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Weather: Patchy fog in the morning. Sunny. Highs in the lower 80s. Northwest winds around 5 mph, becoming north in the afternoon. Wednesday Night: Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 50s. Northeast winds around 5 mph.
- Daily weather briefing from the National Weather Service in Jacksonville here.
- Drought conditions here. (What is the Keetch-Byram drought index?).
- Check today’s tides in Daytona Beach (a few minutes off from Flagler Beach) here.
- Tropical cyclone activity here, and even more details here.
Today at a Glance:
Tyrese Patterson Sentencing: Tyrese Patterson is scheduled to be sentenced on a count of second degree murder and possession of a weapon by a delinquent, a pleaded downgrade from his initial charge of first-degree murder in the shooting spree in January 2022 that killed 16-year-old Noah Smith in Bunnell. It is an open plea, meaning that it will be up to Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols to decide the sentence at 2:30 p.m. at the Flagler County Courthouse, Courtroom 401. Co-defendant Devandre Williams pleaded and was sentenced to 55 years. Co-defendant Stephen Monroe was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. (See also: “Jury Finds Stephen Monroe, 26, Guilty of Murder in Killing of Noah Smith, 16, and Is Sentenced to Life in Prison.”)
River to Sea Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) meets at 9 a.m. at the Airline Room at the Daytona Beach International Airport. The TPO’s planning oversight includes all of Volusia County and the developed areas of eastern Flagler County including Beverly Beach and Flagler Beach as well as portions of the cities of Palm Coast and Bunnell, with board member representation from each of those jurisdictions. See the full agendas here. To join the meeting electronically, go here.
Weekly Chess Club for Teens, Ages 9-18, at the Flagler County Public Library: Do you enjoy Chess, trying out new moves, or even like some friendly competition? Come visit the Flagler County Public Library at the Teen Spot every Wednesday from 4 to 5 p.m. for Chess Club. Everyone is welcome, for beginners who want to learn how to play all the way to advanced players. For more information contact the Youth Service department 386-446-6763 ext. 3714 or email us at [email protected]
Separation Chat, Open Discussion: The Atlantic Chapter of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State hosts an open, freewheeling discussion on the topic here in our community, around Florida and throughout the United States, noon to 1 p.m. at Pine Lakes Golf Club Clubhouse Pub & Grillroom (no purchase is necessary), 400 Pine Lakes Pkwy, Palm Coast (0.7 miles from Belle Terre Parkway). Call (386) 445-0852 for best directions. All are welcome! Everyone’s voice is important. For further information email [email protected] or call Merrill at 804-914-4460.
The Circle of Light Course in Miracles study group meets at a private residence in Palm Coast every Wednesday at 1:20 PM. There is a $2 love donation that goes to the store for the use of their room. If you have your own book, please bring it. All students of the Course are welcome. There is also an introductory group at 1:00 PM. The group is facilitated by Aynne McAvoy, who can be reached at [email protected] for location and information.
