inflation

June 26, 2024 — bunkerville

When in economic doubt, tinker with Housing, so goes Janet Yellin in her latest attempt at getting Biden elected. We have seen this movie before. Take from the rich – by subsidizing “first time home buyers and first generation home buyer” with risker loans. Making the rest of us pay higher interest rates.

The fact that more than 15 million illegals now require housing apparently does not effect a housing shortage in any way. Here we go:

“The US housing market is stagnating, but I think a bigger risk to homebuilders and related industries is the tinkering that the Biden administration has promised to do,” Peter Earle, senior economist at the American Institute for Economic Research, told the DCNF.

“One part of the plan is having the Federal Home Financing Association (FHFA) order Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to lower the interest rate on high-risk borrowers by raising the interest rate on low-risk borrowers. They’ve also been instructed to increase the amount of credit extended to high-risk borrowers.”

The Biden administration, through the FHFA, instructed Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae starting in May 2023 to essentially subsidize higher-risk borrowers with lower credit scores to help them take out home loans in the more expensive market, raising the amount of debt higher-risk borrowers can take on and attracting more Americans to the market. The subsidization of riskier loans puts the broader market in danger by lending out possibly more than people can afford, running the risk of creating a housing bubble while also increasing demand and costs.“

The President has put forward bold proposals to make housing more affordable, including a plan to build over 2 million new homes, which would lower costs by increasing supply, and a new tax credit for first-time homebuyers and first-generation homebuyers.

The Biden administration requested in March $258 billion in funding to help boost housing supply as part of the president’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2025. The flood of cash would not spur new growth but crowd out private-sector construction, adding to an already ballooning deficit that many economists believe is driving a significant portion of inflation.

Read more

Here we have one of my favorite Congressmen try and explain some basic facts to Yellin about three weeks ago, as only he can. “You want to give the country a sugar high just before the election.” Seems so as she works at cross purposes to reign in inflation.

This reminds me of a post I did recently back in May

Jared Bernstein, Economic Adviser, Cannot Answer Basic Question on Monetary Policy

Meet Jared Bernstein who chairs the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Problem? For starters, he is not an Economist. Bernstein graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied double bass with Orin O’Brien. Throughout the ’80s, Bernstein was a mainstay on the jazz scene in NYC. He also earned a Master of Social Work from Hunter College as well as a DSW in social welfare from Columbia University’s school of social work.

Just for laughs and giggles.  “We can’t go bankrupt because we print our own money.”

And if you are still hanging with me…. and want to see the true jiggering of our economy that most anyone can understand….

‘SABOTAGE’: Economist warns what Janet Yellen is doing ‘never works’

The very best of the swamp.

Posted in Liberal Loonies. Tags: , , . 22 Comments »

Janet Yellin: We Can ‘Absolutely’ Afford Two More Wars

October 18, 2023 — bunkerville

While we are involved in non-stop T.V. war coverage, life in the U.S. continues. Yellin’s interview was easy to miss as she opines on Joe, inflation and war and more war.

Now that sure is a relief. Because she has always been spot on wrong on most things. Inflation being one of them.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the country can “absolutely” afford to financially support both Israel and Ukraine in their respective war efforts.

Here is how it works.

Image

Asked in an interview with Britain’s Sky News on Monday whether the U.S. could afford to be providing military support to Israel and to Ukraine in its ongoing war with Russia, Yellen said “the answer is absolutely.”

Yellen said the need to release funds for both allies was a “priority” and called for Republicans in the House of Representatives to seat a speaker so that legislation can be passed, following the ousting of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

“We stand with Israel. America has also made clear to Israel, we’re working very closely with the Israelis, that they have a right to defend themselves,” Yellen told Sky News’ Wilfred Frost.

“But it’s important to try to spare innocent civilian lives to the maximum extent possible.”

Back in June of 2021 I posted this.

Yellen Concedes Inflation Is About To Surge, Says It Will Be A “Plus For Society”

Why? Because soaring inflation is good for you.

“If we ended up with a slightly higher interest rate environment it would actually be a plus for society’s point of view and the Fed’s point of view,” Yellen said in an interview with Bloomberg. And yes, she really said that.

“We’ve been fighting inflation that’s too low and interest rates that are too low now for a decade,” the former Federal Reserve chair said, adding that “we want them to go back to” a normal interest rate environment, “and if this helps a little bit to alleviate things then that’s not a bad thing — that’s a good thing.”

It wasn’t immediately clear why rising rates, hence inflation and a drop in one’s purchasing power is “a plus for society’s point of view” but needless to say, this is the kind of idiotic drivel that Rudy von Havenstein and his cronies said some time in 1921, just around the time Weimer hyperinflation kicked in.

Restaurant Inflation: How Rising Food Costs Impact the Industry

For those who have forgotten what groceries look like. More of a visual aid.

Inflation has taken its toll on food prices at the grocery store.

Another angle-

Food Prices Rising in 2022: How to Take Control of Costs | On the Line | Toast POS

So let’s get back to the task at hand. Note she keeps shaking her head no as she says yes.

But of course all is well. Certainly.

Janet Yellen: “The American economy is doing extremely well.”

BONUS TIME from Bunk:

The best of the swamp.

