Saturday Broadcast 44

 Key topics:

✔️ ICYMI news, 4/10 - 4/14.
✔️Bankers and fat cats made huge profits in Q1, which should surprise no one. 
✔️Retailers and fast food are having layoffs and turning to automation but supposedly: 3.5% unemployment rate and hey, if you're hurting for a job, go work in fast food and retail. 😣
✔️Where is inflation slowing? I'm certainly not seeing it!

Links:

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/10/outlook-for-credit-access-hits-record-low-while-inflation-expectations-jump.html

https://fortune.com/2023/04/10/gen-z-2023-grads-accepted-fully-in-person-jobs/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/theres-one-job-every-two-applicants-right-now-other-world-borden/

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/11/banks-creating-downside-risks-for-global-growth-imf-chief-economist-.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/11/70percent-of-americans-feel-financially-stressed-new-cnbc-survey-finds.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/11/walmart-warehouse-automation-powers-higher-profits.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/12/heres-the-inflation-breakdown-for-march-2023-in-one-chart.html

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/walmart-retreats-from-chicago-5607492/

https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-jobs-return-to-office-outsourcing-to-cut-costs-2023-4

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/jpmorgan-nixes-wfh-for-directors-5229129/

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/wholesale-inflation-slows-sharply-5608252/

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/other-things-break-legendary-investor-182507977.html

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/big-banks-report-bigger-profits-5241625/

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/exxon-ceo-gets-record-raise-5244425/

Links where I can be found: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/2023/01/30/updates-housekeeping/

Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

Transcript

Unknown: 0:15

Welcome to the Causey Consulting Podcast. You can find us online anytime at CauseyConsultingLLC.com. And now, here's your host Sara Causey. Hello. Hello, and thanks for tuning in. Today. It is Monday, April 10. I took a much needed break over the weekend. I published the Saturday broadcast and other than that nada are really took the opportunity to get some rest and relaxation and it felt fabulous. Back in the Saddle today and I am glad that I took that break because what a headache inducing day of headlines. Over on CNBC, we find s&p 500 falls to start the week as investors recession fears grow. Outlook for credit access hits record low while inflation expectations jump New York Fed survey shows. Yeah, I will click on that in a minute. But first, I want to say that I will be releasing a broadcast on Thursday, to push back on this romantic quixotic notion of a nationwide strike a nationwide sit out against RTO that all of these people will somehow live with no money at all coming in, in order to be idealistic. About RTO verses work from home. I don't see it happening. And one of the things that I say in that broadcast is, even if you assume people will simply live on credit cards to get through the hell no, we won't go sit out phase, that may not be an option. So let me read this headline to you again, Outlook for credit access hits record low, while inflation expectations jump New York Fed survey shows. So if someone is thinking, I'll sit it out, I'll be the idealogue. I'll just go get a home equity loan, I'll live off credit cards, I will do whatever it takes and drive myself into an insane amount of debt to have this idealistic protest, which I think is highly unlikely. But even if someone decided to do that, their ability to do that their ability to access credit may be gone, ephemeral. Now that may be transitory. The inflation sure hasn't been but your access to credit might be. When we click on this we find respondents to a New York Fed survey expect prices to rise by half a percentage point in the next year, equating to a 4.75% annual gain. Those reporting that credit is much or somewhat harder to get than a year ago rose to 58.2%, the highest ever in a data series that goes back to June 2013. Consumers expect gas prices to rise by 4.6% in the year ahead and see food prices up 5.9% In quote. So again, I will say to you if someone is imagining if they're continuing to LARP and imagine that everyone will have a giant sit out against our to mandates by living on their credit cards or a home equity line of credit. I would guess again. I understand that that's not what you want to hear. I understand that's not from a Pollyanna sunshine toxic positivity point of view what I'm supposed to get on here and tell you, but I would rather tell you the uncomfortable truth as I see it than to tell you a fluffy pack of lies. Also on CNBC, we find FBI warns against using public phone charging stations. And I was trying to think back if I ever had used one I don't think so. Warren and a OC press atop Silicon Valley Bank depositors about any cushy treatment they received. Oh, well that no nickel will get you a hot fresh steaming cup of nothing. Over on Yahoo Finance, it's a similar scene. Stocks fall to start week after strong jobs report. The byline reads US stocks fell on Monday with the NASDAQ lower than other indexes after the release of Friday's strong jobs report. Hmm. Maybe it's like somebody somewhere knows that the strong jobs report is a load of crap. I don't be lazy but we also find New York Fed survey finds Americans inflation expectations jump? Well, yes. Why would they not? People who are out shopping, buying groceries putting gas in the car in real time on a daily or weekly basis? They No. I haven't seen any prices coming down. Have you? Do you have any optimism inflation is on its way out. If so, I'd love to know what evidence there is for that what you're basing the hopium on. Goldman Sachs finds public's fear about bank crisis has faded. Oh, has it? Well, if that's true, it's really freaking frightening. And it might be who knows? Because I still think that the average person who is and I'm not to say that the average person does this, I'm trying to quantify it and clarify it here. The average person who is more concerned about Royall gossip and celebrity gossip and reality TV and mindlessly surfing tick tock all day, that individual is going to get steamrolled by what's coming. So maybe people in that category, don't have any fears about the financial system. They don't have any concern, but probably don't even know what shadow banking is. Maybe. But if we're talking about gestures broadly, like all of America or most of America think that the banking crisis is faded. That's scary as hell. No two ways around it. We also find the query. Is it time to worry about a recession again? Huh, huh? Yeah, we all know what I think. No need to belabor the point. Over on fortune.com. Today, we find housing market analysts are divided. Zillow and Moody's issue starkly different home price forecasts for the nation's 400 largest markets. What I would say on that, be prepared for whatever. I am not in the Midwest, seeing really aggressive, impressive price cuts. I'm just not. Are there still homes selling? Yes. And it's still the ones that I've talked about before suburbanite starter homes with a teeny tiny postage stamp yard that you could mow with a push mower in 15 minutes, the kind of houses that I lived in before. So don't send me hate mail where you can reach out the window of your house and smack the house next door. Everyone's all crammed in like sardines and a can't those houses are selling. I would say mainly because that's what people can afford. But if you're talking about a home, an actual brick and mortar home, not a burned out trailer that was used in a crime, or a storage shed, but an actual brick and mortar home on some type of acreage. No, no, no, no, those people are still playing pretend that it's 2021, they've not made any kind of significant changes to the price. That's the thing, let's say that somebody is trying to sell a property for $750,000. And it's probably on a good day, a 400k property, they make a$10,000 price reduction. That's nothing that will do nothing to improve your mortgage payment. And it also does nothing to bring that house back into alignment with the actual true value of it. So what is there to be impressed about? Be prepared for anything, depending on where you live in the country, maybe you will see housing prices plummet. Maybe you won't, at least for a while. I'm continuing to do what Orlando miner talked about IE, sit it out on the sidelines and sit it out with purpose. Do what you can to improve your status and your financial profiles so that when a good deal shows up, whenever that may be this year, next year, a decade from now, I don't know. But whenever that ideal place comes on the radar for you, you're ready. And you haven't gotten yourself obligated for some doodoo poop overpriced house, that's probably a lemon anyway, I'll be very candid with you and say I am still seeing that. That's not something really that has changed from 2021. The prices are still too high on the properties that I would be interested in. And the houses are lemons, there's some problem. They are problem children properties, and that's the reason why the people are trying to get out. Okay, pessimism, Debbie Downer. I know, that may change as we go further into this downturn. Because as people lose their jobs as unemployment goes up, and the general public is allowed to know that unemployment is going up. There may be people selling out of necessity, not because they want to and not because the house is a lemon that needs a ton of work. It's in a crime infested neighborhood. You're right next door to