Italian Bonds
We’d warned that today’s ECB meeting was pivotal for periphery debt markets & that it was key to get the tone on inflation (the past) vs recession (the future) right. That didn’t happen and Italy’s 10-year yield is now spiking. This has the makings of another March 2020 moment… pic.twitter.com/5tdgNsbjKX
— Robin Brooks (@robin_j_brooks) March 10, 2022
Not sure I call this a crash as yields are spiking in many paces but yes, it’s messy.
Force Majeure Starting Monday Stops Trucking
Via Google Translate from Ansa.
Starting from next Monday, March 14, the trucking companies will suspend their services nationwide ‘due to force majeure’ “and that is the explosion of fuel costs.
“The suspension of services has become inevitable – underlines a letter sent by Trasportiunito to the Prime Minister, the Minister and Deputy Minister of Sustainable Infrastructures and Mobility and the President of the Guarantee Commission in Strikes – also to protect companies and prevent that the exasperated market conditions, determined by the record rise in fuel prices, translate into advantages for other subjects in the transport sector, or into charges for contractual obligations that the companies in the logistics chain are no longer able to guarantee “.
“The road transport block will have direct effects on the community, suspending the supplies of goods in the commercial sector and leading to a surge in retail price lists in shops and supermarkets – says the president Carlo Rienzi – An inevitable consequence, considering that the 85% of goods sold in Italy travel by road, and a further damage for consumers, exhausted like companies by expensive fuel “. “In this situation, a shameful immobility arrives from the Government, and it is not clear what awaits the executive to immediately cancel the VAT on petrol and diesel and reduce excise duties,
The trucking industry calls on the government to suspend the Value Added Tax (VAT) on gas and diesel and remove excise duties.
Six US Governors Seek Tax Holiday
Meanwhile, in the US where gasoline is much lower than in the EU, Six US Governors Seek Tax Holiday.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and the governors of five other states are calling on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax until the end of 2022. The governors sent a letter to congressional leaders asking for the suspension. The federal gas tax is 18 cents per gallon.
The Letter
“According to the American Automobile Association, the national average gas price in the United States is $4.173, up more than a dollar from 2021. The Gas Prices Relief Act as introduced in the House and Senate – H.R. 6787 and S. 3609 respectively – would alleviate the consumer cost of rising gas prices while protecting the federal government’s capacity to make infrastructure investments.
“At a time when people are directly impacted by rising prices on everyday goods, a federal gas tax holiday is a tool in the toolbox to reduce costs for Americans, and we urge you to giver every consideration to this proposed legislation.”
That is a small snip of the letter signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan; Gov. Jared Polis, Colorado; Gov. Tim Walz, Minnesota; Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, New Mexico; Gov. Tom Wolf, Pennsylvania; Gov. Tony Evers, Wisconsin to Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McCarthy, and Leader McConnell.
Applause and Prayers
Please note that Gov. Wolf Applauds President Biden’s Ban on Russian Energy Imports, Calls on Congressional Leaders to Enact Federal Gas Tax Holiday.
Hooray! 18 cents!
If the bill passes, it will suspend the federal gas tax through next January. That will shave about 18 cents off every gallon.
Gas Pains
The AAA says $4 Gas the Tipping Point for Most Americans
In California, the price of regular hit $5.694 and diesel $6.212 today. Both are new records.
Californians pay $1.37 more than the national average. The reason is massive gas taxes on top of special blending rules.
The state is considering a tax on EVs to make sure motorists pay their fair share of road maintenance.
Gas Relief
Here is the Gas Relief Act of 2022.
And here is the real problem: President Biden and the Fed are giving us too much gas where we don’t need it and too little where we do.
The average worker has lost money to inflation twelve times in the last fourteen months.
For details, please see Real Wages Decline 12 Times in the Last 14 Months
This post originated on MishTalk.Com.
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Mish
to years of worker shortages—and higher prices. Central bankers around
the world are listening.
Another nuclear option fired:
Prime is going to stop free delivery, reprice their monthly Prime
service by quite a bit or add a ‘fuel surcharge’ to free delivery. When
that happens, it’s when you’ll know things are really taking a turn for the
worse for consumers because there are 148 million Prime members taking advantage of free delivery (esp since it saves so much on gas now for a 1-2 item trip some where)