Financial Post- The Bank of Canada needs to get serious about inflation
The latest data tell us inflation is now running at 5.7 per cent. That’s the highest we’ve seen it since the early 1990s, and it’s rising. The problem it poses is real, pressing and getting worse. Our own inflation is a creation of the Bank of Canada. The chart shows CPI inflation, as well as the growth of two definitions of the money supply (M1+ and M2++) over the last decade.
Even if it is “transitory”, so what? Transitory means prices go up 20% (or 50 or 100) and stay at the new level forever, and then forever after we’re all that much poorer.
Inflation is now in excess of 20%.
Yep.
Butter in Vancouver area jumped $1 to $5.99 lb. last week.
A half ton of butter is now worth more than both of QDM’s identical half ton pickups.
“Our own inflation is a creation of the Bank of Canada at the behest of the Liberal Party of Canada with the compliance of the NDP“. I completed the statement of the Financial Post because they were incomplete in their analysis and credit must be given where credit is due. Remember when Justine said “We borrowed the money so that you wouldn’t have to”? That was the beginning of the deflation of our currency and the inflation of the prices of goods and services and nobody in the public sphere challenged him on it including the Financial Post.
And that was after about 5 years of massive deficits. Don’t forget that. During “the good times” when we should have been running surpluses, Trudeau had to carve out $20B – $30B per year to provide the backroom boys with the paper bags filled with cash. So when the “pandemic” hit, instead of having our powder dry, we were -$150B in the hole.
And if we have already forgotten that, then for sure no one remembers that our government (and governments all over the world) did the exact same thing in the 1970s. In fact, it was our current PM’s fucking father that did it to us in Canada. I personally believe it is a way to reduce everyone’s wealth across the board so that we are forced to keep working.
I totally agree, Richard. This has been coming for a long time and began with the re-definition and public acceptance of altered financial terms like “government investment”. And we didn’t hang the perpetrators on the public scaffold of ridicule and ostracism.
To be fair to Justine-the-dipshit the excessive money printing (which is the cause of this inflation) didn’t start until the pandemic (thanks pandemic). Before then Justine was running modest deficits of $28 billion. Since then we’re talking $200+ billion per year.
Also you can blame the USA for most of the inflation. As long as countries printed less money than the US they did not see appreciable currency deflation. The game was totally rigged. Look how the very elite cashed out in late 2021 (the peak) and converted their shares into real equity (like real estate). The new normal is now $10 billion plus to be wealthy. Us millionaires are as common as hair on a horses tail.
I don’t believe anyone considered a $28 billion deficit 3 years ago as modest.
The Financial Post is as bought as the rest.
Been using these talking points for over a year now, edited every now and then when the Left comes up with another pork pie:
1) there is no threat of inflation due to the government borrowing then “spending” a trillion dollars
2) there is no inflation, like we said
3) there is some inflation, but not everywhere, and its not bad, so point 1 stands, please ignore point 2
4) there is some inflation in some minor areas such as fuel, housing and food, but its manageable
5) its only for a short time, just like two weeks to flatten the COVID curve, remember then?
6) inflation is actually good, Stephen Colbert says so, and who would know better?
7) the government has a plan for inflation if it ever really becomes a for real problem for real people
8) you’ll love wage and price controls…
9) its corporate greed that somehow didn’t exist two years ago, just started overnight
10) did we mention the inflation that isn’t happening, but would be great, is Putin’s fault?
+++ Caligula
That’s hilarious!
Edit: I’m old, and have resigned myself to watching the circus.
I’m no spring chicken but I can still lift my booted foot into an MT ballsack or two.
The nice thing about such a list is that you can edit it for any progressive talking point very easily:
1) there is no threat of transwomen in women’s washrooms, you’re just transphobic
2) there are no issues, like we said
3) there are some issues, but not everywhere, and its not bad, so point 1 stands, please ignore point 2
4) there are some issues buts its manageable
etc.
And if you’re a ‘token’ SCOTUS candidate … you can pretend it takes a biologist to define a woman.