people cooking meth that only have three teeth in their head, et cetera, et cetera. They may be selling it because they feel like they have to. Now I'm going to take a break from recording for just a second and hit the pause button because it sounds like the rams are on the front porch having a bowling league. It's gives me for a moment. Okay, sorry about that. Hopefully that problem is solved for the time being. That is reality on a working farm and ranch. Now, we also get Gen Z hit surprising adult milestone, working in the office full time. Oh boy. When we click on that we find Gen Z is ready for the office, whether they like it or not almost half 48% of the class of 2023, who have already accepted a post grad job, say that job is fully on site. That's according to a survey of 2500 graduating college seniors conducted by the LaSalle network, a staffing and recruiting firm, what was considered normal for past generations is a new kind of milestone for older Gen Zers, who have spent some of their college or early working lives behind the screen. But that doesn't mean they're happy about it. Only 4% actually want to work fully remotely and quote, oh, I don't know about that. I'm not convinced that only 4% of Gen Z, I guess we could presume Gen Z individuals who are already of a working age, I find it very hard to believe that only 4% of Gen Z would want a full, fully remote role. That feels suspiciously low to me. I've also busted the narrative for you before of can't we just please think of the children. This fake pathos of go back to the office for the kids. Gen Z is clamoring out in the streets, they are down on their hands and their knees begging, begging pleading. For a return to the office. They are sick and tired of being at home. They're tired of working remotely and they need that face to face connection. They want so badly to learn. I just can't even say it with a straight face. This is what they want so badly to learn from the baby boomers and the Gen Xers they aren't just dying in the streets for RTO. No, they're not. No, based on. Again, I'm in the job market every single day as I have been for over a decade. I'm not talking to Gen Z individuals who tell me I am desperate. For a fully on site role. No hybrid, no remote. I want to be fully on site. But insane in the cube farm Monday through Friday from eight to five. If it's not fully on site, don't freaking call me. I'm not hearing that. In terms of what I'm hearing second and third hand from others in the industry. They're not reporting that information back to me either. So I would love to know how anybody can think that masses of Gen Z ears are desperate to get back to the office. I I'm not seeing it. And I find that hard to believe. What I do believe is the stat that 48% of them are accepting full RTO jobs whether they like it or not, because drumroll please. That's what's available. I've warned you and warned you and warned you about bogus jobs for optics, fake jobs, hiring managers that will post an evergreen job order because they want Tony Stark to work for pennies on the dollar. And hey, who knows if we leave this up long enough. Maybe somebody will take it. Ha ha ha. I've warned you about this RTO nonsense two. I do not believe that the kids are begging to come back. They're just begging to be in the office full time. We all have to go back. We all have to suck it up because that's what's in the best interest of the children and the youngsters. I don't believe it. What I do believe is yeah, they're going back like it or not because that is the option. You know, I'm going to do it. You know, I'm going to do it. I'm gonna go back to Jed Hill speech. This is the present. This is the here and the now. Welcome to the land of you don't have a choice. If those student loans are coming due, mom and dad have said get out of the house. It's your time to be an adult go find something and you need a j ob ASAP. How long are you going to hold the line for something fully remote if it's just not coming? This is reality guys. We also see billionaire investor Barry sternlicht says inflation is going to drop hard. Just look at rents. Oh, maybe deflation is a possibility. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you it isn't. I'm not convinced that it's right around the corner, because I'm not seeing any evidence of it yet. To be determined. This could go either way. We could have hyperinflation 1970s era stagflation where we could have deflation. At some point it may be like the air is led out of the bicycle tire and we're all trying to drive on flats. That is a possibility. We also have an entire section devoted to Silicon Valley Bank with a lot of old Jamie Dimon. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon says we're near the end of the banking crisis. Oh, well, sure. But then right next to that, we also find Jamie Dimon says the banking crisis was hiding in plain sight and will now be felt for years to come. So which isn't? It's going to be felt for years to come. But we're near the end. And then right next to that Jamie Dimon urges policymakers to avoid a knee jerk whack amole regulation in the aftermath of SVB and signature bank collapse. Well, they're Jame it's not gonna matter anyway, because those regulations can be selectively not enforced whenever they want to not enforce them. And they can also just be repealed. There's so much collusion that happens between the government and Wall Street and corporate America. It's just laughable. Americans are over the endless anxiety loop. Only the rich remote workers and Gen Z are really care about the banking crisis, according to the Harris Poll. Oh, geez, Dad, that gives me a headache. Yeah, oh my god. I feel like that great monologue, you know, that Anthony does in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. My heart is there in the coffin with Caesar. Let me pause until it comes back to me. Only rich remote workers and Gen Z are is really care about the banking crisis. What? What? I freelance remotely, I'm not rich. And I'm not Agenzia. And I really care about the banking crisis. I know a lot of other people that I would say are not in the bucket of rich remote worker and or Gen Z are that really care about the banking crisis? Is this clickbait? Is this American sky propaganda? I don't know. But it's like, are you supposed to read that headline and then draw the conclusion of only the small select groups of people even give a rip about the banking crisis? Therefore I shouldn't either. I am. What a clown world we live in right now. Oh, speaking of which, what a great segue. Notice what I did their wink. Over on LinkedIn today on the workshift. We learned there's one job for every two applicants right now. What? You know, your girl had to say something about that. I was very quick to type up my little comment that will be suppressed at some point. I'm sure that okay, I guess it was time to dispense with the narrative that there's two open jobs for every one unemployed person. Now we get to hear that there's one job for every two applicants. Have you noticed how quickly they can dispense with a narrative when they're done with it? When it no longer suits their purpose? When it no longer conveys to the peons, whatever message it is that they're trying to push to the peons how quickly, that story, that narrative, that headline can change. Things happen slowly, until they happen very fast. That's not just something in the economy. That's something in the news media as well. At any point in time, when the corporate puppet masters start telling the journalists the so called journalists, that it's time to change the story. Okay, now, we need you to shift away from there's two legitimate open jobs for every one unemployed person. And we need you to start saying, there's only one job for every two applicants because we need these people to be hungry. We need these people to