New Inflation Numbers Keep Economic Concerns Front and Center

Published

2 years ago

March 13, 2024

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Inflation ticked up in the latest figures from the U.S. government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), released March 12. It’s not a huge rise, but enough to keep the eroding value of the dollar in the headlines, feed Americans’ dissatisfaction with the economy, and be received as very bad news by the White House. The president and his allies work hard to claim credit for what they tout as a thriving economy, but all they’ve done is link the Biden brand to rising prices and a general distaste for the president’s management.

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Δ Rising Prices, Again

“The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.4 percent in February on a seasonally adjusted basis, after rising 0.3 percent in January,” according to the BLS. “Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 3.2 percent before seasonal adjustment.”

That’s a big improvement over the 9.1 percent that inflation hit in 2022. But it’s still a reminder to the public that the money in their wallets buys less with each passing day. It’s also an open-handed slapthough with the sting felt by consumersto free-spending politicians who long pantomimed concern about inflation while openly pursuing policies that drove prices to rise.

“For years, economic thinkers on the left pushed for more government spending and urged the Federal Reserve to be less paranoid about inflation, with the goal of driving down unemployment as low as possible,” Victoria Guida wrote last month for Politico.

President Joe Biden and company eagerly adopted the idea, pushing for not billions, but trillions of dollars in spending, deficits, and debt on the theory that Americans would like the results.

But “Americans don’t seem very enthused,” Guida added. “Because they really hate inflation.” Inflation Causes Pain

People dislike inflation because it’s death to budgeting, savings, and financial planning. Inflation creates a race between wages and prices, making it difficult to know if income will cover the same groceries, rent, and other costs that it did in the past.

“Real average hourly earnings for all employees decreased 0.4 percent from January to February,” BLS announced the same day it released CPI figures. That said, over the past year, there was “a 1.1-percent increase in real average weekly earnings” according to the same news release. But not all measures point to wages keeping up.

“Inflation-adjusted wages have shrunk by 3.7 percent since the end of 2020,” the Manhattan Institute’s Stephen Miran commented in November, based on the Employment Cost Index, a different BLS measure that shows wages still struggling to catch up with the declining value of the dollar. “Worse, the drop in real wages erased all gains made in the late 2010s.”

Either way, it’s enough to say that inflation makes life unpredictable and causes pain.

In the latest monthly survey by the Financial Times and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, inflation ranked as the top economic issue on people’s minds as they determined their votes for president, picked by 67 percent of respondents. Almost two-thirds of respondents said they “cut back on non-essential spending, like vacations, eating out, or entertainment” in response to rising prices; half “cut back on spending for food and everyday necessities.”

Unsurprisingly, people are not happy with politicians who visit inflation upon them. In that survey, 45 percent said President Biden’s economic policies hurt the economy (31 percent said they helped) and 59 percent disapproved of his handling of economic issues (36 percent approved). Americans agree with the White House that the president’s self-labeled “Bidenomics” have had an impact, but they don’t like the results. Many economists concur, specifically when it comes to inflation. Government Irresponsibility With Money Causes Inflation

“Inflation comes when aggregate demand exceeds aggregate supply,” economist John Cochrane of the Hoover Institution and the Cato Institute wrote this month for the International Monetary Fund. “The source of demand is not hard to find: in response to the pandemic’s dislocations, the US government sent about $5 trillion in checks to people and businesses, $3 trillion of it newly printed money, with no plans for repayment. Other countries enacted similar fiscal expansions and reaped inflation in proportion.”

True, the spending frenzy began when Donald Trump was president, but Biden embraced the idea as his own. Now, the White House boasts of vast “generational investments” that “reverse decades of disinvestment in public goods,” but there’s a direct connection between a tidal wave of government borrowing and spending and the eroding value of people’s money.

“The mantras of the 2010s’secular stagnation,’ ‘modern monetary theory,’ ‘stimulus’which preached that prosperity needed only for the government to borrow or print a huge amount of money and hand it out, are in the dustbin. You asked for it. We tried it. We got inflation, not boom,” adds Cochrane.

That leaves the Biden administration wearing the consequences of the “Bidenomics” spending it touted as an albatross around its own neck. There is no escape from policies which politicians deliberately and publicly embraced when the public turns against them.

“There’s a healthy amount of fear and introspection happening among the architects of these efforts that folks aren’t necessarily buying what we’re selling,” a prominent progressive told Politico’s Guida. Brace for More of the Same

Unfortunately for anybody who fears irresponsible government largesse leading to ever-more economic chaos, the Biden administration seems determined to double down on high spending and massive borrowing in its economic policies going forward.

“For fiscal year 2025, which begins on October 1 of this year, Biden is asking Congress to spend $7.3 trillion while the federal government will collect just $5.5 trillion in taxes,” Reason’s Eric Boehm reported this week. “That will necessitate borrowing $1.8 trillion to make ends meet. Over the 10-year window covered by the president’s budget plan, federal revenues would exceed $70 trillion, but Biden is proposing to spend $86.6 trillion.”

