News Item 1:
Wholesale prices rose sharply in February, providing another sign
that inflation continues to percolate even aside from rising energy
costs.
The producer price index, a measure of pipeline costs that
producers receive for their products, increased a seasonally adjusted
0.7% on the month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.
Excluding volatile food and energy costs, the so-called core PPI
increased 0.5%.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for increases of 0.3% for both measures.
For
the all-items index, prices rose faster than the 0.5% pace in January.
However, the core increase was less than the 0.8% for the prior month.
On
a 12-month basis, headline PPI inflation was at 3.4%, the most since
February 2025, while core was at 3.9%, according to the BLS. The Federal
Reserve targets inflation at 2%... (our emphasis)
News Item 2:
Oil and gas prices rose sharply on Thursday as strikes on key energy
infrastructure in the Middle East exacerbated fears of a global supply
crunch.
Qatar said Wednesday that Iranian missile strikes had
damaged a key liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility. The action
followed Tehran’s warning about attacking energy facilities in Qatar,
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in retaliation for Israel’s
bombing of a natural gas processing facility in Iran.
International benchmark Brent crude futures with May delivery rose nearly 7% to $114.66 per barrel, paring
gains after briefly climbing above $119 earlier in the session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures, however, slipped 0.3% to $96.17.
Gas prices also moved sharply higher. The front-month gas price at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) hub, a European benchmark for natural gas trading, traded up over 16% at 63.42 euros ($72.75) per megawatt-hour.
U.S. natural gas prices were last seen 2.8% higher, trading at $3.15 per million British thermal units. Front-month Nymex RBOB gasoline for April delivery, meanwhile, rose 2.6% to $3.18, reaching a near four-year high... (our emphasis)
News Item 3:
The numbers are striking: 80 percent of ACA marketplace enrollees say
their health care costs are now higher since enhanced premium tax
credits expired. More than half — 55 percent — have cut spending on food
or other basic household expenses just to keep their coverage. And
roughly 1 in 10 have dropped their marketplace plan altogether and are
now uninsured, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey of
marketplace enrollees released Thursday.
The findings arrive as health care costs have emerged as a defining
issue heading into the midterm elections — one that Democrats are
betting will drive voters to the polls.
For Cyndi Freeman, a freelancer in Brooklyn, the expiration reshaped
the family budget overnight. Her household’s monthly premium jumped from
$461 to $801.
“At this point, budgeting for the future feels uncertain,” Freeman said. “We’re focused on getting through month to month.” [snip]
The picture is similarly grim for Ellen Allen, an affordable health
care nonprofit director in West Virginia, whose monthly premium has
climbed to $2,000 — a roughly 300 percent increase she described in
visceral terms.
“Psychologically, you know, that has an impact,” Allen said. “That’s like, gosh, a third of my take-home pay.”
Allen has pared back spending on travel and home renovations, and
says she is counting the months until she turns 65 and qualifies for
Medicare. “I never thought I’d look so forward to turning 65,” she said.
For Kai Samuelson, a small business owner in Asheville who survived
cancer 11 years ago, going uninsured isn’t a realistic choice — but the
current marketplace leaves him deeply uneasy.
“I’m going to continue voting for people who believe that health care
is a right, not a privilege,” Samuelson said. He added that he senses a
shift in public awareness. “I’m starting to get the sense that people
are starting to see that one side is clearly not interested in our
welfare.”...
You see, Trump's "Golden Age" is reserved for himself and his corrupt crime family, and his Epstein class of contributors and oligarchs who shore up his kakistocracy.
(Image: gold for me, not for thee / Bonnie Cash via CNP/ZUMA Press)