quit jackasses around like it's 2021. We want all of that great resignation stuff to stop. We want the balance of power to come back to corporate America. So we want the peons to understand that there's going to be more competition for whatever's posted, and they need to quit being so uppity and stuck up about everything and obey corporate America. Have you noticed? I also published a blog post this morning about you mean there's not a so called labor shortage? Because we're getting headlines about how there can be too much employment in America. That's it Another BS narrative that can change on a dime, labor shortage, labor shortage, Coco Coco. Nobody wants to work. Men are all lazy. Young, Young people are all lazy. And then all of a sudden one day, there can be too much employment in America. And on that article from LinkedIn, it shouldn't boggle my mind. Sometimes it still does. But it's like you still get mad explainers, bots, trolls shills, I don't even know if they're real, actual human beings. But individuals saying no, we still have a labor shortage. When I go in the store. There's not enough workers to suit me. So I believe we're still in a labor shortage. And it's like, well, in my opinion, you are going to be one of the people who probably doesn't make it. If you have ears to hear, hear, if you have eyes to see see. Please be careful about who you're listening to. and for what reason. Today, it is Tuesday, April 11. Over on CNBC, we have headlines such as s&p 500 is little changed as investors await March inflation report. IMF cuts GDP forecasts says global economy heading for weakest growth since 1990. Banks in more precarious situation creating risks for global growth IMF chief economist warns when we click on that we find in the TLDR key points. Banks are facing higher costs and losses on some assets, putting them in a more precarious situation and potentially leading to a pullback in lending. I think we all know what happens when that happens. When the banks stop lending and we approach another 2008 2009 scenario, we've seen that movie before. Significant further tightening of lending is a risk to its 2.8% global growth forecast, taking it to a 2.5 or even 1% in a severe downside scenario. However, central banks and financial authorities have shown they have the tools to address pockets of instability and should remain focused on bringing down inflation. Right. Well, as I mentioned, we saw how that movie played out in oh eight and oh nine. I think you need to be prepared for something of that flavor, if not worse, and I hope that I am wrong. Meanwhile, 70% of Americans are feeling financially stressed new CNBC survey finds. CNBC is financial confidence survey conducted in partnership with Momentive found most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. It's not a new revelation. Fewer than half of US adults said they had an emergency fund, more women than men admit feeling financially stressed. Inflation, economic instability and a lack of savings have an increasing number of Americans feeling financially stressed. Some 70% of Americans admit to being stressed about their personal finances these days and a majority 52% of US adults, said their financial stress has increased since before the COVID 19 pandemic began in March 2020. anxious and uncertain about whether they can get a better handle on their money. Some may be intimidated by the prospect of creating a budget or unsure of where to stash their cash to get the highest returns. Others may be wondering how to begin saving for retirement when they've gotten off to a late start and quote, but yet, you're expected to believe that people who are feeling this financial stress they're living paycheck to paycheck, they don't always know where the money's coming from for the bills, you're expected to believe that they will all sit down at home and have an idealistic battle over RTO versus work from home. making no money, they'll just sit at home. Right? Of course. On a non unrelated note, Walmart chases higher profits powered by warehouse robots and automated claws. Walmart is accelerating its use of automation across its supply chain as it chases higher profits. The company showed off an automated distribution center in Florida at an investor day. CEO Doug McMillon said he anticipates the retailer's workforce will stay about the same size. But said its composition will change. Not its composition might change. It could change the composition will change. I also saw a headline I think it may have been last night or the night before it popped up on my phone. And if I can find the news outlet again, I will post a link to it. But the gist of it was that McDonald's is going to open more automated stores. They won't just have the automated store that's in Fort Worth but they're planning on opening some other automated stores as well. I hate to sound Debbie Downer about this. But I really believe for certain jobs not for every job to be clear, I try to stay away from always never everyone, no one and the big clickbait statements. I feel like for certain jobs and certain components in the economy, that is the way of the future. And I think John and Jane Q public and the so called labor shortage, oh, Coco, that will be used as the justification, even though they've been itching to do this anyway. And all you have to do if you don't believe me go back and reread that article I have linked to before where Harare talks about the useless class. What will they do when their job is automated? And they're not having to spend that time commuting and going to that job? How will they spend that time? Well, they can put on their VR headset and go into virtual reality. And that virtual reality will be better than their meaningless peon life anyway. I hope I'm wrong, because all of that is incredibly dystopian. And I know it's difficult to swallow. And I know it's difficult to even think about. And it's easy to sit back and say, a handful of stores, several chains going with automation does not a revolution make. And I get that it typically doesn't start out with a tsunami may have to get you accustomed to the changes in the game. In the absence of a crisis of World War, a pandemic, something of that flavor. If you're scared enough, you'll do anything. But in the absence of that, it has to be moved along in little segments. And then you'll have talking heads and pundants, who will say, hey, a few robots here and there. Not a big deal. All right. So there's a handful of McDonald's automated stores, who cares? Walmart's going to start automating some of the warehouse back of house type functions. That's not a big deal. You're just being a technophobe. You're just some kind of Luddite. Okay. But wait and see how this plays out. Today, it is Wednesday, April 12. Over on CNBC, we have headlines such as fed expects banking crisis to cause a recession this year minutes show. But remember, we have repeatedly been told that the banking system is sound. The things that happen with Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, well, those were just blips just anomalies. Remember that gross video of Dave Ramsey saying play AWS over and over again. Like the people at Silicon Valley Bank, they were play as they were out in the market, venture capitalists doing risky, edgy thing. So that's why it happened. But now John and Jane Q public, who bank at anywheres, Ville, USA, they're fine. Their bank is fine. You're foolish if you worry, right? I published a blog posts this week about disposable narratives. Because all of these stories are disposable pieces of trash, in my opinion. Whenever they're ready for you to panic, they'll hype you up and tell you to panic. Whenever they tell you to stay calm. They expect you to stay calm. If they don't want you to prepare. If they want you to think everything's fine and dandy and just go back to sleep little baby. That's the narrative they push. But that doesn't mean it's objectively true. IMF warns hard landing within the realm of possibilities for the US economy. Hmm, gosh, wow. You don't say? I'm not sure who really believed in a soft landing for all this. Historically, there hasn't been one when we've had these Omni bubbles and hyper inflated markets and FOMO and Yolo. And all that. When can you go back and see, all's well that ends well. Stocks fall as fear of recession weighs on investors, Dow snaps four day win streak. Here's the inflation breakdown for March 2023. In one chart. Let's see what pearls of wisdom we may glean here. In the TLDR key points we find. The Consumer Price Index eased 5% in March 2023 on an annual basis, down from 6% in February. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation report, energy and food prices declined in March. Housing prices have proven stubborn but are expected to start falling in coming months economist said inflation for physical goods has largely eased, but that for services has been stickier largely due to dynamics in the labor market economy. was said, banking turmoil is expected to cool the economy and inflation in coming months and quote, does any of that make sense to you? Because if we go back to the front page we find fed expects banking crisis to cause a recession this year. Banking turmoil is expected to cool the economy and inflation in the coming months. But think about how often you were told, everything's fine, isolated incident Silicon Valley venture capitalist gone mad high risk. I myself wouldn't bet my life on that I just wouldn't. are using energy and food prices declining where you are? I'm not. I'm looking around like John Travolta and Pulp Fiction, you know, like, where's that at? In fact, locally, our food prices are continuing to go up. You can find some good sales here and there. Especially if like the grocery store has a loss leader, for example, they're going to give something away practically for pennies on the dollar just to get you in there. So you can shop more. They had like your, I don't know, garden variety loaves of bread, like nothing fancy wheat bread and nothing fancy white bread for 99 cents for a long time. But now they're up to$1.49. I don't even know what Dollar General is locally anymore. We quit going in there on a regular basis because Dollar General was getting too expensive. And the stuff that you get in that little alleyway that they have where it's $1 deals, the shrink, inflation has hit that aisle so badly. But it's basically like, you can get four tablets of Advil for $1. Or you can get a teeny tiny thing of laundry soap, like it might wash two loads, if you're lucky for $1. It's just crazy. Our utility bills have not gone down, even though we are using less and really clamping down being energy efficient and trying to be cost conscious at every turn. I am not seeing energy and food prices declining. I don't know how on earth, the Consumer Price Index eased from five from 6% to 5%. I don't even believe those numbers are accurate anyway. But to say it's come down an entire percentage point. I'm not seeing it. I'm not seeing it. Warren Buffett says we're not through with bank failures. Well on that we agree because I don't think we are either. I don't think we are either. I hope I'm wrong on that. And I hope he's wrong too. But time will tell. Over on Yahoo Finance we find stocks slip after inflation data comes in cool. Fed minutes highlight recession risk. The byline reads US stocks ended read Wednesday reversing gains from earlier in the session and the release of new inflation data and the minutes from the Federal Reserve's March meeting. Fed officials mold pause as staff forecast recession, housing by far the biggest contributor to inflation. Oh boy, FOMO and Yolo and all that insanity that we saw in 2021. And yet, the realtors and the brokers who thought that was going to last forever. That was just the new reality. Gen Z and millennials are so broke. They're ruining their parents retirements. The byline reads a majority of us parents have made financial sacrifices to help their adult children, but it could backfire. Such as the times in which we live. I mean, I remember, like the grandparents and the great grandparents talking about what life was like 20s and 30s what life was like, during the Great Depression. And, and before because I mean, they handed down stories that they were told by their grandparents and great grandparents in turn. And there were plenty of people that were doing multi generational housing at that point in time because it was more of a thing that was done back then. And then for some people, that was the only option for survival during the Depression. I mean, I remember my grandfather talking about his family, he had an older brother who passed away in World War Two and I'm trying to go back in my mind and just remember off the top of my head about about what year he was born, but they were alive during the Depression. And I remember my grandpa talking about how he and his older brother. Like it was a big deal. To get an orange at Christmas, and they would like eat the entire orange peel and all that was a big deal. And being able to go out and hunt for your food, to have some kind of meat on the table, whether it was venison or it was rabbit, I mean, sometimes we have to do what we have to do to survive. And I'm going to put on my tinfoil hat here. I feel like this situation is orchestrated. Because we're talking about Gen Z and millennials not having the amount of money they need to survive in a freaking hyperinflationary environment. And then their parents are having to help them out. But then their parents are not going to be able to retire or they have retired and they have to go back to work. I feel a bit sandwiched in between this reality. Because for me, as I've said many times on the air before being born in the younger part of Gen X, it didn't take long for me to catch on to the reality that being dependent on Social Security, waiting for some kind of pension and a gold watch after 30 years of service, that was not going to be reality for me. Whenever I hit retirement age, that was not going to be a reality for me. Now, the other thing is, I'm just not built for that. I'm not. And I'm self aware enough to know that this idea of I want to sit on the porch in the rocking chair and wait for the sunrise and watch the birds chirping and playing. And then in the evening time, I'll go back to the rocking chair and watch the sunset and watch the birds again at No, no. I've also said on the air before people who think that way. Let's say that takes up two hours of your day. What are you going to do with the rest of your time? So often, what I see happening is people just sleep and they go into the idiot box. I can't even tell you how many people I have known. Not anecdotally, but people I know personally, who have retired with no game plan as to how they were going to fill their days. And if you ask them all find stuff to do, or the wife will keep me busy. My husband's always wanting stuff. There's a honey do list. I'm not worried about it. Yeah, but the honey do list doesn't last forever. That's the thing. When you're not working full time anymore. You have plenty of time to tackle the things that are on your honey do list. And then what are you going to do? Which is why I think so many people wind up sleeping and living inside the boob tube? That's not for me. No, hell no. I also have no interest in a fixed income. Only God knows what the economy will be like in another 20 years. But I mean, I can't imagine I cannot imagine just resigning myself to a rocking chair. I can't imagine saying I'm just going to live off of this small amount and hope that the government continues to have social security and they continue to give reasonable cost of living bumps and that everything