Readings: I now humbly apologize to Hooters for having ridiculed it all these years. Though it appears to be headed for bankruptcy, the company deserves to survive and thrive more than, say, Talibanic-type cult swarms like Chick-fil-A. Peter Rothpletz in the March 23 Times recalls how when he was a young boy his grandfather did to him what so many misguided (and dickish) parents do to their boys when they think they’re gay, and when they think they can shove a little conversion therapy down their throat. They take them to Hooters. But the joke’s on the dickish ones: “Our waitress was a tall, brassy blonde — a caricature of the caricature that is a Hooters waitress. She was in her late 20s with a deep yet indistinct Southern accent, and I could tell she clocked me almost immediately. Who knows if it was how I held myself or how my voice quivered or how my eyes slid away from hers. But later in the meal, when my grandfather went to the restroom, she slipped into the booth across from me and leaned in close. “You’re perfect just the way you are, kid,” she said, or something near enough to it, her voice low, kind and certain. Consider the delicious irony that a chain restaurant famed for its cleavage and chicken wings somehow became a secret sanctuary for young gay men.” Rothpletz wasn’t alone, as he found out. “A host of Hooters employees echoed these accounts. Lucy Wilkinson, herself a queer woman, said she finds it “heartbreaking” when she watches fathers and grandfathers routinely drag in boys who didn’t fit their idea of masculinity, either because they were gay or simply not quite macho enough. Ms. Wilkinson says she focuses on young boys who might be gay, or simply uncomfortable, going out of her way to welcome the boys in the hopes of letting them feel that they were in on the joke. What explains the connection between Hooters waitresses and young gay men? Perhaps these women — so often stigmatized as almost sex workers, so accustomed to society’s sidelong glances — see kindred spirits in the boys who aren’t quite “right.” Or maybe it’s simpler: a waitress’s knack for reading a room, turned tender for those who need it most.” We need these small isolated epiphanies in these days of despair. They’re twinkles in the night. They’re little teardrops of hope.
—P.T.
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The Live Calendar is a compendium of local and regional political, civic and cultural events. You can input your own calendar events directly onto the site as you wish them to appear (pending approval of course). To include your event in the Live Calendar, please fill out this form.
March 2025
Flagler Beach Farmers Market
Coffee With Flagler Beach Commission Chair Scott Spradley
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Phenomenal Women’s Event
Peps Art Walk Near JT’s Seafood Shack
‘Violet’ at City Repertory Theatre
ESL Bible Studies for Intermediate and Advanced Students
Grace Community Food Pantry on Education Way
Palm Coast Farmers’ Market at European Village
Al-Anon Family Groups
‘Violet’ at City Repertory Theatre
For the full calendar, go here.
The Hooters Girls — a cadre of 10,000 worldwide — are possibly the most intensively trained waitresses anywhere. Each time a Hooters opens (one every 10 days worldwide), a dozen or so of the top U.S. Hooter Girls are flown in to help train the newcomers. Many studied at Hooters University (truly!) at a three-week course in Atlanta. Graduates get a certificate if they pass. And a Hooters University T-shirt. […] The Girls, if they come back after seeing the uniforms (and some don’t) undergo two interviews, five days of training, which includes lessons in Hooters etiquette, and write two tests. Rhonda, 23, from Clearwater, Fla., was flown in to help open this location. She’s also the 2000 Hooters Calender centrefold, which comes with a pair of 3-D glasses so you can see her pop out at you. […] There is no such thing as a male Hooters Girl. […] Rhonda says most Hooters Girls make up to $300 in one five-hour night. “We do very, very well.” […] The Girls are strictly hands-off. This is a family restaurant, after all, that rings up more in food sales than in booze sales. If you ask a Hooters Girl for her phone number, she’s been trained. “You want my number?” she’ll ask. “Okay.” And she’ll take a paper napkin, pick up a pen and write “My Number” on it. Hooters Girls look great. They are told repeatedly that they must always be camera-ready. They follow the appearance standards set out in their manuals: White or nude bras only (they must wear a bra), hair styled at all times; no ponytails, hats, headbands, clips or scrunchies, no visible tattoos. Nails must be well-groomed. Makeup is to be worn to best accentuate features. (“Remember,” says the manual, “you’re always on stage!”) But stereotypes die hard. Zoe, a 23-year-old Hooters Girl, is tall and dark-haired and Q-tip thin. She is small breasted. An A-size even. “My friends had different opinions when I told them I was starting to work here. Some asked; ‘Do you have to go topless?’ ” she says. “I’m fine with the uniform. When you see 12 to 15 girls around you wearing the same thing, all having fun and singing and running around, you feel fine. It’s like a sorority.”
–From “How to be a Hooters Girl,” The National Post (Canada), May 20, 2000.
