Post 335: Paycheck to Paycheck, Kellogg’s, and a Dressing Down of the Federal Reserve

• Two thirds of American workers are now living paycheck to paycheck.
  • And job prospects are the lowest in at least 12 years.
• Kellogg’s has had a long history and the company split into two separate businesses a couple of years ago.
  • Now both of those businesses will be taken over by private companies.
    • Sales for both are very weak.
• Lennar is one of America’s largest home builders.
  • Its home prices are now down over 20% from peak.
    • And down from pre-COVID.
• Core inflation in Canada remains elevated.
• In Financial Ructions:
  • Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pens a particularly scathing article about the US Federal Reserve.
    • And I agree with virtually all of it.
  • Canada’s monetary base exploded higher during COVID and we’re still paying the consequences.
  • Deficits do matter:
    • As Japan is now finding out.
  • Reverse repo is now drained.
    • And will no longer be a source of liquidity for the market.
• In our book review of Taxes Have Consequences:
  • We see that local and state governments were the worst tax perpetrators during the Great Depression.
  • And the authors expose the myth of the Keynesian multiplier.
    • And how consumers did not benefit from soaring GDP during World War II.