Tag: inflation

Munda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

PINO Trusk’s Regime suggested that with egg prices increasing, people should just get their own chickens.

Trump Admin Says Americans Should Farm Chickens to Combat Egg Prices

Let’s address this as if we’re seriously thinking about it.

One, getting a chicken. My understanding of the current dynamics is that the price of eggs is high and going higher because of avian flu. Birds have died from this, and birds have been killed to prevent the disease from spreading.

The Trusk Regime may not be aware of this, but chickens are birds. As such, they’ve been killed by millions. That means there are fewer of them. If I understand elementary supply and demand, having fewer birds available makes the price increase, especially if demand increases. This is the essence of inflation. Buying an egg-laying chicken might not be as cheap and easy as the Trusk Regime lays out.

Two, raising a chicken. As any backyard gardner will tell you, raising your own food isn’t cheap. With chickens, you’d need to provide feed, have a place for them, protect them, and keep them warm and safe. These supplies and materials all add up…quickly.

Three, back to the beginning and why the price of eggs has been rising and is expected to go higher: avian flu. It’s killing birds. And birds are being killed to prevent the spread. So, if you have a chicken, it may succumb to avian flu.

Thus, buying your own chicken to raise your own eggs might not be the genius idea some people perceive it to be.

At least, in my opinion.

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Sunda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Mellow and quiet are the best descriptions for Ashlandia today. Turning attention to politics for a bit, I found a few sites with ideas that merit being shared with others.

Lithub presents, What Is Donald Trump Doing? Three Theories for the Madness.

  • Theory 1: Trump is a Russian Asset. This theory isn’t new, but let’s be real: If someone had laid out Trump’s actions over the past several years and presented them without names attached, the conclusion that he’s working to advance Russian interests wouldn’t sound like a wild conspiracy.
  • Theory 2: Trump is Trying to Foment Global Chaos. For a man who ran a campaign on the promise of putting “America First,” Trump sure seems intent on making the world and America a far more unstable place.
  • Theory 3: He’s Just Worse at Presidenting Than Last Time. As shocking as this might sound, it’s possible that Trump’s presidential skillset second term is shaping up to be even less stellar than his first.

‘Less stellar’ made me chuckle. I think the author, Aron Solomon, is being generous.

Over on The Democracy Labs, they’ve provided us with a very useful map. The Trusk Regime is wielding DOGE to curtail leases on thousands of government buildings. This can well mean that people will need to go further and wait longer to reach the Federal office which can assist them. You know, places such as the VA office, FEMA, Social Security, IRS, Medicare, Medicaid, NOAA…

Driving longer distances isn’t good for people or the environment: it came mean longer trips in motor vehicles. If you’re in a gas or diesel powered vehicle, you’ll spew more emissions into the air. And you’ll pay for more vehicle fuel. If you’re worried about inflation, buying more gass can translate into more demand and higher prices.

Driving further and waiting longer will also mean that if you’re a person being paid by the hour or working the gig enonomy, it may well cost you more in your wages. Then there’s the age and handicap issue: traveling longer distance and waiting longer can often be emotionally wearing and physically tiring.

This essentially demonstrates how little the Trusk Regime cares about people.

What this map does is show us what’s being closed where, and importantly, what member of Congress to contact about it. You know what to do with your phones and keyboards, right? That’s right: raise your voice.

Finally, Jill Dennison shares a story of the sublime. Don’t Say That Word!!! covers the growing list that the Trusk Regime forbids to be used in official documents.

What follows is a list of words that are either forbidden or ‘discouraged’ in federal government communications, both formal and informal, under the current regime.  Take a look for yourself … even words like ‘women’, ‘racism’, and ‘pollution‘ are taboo!  And of course ‘Gulf of Mexico’ cannot ever be used in federal communications!  An article in the New York Times provides more information, but do take a glance through this list … it will raise your hackles!  

And that’s always something that I need: something else that the Trusk Regime is doing that raises my hackles.