will just be okay. Or the the 401k that I have that's invested on our freaking Ponzi scheme stock market. I'm hoping that that's going to be enough. I'm hoping that by the time I get there, it will be worth even more than it is now and everything will be fine. That's an awful lot of hopium. And I think you know me well enough by now to know that I don't operate on unicorn Toots and hot air and hopium I would much rather have some kind of prep in place, then you can hope for the best. Hey, I've prepared for the worst case scenario now I can hope for the best. Now I can do my meditations and set my intentions and channel positive energy. To me it takes both it takes a positive mental attitude, visualization, meditation and practical tactical work down here in the real world. So for me, there's just never been this overarching gameplan of retiring and buying a Winnebago and driving around the country or sitting in the rocking chair on the front porch listening to birds chirp all the time. That's not for me. I've been watching that old show iron side. Someone that Raymond Bird did after Perry Mason ended and you can tell that they really wanted to make a separation in the character between Perry Mason which he played for a very long time and pretty much everybody that's that was either alive then or in watch his classic TV remembers Perry Mason. You can tell them wanting to make a separation in the characters. But after he gets shot whenever he's in the hospital, there's a scene where he's on the phone conducting business and the doctor and a nun at this Catholic hospital come in to tell him that he's paralyzed and He's kind of like, well, okay, if you don't have any more good news to tell me to get out of here so I can get back on the phone and conduct business. I laughed so hard at that scene, not because of the scene itself, but because I saw so much of myself in that scene. I would be the same way. No, no, I tend to quit working God No shit, no. Fixed Income. Not here. No, thank you. No, no, no, no. But that's my choice. I'm doing that by my choice. That that is my personality. It's my temperament. I wouldn't know what to do with myself. If somebody said go sit in a rocking chair and watch birds all day. God, that'd be like having a lobotomy. But for other people, they do look forward to retirement and the idea of getting them Winnebago and traveling around the country or whatever their dream is. They have that dream. And it's being systematically robbed from them. And I don't feel like that is accidental. Because look, you're you're breaking the backs of multiple generations, Gen Z and Millennial Millennials are so broke, they're ruining their parents retirement. So more than likely whose retirement age right now you're talking about baby boomers primarily. And a few people at the top end of Gen X. You're ruining a lot of people's livelihood in this economic crash. I hate to be so sour and dour about it but I'm just telling you the truth as I see it anyway. Before I sign off also on LinkedIn today, we found Walmart retreats from Chicago. After more than a decade of losing money, Walmart will significantly reduce its footprint and Chicago, closing four of its final eight stores in the Windy City. It's the latest in a series of retreats from urban areas by the nation's largest retailer and comes amid heightened competition Bloomberg notes, crime and theft. A grievance of local retailers didn't drive the decision. Walmart says wink. The chains failure to turn a profit came despite investing $70 million dollars in its areas, stores and tailoring merchandise specifically for Chicago. Walmart's have also closed this year in Portland, Washington, DC and Atlanta, the Wall Street Journal reports. Walmart detailed plans at its investor day in Florida last week to significantly ramp up automation at its stores across the US in quote. You know, I had heard whispers on the wind that some of the Walmart stores will close down in the capacity of being a retail store, but some of them could reopen as distribution centers. And the more that I see stories like this, the more I give credence to that rumor that I heard, because I think that that could very well happen. Somebody would be less likely to have an issue of crime and theft at a distribution center full of robots than at a retail store where there might be shoplifting going on. Time will tell. But the times are changing. I mean, think about that. If you dependent on a local Walmart, to get the bulk of the items that you buy household necessities, lawn and garden, your groceries, your clothing, and that store went away and the nearest one was an hour, hour and a half drive. The other options were not cost effective. How are people going to handle that? I feel like these are very real questions. Are you looking for more? Don't forget you can find Sara on her blogs at Causey consulting llc.com. And at Sara causey.com. You can also read her content on medium and substack on with the show. Today it is Thursday, April 13. Before I get into the news related headlines of the day, there was a news alert that popped up on my phone actually just a few minutes ago by way of Business Insider and it is titled Get a remote job while you still can. More and more companies are calling workers back to the office or outsourcing to cheaper workers overseas. Not going to engage in any false modesty here because Sarah was right yet again. I've been warning you and warning you and warning you that this was the wave of the future. I did not sit here like the hot air and hopium crowd and tell you that you can have whatever you want in life champagne wishes and caviar dreams. I told you I warned you. These companies are not going to universally bulldoze their corporate real estate. That's not going to happen. In the TLDR keypoints we find finding a remote job is getting more and more difficult. openings are tapering off and companies are outsourcing some remote positions overseas 10 to 20% of us service support jobs could move overseas in the next decade. In the meat of the article we read landing and remote job could become more and more challenging. That's because Competition for remote work in the US remains fierce. The number of job postings are on the decline and some of the remote jobs that remain are being outsourced overseas and quote, I told you every bit of that I warned you about. I hope that you've been with me for a while and none of that is catching your ear off guard. You've prepared you understood what was coming. I hope that this is not steamrolling you today. I really do. Over on fortune.com. We find Warren Buffett wants CEOs of failed banks to live like they work on a Ford production line and give back their pensions and salaries. In the byline. We find the Berkshire Hathaway said CEOs, the Berkshire Hathaway, like he is the Berkshire Hathaway, the Berkshire Hathaway said CEOs and directors of failed banks must be penalized in order to deter similar behavior in the future. Will that happen? Hmm. I don't know. Said is the church lady. Remember that? Dana Carvey, such a great skit. Huh? Who could it be? Satan, Satan, Satan. Are these people going to be punished? No, no, no, no. As we get more and more of the these entities and these Wall Street bankers policing themselves, that's only going to make it more difficult for anything to change. I know that sounds terribly pessimistic. That's just reality as I see it. JP Morgan warns that bankers who failed to come into the office could face corrective action and orders leaders to be in five days a week, told you that was coming to how many times have I gotten on here and warned you and warned you that in my opinion, from my observation, this hell of half measures hybrid, you can have a couple of days at home and then three days in the office and yadda yadda blah, blah, blah, that was merely a stepping stone to full