Pogo says
@… Just Haggling Over the Price
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/03/07/haggling/
… applies, very often, to almost everything human; no more so than now — the final going out of business sale.
Ray W, says
A short while ago, I submitted to FlaglerLive readers a comment about the rise in potato chip prices due to excessive summertime heat in established potato farming regions, particularly northwest Pennsylvania.
If daytime soil temperatures reach or exceed 85 degrees, potatoes simply stop growing. If daytime soil temperatures hover at or above the 85-degree range for long enough, the crop is lost. Same for nighttime temperatures, albeit in a lower range of temperatures.
Scientists speak of zones of habitability. For years, the Atlantic lobster population has been steadily moving further and further north as sea temperatures rise, however slightly. The Maine lobster yield has been gradually dropping, and the Canadian lobster harvest has been rising. This exists for other crops and animals, too. Rice has its own different ideal temperature ranges for sprouting, for growth to full plant maturity, including root growth, and for seeding (growth of the harvestable grain).
According to a February 14, 2025, article in The Guardian, in 2023, Japan experienced an extended heat wave during its rice growing season.
The year’s crop yield was far lower than average. National rice stockpiles shrank as a result.
Even though the crop yield rebounded somewhat last year, national stockpiles continued to shrink, partly due to record tourism levels and partly due to panic buying episodes after multiple earthquake warnings and in the wake of a typhoon.
Rice prices have continued to rise early this year, even though the crop yield was up last fall, purportedly due to farmers and wholesalers “hoarding” rice reserves in hopes that prices will continue to go up (this is called manipulation of a free-market system for profit, i.e., price gouging).
In 1995, the Japanese government, after an episode of panic-buying in 1993 caused by a rice crop failure, established a national emergency rice reserve of roughly one million tons of the grain, which is now stored in some 300 centers across the nation.
To counter the 2025 threat of farmers and distributors hoarding rice to further drive-up prices, the Japanese government is releasing 200,000 tons of rice from its emergency reserve. It is hoped that this will prompt hoarders to release their rice holdings and stabilize national rice prices. Later this year, the government will buy rice to return its emergency reserve to normal levels.
As an aside, the rice reserve is depleted and replenished each year to ensure that the rice does not age too much. No portion of the rice reserve is not allowed to be held more than five years.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Since time immemorial, those who control a product have hoarded it to enhance profits. People take advantage of hard times to enrich themselves. Egg farmers and distributors have been accused of increasing egg prices faster than their rises in costs, i.e., price gouging. Texas is prosecuting the nation’s largest egg farming and distributing company for price gouging during the 2015 avian flu outbreak. It is investigating the same company for jacking up egg prices during the pandemic. The Department of Justice just sent out preservation letters to egg farmers, egg distributors, and grocers, ordering them to preserve their pricing data.
Other distributors claim that supply chain shortages cause price increases, even though their products had not been the subject of supply chain shortages.
Panic buying by consumers (toilet paper, paper towels, etc.) can artificially drive price increases. There are many ways for corporations to gouge the public.
It is no secret that OPEC+ nations agreed to cooperate in early 2021 to manipulate crude oil prices. The OPEC nations met in Vienna in early February and voted to cut production. How much did they cut? They incrementally cut oil production by 6 million barrels of oil per day, and Saudi Arabia voluntarily cut another 1 million barrels of production per day.
Crude oil prices slowly began to rise. The price gouging cost the American gasoline-buying public billions of dollars.
American shale oil energy companies slightly increased their own production, saying they intended to focus on “investor returns”, even though prices hit as much as $120 per barrel. One American shale oil company CEO told reporters that his company would not increase production, even if oil prices hit $200 per barrel.
Some say this failure to increase production was directly due to American oil companies colluding with OPEC. The FTC referred the American shale oil company CEO to the Department of Justice for potential criminal prosecution. Time will tell if our new DOJ drops the referral.