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Wenzda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

I didn’t watch PINO Trusk’s speech. Several media outlets highlighted some lowlights that provoked some thinking in me.

Look how he’s asking for patience and claiming to be working hard to lower the prices. Why, PINO Trusk sounds just like President Biden, but somehow, we’re supposed to be more patient and tolerant of Trump when he shows none for others.

Egg prices have risen since Trusk took office, for the same reasons they were rising under President Biden. Now, the Times reminds us that last week, ‘Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced $1 billion in efforts to contain the bird flu outbreak and “make eggs affordable again.”’

But, DOGE fired Dept. of Agriculture workers, including the agencies who would administer this program. I give PINO Trusk’s efforts Zero points on the logic scale and Ten points on the bullshit scale.

Remember, zero is the least amount of points rewarded — well, none are — while ten points on the BS scale is the most which can be rewarded. A BS of ten means that it’ll go over great with the unthinking right wing minions while the rest of us respond, “WTF?” This specific promise gets zero on the logic scale because he fired the people who can actually help do what he claims to be trying to do. If it follows that ‘actions speak louder than words’, his actions of firing the people who can help way outweigh Secretary Rollins words.

But what’s new with PINO Trusk? That isn’t. He’s always making promises, claiming what he’s going to do. Remember some of his previous claims and promises:

  • He would reveal his taxes if elected president. No, he would release them if President Obama released his birth certificate, which was part of the Trump birther scam. President Obama released his birth certificate a week after Trump made this claim; Trump took years before they were released.
  • He would build a new wall and Mexico would pay for it. Didn’t happen.
  • He would be ‘too busy’ as President to golf. He ended up playing more golf than any POTUS in history, and scammed the Federal government along the way to make money from it. He’s already spent a quarter of his time in office this year golfing.
  • As early as 2015, Trump promised to replace ‘Obamacare’ — ACA — with ‘something terrific’. Ten years later, he has yet to reveal anything material to do anything of the sort.
  • Donald Trump said COVID-10 would disappear. “…when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.” He said that just over 5 years ago, on Feb. 26, 2020. COVID-19 remains a threat to this day and has killed millions of Americans.

Remember, he’s a failed businessman. Here’s some of that history:

  • The Trump Taj Mahal
  • Trump Shuttle Inc.
  • Trump Mortgage, LLC
  • Trump University (also known as the Trump Wealth Institute and Trump Entrepreneur Initiative LLC)
  • The Plaza Hotel in Manhatten
  • ‘Trump Steaks’
  • Trump Vodka
  • Trump: The Game
  • Trump Magazine
  • GoTrump.com

We have PINO Trusk’s documented track record. We have his documented lies. The bottom line: he promises everything and can’t be trusted.

Only a fool — or a Republican — would.

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Looky Here

The reciprocal wave is rising. This is the reaction to the Great Shitstorm of 2025 and PINO Trusk’s Great Undoing of peace and prosperity. Sure, we didn’t have peace and prosperity everyday for everyone, but now it’s gettin’ ugly.

Atlanta Fed predicts negative 1.5 percent GDP growth in first quarter

Oh, boy, the Atlanta Fed has started an ugly trend of downgrading GDP growth.

The Atlanta Federal Reserve is projecting a contraction of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) of 1.5 percent in the first quarter, flashing a warning sign for the U.S. economy.

The Atlanta Fed last week was predicting 2.3 percent positive growth for the first quarter. A month ago, it was registering 3.9 percent growth.

PINO Trusk has only been in office one month and the economy is caving in. It’s almost like he’s deliberately destroying it.

It’s not just the Atlanta Fed feeling it.

Inflation as measured in the Federal Reserve’s preferred personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index came in at 2.5 percent annual growth on Friday, dipping by just a tenth of a percentage point after rising throughout the fall.

Personal expenditures decreased $30.7 billion, or 0.2 percent, in that report.

Consumer sentiment also fell off a cliff in January as measured by the University of Michigan’s monthly survey, dropping nearly 10 percent from January.