RTO. We're segwaying from the carrot to the stick. Lord Ilan made all of it possible. He really kicked the door down on all of that. I go back yet again to jet Hill. This is the present. This is the here and the now. Welcome to the land of you don't have a choice. We're rapidly going there. On a related note over on the side panel for LinkedIn, we find the same story JP Morgan nixes work from home for directors. The nation's biggest bank is ordering some senior staffers back to the office five days a week managing directors allowed to follow hybrid schedule since the pandemic must lead by example, when it comes to visibility JP Morgan Chase said in a memo to staff. The memo also stated that corrective action was possible for hybrid employees who were skirting a requirement to be in the office three days a week CEO Jamie Dimon has criticized remote work in the past saying it slows down honesty and decision making. Fellow Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have adopted similarly hard lines on remote work city has maintained a more moderate approach and quote, for now. Sure. But what do you think is going to happen? When we look at the preponderance of evidence so far? I think even the Wall Street banks that have been more moderate in their approach are going to eventually use the stick rather than the carrot. We also read wholesale inflation slows sharply. prices charged by factories and suppliers fell in March by the most in nearly three years, a further sign that inflation could be slowing. The producer price index dropped from point 5%. From February, the Labor Department said on an annual basis prices rose 2.7% In march down from 4.9%. In the prior month. Producer prices which are passed on to consumers can offer clues on the future pace of inflation. The Labor Department said Wednesday that prices paid by consumers rose in March at the slowest pace since May 2021. So even though it still went up, it was going up at a slower pace and so therefore, you should be happy. We went to the grocery store yesterday. And Good grief. The prices this week were higher than when we went the week before. I had to really really pay attention to the sale circular and shop and a savvy way to keep us from overspending. I mean it's getting tougher and tougher out there. But hey, it slowed. Now prices still went up in March but they went up at a slower pace. So you're supposed to feel good about that. You should go in turn a cartwheel right click. The little bullet point underneath this says new jobless claims Rose 11,000 to 239,000 last week, more than expected by economist polled by Reuters signaling the labor market may be softening in quote, do you think? Yeah the labor market softening? Yes remote work is dwindling, yes, inflation is still high. I see no evidence whatsoever in the Midwest that inflation is cooling, it is still more expensive every time that you go into a store than it was the time you went before. Not long from now I have to have some dental work done. I've been putting it off and putting it off. But it's finally time to pay the piper unfortunately. And I prepaid. I, they looked at me like I was crazy. And they said, Well, we could do half now and then half when you actually have the service if you want to do that. And I'm like, No, I want to prepay in full. Now, when people usually don't do that, well, I want to do that. And one of the reasons why is to prevent this exact scenario of going in, well, we told you that it would be $1,000. But like that was back in March. And so the price for it now is going to be 1300. I didn't want to deal with any of that BS and I made them print out a receipt, the whole nine yards. I don't tell you what to do. And I don't give advice, I would just simply say if you find yourself in a similar position, get as much in writing as you possibly can, because goods and services have gone up and the onus is on you to copy on them tour and to protect yourself. In the same way use caveat and tour and good judgment about these headlines. I see no evidence that inflation is cooling. There's plenty of evidence that the labor market is cooling. But here's the deal. What if these narratives have to legit open jobs for every one unemployed person? What if the whole time the whole entire time that the mainstream media push that narrative it was complete and utter bullshit from the start? Point to ponder. Today it is Friday, April 14. Over on Yahoo Finance we find retail investors are sitting on heavy losses. Investors have reason to sit on the sidelines right now. Since the peak in November 2021. Stocks have staged for double digit bear market rallies. JP Morgan surges after earnings, big banks kick off earnings season with a bang. Will How nice for them. How spectacular it is that the wealthy fat cats and bankers who are already wealthy are getting wealthier. Wow. How nice for them. Best Buy lays off hundreds at stores in online push. But remember, you're still expected to believe that we have a 3.5% unemployment rate people are doing great. If you start to hurt for a job, go to retail, leisure and hospitality fast food. Even though we are seeing retailers laying off. We're seeing retailers going to automation and robotics. We're seeing fast food laying people off and going to robotics and automation but sure 3.5% unemployment rate everybody can go be a barista or work in fast food somehow we will all make it in hyperinflation on fast food wages and everything will be fine. Of course. Women reportedly doing more chores even in marriages with tightening income gap, which is going to come as a surprise probably to no women. IMF calls risks from bank crisis contained. Right, of course, and if you believe that other things will break, legendary investor Jeremy Grantham warns of more financial chaos and wants to see Powell channel a little bit of Volcker. He's Of course, referring to Paul Volcker. In this we find after the high profile failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank last month, US officials have assured Americans that the financial system is sound and that depositors will get their money back. But one seasoned investor who predicted 2008 great financial crisis things more chaos will unfold. I will button to say yeah, I think so too. I think more chaos will unfold. I don't think you have to be a billionaire and investor any economist to see that coming. I think if you just have good old fashioned common sense. It's not that difficult to piece this together. And bear in mind it was Jeremy Grantham in that age of easy money documentary who talked about investors. As bloodsuckers mean, the people at the tippity top of this pyramid know what's going on. They're not ignorant. Other things will break and who knows what they will be Jeremy Grantham, the co founder and chief investment strategist at asset management firm GMO told CNN in an interview Thursday, we're by no means finished with the stress to the financial system in quote. Yeah, I don't think So either I don't think so either. I'd love to tell you otherwise. But I'm not seeing some big wonderful Hail Mary pass that comes in saves the day. Not yet anyway. Over on LinkedIn, we find big banks report bigger profits. The nation's biggest banks reported bumper first quarter earnings Friday defying the turmoil that has challenged many of their smaller regional rivals, JP Morgan Chase clocked a $12.6 billion profit in the first three months of 2023, a 52%. Jump year on year, Citigroup saw its profit leap 7% to $4.6 billion, and Wells Fargo by 32% to 5 billion. rising interest rates have helped drive this surge Yahoo Finance notes with big banks charging more for loans. Some top lenders have also benefited from a rise in depositors as nervous customers move money on smaller banks and quote, but yet, if you say, you know, it seems to me that this is being engineered to cause those small and medium