It’s one thing that I have to use “virtual” software “in a cloud” but now we have “virtual sexuality”? We are no longer born male and female … but we ARE whatever sex we choose to report we are?
Sadly, I’m not yet old-enough to watch this insanity with amusement and bemusement … but will (God-willing) have many more years to suffer this indignity and insanity. It was bad enough that we’ve watched the fringe of freakdom take over as the mainstream … but now we’re installing them on The Supreme Court! This is SICK. And apparently getting still sicker.
Terry, I am watching the circus but I still yell at the stupidity.
The inflation we are now caught in will destroy our dollar and much of the economy with it. It is an old and sordid tale, seen in many nations over the centuries.
What is notable is how badly most misunderstand what is happening, even those who supposedly make their living understanding such things.
“What is notable is how badly most misunderstand what is happening, even those who supposedly make their living understanding such things”
Yup. That ‘misunderstanding’ component comprises the majority of the electorate and can be divided into two segments: the ignorant, and the willfully blind.
The current inflation will not destroy our dollar even if other countries leave the US dollar as the international currency of exchange. In fact our dollar could go up as we could be included in a new “basket of currencies”.
What could destroy our dollar … if we print more than the US, which isn’t happening (hard to believe I know). Countries that have printed in excess (Turkey, Argentina, Venezuela etc) are seeing crushing inflation due to their dollar devaluation. Canada is just seeing massive inflation due to the increase in the US money supply to which we are keeping pace.
I wonder who this old man will have to take food from?
The best way to fix inflation in Canada is to eliminate the indexing of Bank of Canada employees’ pensions.
I’m no expert. However, I feel it is way higher than 6% at least in the last year. Some of the building supply things I buy have doubled in price in a year.
g d…. inflation is in excess of 20% as I said at the top of the thread. Houses in my area, and this is a small town close to a big town, have increases in price at the rate of 100 thousand dollars a year. The one I am in increased in price by 200 thousand dollars in 20 months. It is the center unit in a townhouse type structure and is less than four years old.
The government can lie all they want but the reality is as I have said, 20% plus inflation.
VOWG,
Yup, your 20% point is right.
Our modest house here in Kelowna rose by 34% in this last assessment year.
This has been the trend since we bought it in 2014.
With the exception of one static year.
We bought for $290,000 in 2014 and could easily get $600,000 plus right now.
That said, we are “cash poor” so selling isn’t an option.
The only stock I can afford is stockpiled in my kitchen cupboards.
Boo, you got off light. I live at the top of the sunshine coast, and my assessment was 67% over last year. The basic plan I think, is to tax us out of our homes so we can own nothing and be happy.
Corporations and groups like Blacklocks, are buying up homes by the hundred or more, daily.
Gee, I can’t imagine why……..My home is paid off, but my fixed income is shrinking fast. I have more going out per month than I have coming in. Those still paying a mortgage will need to work until they drop, just to keep a roof over their heads. The WEF end game is happening as planned!
Yes I did lodge a complaint to the assessment authority, and got it reduced a little, but this will continue to happen year over year. I may end up owning nothing, but I definitely won’t be happy about it.
@GerryK. – “….is to tax us out of our homes so we can own nothing and be happy.”
Yup 100% – glad someone mentioned property taxes. My house built new in 2002 doubled in value by the 2008 housing bubble, then has stayed stagnant and even dropped 100K since then. If you don’t plan on moving lower value is obviously better for Property Taxes. 20 years on I still pay on twice the “property value” I originally started with and no plans on selling any time soon.
That and of course affordability for young new homeowners.
VOWG … here in the unaffordable corner of a beautiful upper, upper, middle class suburban enclave in N. CA … a house at the end of my little street just sold … in one week … with 3 offers >asking price for >$1,100.00/ sq.Ft.. No, that isn’t a misprint. You do the math. The house is a nothingburger but is 3,700 sq.ft. which includes a separate ADU.
My youngest son and his LTR (common law wife?) earn a combined > $400k/yr. where they live in Silicon Valley. Most impressive. But still … they have NO CHANCE of buying a fixer-upper in Palo Alto for $4.5M
And my local food prices are simply out of control. Inflation is much > 25% where I live. This is literally “unsustainable” to cop a leftist term
Wow. Where the fuck is the money coming from. No one wants to ask that question.