With floods of money from the government linked to eroding purchasing power, it’s interestingfor a certain value of the wordto contemplate what BLS news releases about prices and wages might look like in the years to come. And to anticipate the corresponding pain from pinched budgets.

US

Who’s pictured in the newly released photos from Epstein files?

Published

2 hours ago

December 12, 2025

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Who's pictured in the newly released photos from Epstein files?

Donald Trump, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Bill Clinton are among high-profile figures pictured in a new selection of photos from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, released by Democrats in Congress.

This article contains images of a sexual nature that some people may find offensive.

Sky News has identified all of the people whose faces have not been redacted in the images. They have been contacted for comment.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of those pictured and the context surrounding the 19 photos is not known.

Latest updates from Epstein files

In one image, the US president is seen with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Belgian model Ingrid Seynhaeve.

Two further photos show Mr Trump with women whose faces are redacted.

One image is black and white and shows him with six women; three on either side of him. The other is out of focus, and shows him sitting alongside an unidentified woman.

Speaking after Epstein took his own life in jail in 2019, Mr Trump admitted knowing Epstein, but added: “I had a falling out with him. I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.”

In July, the White House also released a statement saying Epstein had been banned from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for acting like a “creep”.

In another photo released by Democrats, Bill Clinton is seen with Epstein and convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as singer Jimmy Buffett and Mr Buffett’s wife Jane Slagsvol.

In 2019, a spokesperson for the former US president said he had “not spoken to Epstein in well over a decade” and “knows nothing about the terrible crimes”.

Further images show Epstein with long-time Trump ally, Steve Bannon. In one he sits across from him at his desk, while in another the men are seen side-by-side taking a selfie in a mirror.

Hollywood filmmaker Woody Allen appears in four of the photos; two of them taken with Epstein.

In another, Allen is photographed with Bannon, while one more shows him sat with Bill Clinton’s former treasury secretary, Larry Summers, and his wife Elisa New, seemingly on a private plane.

Speaking to The Times in September, Allen said he had been to dinner at Epstein’s home, but suggested he was unaware of the nature of his crimes.

Allen said: “He told us he’d been in jail and that he had been – I can’t remember the word – but that he’d been falsely put in jail in some way.”

Meanwhile, Summers told the Harvard Crimson that his former association with Epstein was “a major error of judgement”.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, then Prince Andrew, is seen just once, alongside tech billionaire Bill Gates. Epstein is not pictured. The original photo at a malaria summit also shows the then Prince Charles but he is cropped out of the version released by the Democrats. It is not clear why the picture has been included in the Epstein files.

Andrew relinquished his titles in October amid continued controversy over his friendship with Epstein, but said at the time: “I vigorously deny the accusations against me”.

Gates himself appears twice more, once alongside Epstein’s long-time pilot, Larry Visoski, and once in a framed photo which appears in an image above a black cabinet.

In 2021, the billionaire told the New York Times he had met Epstein to discuss philanthropy and Gates’s spokeswoman said he regretted ever meeting him.

A year later, Gates told the BBC: “I made a mistake ever meeting with Jeffrey Epstein.

“Any meeting I had with him could be viewed as almost condoning his evil behaviour. So, that was a mistake.”

Another photo shows British entrepreneur Richard Branson with Epstein and Dean Kamen, an American engineer, inventor, and businessman.

Epstein is seen with his lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, in one more image.

Dershowitz said he fell out with Epstein after making a plea deal for him in 2007, leading to his conviction.

He told the Harvard Crimson in November: “Jeffrey Epstein despised me after I had made the deal. Epstein and I did not get along personally after I represented him and helped get the deal.”

A number of images of a sexual nature also appear in the cache.

One shows a bowl of novelty condoms with a caricature of Trump’s face, each one bearing the phrase “I’m HUUUUGE!” A handwritten sign reads: “Trump condom $4.50.”

Various sex toys are also featured in pictures, including a glove with ribbed fingers, and a safety notice from a “jawbreaker” gag warning of the risk of injury or death.

The images were released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, which obtained them from the Epstein estate.

Democrats said the files included tens of thousands of photos and said more would be released in the coming days.

They were described as “images of the wealthy and powerful men who spent time with Jeffrey Epstein” and “photographs of women and Epstein properties”.

A spokesperson for the Republican-led House Oversight Committee accused the Democrats of “cherry-picking photos and making targeted redactions” to create a “false narrative” about Donald Trump.

“Democrats’ hoax against President Trump has been completely debunked,” they added.

UK

King reveals ‘good news’ in his battle with cancer and urges people to get checked

Published

2 hours ago

December 12, 2025

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King reveals 'good news' in his battle with cancer and urges people to get checked

The King has shared in a television address that, thanks to early diagnosis, his cancer treatment can be reduced in the new year.

In a televised address, Charles said his “good news” was “thanks to early diagnosis, effective intervention and adherence to doctors’ orders”.

“This milestone is both a personal blessing and a testimony to the remarkable advances that have been made in cancer care in recent years,” he added.