Posted in Liberal Loonies. Tags: , , , . 30 Comments »

Janet Yellin Earned $7.2 Million in Speaking Fees last two years, says inflation insignificant

October 15, 2021 — bunkerville

 

Janet Yellin said inflation is up by an insignificant amount and no concern of hers because she has multiple tools to prevent anything significant. Do you believe Janet Yellin. Sure we all do. Maybe Jan would be more clear eyed if she hadn’t acquired her stash from the money folks and be beholden. Just call me old fashioned.

The Fed was the last group of people to see subprime to be a danger to the economy. They’re also the last to see that inflation is a big problem for the very people they are supposed to help with their policies. But instead their policies are helping mostly the very rich.

Yellen Earned $7.2 Million In Speaking Fees Over Last Two Years

Janet Yellin Secretary of the Treasury

 

President Joe Biden’s chief of staff retweeted a claim that inflation is a “high class problem” Thursday, dismissing the millions of Americans who are seeing prices for daily necessities spike.

“Most of the economic problems we’re facing (inflation, supply chains, etc.) are high class problems. We wouldn’t have had them if the unemployment rate was still 10 percent. We would instead have had a much worse problem,” wrote Jason Furman, a Harvard professor and former member of President Barack Obama’s administration.

It’s just for us little people.

Sure this really worked out

Bonus time…Speaking of economics- how are things going at our ports? A comment from the tweet below indicated this pic could have been taken on Columbus day. All ports were closed for the holiday. I don’t know which would be worse. Closed for the holiday? Give me a break.

The best of the swamp today.

For the best in conservative news push the button.

Posted in Federal Reserve. Tags: , , , , , . 34 Comments »

Yellen Concedes Inflation Is About To Surge, Says It Will Be A “Plus For Society”

June 7, 2021 — bunkerville

 

For those of us who can recall the “olden days” of inflation out the gazoo, it sure looks like we will have an opportunity to relive those wonderful days. I recall getting a 12 percent mortgage and thought I was lucky. Inflation, the cruelest tax of all and we about to have it in spades. Last month we learned that headline CPI rose 4.2% for the year ending in April. but it is the May print that could be an “absolute shocker.” 

“An Absolute Shocker”: Core CPI To Hit 4% In Two Weeks?

Worse it seems that the Biden crew is embracing inflation and doing what it can to aid and abet. According to Yellin, Inflation is good for us. Take a look at lumber.

Image

 

Lumber Is Crazy Expensive Right Now. Biden Is About To Make It Worse

Amid surging lumber prices that are already adding an average of $36,000 to the construction cost of new homes, the Biden administration is moving forward with plans to double tariffs on lumber imported from Canada. The Commerce Department announced on Friday that it was taking the first step toward hiking so-called “anti-dumping tariffs” on Canadian lumber from an average rate of 8.99 percent in 2018 to 18.32 percent for 2019.

Yes, 2019. If approved through what is likely to be a lengthy review process, the tariffs would apply retroactively to purchases made for the past two years. That means American importers could be on the hook for millions of dollars in taxes they didn’t even know they would owe—taxes that will likely be passed down the supply chain in the form of higher prices.

And our gal Yellin?

Zero Hedge:

So, scrambling to preempt the barrage of questions come Monday, on Sunday Janet Yellen said that even though inflation is now at the highest level since Paul Volcker hiked rates to 20% and the US is about to issue another $3 trillion or so in debt just to fund existing stimulus programs, Joe Biden should push forward with his $4 trillion spending plans even if they trigger inflation that persists into next year and higher interest rates.

Why? Because soaring inflation is good for you.

“If we ended up with a slightly higher interest rate environment it would actually be a plus for society’s point of view and the Fed’s point of view,” Yellen said in an interview with Bloomberg. And yes, she really said that.

“We’ve been fighting inflation that’s too low and interest rates that are too low now for a decade,” the former Federal Reserve chair said, adding that “we want them to go back to” a normal interest rate environment, “and if this helps a little bit to alleviate things then that’s not a bad thing — that’s a good thing.”

It wasn’t immediately clear why rising rates, hence inflation and a drop in one’s purchasing power is “a plus for society’s point of view” but needless to say, this is the kind of idiotic drivel that Rudy von Havenstein and his cronies said some time in 1921, just around the time Weimer hyperinflation kicked in.

The debate around inflation has intensified in recent months, between those who, like Yellen, argue that current price increases are being driven by transitory anomalies created by the pandemic — such as supply-chain bottlenecks and a surge in spending as economies reopen — and critics who say trillions in government aid will fuel a lasting spike in costs.

……..

Yellen also made it clear that even though the world is now more indebted than at any time since World War II, it is about to take on even more debt, because you see, it’s contained: “There is a concern among some about fiscal sustainability and an evident desire to begin to withdraw accommodation when things are back on track,” Yellen said, eyeing her former democrat buddy Larry Summers who has emerged as one of the biggest critics of “Biden’s trillions.” Yellen dismissed his concerns simply by saying that “we think that most countries have fiscal space.”

“I will not give up on the next packages,” Yellen said. “They’re not meant as stimulus, they’re meant as investments to address long-standing needs of our economy.”

Yes, she really said that, and yes she better be right about the “transitory” inflation part because we are about to get a whole lot more of it. Biden’s packages would add up to roughly $400 billion in spending per year, Yellen said, contending that’s not enough to cause an inflation over-run. Any “spurt” in prices resulting from the rescue package will fade away next year.  And, if she is wrong, well… it will be someone else’ problem to mop it up.

 

And that is the best the swamp has to offer today.

 

 

Posted in Federal Reserve. Tags: , , , , . 34 Comments »