Dr. Rasmus debunks the media hype about wages now rising, showing how in fact real weekly earnings for non-management workers (both full and part time) over the past year amounts to only 6 cents to 8 cents per hour, based even on government Dept. of Labor data. And the trend is downward, as wage(hourly wage x hours worked) earnings change have been zero or negative for five of the last six months. Wages are flat or declining, not rising.  In the second half of the hour, Rasmus predicts a Trump Recession will occur in 2019, as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates four times in 2018.  The rate hikes are not due to rising wages and inflation, but are necessary to finance the more than $1 trillion a year deficits annually that are now coming.  The deficits and debt in turn are due to Trump’s $5 trillion tax cuts for corporations, businesses, and investors, the acceleration war spending, continued price gouging by health insurance companies and drug companies for Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, program costs, and now the rising interest on the debt the Fed will be paying. The deficits and debt servicing are causing the Fed to raise rates. Rasmus reiterates his prediction that Fed rates cannot rise another full percentage, and US 10 yr. Treasury bond rates cannot exceed 3.5%–without precipitating another general credit crunch (as in 2007) that will set off the next recession. (for a print article explanation of the analysis, go to the blog, jackrasmus.com, or the article posted here on PRN website as well).

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