Oil company profits surged across the board. OPEC+ continues to manage its production cuts, keeping oil prices high. We all pay at the pump for the manipulations.
Former President Biden sold oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at the higher prices, typically at or around $85 per barrel, in order to stabilize the oil marketplace. The money from the sales went to the Treasury.
Only Congress can fund the repurchase of oil to replenish the Reserve. When prices were at $67 per barrel last year, the Biden administration bought as much oil as Congress authorized it to buy, but it could have bought more than it did. The Biden administration asked Congress for more funds. Congress simply refused the repeated requests for more money.
Too me, selling oil at $85 per barrel and buying it back at $67 per barrel is a good idea. Sell high, buy low has long been a profitable enterprise. But our once-conservative Republican Party did not think so in 2024.
President Trump recently asked Congress to fund the purchase of crude oil to restock the Reserve. Oil is once again hovering around $67 per barrel. Maybe our Congress will see the wisdom this time around. Maybe not.
Ray W, says
Further proof of the existence of a professional lying class at the top of one of our two political parties took place on X yesterday.
Trump’s envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, posted that the nuclear weapons in the Ukrainian arsenal after the fall of the Soviet Union “were Russia’s and were leftovers”, adding that the Ukraine “gave the nukes back. … They weren’t Ukraine’s. This is an uncomfortable fact.”
Russia did not exist as a nation-state during the nuclear age until after the Soviet Union disbanded. In time, Russia was recognized by the U.N., but Russia never owned the Ukrainian nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union, dissolved prior to the formation of Russia as a state, did own the weapons prior to its dissolution, but the Ukraine was a sovereign state during the Soviet system. When the Ukrainian state was recognized after the dissolution, it became a separate state. It was never Russian.
When the Ukraine entered into the Budapest Memorandum, it was recognized by all parties as the possessor of the ex-Soviet nuclear weapons, not Russia. Russia did agree to purchase the Ukrainian nuclear stockpile after then-President Yeltsin signed the Memorandum and agreed to defend the Ukraine against all aggressors.
The Ukraine, pursuant to the Memorandum, destroyed its missiles and its nearly all of its heavy long-range bombers in its possession. The Ukraine also agreed to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear state.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
The only reason that a professional lying class at the top of one of our two political parties can thrive is the existence of a vast class of gullibly stupid people who buy into the lies and then launder them to others. This is the “uncomfortable fact.”
In a few short weeks, America has gone from trusted ally to extortionist street thug that now parrots Putin’s talking points. That, too, is an “uncomfortable fact.”
Ray W, says
An article published by The Independent argues that if the Ukraine can hold out another year, it will win the war started by Russian.
Here are some bullet points from the article:
– Russia is not seeking a complete ceasefire with the Ukraine; it is seeking limited ceasefires in multiple regions.
– Russia seeks a ceasefire in the Black Sea, with the condition that European nations and the United States agree to permit the Russian farm sector to use the Swift banking system to export grain and other farm products.
The reporter writes of the Russian demand:
“The move is a sleight of hand to end the banking sanctions imposed by the US and Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. … But a ceasefire in the Black Sea is essential to Putin where his naval fleet has been crippled and now cannot operate.”
– A second Russian demand involves a ceasefire against energy infrastructure.
The reporter argues that Putin wants this “… because Ukraine has been successfully targeting [Russia’s] energy nodes, especially those supplying its forces in the Donbas.”
The reporter adds that protecting energy sources via ceasefire would still allow Russia to attack Ukrainian non-energy nodes via drones and ballistic missiles.
– “Ukraine is buying time here because Kyiv knows it will take a while for Europe and other reliable allies to replace the military aid that Ukraine gets, on and off, from the US.’
– Between 2022 and 2024, the US provided $114 billion in aid to the Ukraine, including about $50 billion in military aid. The reporter compared the US military aid to the $80 billion in military aid the US gave to the Afghans.
– Between 2022 and 2024, European nations and other Ukrainian allies gave $132 billion in total aid.