“Testimony that I hope may give encouragement to the 50% of us who will be diagnosed with the illness at some point in our lives.”

The King announced in February 2024 that he had been diagnosed with cancer and was beginning treatment.

The monarch postponed all public-facing engagements, but continued with his duties as head of state behind palace walls, conducting audiences and Privy Council meetings.

He returned to public duties in April last year and visited University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre in central London with the Queen and discussed his “shock” at being diagnosed when he spoke to a fellow cancer patient.

Sources suggested last December his treatment would continue in 2025 and was “moving in a positive direction”.

The King has chosen not to reveal what kind of cancer he has been treated for. Palace sources have partly put that down to the fact that he doesn’t want one type of cancer to appear more significant or attract more attention than others.

In a statement after the speech aired, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “His Majesty has responded exceptionally well to treatment and his doctors advise that ongoing measures will now move into a precautionary phase.”

Sir Keir Starmer praised the video message as “a powerful message,” and said: “I know I speak for the entire country when I say how glad I am that his cancer treatment will be reduced in the new year.

“Early cancer screening saves lives.”

Early detection can give ‘the precious gift of hope’

His message on Friday was broadcast at 8pm in support of Stand Up To Cancer, a joint campaign by Cancer Research UK and Channel 4.

In an appeal to people to get screened for the disease early, the King said: “I know from my own experience that a cancer diagnosis can feel overwhelming.

“Yet I also know that early detection is the key that can transform treatment journeys, giving invaluable time to medical teams – and, to their patients, the precious gift of hope. These are gifts we can all help deliver.”

Charles noted that “at least nine million people in our country are not up to date with the cancer screenings available to them,” adding: “That is at least nine million opportunities for early diagnosis being missed.

“The statistics speak with stark clarity. To take just one example: When bowel cancer is caught at the earliest stage, around nine in ten people survive for at least five years.

“When diagnosed late, that falls to just one in ten. Early diagnosis quite simply saves lives.”

after months of uncertainty, some relief and reassurance for the King

This is a rare but positive update. The King in his own words speaking about his cancer.

And it’s good news.

Since his diagnosis, he’s received weekly treatment. His work schedule has had to fit around the appointments. And while it’s not stopping, it is being significantly reduced.

He’s responded well, and his recovery has reached, we understand, a very positive stage.

The King’s decision to speak publicly and so personally is unusual.

He has deliberately chosen the moment, supporting the high-profile Stand Up To Cancer campaign, and the launch of a national online screening checker.

It still hasn’t been revealed what kind of cancer he has. And there’s a reason – firstly, it’s private information.

But more importantly, the King knows the power of sharing his story. And with it, the potential to support the wider cancer community.

We are once again seeing a candid openness from the Royal Family. Earlier this year, the Princess of Wales discussed the ups and downs of her cancer journey.

These moments signal a shift towards greater transparency on matters the Royal Family once kept entirely private.

For millions facing cancer, the King’s update is empathy and encouragement from someone who understands.

And after months of uncertainty, for the King himself, some relief and reassurance.

Minor inconvenience of screening ‘a small price to pay’

The King acknowledged that people often avoid screening “because they imagine it may be frightening, embarrassing or uncomfortable”. But, he added: “If and when they do finally take up their invitation, they are glad they took part.

“A few moments of minor inconvenience are a small price to pay for the reassurance that comes for most people when they are either told either they don’t need further tests, or, for some, are given the chance to enable early detection, with the life-saving intervention that can follow.”

Giving his “most heartfelt thanks” to doctors, nurses, researchers and charity workers, the King added: “As I have observed before, the darkest moments of illness can be illuminated by the greatest compassion. But compassion must be paired with action.

“This December, as we gather to reflect on the year past, I pray that we can each pledge, as part of our resolutions for the year ahead, to play our part in helping to catch cancer early.

“Your life – or the life of someone you love – may depend upon it.”

Sports

Sources: Iowa St. QB Becht has shoulder surgery

Published

2 hours ago

December 12, 2025

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Sources: Iowa St. QB Becht has shoulder surgery

Dec 12, 2025, 12:57 PM ET

Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht underwent labrum surgery on his non-throwing shoulder Thursday, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Becht played the majority of the season with a partial labrum tear and using a harness on the shoulder. He was diagnosed with the injury after the Cyclones’ loss to Cincinnati on Oct. 4. He also dealt with an AC sprain in his throwing shoulder late in the season, which he is recovering from.

Sources said Becht is expected to make a full recovery in the upcoming months as he weighs decisions about his future. The quarterback is expected to consider a return to Iowa State or entering the transfer portal.

Longtime Cyclones coach Matt Campbell left the school earlier this month to become Penn State‘s coach. The Cyclones hired Washington State‘s Jimmy Rogers as his replacement.

Becht, a junior this season, threw for 2,584 yards with 16 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. He has totaled 9,274 yards, 64 touchdowns and 27 interceptions in three-plus seasons at Iowa State.

Iowa State went 8-4 this season but opted not to play in a bowl game after Campbell’s departure.