sized regional banks to go under. If we only have five or six major banks that are considered trustworthy and too big to fail, it will be much easier for those banks to control the populace. It'll be much easier to usher in the C, B, D C's when the time comes. If you say that your tinfoil hat, you're a conspiracy nut, you're a goofball. You're just man. You're off planet Earth. Powell. What are you thinking? But then you read something like this. And to me it feels clear as day. I watched Whitney Webb on a recent podcast talking about this very thing. She was talking again about tephra Epstein and Jamie Dimon and the power brokers that were involved with both of those individuals, and how her research has led her to believe that the one led to the other. She also talked about cryptocurrencies, CBDCs. And the centralization of banking, plus this absurd notion that if we allow Wall Street to police Wall Street, then there's no policing at all, it's going to be even worse than it already is. But I'll say it again, when we talk about these kinds of things. You're a conspiracy theorist. That's tinfoil hat. That's crazy. Well, no, it's not. It's really not. Let's go back and reread that last line. Some top lenders have also benefited from a rise in depositors as nervous customers move money out of smaller banks. I don't think that's a coincidence. I also don't think it's a coincidence that JP Morgan Chase, came in at a $12.6 billion profit. Citigroup had $4.6 billion, and Wells Fargo had 5 billion. I don't think any of that's a coincidence. I don't. I'm limited on what I can say here. But I just would really encourage you like Vandana Shiva, whenever she's been on Russell Brand's programs, when you go back and look at some of the companies involved in like chemicals, big ag, big food, if you were to do some research on what those companies were involved in, and who they were allied with, let's say, in the 1940s, for example, wink wink, you catch my drift? I would encourage you to do that with these banks. I really would. Because there are some banks out there. I'm not going to name any names. I'm going to leave it to you to go and find this information for yourself. Although there are some very good books that have been written that do name names and that do call out specific individuals. This information is findable if you care to look for it. And as someone who absolutely abhors Nazism, and wants nothing to do with that line of thought, I find it repugnant and disgusting. Also, as a minority myself, someone who in no way reflects Hitler's idea of the you know, Aryan perfection, ha ha. I feel that I owe it to myself to know what companies have sympathies in that direction. So I would just really encourage you to take a look at the history of some of these companies and some of these banks. What were they doing back in the 40s? Who were they allied with? You might not sleep so well at night, but at least you'll have the information. We also find Exxon CEO gets record raise total compensation for Exxon CEO Dara are in woods rocketed by 52% last year to 35 point 9 million, just as many high paying companies and other industries reduced executive pay after a tough year. The increase was due mostly to stock awards that appreciated in value as the price of oil surged amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. By comparison, Chevron CEO saw a 4% increase in total compensation last year to 23 point 6 million, while JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon earned 34 point 5 million and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon earned $25 million in quote. Wow. It's interesting that they have profited teared off of this war. But you know, if I get on the air and I say I highly doubt that's coincidental then that makes me a nut. That makes me a tinfoil hat wearer and a cuckoo bird and a crazy, right. You know, the other day, I was watching a video that I'm gonna sign off after this because I'm exhausted. And sometimes when I'm tired, I can get a little too raw, a little too real. I was watching a video the other day on Russell Brand's rumble channel. And he had on a guest. It wasn't anybody that I was familiar with. But I listened to the video and the comment section just depressed me. And I had to really remind myself like these might not even be flesh and blood people. These could be bots, they could be paid shills, it could be bits of AI program. I mean, they may not even be actual real people. And if they are real people, they could just be trolls. Me who knows. But you know, in the same way that that very passionate. Orange Man supporters want to say there's orange MAN derangement syndrome. I think some people have developed Orange Man worship syndrome. I mean, they have put him on a pedestal right up there with God Almighty. It's hard for me to reason how anybody would put any politician it does not matter. neocon Neo lib donkey or elephant? It does not matter to me. I cannot imagine how anybody would put any politician up on that kind of pedestal like, yes, this this person is second only to God. I try, I can't get there in my mind. But the comments, I mean, just this person having a voice of dissent against Orange Man, really pissed them off. I mean, they were making a lot of ad hominem attacks against this woman and ad hominem attacks against Russell. And I'm just like, why is he not allowed to have a voice of dissent? Like, why is he not allowed to have people from both the left and the right? Why is he not allowed to have let's say, both people that support and love the Orange Man and people that abhor the Orange Man, we're never gonna get anywhere. If we just sit in an echo chamber. If the only people that we listen to our people who get into this false sense of jingoism, this man is going to be the one that saves us that man is horrible. This party is great and was literally ordained by God or literally ordained by Jesus. Whereas this other party is literally ordained by Satan. How are you ever going to overcome the system if you're still stuck in that kind of fake hero worship, combined with intense hatred? I would really encourage you to ask yourself Who benefits from that? Because more than likely, it's not you. It's the people at the top of this pyramid, the same individuals who are raking in record profits, the same individuals who want to crash this sob so that they can bring in CBD seeds and control everything you do. Now, you can LARP if you want to that some magical politician, either one that we already know of, or one that we don't already know of is going to ride up on a white horse and save the day. I personally would not bet my life on that. I think there's too much momentum. And I think that there are too many hyper elites, just jonesing for what's about to happen. And even if they have to delay it here and there. They can delay gratification. That's another thing you will discover as you start to study the hyper elites as you start to study. Some of the, again, trying to figure out how to You can code here. As you study some of the operations and the projects that have happened in this country. These people are playing the long game. If they don't see something happen in their generation, they're not sweating it. It's all about the bigger picture and the long run, as long as they hold on to their wealth, and they can pass it on to their children and the grandchildren and all of that. If a change doesn't happen immediately, they're okay with that. They can play the long game. So who benefits from you getting caught up in this man? Good, that man bad? This party good, that party bad? It's probably not you. It's probably the hyper elites and their bankers and their politicians. That's all I've got to say for now. Stay safe, stay sane. And I will see you in the next episode. Thanks for tuning in. 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