Here is confirmation of what we all know:
The price of meat, poultry, fish and eggs rose 5.9% from July 2020 to July 2021
economics
No credit scores
Something that missed my eye when it came out back in May was this story. It says that banks are going to be issuing credit cards to those in the US without credit scores. The claim here is that there are as many as 50 million people in America who do not have a credit score. Who in America has no credit score? That would mainly be people with no Social Security number, or those who deal only in cash.
Illegal immigrants? Criminals? This strikes me as a two fold policy:
- Allow illegals to get access to credit cards.
- Bring those who deal in cash, and are thus largely untraceable, into the full view of the government.
This will also give a large amount of short term spending cash to those who don’t otherwise have credit. Where did this idea come from? The Biden administration. They call it “Project REACh.”
REACh stands for Roundtable for Economic Access and Change and brings together leaders from the banking industry, national civil rights organizations, business, and technology to identify and reduce barriers that prevent full, equal, and fair participation in the nation’s economy.
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Who were the people that the administration brought together to come up with this idea? Representatives from the National Black Farmers’ Association, US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the NAACP, Credit Karma, and the National Diversity Coalition, among others.
Fundamental transformation, great reset, and all of that. Minorities will think this is a great idea. It isn’t- not for them, not for investors, and not for the economy. This is another way for banks to get more people owing them more money. It will also increase consumer spending, which will increase inflationary pressure by injecting more money into the economy.
economics
Market Forces
In a comment to my post on subscription products, an Anonymous user had this to say:
The marketplace is a feedback mechanism to discover what buyers want. The feedback vendors are getting is that products with remote controls leased on a subscription are acceptable, because buyers keep accepting them. This is not a “market failure”, and we don’t need communism to force other people to give us what we want.
No policeman would stop you if you made and sold an aftermarket engine computer for a tractor. Farmers can buy a $300,000 350 HP 8-wheel-drive tractor, but all farmers nationwide can’t chip in $500 each to hire a techie to car-customize it? Why do you trust farmers to vote?
To tackle the first paragraph: The problem is that this isn’t a free market. In a free market, companies that are poorly run go out of business. This means that businesses in a free market have a disincentive to make poor decisions. In this market, they get a bailout, pay huge bonuses to the executives that made the poor decision, and continue business as usual.
Businesses getting bailed out has become a huge part of what the government does. Just in the last 20 years, the following bailouts have happened:
GM and Fiat Chrysler received multiple bailouts for a total of $85.6 Billion, Amtrak: $1 billion, Adidas $3.3 Billion, US air carriers have received $26.6 Billion, Bear Stearns $25 Billion, Citigroup $45 Billion, Bank of America $45 Billion, AIG received $180 Billion, Fannie Mae $116 Billion, Freddie Mac $71 Billion, the list goes on. Over the past 20 years, bailouts have totaled over $1 trillion.
Addressing your second paragraph: The reason that farmers can’t just modify a truck or tractor to circumvent that software is simple: Federal Law prohibits it. It is a felony under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to modify the software of a product that has some of its capabilities controlled or restricted by software. So those subscription based devices, vehicles, and tools? They have the full protection of the might of the US government.
That isn’t a free market.
economics
Inflation and shortages
All sorts of excuses are being made, but inflation seems to be hovering around 20 percent. There seem to be all sorts of shortages.
When I was on my lobster trip to South Florida, we ate at Frigates in West Palm Beach. They were out of hogfish and lobster. Seafood restaurants all over the country are reporting shortages and higher prices.
My wife and I went to Longhorn steakhouse on Friday. They were out of strip steaks and lava cake.
Welcome to socialism.
Communism
Finally
Today is finally the day that most American landlords can begin getting rid of the people who have been stealing their property. That’s right, the eviction moratorium is finally going to be allowed to expire. The Biden administration refused to extend it and even the Communist wing of the Democrat party couldn’t muster the votes in Congress to make it a law.
For some landlords, it has been YEARS since they were paid a cent in compensation for the use of the property that they purchased and were still required to maintain, insure, and pay taxes on, while the government refused to intervene as people were living there for free, even while destroying the place.
In the beginning, it was the government who created the problem- they forced everyone to stay home, which caused businesses to shut down, some permanently. What began as “two weeks to flatten the curve” became “until there is a vaccine.” Then the government mailed out billions in free money, paid billions more in enhanced unemployment benefits, all the while telling people that they didn’t have to pay rent because evictions were prohibited.
Instead of paying their bills, many Americans went on a shopping spree. Amazon, Netflix, and other companies saw record profits. Many businesses, including landlords, were bearing the costs of this orgy of spending. A year and a half later, and people are now upset that the evictions are coming, as if landlords are the villains.
Yes, landlords are being made into the villain here. Read this piece from Politico. They claim that 12 million people are behind on rent, including 50 percent of all black families. The article blames landlords for that, pointing out that Forty-eight percent of voucher holders are Black and 18 percent are Hispanic, so the refusal to accept vouchers is a coded form of racial discrimination, in other words, calling landlords racist. Why?
The reasons that many landlords, myself included, don’t accept government Section 8 vouchers is purely financial.
