A thread about transitory vs persistent inflation and why persistent might be actually be winning.
This comes from @economics And it breaks down CPI by reopening and non-reopening components.
Of the 5.25% inflation rate in the last year, only 1.62% was reopening components.
1/6
Breaking it down for August we find that reopening CPI components (or transitory inflation) FELL by 0.22% while CPI non-reopening components (or persistent inflation) ROSE by 0.35%
2/6
Detailing this we find that CPI non-reopening (persistent) components are surging to its highest monthly level since at least 2016.
Restated, this series of persistent inflation is trending higher, and is 78% of overall CPI.
3/6
The CPI reopening components (transitory) fell by the most since the lockdown.
Restated, this series of transitory inflation is falling and is just 14% of overall CPI.
4/6
So, why are the CPI reopening components falling? Is the Delta variant hurting the economy and sapping demand?
Consider these two charts.
Airline ticket prices collapsed by 9% annualized in August. Why? Because demand is also collapsing as measured by the TSA?
5/6
In sum transitory components are falling and their demand is off as Delta is hurting economic activity.
Meanwhile persistent inflation components are surging higher and higher.
Is this why stocks turnaround today? Weakening demand and higher inflation squeezing margins?
6/6
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It turns out that the biggest soap opera in Trump's nominations is the Treasury Secretary. As the graphic below shows, it is as close to 50/50 as it gets.
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My Take
The Treasury Secretary gets to sit in the room and opine on policy. And their voice will be taken seriously.
But they do not set the policy; the President does. When the president says what they will do, they expect the Treasury Secretary to sell that policy as if it were theirs.
The second part, selling something they don't believe in but are told to do, is something Jamie Dimon will never do, so he will never be the Treasury Secretary. (Dimon wants to tell everyone else what they should sell).
Lutnick will sell whatever you tell him and do it with gusto! Bessert will do so too, but he does not command the room like Lutnick.
In other words, the Treasury Secretary is the administration's chief spokesman. This is a sales job, and it needs a salesperson.
The problem with Yellen was that she needed to be a better salesperson. Yes, she is an outstanding economist, but she was never a good spokesperson for the Biden Agenda.
She would have been a better National Economic Council head, the "smart person in the shadows advising the President."
If I had to guess ....
Lutnick = Treasury Secretary
Bessert = National Economic Council head
A good way to measure the perceived health of the US economy is to measure the public's ability to spend on things they want but do not need, aka discretionary spending.
🧵
2/5
The Conference Board's survey of 3,000 Households asking whether they are planning a foreign vacation in the next six months.
This month, the survey hit another all-time high: 22% of US households say they will vacation overseas in the next six months.
3/5
A foreign vacation is something that absolutely nobody needs but absolutely everybody wants.
You only agree to potentially spend several thousand dollars if you are confident about your job,
investments, and the overall state of the economy.