Perhaps of more concern for economists, consumer expectations for year-ahead inflation popped to their highest levels since November 2023, rising to 4.3 percent for next January from 3.3 percent in December.

A majority of CEOs polled last year by accounting firm PwC saw a recession coming within six months of October 2024.

“61 percent of respondents agree that the US economy will experience a recession in the next six months, up from 49 percent in our June 2024 survey,” PwC analysts found in last year’s survey.

61% of CEOs polled agree that a recession is coming? Why, that’s terrible economic news, innit? Must be, for folks who were whinging ’bout the price of eggs in November of 2024.

Egg prices keep going up. Here’s the average cost for a dozen across the U.S.

Avg. price of eggs has hit a new high

The average price of a dozen eggs in a US city hit $4.95 in January 2025; jumping by 19.5% in just one month, from $4.15 in December. The price of eggs is higher than ever before, with the previous peak at $4.82 in January 2023, and has nearly doubled since the same time last year.

That’s just eggs, right? We can live without eggs. Other prices aren’t increasing, are they? I’m just fearmongering, right?

Walmart shares tank on dismal forecast as retail giant warns of slowing sales

Walmart shares, which had risen about 72% in 2024 and hit a record high of $105 last week, were down 6%. Shares of rival retailer Target were down 1.6%, with Amazon 0.9% lower.

The company forecast adjusted earnings per share for the fiscal year ending January 2026 in the range of $2.50 to $2.60, below analysts’ expectations of $2.76, according to data compiled by LSEG.

To be sure, these are serious matters. They’re going to be made worse by PINO Trusk’s DOGE-led cudown of government services. I don’t want life to be miserable in the U.S. or the world, but this is the path which PINO Trusk and the GOTP are blazing.

We saw this coming.

We warned the rest of you.

Will PINO Trusk take action to address it? Well, right now, his focus is on making English the official language and lying to and insulting President Zelnsky.

President Trump to sign executive order making English the official language of US.

I wonder if Trump will be required to learn how to speak proper English if it’s now going to be the official language?

Somehow, I doubt it. He really seems incapable of learning. Then again, he is 78.

That’s pretty old for a job like that, innit?

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Wenzda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Such a firehose of news, I have two and half tons to think about.

First up, a child died of the measles in Texas, and the outbreak is growing. It’d be cynical to exclaim thoughts and prayers. That poor child. Yes, death is part of life, but when death, pain, and sickness can be mitigated but aren’t for religious or political reasons, I feel it. Pumps the cynicism in me up to the surface. News like this is painfully wearying.

Next comes some reflections on the U.S. and NATO. Legally, the U.S. can’t unilaterally withdraw without Congress’s approval. Of course, legally is a quaint notion in PINO Trusk’s worldview. PINO Trusk contiues thumping all over laws and the Constitution. Meanwhile, he can and is undermining the alliance’s intentions and cohesiveness with his bromance with Russia. If PINO Trusk did order troop withdrawals out of NATO bases, where would they be parked? We have military installations around the world, but it’d be a huge logistical challenge, and the ripples from such a decision…oh, the ripples.

The Idaho Capital Sun had a really engrossing article about a local meeting. North Idaho woman forcibly removed from Kootenai County Republican town hall When she exercised her free speech, men without badges who didn’t present identification forcibly removed her.

COEUR d’ALENE — A legislative town hall organized by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee devolved into chaos Saturday when unidentified, plainclothes security personnel dragged a Post Falls woman from the Coeur d’Alene High School auditorium for heckling legislators.

Though the company that provided security for the event has been identified, town hall organizers and Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris have claimed no knowledge of the security personnel or who hired them.

The tale is a whole ‘he said, he said,’ circle thingy with many attempting to deflect and pretend that others were in charge, but there seemed to be a lot of secrecy around the planning and execution. To me, such violent — and secretive — responses by ‘unidentified security’ is an outgrowth of the PINO Trusk thug mentality: bullying others without explanation to get their way. Sure smacks of Gestapo tactics. Really, read the story.

