Egg prices increased 70% over the last year—here’s why
Grocery costs increased dramatically over the last year, but nothing beats the price of eggs, which have grown by 70.1%, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“What used to be $40 for a box of 120 eggs, we now pay over $100,” says Julia Yum, who runs a 24-hour deli in New York City that’s been owned by her family for almost 30 years.
If she receives cracked eggs in shipments from wholesalers, she’ll request a credit, even if it’s just one or two: “I know it sounds a little crazy, but that’s what I do. I can’t lose any more.”
To offset inflation, the deli has added a 50-cent surcharge to credit card purchases and increased prices on many items in the store, including cartons of eggs. However, they haven’t hiked the cost of egg sandwiches just yet… (Continue to full article)
US Treasury Introduces CBDC Working Group, Discusses Potential Routes For Digital Dollar
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has released comments from Undersecretary for Domestic Finance Nellie Liang on the “Next Steps to the Future of Money and Payments,” addressing CBDCs and the approach the American government is taking to their potential implementation.
The original Treasury report released in September 2022 described the formation of a CBDC working group that would advance work on a CBDC. Liang’s remarks confirmed the formation of that group.
“One of the central tasks for the CBDC Working Group is to complement the Fed’s work by considering the implications of a U.S. CBDC for policy objectives for which a broader Administration perspective is helpful,” Liang said.
“To give you a sense of how we are pursuing this work, I will describe our approach to thinking about CBDC options, the policy questions we are attempting to answer, and the kinds of recommendations we hope to develop.”
Highlights from this description include a look at the potential forms that a CBDC could take, the potential for a separate retail and wholesale CBDC and the possible core features of the CBDC… (Continue to full article)
Senators are considering raising the retirement age to 70 and are looking at a $1.5 trillion investment fund to overhaul Social Security and stop funds running out by 2032
A group of bipartisan senators is quietly meeting to retool Social Security before funds run out in 2032.
On the table, according to Semafor, is gradually raising the retirement age to 70 and creating a $1.5 trillion sovereign wealth fund, which would invest in stocks.
That fund would be separate from the already existing Social Security Trust Fund. If it underperformed, Social Security would be shored up by increasing the maximum taxable income and payroll taxes… (Continue to full article)
Silvergate, a Federally Insured Bank, Just Blew Up from Ties to Crypto
The one thing a depositor never wants to hear from a bank that is holding his or her life savings is that it has doubts about its “ability to continue as a going concern.” Unfortunately, those very words appeared in a filing made yesterday by Silvergate Capital with the Securities and Exchange Commission – which pretty much guarantees that the ongoing run on deposits at Silvergate will continue with an added sense of urgency.
Silvergate Capital is the owner of the federally-insured and taxpayer-backstopped bank, Silvergate Bank, which decided several years back that it would be a cool idea to become the go-to depository bank for crypto companies. One of those outfits was Sam Bankman-Fried’s now collapsed house of fraud.
Accounts at Silvergate Bank included Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange, FTX; his hedge fund, Alameda Research, which prosecutors say looted his FTX crypto… (Continue to full article)
Her TALENT is GREATLY missed…
The Coming Recession Will Be a Global One
Over one hundred years ago, Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises discovered what causes the boom-bust business cycle.
As Mises explained, the boom is caused by central and commercial banks creating money out of thin air. This lowers interest rates, which encourages businesses to borrow this newly created money to fund capital-intensive investment projects.
The bust is caused when the money creation process slows. It is then that businesses discover there are not enough scarce resources to complete their projects, so these projects must be liquidated to allow for labor and other resources to be allocated to where they are most desired by consumers… (Continue to full article)
Central banks continue to scoop up gold in 2023 as gold price holds the mid-$1,800 level
After a record-setting year in 2022, central banks remain very interested in gold at the start of 2023, according to the World Gold Council (WGC).
In January, central banks bought 31 tonnes of gold, a monthly increase of 16%, said WGC in a note Thursday.
“This was also comfortably within the 20-60t range of reported purchases which has been in place over the last ten consecutive months of net buying,” wrote Krishan Gopaul, senior analyst at the WGC.
Most of the buying was done by three central banks, and they are not new players… (Continue to full article)
