Joe’s “Minor Recession” Deepens?

Hours after Joe insists only a “minor recession” possible, DOL says Sept wholesale inflation numbers rose more than expected as prices, including basic necessities, jumped 8.5%, thereby adding fuel 2 deep recession fears.

As Fox Business reported the surprisingly bad news of a multi-decade high that’s squeezing businesses and American households even more: While the 8.5% rise in wholesale prices that will ultimately reach consumers is a tick down from the 8.7% recorded in August, those numbers were higher than the 8.3% figure forecast by Refinitiv economists and is “a worrisome sign for the Federal Reserve as it seeks to cool price gains” all the way down to 2% asap. If not, the Fed is promising to continue to “tame consumer demand with [its] aggressive interest hike campaign.”

The devil is in the details. As Fox notes: “Excluding food, energy and trade services, inflation at the wholesale level increased .4% for the month – the fastest gain since May … The bulk of the increase – about 60% -- can be traced to a 1.2% monthly surge in prices for food, including a stunning 15.7% advance in the cost of fresh & dry vegetables … Energy prices, meanwhile, climbed .7%, despite a 2.0% drop in the cost of gasoline,” thanks mostly to cost hikes for diesel fuel, residential natural gas and home heating oil.”

Davd Soul