In “Letters from America”, Heather Cox Richardson posted clear, sharp insights and details about the budget resolution action going on in Congress. She begins with a Pete Buttigieg post: “A defining policy battle is about to come to a head in this country. The Republican budget will force everyone—especially Congress and the White House—to make plain whether they are prepared to harm the rest of us in order to fund tax cuts for the wealthiest.”

Ms. Richardson then presents the details. The GOTP wants to cut the deficit. To do so means cutting popular, useful programs while trying to push forward tax cuts for the rich. The GOTP’s entire reasoning process is maligned with flimsy logic and pathetic reasoning. History shows what they’re trying to do will absolutely not work. No matter, they’re too fucking bullheaded about it because they’re bending the knee to PINO Trusk.

I have mixed feelings about it. At this point, if the GOTP gets their way, slashing programs while giving the wealthy tax breaks, they’ll end up with higher deficits and a crumbling economy. Maybe then the MAGAts and others will awaken and demand a halt to the Great Undoing. If they don’t, the Great Shitstorm of 2025 will continue until serious reciprocal waves arrive. See, I’m, like, “We warned you, warned you, and warned you. You insisted that you wanted to fuck around and find out. So here it comes.” I kind of want to let it come, but that strikes me as being personally petty. Yet, based on the evidence so far, I don’t think they’ll learn until consequences jar their lives. I know, it’s a sad situation when it’s come to this.

“Requiem For The West” out of The Dish by Andrew Sullivan is the third piece which hooked my attention today. Mr. Sullivan writes, “We only saw Donald Trump’s foreign policy darkly in his first term — constrained, as he was, by a handful of white-knuckled Republicans in the executive branch. Now we see it face to face. It’s a vision where international law disappears, great powers divide up the planet into spheres of influence, and the strong always control the weak. It’s Trump’s vision of domestic politics as well. And of life.

“Control, plunder, gloat. This is the Trump way.”

That is the Trump way, along with using the gullible and low-informed. Trump has a history of breaking his word, laws, and contracts. He’s not a good businessman but he’s a really terrific liar and con man. In PINO Trusk’s world, “Zelensky is a monster but Putin is our friend. As for concessions from Russia for its unprovoked violation of an internationally recognized border? None that I can see, apart from stopping the war. (If you want to read Vance’s underwhelming defense of what’s going on, check out his reply to Niall here.)“

There’s the nub, too. PINO Trusk is so fucking adept at fooling people. Just give him a little material and he twists and hammers it until it seems like an absolute truth. He did that with President Biden’s age and inflation during the 20204 campaign. And yeah, President Biden didn’t put up much resistance. He’s done the same with ‘cutting fraud and waste’ through Doge now. Of course as so many have pointed out before, it’s not really about the inflation, President Biden’s age, or many of the other things which PINO Trusk said during his campaign: it’s about being racist and sexist. It’s about power and money.

Many of us see that.

Too many don’t.

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Food

Daily writing prompt
What bores you?
View all responses

OMG, I can tell you right now that thinking about food bores right through me. Like right now, I’m thinking about a quick snack to sustain me through my writing session. I carry a Kind bar in my computer case for that purpose. But I feel like the hunger is getting sort of urgent, as I can feel it boring through my thinking. I can only imagine how horrible it is for people living in food deserts, where food is not readily available, driving prices up beyond people’s means. How the thought of a good, healthy meal must bore through them. I can imagine them watching another person eat and find it boring through the center of their beings. That’s so sad in a world where so much waste is generated by inefficient distribution systems that depend on capitalism as the foundation to solve problems like starvation.

“Just how much food do Americans waste? Here’s some “food” for thought: While the world wastes about 2.5 billion tons of food every year, the United States discards more food than any other country in the world: nearly 60 million tons — 120 billion pounds — every year. That’s estimated to be almost 40 percent of the entire US food supply, and equates to 325 pounds of waste per person.” 

Yeah, food. It can be so boring. Something to think about as people complain about the price of eggs. Although many won’t.

They’ll find it too boring.

