Cline: Inflation Reduction Act – the worst is yet to come

Most Republicans blocked a proposed $35 cap on insulin co-pays for private insurers after the Senate parliamentarian determined it didn't fall under reconciliation, which allows legislation on taxes and spending to pass with a simple majority. Seven Republicans voted to maintain the cap for private insurance, but that wasn't enough to reach the 60 votes…

Ron Johnson, a stalwart Senate ally of former President Trump, is facing fresh uncertainty in his race for reelection after telling a podcast last week that Social Security and Medicare should be classified as discretionary spending, with Congress authorized to set their budgets every year. Johnson had been cruising to reelection in a favorable political…

The latest numbers from the Department of Labor show that the index for energy in July was up 32.9% annually, falling from 41.6% in June. The Federal Reserve has been hiking interest rates since March in an effort to tame inflation that the central bank and Treasury Department had initially described as "transitory." U.S. equity futures had been trading slightly…

WASHINGTON— Americans may finally be catching a break from relentlessly surging prices— if just a slight one— even as inflation is expected to remain painfully high for months. Thanks largely to falling gas prices, the government's inflation report for July, to be released Wednesday morning, is expected to show that prices jumped 8.7% from a year earlier— still a…

Every month, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics would publish the numbers, inflation would usually be in the 1% or 2% annual range and the business world would go about its business. "That was the most worried I've been about inflation," said Betsey Stevenson, an economist at the University of Michigan. And harder for the Federal Reserve to fix with interest rate…

Despite rising concerns over high inflation and lingering supply-chain woes, demand for workers remains near record high levels. The latest numbers from DEED's Job Vacancy Survey estimated a total of 11,742 job vacancies in Northeast Minnesota in fourth quarter 2021. This was only down slightly from the record high of 12,886 estimated in the previous…

Democrats pushed their election-year economic package to Senate passage Sunday, a hard-fought compromise less ambitious than President Joe Biden’ s original domestic vision but one that still meets deep-rooted party goals of slowing global warming, moderating pharmaceutical costs and taxing immense corporations. “Today, Senate Democrats sided with…

The average for a 30- year loan fell to 4.99% from 5.3% last week, Freddie Mac said Thursday in a statement. The Federal Reserve's campaign to curb inflation by driving up its benchmark rate is putting an end to the pandemic housing boom. "Mortgage rates remained volatile due to the tug of war between inflationary pressures and a clear slowdown in economic growth,"…

He wrote Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jay Powell almost a year ago, warning that printing so much money would lead to an inflation spike. Now, as Congress is debating an even skinnier version of President Biden’ s“ Build Back Better” spending bill, Sen. Manchin is warning us again. In response to June’ s inflation report, he said,“ No matter what spending aspirations…

—The U.S. economy has contracted for two straight quarters, intensifying fears that the nation is on the cusp of a recession— if not already in one— barely two years after the pandemic recession officially ended. Its direction has confounded Federal Reserve policymakers and many private economists since growth screeched to a halt in March 2020 as COVID-19…

The president and CEO of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank offered restrained but positive news about the country's inflation crisis to Shenandoah Valley business leaders this week. During a Wednesday appearance at Blue Ridge Community College, Thomas Barkin said the Federal Reserve's tools such as interest rate hikes will calm the inflationary spike…

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis expects interest rates to continue climbing, but believes the United States can avoid entering a recession. James Bullard said Wednesday he expects the benchmark interest rate to climb by as much as another 1.5% before the end of the year. Bullard is a voting member this year on the rate-setting Federal Open…

Ron Johnson indicated Tuesday that Medicare and Social Security should be subjected to annual budget deliberations, a move that could upend guaranteed benefits relied upon by millions of Americans. Federal spending is in two baskets— discretionary spending which comes in annual appropriations in areas like defense and public works and mandatory…

Ask anyone who needs to fill a fridge to feed a family and they'll tell you that inflation hasn't cooled one bit for them since the Federal Reserve rolled out three rate hikes since March. On Wednesday, the Fed raised interest rates for the fourth time in five months and another, though smaller, rate hike is expected to follow at the Fed's next meeting Sept. 20 and Sept….

The bad news is that inflation will slow because the Federal Reserve is slamming the brakes on monetary policy. The Fed did so by keeping its policy interest rate at zero for too long and by allowing the money supply to balloon by about 40% over a two-year period. The result of the administration and Fed's policy largesse, coupled with COVID-related global supply…

CARY, N.C.– After the Federal Reserve's latest interest rate hike, CBS 17 is digging deeper into the impact it's having on home builders and those who plan on buying homes. Home builder Wes Carroll tells CBS 17 the increases give them more stability when it comes to building prices and the cost handed down to the buyer. "Wake County still is seeing 62 people per day net…

Southern California bosses have added 400,000 jobs in the past year. So, why is the Federal Reserve hellbent on quashing the good times and pushing the nation. The local consumer price index shows inflation running at a budget-busting pace: 9.4% in the Inland Empire and 8.6% in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

But President Biden and other senior figures, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, are arguing that the current situation is different for several reasons, prime among them the strong job market. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve sought to combat inflation by raising its benchmark interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point.