– The Kiel Institute just issued a study that Europe could replace all US military aid “with relatively little additional effort. … Currently, European governments contribute about [$]44 billion [Euros] annually to to Ukraine’s defense, or roughly 0.1% of their combined GDP, a relatively modest fiscal commitment. … To replace total US aid, Europe would need to increase its annual support to approximately [$]82 billion [Euros] per year, or 0.21% of GDP …”
– “The US supplies more than 80 per cent of long range HIMARS rocket systems and 155mm Howitzer artillery shells, 70 per cent of anti-aircraft missiles, and 70% of armoured fighting vehicles, according to the Kiel report.”
– Interviewed Ukrainian ground troops tell The Independent that the war is changing to greater use of drones “to much greater effect.”
– Germany has supplied three Patriot missile systems, to America’s supply of two such systems.
– The US has provided 20 Soviet-era Mi-17V5 helicopters once destined for Afghanistan to the Ukraine, but zero modern aircraft such as fighter aircraft. “Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Belgium, have supplied F-16s while North Macedonia and Slovakia sent Kyiv four Su-25 attack aircraft and over 10 MiG-29 fighter jets.”
– “Ukraine has been driven out of most of the Kursk salient it captured inside Russia last year. But it is not losing significant ground elsewhere. … It is, however enfeebling Russia which is unlikely to be able to sustain its war against Kyiv indefinitely – even if the US stopped aid to Ukraine.”
– “So the longer Russia delays a ceasefire, which Moscow is certain to quickly break anyway, the better it is for Kyiv and its reliable friends in Europe who, with a little more effort, could help Ukraine win a war that Europe says is existential.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Russia has already lost the war. Only the killing remains, unless the once faithful ally, the United States, gets its newly expressed desire to snatch victory from the Ukrainian people and hand it to Putin. In a few short weeks, we have gone from faithful ally to perfidious street thug bent on extortion.
Ray W, says
The Cool Down reports that Ford had filed for a patent that would permit Ford EV owners to charge their batteries via two charging ports at the same time, one at the front of the vehicle and one at the back.
Such paired charging is not unique to Ford.
Porsche’s Macan product splits its 800-volt battery into two 400-volt subpacks that can be independently charged.
General Motors has filed for a patent that allows its commercial vehicles to use a dual-port charger.
A drawback is that such designs allow EV owners to hog public power outlets.
Make of this what you will.
Jim says
Well, I sleep much better at night now knowing that Donald and his gang are in charge and leading America into a future we can all be proud of!!!
Aren’t you MAGA folks just tickled to death that all these criminals and protesters are being kicked out the country?! I mean, we certainly shouldn’t be upset if a few innocents get run out of the country in the process, right? After all, if a guy has a gang tattoo (or at least what looks like one) but no criminal record, get that SOB out of this country! Never mind little issues like due process or getting all the facts first, let’s just start running anyone who doesn’t look the way we want out! And God forbid that we tolerate any foreigner going to a school here in the USA protesting the deaths of thousands of innocents! Either get with the program or get out! And, again, let’s not consider due process – let’s just do it! We’ve got to get rid of all the foreigners! I think if they don’t speak English, put’em on a plane and send them somewhere!
And let’s all give our national security team the praise they all deserve. Why, aren’t you proud of how they discussed the pro’s and con’s of bombing the Houthis instead of just telling the military to go get them?!! And they are progressive as well. Who needs to use cumbersome security procedures and channels to discuss when, where, why and how we’re going to bomb somebody? Just use an app on your personal phone. And, hey, if some of the party happen to be in Russia while discussing these plans, that’s okay, isn’t it? Just helped our new Russian buddies gather intelligence with a lot less effort – go team!! And it was great that our ol’ Congressman Waltz added a journalist to the chat so that there would be no need for a press release – shoot, the press was part of the decision team!!! And bless Tulsi Gabbard for assuring Congress that no secure information was discussed! I was glad to hear that because, until she told us all that, I was under the mistaken mindset that it’s a security breech to share plans for when, where, who and why we’re bombing somebody. Why, if the right person had been part of that chat, the Houthis might have been forewarned and maybe they could have shot down one of our jets or rocketed one of our ships. But, no, according to Gabbard, none of that is a security concern. And I’m glad JD Vance and Hegseth got another chance to let the Europeans know just exactly how much Trump’s team detests them. Wouldn’t want to keep that little nugget quiet, right? Let’s get the hate and distrust completely out in the open!!!