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Saturda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

We’re witness to the Great Undoing. Anyone fired from a job or who suffers loss from a death that alters their routines know about the undoing. Habits and routines created by job needs or the deceased one are now changed. Those gaps yawn before you. You exercise mental thought processes… “Oh, I don’t need to leap out of bed at six AM, hurry through a shower, dressing, and breakfast to jump on the highway to commute to work to get into the office by — ” Fill in your times.

Likewise, when someone who is part of your regular circles passes, you’re face to face with the change: “Oh, they’re not there to greet me. I don’t need to stop and speak with them, or check on them. They’re not there.”

Many in the United States are working through forms of undoing. Federal workers are suddenly enduring the shock of not having to roll out of bed, dress, and do the morning work dance. They’ve been fired. Terminated. Let go by Imperial Presidential Executive Orders.

Around the country, the monies provided by U.S.AID are gone. The routines associated with getting children to school where they’re provided a meal are over. Churches and charities dependent on that fund stream are going through undoing because the money isn’t there. If the money is gone, so is the food and shelter. Workers and employees suddenly endure the undoing as the routines of helping the impoverished are ended by Imperial Presidential Executive Order. Not just in foreign countries but here in the U.S., too.

Contracts to provide new buildings and essential services have been ended by Imperial Presidential Executive Order. The great undoing commences as workers are released from those projects. Buildings stand unfinished. National Park Visitor Centers stayed closed and dark. Trash goes uncollected. Nobody mans the towers to watch for fires.

Trump’s Hiring Freeze Throws Wildfire Fighters Into Disarray

As anti-vaccination is encouraged the health and safety enjoyed by communities across the nation go through an undoing. Children and the vulnerable elderly are closely watched for signs of diseases long ago stamped out by vaccinations, more victims of limited intelligence, less compassion, and Imperial Presidential Executive Orders.

Air travel is adjusted as staff are cut. More undoing. Traffic congestion in New York leaps up again. Accident rates rise. Confidence in government systems fall, part of the undoing of having regulations and requirements slashed away, along with inspectors to see what went wrong to prevent it from happening again. People become skeptical, leery of these systems…use falls. Airlines see the results.

From DC to Arizona: Why are so many planes crashing in 2025?

Farmers study crop prices and markets and endure the bitter undoing. Veterans protected by DEI programs are released from work positions and begin undoing their daily functions. Students helped by grant programs begin undoing their education hopes and dreams. Children affected by the undoing no longer go into facilities to play, learn how to socialize, visit with friends, and hearing stories read to them, undoings of things just begun.

Billions of Dollars at Stake for Farmers Hit by Trump Funding Freeze, Pause on Foreign Aid

Financial and economic experts study revenue and spending trends, note the stability created by an intelligent network of regulations developed after previous financial disasters and begin preparing their clients and institutions for the undoing, unsure how it will play out, as this is early days. Stock prices drop.

Walmart stock tumbles after the retailer lowers its sales outlook: “We are in an uncertain time”

All part of the Great Undoing undertaken by a group of people dismissing the government’s influence as overbearing, dismissing history as wrong, insisting scientists and professionals don’t know what they are doing. They know better.

Science under siege: Trump cuts threaten to undermine decades of research

And so, as Imperial Presidential Executive Orders destroy the government’s ability to function, as the United States withdraws from treaties, alliances, trade agreements, and mutual assistance organizations, the Great Undoing spreads, fallout from the Great Shitstorm of 2025, the result of the 2024 U.S. elections.

As Imperial Presidential Executive Orders are issued, undoing the work of Congress and previous administrations, we will see what happens with our constitutional system of checks and balances. Will it hold?

Freshman Congressman tells constituent he is powerless to stop Musk’s budget cuts

Or will the Great Undoing be the United States’ undoing?

