Here's a list of the average price of various commodities in May 2020 versus May 2021.
Gasoline: $1.77 vs. $3.00 now.
Lumber: $332 per 1,000 board feet vs. $1,570 per 1,000 board feet now.
Home sales: $283,500 vs. $329,100 now.
Coffee: $0.96 a pound vs. $1.50 a pound now.
Wheat: $5 a bushel vs. $7.42 now.
Corn: $3.19 a bushel vs. $7.22 a bushel now.
Copper: $2.33 a pound vs. $4.76 a pound now.
Some of the increase in prices is due to pent up demand and hamstrung supply chains. However, the sheer volume of cash the government has poured into the economy over the last year-and-a-half is now driving rising costs. The inflation rate has tripled from 1.4 percent in January 2021 to 4.2 percent in April 2021. This is not a Trump policy vs. Biden policy issue as some right-wing commentators claim. This is absolutely on the shoulders of big government with both major political parties to blame.
Williams says it comes down to "Inflation or Implosion." What would happen to the financial system if the Fed stopped printing massive amounts of money for stimulus and debt service? Williams explains, "You could see financial implosion by preventing liquidity being put into the system. The system needs liquidity (freshly created dollars) to function. Without that liquidity, you would see more of an economic implosion than you have already seen. In fact, I will contend that the headline pandemic numbers have actually been a lot worse than they have been reporting. It also means we are not recovering quite as quickly. The Fed needs to keep the banking system afloat. They want to keep the economy afloat. All that requires a tremendous influx of liquidity in these difficult times."
So, is the choice inflation or implosion? Williams says, "That's the choice, and I think we are going to have a combination of both of them. I think we are eventually headed into a hyperinflationary economic collapse. It's not that we haven't been in an economic collapse already, we are coming back some now. . . . The Fed has been creating money at a pace that has never been seen before. You are basically up 75% (in money creation) year over year. This is unprecedented. Normally, it might be up 1% or 2% year over year. The exploding money supply will lead to inflation. I am not saying we are going to get to 75% inflation—yet, but you are getting up to the 4% or 5% range, and you are soon going to be seeing 10% range year over year. . . . The Fed has lost control of inflation.
Read the rest here; https://usawatchdog.com/inflation-implosion-hyperinflation-in-2022-john-williams/
[In other words, we ain't seen nothin' yet.]
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/feds-favorite-inflation-indicator-explodes-fastest-rate-1992-incomes-crash-record
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/lumber-prices-suffer-biggest-monthly-drop-record
Lumber prices have dropped about 60% since May, apparently as supply and demand are starting to even out after the covid shutdown. Prices are still above the pre-covid levels by a factor of two. Inflation from rolling the money printing presses may effect how low prices go.
Tyson products to increase in price September 5.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/tyson-foods-ceo-says-costs-rising-faster-it-can-hike-prices
Computer chip shortage just heating up.
"The world's top two leading chip companies are Taiwan's TSMC and South Korea's Samsung Electronics. These two Asian firms, combined, control more than 70 percent of the semiconductor manufacturing market.
The U.S., which was once a leader, lags behind in chip manufacturing after major – and shortsighted – shifts in the business models in the semiconductor industry over the last 15 years."
All the article is here; https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/great-computer-chip-shortage-2021-just-heating
And now comes increased aluminum prices. Will a shortage follow? Or is it a short-term blip? Stay tuned.
"Aluminum prices soared to a new decade high after a military coup in Guinea stoked concerns over the supply of bauxite, a sedimentary rock with high aluminum content, according to Bloomberg."
Read it here; https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/guinea-coup-causes-aluminum-prices-hit-fresh-decade-highs
Will world-wide energy shortages hit America this winter?
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/european-energy-crisis-about-go-global
Inflation to continue in these markets.
https://www.financialsurvivalnetwork.com/2021/09/get-ready-for-non-transitory-inflation-ten-things-about-to-shoot-up-in-price/