So let’s keep this fine running administration going! I never thought Making America Great Again could possibly mean what is happening hourly but you MAGA folks wanted this so I’m happy for you. So go check your 401k and retirement plans (if you have them) and keep an eye out for your social security check (just a matter of time before that is gone) and for those of you scamming America by using Medicaid, well, get ready to see that go bye-bye as well! And I hope you don’t have a “special needs” kid in the school system. It won’t be long until we’re back in the 50’s and that becomes the parent’s problem alone which is the way it should be (right, MAGA?)!!!!!
Sherry says
YES, but even “Voice of America” is now being shut down!!! trump the fascist is hell bent on destroying “Our Free Press”:
Journalists showed up at the Voice of America today to broadcast their programs only to be told they had been locked out: Federal officials had embarked on indefinite mass suspensions.
All full-time staffers at the Voice of America and the Office for Cuba Broadcasting, which runs Radio and Television Martí, were affected — more than 1,000 employees. The move followed a late Friday night edict from President Trump that its parent agency, called the U.S. Agency for Global Media, must eliminate all activities that are not required by law.
In addition, under the leadership of Trump appointees, the agency has severed all contracts for the privately incorporated international broadcasters it funds, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.
The termination notices for grants for the funded networks, two of which were reviewed by NPR, carried the signature of Trump’s senior adviser Kari Lake, whom he placed at USAGM, not the agency’s acting chief executive. Lake does not appear in her current job to have the statutory authority to carry out that termination.
“I am deeply saddened that for the 1st time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced,” the network’s director, Michael Abramowitz, said in a statement posted on his personal Facebook account. “VOA needs thoughtful reform and we have made progress in that regard. But today’s action will leave Voice of America unable to carry out its vital mission.” He wrote that he was among those 1,300 journalists, producers and support staff put on leave.
Ray W, says
During the early morning hours of November 6, 2024, President-elect Trump said that “America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate.”
For a number of months, his adherents repeated the message. Some even amplified it. A few thought it a landslide.
Shortly after Trump’s message, The Nation published a comparative article. I saved it, waiting for an opportune moment in the knowledge that intervening events might adjust the message. Perhaps now is that moment.
Today, I looked up the actual final vote totals issued by the Federal Elections Commission.
In total, 155,238,302 votes were cast in the 2024 presidential election.
77,302,580 people voted for President Trump, or 49.80%.
75,017,613 people voted for former Vice President Harris, or 48.32%.
Just under 3 million people voted for other people or entities.
The difference between the Trump and Harris vote totals was 2,284,967, or 1.48%.
According to The Nation, “in all the 59 presidential elections since the nation’s founding, it appears that – after all of the 2024 votes are counted — only five popular vote winners in history will have prevailed by smaller percentage margins than Trump. …
“Trump’s victory was not of ‘epic’ or ‘historic’ proportions. There was no ‘landslide’ for the once and future president, as Fox News suggested repeatedly in post-election headlines. The election did not produce the ‘decisive victory’ for Trump that the Associated Press referred to in the immediate aftermath of the voting. Nor did it yield the ‘resounding defeat’ for Harris that AP reported at the same time.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
As I so often comment, if one has to exaggerate or even lie to support one’s point, then the point just might not be valid. It was a close election amidst a deeply divided populace. Nixon’s 60.7% vote majority in 1972 was a landslide, as was Reagan’s 58.8% vote majority in 1984. Johnson’s 61.1% tops them all in more modern historical proportions.
