Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

The Power of 0% Inflation

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The CPI numbers just came out, and they tell you what you already know from all your grocery shopping, your gas-tank-filling, and your bills-paying. We have 0% inflation. Absolutely.

Look, this is simple: the members of the FOMC are human beings and, as such, as innately political. They want to be left ALONE, and if the current administration loses in five months, the Fed is going to very-much-not-be-left-alone. It’s already been made clear by the opposition that they want much greater oversight and control over the Fed.

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Data Does the Deed

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In the most predictable event of the week, the PCE inflation numbers computed by the government have come out, and, surprise, surprise, they’re lower than expected. We are now expected to believe that inflation is 2.4%. Yep.

In turn, everything has turned green. It’s the same logic that’s driven the rally for all of 2024:

Cooling Inflation —> Powell Cuts Rates —> Dow Should be at 50,000

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Inflation Data Point

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Since the prices for Slope premium memberships haven’t budged in forever, I thought I’d share with you an email I just got from one of the few items to which I subscribe: RoboKiller, which suppresses junk phone calls. In spite of the government’s laughable declaration that inflation is 3% (instead of the truth, which is about ten times higher) here we have a real-life example in which a very popular product is going up by 166% in one year. I will, incidentally, be cancelling this, because this is ridiculous.