And the divide between the haves and the have-nots will only widen further and further. When the middle class is effectively eliminated … there WILL be BLOODY Revolution. No amount of $100.00/mo gas price stimulus checks will stop the coming Class warfare.
I need to find a nice remote, defensible, 50 acres.
It seems as though Silicon Valley home prices are spreading EAST into my quiet little community. About HALF of my neighborhood has turned over in the past 5 years … at CRAZY prices. Every single one of the new neighbors are young couples with kids … fleeing the leftist urban wastelands of San Francisco and Oakland. And yes … they are bringing their leftism with them and ruining the politics of my formerly balanced community.
And I haven’t been able to afford these housing prices about 25 years ago. I am the POOREST person living in this town!
Here is what the scum buckets do, they leave out the cost of inflation via heating oil and fuel and viola they have a lower inflation number. The US is doing the self same thing.
I don’t know how it works in Canada, but in the US the same people who refuse to acknowledge the concept of incentives when it comes to things like tax policy use it to game the inflation numbers.
For example, if the previous period used the price of chicken, and in the current period chicken went up 2% while steak only went up 1%, they assume people stopped eating chicken and started eating steak l. They put steak in their “basket of goods” they are measuring and take out chicken. If the situation reverses the next period (steak goes up 2% and chicken only 1%) they swap out steak for chicken instead.
So, after two periods the official government number says animal protein went up 2%, when the price people are paying for both steak and chicken actually went up 3%
You have to destroy nations first to build back better.
Without a corrupt media Trudeau doesn’t get elected dog catcher.
Even with the corrupted media now.
He can’t be reelected and he knows it.
He one big toxic waste dump in himself.
Trudeau and jag will improve our democracy by bringing in dominion voting machines for 2025.
Mail in votes.
Yup!
Problem is they are caught in a trap of their own making. Raising rates in a fragile economy may help with inflation but it will have negative effects on economic growth that they can’t afford cause they’ve based their entire growth strategy around cheap money. Catch-22.
Reality is that the BoC is going to be forced along kicking and screaming to raise rates if the Fed does.
Inflation is at least 20%. The thieving Liberals say it is 5% because a lot of benefits are indexed to inflation. Old Age Pensioners are losing 15% of their income this year. Also the government gets to tax illusory capital gains and benefits from minimal indexing of tax credits. If anyone thinks inflation is bad, wait until new labour contracts are being negotiated. I suspect employees have lost 30% of their purchasing power in the last few years. Great time for labour to be represented by a Liberal fluffer.
CP Rail workers just finished a mini strike.
They got what they wanted.
Had a container held up in transit from Hongcouver over a week, on its way now.
If they really where concerned about this they would be making statements such as those made yesterday by certain members of the EU Parliament denouncing PM Leisure Suit.
Phone rings
FP:”hello?”
PMO:”hey FP it’s Katy, just wanted a word with you about how you will spin these inflation numbers k”
*and what will happen if you don’t, k?
It’s never spoken.
It’s like the local syndicate representative paying your buzniss a visit telling you that you need insurance.
Ya knose, ta keep sumptun bad from appinin to ya nice biznuss ya got here.
They don’t have to tell you the obvious.
Alberta and Sask need to form their own nation within a nation, or just declare our independence. The dollar will implode. Resources will always have value regardless of the currency. Food and energy will be in universal high demand. No matter what, the rest of them will NEED what we have. Look after our own house first. Then maybe we will help others as we can afford and as they deserve.
Alberta has needed to do it for 30 years, needs to do it now and will continue to need to do it and won’t, because at the end of the day, Alberta is populated with Canadians, and Canadians are cowards.
“Transitory” like being run over by a bus.
Democide is making more and more sense…
We were reaching the financial cliff.
Its like a bad SF movie: another Trudeau in charge, another minority government propped up the the NDP, more inflation, strikes, taxes going up, Cold War…
Looks like a not so instant replay.