I remain in agreement with Ed P on the issue of mandate, though, and I thank him again for making me look it up.
According to the definitions I found for the term, any person who wins an election, no matter how narrow the margin of victory, is gifted a mandate by the electorate to impose his or her policy agenda.
When Biden beat Trump by some seven million votes in 2020, about three times greater than the vote difference between Trump and Harris, Biden had a mandate from the people to impose his policy agenda, just as Trump has a mandate now.
Ray W, says
Earlier today in Paducah, Kentucky, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President Alberto Musalem, told an audience of several of the various options available to the Fed should President Trump’s tariff plan be fully implemented.
Here are some bullet points drawn from an article published by Bloomberg:
– “Musalem’s base case is that the economy will continue to grow at a moderate pace and the labor market will remain healthy.”
– “Fed officials are dealing with an unusual level of uncertainty over the direction of government policy under the Trump administration and its potential impact on the US economy.”
– Eight of the 19 Fed policymakers who recently met to discuss Fed positions argued that there should be either one or zero quarter-point rate reductions this year. The other 11 policymakers “penciled in” two quarter-point rate reductions for the remainder of this year.
– Speaking for himself, President Musalem anticipates that the Fed’s goal of 2% inflation can be reached in 2027, a date later than what he said he anticipated when he spoke on the issue this past December.
– Right now, should the economy remain strong, and inflation remain above target, then current Fed policy is appropriate.
– However, if the labor market remains healthy, but “second round” effects from tariffs occur, then lending rates will need to be kept “modestly restrictive” for longer, or the Fed may consider a more restrictive policy stance.
– Should the labor market weaken alongside either stable or easing inflation, “then policy could be eased further.”
– It is not yet clear whether any possible primary effect from tariff impositions will also impact inflation.
– Should there be any primary effect from tariff impositions, there might also be secondary effects, too, and such secondary effects might “prompt officials to hold interest rates steady for longer.” For example, President Musalem said that if certain tariffs make imported goods less appealing to consumers, then Americans might see price rises for certain domestic goods due to increased consumer demand for the domestic goods. But even if this type of indirect effect on prices for domestic goods take place, the effect might not persist over time.
– President Musalem’s St. Louis Fed research staff, thus far, estimate “that a 10% increase in the ‘effective US tariff rate,’ in line with the tariff hikes announced so far, could increase inflation by as much as 1.2 percentage points as measured by the Fed’s preferred gauge. That includes a 0.5 percentage-point increase from direct tariff effects and a 0.7 percentage-point rise due to indirect tariff effects.”
– “President Musalem said there is a greater risk inflation could stall above the Fed’s 2% goal or move higher because of changes to tariffs and other factors, reiterating it’s vital for inflation expectations to remain stable.”
– The Fed places importance on consumer expectations related to future price growth. Should consumer expectations become “unmoored” from the “balanced approach” between price stability and employment objectives, then the Fed would likely need to prioritize price stability over job growth, i.e., inflation expectations and inflation itself must remain anchored, even at a possible cost to job growth.
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Way to soon. Tariffs are not even in full effect, and they can change at any time, but April 2nd beckons for us all.
For example, President Trump announced today a 25% tariff to be imposed at some future date on all imported vehicles. If implemented, the primary tariff effect will be on prices for imported vehicles. Very few companies have the profit margin necessary for the company to absorb all the costs of a 25% tariff without passing at least some of it through to the consumer. A secondary effect would be a possible rise in the price for domestic vehicles due to decreased price competition from imported vehicles.