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Thurzda’s Theme Music

A stiff wind was rockin’ us last night in Ashlandia. As night came on shift, I watched our outside temperature drop to 34 F and then rise to 37 F. Rain fell and the temperature kept sneaking up outside as the wind barked at the moving branchs and howled at the sky. It’s not 41 F. ‘They’ have notified us that 51 F is possible as a high. The wind has skipped into a more mellow mood, sunshine has found a place in the sky, and all seems momentarily well on this day, Thurzda, Feb. 13, 2025.

Snow remains out there in force but its presence is shrinking. Bushes and trees continue their recovery. Fallen branches and trees around the city are being collected, cut up, moved away. If a bit more snow can melt off the piles lining the roads, we’re almost be back to normal.

Many are commenting on the bizarro Oval Office presentation by PINO Trusk. The elected half sat in a chair doing nothing and little vacuous. The other paced and made claims about finding and eliminating fraud. He made wild claims but stayed with the GOTP M.O. of offering no evidence or facts to back the claims. Looked like a Banana Republic Production to me. Paul Krugman did a nice take down of it in a post titled, Elon Musk Is Faking It.

Bet you saw the news that the GOTP wants to raise the debt ceiling for PINO Trusk. One reason given for the need for more debt is that ICE is running low on funds. Wow, who would’ve predicted that, right? Well, just ’bout anybody with the wits to realize the enormous costs involved with Trusk’s deportation plans. As seen on TV, the GOTP and their Project 2025 planners are purty damn witless, in addition to being lawless.

The Neurons jumped back to 1974 to find a tune to honor PINO Trusk. With all of his claims, he’s done nothing provable in quest of slaying fraud, as he claims; he’s only made us more vulnerable as a nation, broke laws and undermined justice, broke promises made to his MAGAts (see inflation and the cost of eggs), and sowed disorder and chaos on a national scale.

Stevie Wonder was found to have provided a song for the times. He called it, “You Haven’t Done Nothin'”.

We are amazed but not amused
By all the things you say that you’ll do
Though much concerned but not involved
With decisions that are made by you

But we are sick and tired of hearing your song
Telling how you are gonna change right from wrong
‘Cause if you really want to hear our views
“You haven’t done nothing”!

It’s not too cool to be ridiculed
But you brought this upon yourself
The world is tired of pacifiers
We want the truth and nothing else

And we are sick and tired of hearing your song
Telling how you are gonna change right from wrong
‘Cause if you really want to hear our views
“You haven’t done nothing”!

h/t to AZLyrics.com

I chugged some coffee earlier and I’m pretty well ready to go. Hope you have the plum-est of days imaginable, or some reasonable facsimile thereof. Let’s go get it. Cheers

4

Tursda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Good morning! Hope you’re doing well! Probably not feelin’ too good if you’re a senior citizen watching their mone who voted for Trump!

Over on Crooks & Liars, Red Painter offers a nice FAFO summary of how Trump is looking out for seniors and the poor by wiping out former President Biden’s drug price cuts! Well, they were warned. And, like many others, they are reaping what they sowed.

Of course, eliminating these price cuts will mean less money for other important things, like food, utilities, housing, and clothing. But no worries! Trump is fixin’ inflation, so all that will be coming down. Yes, he’s ordering the Federal Executive Branch to lower inflation! Will it work? Well, he’ll claimed it did! Who will the MAGAts believe, him or their pocketbooks? Why, him! Of course!

Part of his plan is to just order more housing! Yes, he make it happen. The Federal government can’t create those houses, so it sounds like this free-market capitalist is planning on using the Federal gubmint’s power to make it so.

And those tariffs he’s ordering? That won’t affect inflation at all, no sir! Cuz, he’s ordering the rest of the world to pay for them, setting up a new agency, the External Revenue Agency, to collect the monies. Sure, it has everyone confused because it’s bizarro land in its thinking. And sure, it will increase the size of the government and add to the cost of government, because he’s adding more — another department, more people, more technology. And yes, it probably won’t be an effective agency, because it’s Trump! Just like Trump Air, Trump Steaks, Trump University, and all those other Trump-failed endeavors.

But we’ll just need to wait for the next issue of FAFO to emerge for us to know. Shouldn’t be long, though.

Should not be long.

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