The rate of money growth has been outpacing incomes for many years, long before anybody had ever heard of COVID. Price inflation was kept under control using cheap Chinese labour. The cost of things that had to be made in Canada by Canadians shot up.
Because our betters saw their “home equity” outpace the wages they paid their drudges by orders of magnitude, they didn’t care. They’re only sitting up and paying attention now because the cheap Chinese labour has run out and their Canadian drudges’ demands for a raise are getting harder to ignore.
Price inflation can be hedged against by investing in stocks and real estate. Wage inflation? You realize THAT means war.
Money has been outpacing incomes for many years BUT it didn’t get totally out-of-control until 2020.
The only way to “fix” inflation is to not print money. We (Canada) didn’t do that so it’s baked into the cake. If Canada chose not to print money and give it away our dollar would be at $1.25 instead of $0.79. But people are so stupid they would rather get $500 from the government than see their currency buy $1,500 more worth of goods.
Canada can not “not” print money at this point. No one will buy the bonds at an interest rate the country can afford, so the BoC has to buy them. The currency erodes, but hey.
This is what California is doing to fight inflation …
“Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday released the long-awaited details of his tax refund plan to send $400 to Californians for each registered vehicle”.
https://news.yahoo.com/newsoms-gas-price-relief-send-203042336.html
In unrelated news…
“The governor, who is up for reelection this year”…
(Maclem is a stupid bastard.)
Everything the government touches turns to shit.
The question is whether they do it by design or due to ignorance.
Inflation, which if measured as it was in the Seventies, is double the official numbers and is the result of the end game of democracy and the corresponding monetary response (monetizing debt). The only question is, does the government let it run or do they begin paying for all the lavish vote-buying of the past decades. Given the magnitude of baked-in bankruptcy in all western welfare/warfare states, there is no way to tax enough to ever balance a budget without the wealth liquidation of continued and accelerated inflation. This is the only way the voting Eloi will pay for their free stuff.
Spending the money we are printing in order to pacify the fatted masses.
Justin will be worse than his dad.
People voted for this. Remember that.
Fattened masses?
Don’t you mean fattened asses?
You know the little donkey.
I meant fatted – fed and morbidly obese and proud to be so. It’s like a badge of honour to be a land-whale these days.
The perfect picture of a sheep that wants free stuff.
I don’t have a ton of faith in the public after how they dealt with the 2020 election, Covid and the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
However, our elites live in an echo chamber, are not smart, and don’t learn let alone understand history.
Their strategy for gaining control works when they exaggerate a minor or moderate crisis to distract the people into “us and them” battles, and change the system in favor of them having more control. They don’t seem to understand that in an actual severe crisis (like a food or fuel shortage) their incompetence and elitism will get the anger pointed in their direction.
They also don’t seem to understand that many governments fall like bridges collapse. They look strong for years because the rust and rot is under the surface, then they go from looking strong to collapse in an instant.
Amen Phil, when the shortages come, and they are months, not years away, ammo will be more valuable than dollars.
“Inflation and credit expansion, the preferred methods of present day government openhandedness, do not add anything to the amount of resources available. They make some people more prosperous, but only to the extent that they make others poorer.” – Ludwig von Mises, Bureaucracy, p. 84
“The advocates of public control cannot do without inflation. They need it in order to finance their policy of reckless spending and of lavishly subsidizing and bribing the voters.” – Ludwig von Mises, The Theory of Money and Credit, p. 479
BTW, it’s worth pointing out that under deflation (which they keep telling us is ever so much worse than inflation), consumer purchasing power goes up (though debt will kill ya faster). Indeed, the last deflationary period inthe western world you may have heard of – the called it the roaring twenties. Also, the Industrial Revolution gave Great Britain roughly two hundred years of deflation, during which the country prospered. Of course, they had a gold-backed currency that government couldn’t screw around with. I highly recommend SDA folks to read Ludwig von Mises and other Austrian School economists. They are the absolute opposite of the Keynesian stupidity that has so enthralled our political masters (here’s Keynesianism summed up in one sentence: Government is your Daddy.