- People who are poor have poor rental payment histories and are likely to default
- People who are paying for things with someone else’s money don’t value the things that the money bought, because they didn’t have to work for it
- the government puts too many restrictions on the landlord, including more paperwork, more bureaucratic administrative burden, and more headaches. All in exchange for taking less money
All of the above increases my financial risk, my workload, and decreases my income. The only way to make money with Section 8 is to buy cheap, shitty, substandard housing. In other words, be a slum lord. I don’t want to do that, so I avoid Section 8.
The fact that most people who are receiving Section 8 housing vouchers are black has nothing to do with it. I am not in business to do people favors, I am in business to make the most money that I can by doing the least amount of work and taking the smallest risk that I possibly can. If I could make money selling goods to black people by taking little risk and expending minimum effort, I would do so. The money just isn’t there.
That isn’t enough. Some governments have made it illegal to discriminate against those who are receiving Section 8 vouchers. The latest effort is a push to get banks behind an effort to refuse loans to landlords unless they agree to rent to low income, Section 8 recipients. This will drive more landlords out of the market, especially smaller ones, leaving nothing but larger, self funded landlords in the market.
This is a push for the removal of the entrepreneur from the American experience.
economics
Spin tobacco
The CEO of Phillip Morris surprised many this week by saying the company wants to get out of the cigarette market. This doesn’t surprise me in the least. As a (former) teacher, I can tell you that cigarette smoking is almost unheard of among teens.
What is popular with teens is vaping. Vapes come in different flavors: bubble gum, Tutti Fruity, Watermelon, Cotton Candy, and other candy flavors are enticing a new generation of customers into smoking at a time when cigarette smoking just isn’t cool anymore, and that doesn’t even address the vapes that contain cannabis. Most of the kids in high school are vaping.
Two years ago, Jim Cramer did a story on how vapes were killing the cigarette industry. If you were surprised by this, you haven’t been paying attention.
economics
On the Dole
So this woman didn’t work enough during her lifetime to get enough credits to receive the full Social Security benefit and now wants all of us to pay her more, because reasons.
Susan Aubrey Wilde, 74, of Sacramento, California, lives alone in an apartment for seniors on fixed incomes, but her social security benefits of $1,122 a month barely covers little more than her rent of $794. After paying for utilities, internet, phone and the costs to upkeep and insure her car, there is little left to survive.
Here is a suggestion: Shut off the Internet and sell the car, both of which are luxuries. You can rely on public transportation and use the free WiFi that is provided in many places. There is no reason to demand that you receive more public dollars. You have two children. Perhaps one of them can help take care of you? And if they won’t, then why and how does that create an obligation on the rest of us?
economics
Rents and inflation
For months I have been posting about how the eviction moratorium is killing landlords. Many landlords are leaving the business, on top of that, there is inflation to deal with. The increased costs, increased risk, increased demand, and falling supply has combined with record inflation to put a lot of pressure on rental prices.
So now Orlando area residential rents are seeing the highest rate increases in history. In the last year, rent in the Orlando market has increased nearly 14%. I know that we have seen increases in our costs: insurance, taxes, lawn maintenance, and other expenses have increased. This means that we will be increasing rent on our properties, I just don’t know by how much yet. The increase will be at least four percent, maybe as much as ten. I will know more in the fall. Our next lease renews right before Thanksgiving, so I will know by mid October.
Crime
Dealership car thieves
One of the Youtube shows that I enjoy watching is Lehto’s Law, a show where a Michigan lawyer answers legal questions from his subscribers. A video from last week referred back to a situation from years ago where a dealer was running a financing scam. It is apparently a widespread practice.
Looking back on it, the story is a familiar one. I myself have had a dealer call me the next day to tell me that they couldn’t reach a deal and wanted me to either return the car or bring in more cash. This video is worth a few minutes of your time.
Many businesses are shady, taking actions that they KNOW they are not legally permitted to take. They also know that few customers will call them on it, and even fewer will sue. For that reason, breaking the law becomes quite lucrative. Don’t be a sucker. Know your rights, fight for them.
economics
Sue them
I have been talking about evictions and how landlords are being blamed for the problems caused through government malfeasance.
Landlords all over are saying that they are being put out of business because they are not being permitted to remove non paying tenants from their property. The government claims to offer rental assistance, but it is a sham. A year of rent free living often means that tenants owe tens of thousands of dollars in back rent. These rental assistance plans often require that landlords sign an agreement which states that they agree to accept whatever the government sends as full and final payment for all past due rent. So the landlord is expected to accept pennies on the dollar.
Instead, some landlords in New Jersey have found a better way. After fourteen months of watching their money go out without a dime in rent being paid, they have had enough. They can’t evict- but they can sue. They go to court, sue the tenant, and get a judgement for the past due rent.
Such lawsuits do not violate the governor’s eviction moratorium. That has the communists going apoplectic.
“I don’t think it’s in the spirit of the moratorium,” Albert added.
The claimed “Spirit” and legal basis for the moratorium was that people who have been evicted pose a risk for spreading COVID. It is supposedly an infection control measure. Of course, we all know the truth: the eviction moratorium is just another giveaway program- one paid for by property owners.
Communism, isn’t it great?