However, there can be little doubt that should Trump’s tariff policies trigger primary and/or secondary inflation growth in the manner thought possible by St. Louis Fed research staff, then the professional lying class at the top of one of our two parties will begin to sort out all possible lies to explain the rise in order to stage blame on the Biden administration and that the more gullibly stupid of the many FlaglerLive commenters among us will immediately attempt to launder the lies to the rest of us.
There is a reason why James Madison described partisan members of faction who are unable to set aside party politics to favor the betterment of the nation as “pestilential.” Those capable of setting aside partisan sentiments he described as “virtuous.”
Ray W, says
This issue just might have legs.
Der Spiegel, a German tabloid, decided to use “commercial people search engines along with hacked customer data that had been found online” to search for accounts and sites belonging to Trump administration officials.
It found personal information related to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
“DER SPIEGEL reporters were able to find mobile phone numbers, email addresses and even some passwords belonging to the top officials. … Most of these numbers and email addresses are apparently still in use, with some of them linked to profiles on social media platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn. They were used to create Dropbox accounts and profiles in apps that track running data. There are also WhatsApp profiles for the respective phone numbers and even Signal accounts in some cases. … As such, the reporting has revealed an additional grave, previously unknown security breach at the highest levels in Washington. Hostile intelligence services could use this publicly available data to hack the communications of those affected by installing spyware on their devices. It is thus conceivable that foreign agents were privy to the Signal chat group in which Gabbard, Waltz and Hegseth discussed a military strike.”
I am not even going to ask FlaglerLive readers to make of this what they will.
Who knows what lies are now being formulated and bandied about among the many members of the professional lying class of one of our two political parties in order to decide which of the many lies can best be laundered by their gullibly stupid followers.
Ray W, says
Chicago Fed President Austen Goolsbee told the Financial Times that the next three to six weeks will be “a critical period [when] we’re going to resolve a series of policy uncertainties. … When I’m out talking to executives here in the district, they are frequently citing April 2nd as a key point of their uncertainty.”
April 2nd is the date of the next expected tariff announcement by President Trump.
When asked of recent consumer surveys, President Goolsbee responded:
“If you start seeing market-based long-run inflation expectations start behaving the way these [consumer] surveys have done in the last two months, I would view that as a major red flag area of concern.”
Make of this what you will.
Me?
Economic realities may soon gain a measure of focus.
Ray W, says
This is a second comment on BYD’s latest version of its Lithium-Ferrous-Phosphate (LFP) battery, which the company calls the “e-platform.”
LiveScience reports that BYD has “massively” reduced internal battery resistance sufficient for the battery to accept “flash charging” from its new 1000-kilowatt (one megawatt) outlets without overheating.
The flash charging stations are rated at twice the power of the fastest Tesla charging stations.
This means that BYD has solved a major heat problem that can occur during recharging.
This also means that BYD’s newest EV battery flash charging stations carry a 10C rating. The new flash charger can, in just five minutes, recharge the e-platform battery pack with enough power for the EV to travel 250 miles.
Right now, the battery is available in the Han L saloon and the Tang L SUV.
Make of this what you will.
Ray W, says
Hello Pogo.
Reuters reports on the latest diplomatic maneuvers by different affected parties.
Yesterday, “[t]he United States reached separate deals … with Ukraine and Russia to pause their attacks at sea and against energy targets, with Washington agreeing to push to lift some sanctions against Moscow.”
“Russia said on Tuesday the United States had agreed to help it lift a series of Western sanctions and restrictions on food, [fertilizer] and shipping companies as preconditions for a maritime security deal in the Black Sea.”
The EU, which recently renewed “two sanctions frameworks” on Russia for another six months, said:
“The end of the Russian unprovoked and unjustified aggression in Ukraine and unconditional withdrawal of all Russian military forces from the entire territory of Ukraine would be one of the main preconditions to amend or lift sanctions.”
It strikes possible that the EU nations, by an act that does not involve NATO security obligations, have decided to stand apart from the United States on the subject of sanctions on Russia.
What do you think?