[ZERO] An ominous sign about today's high inflation environment, and quite clearly the Federal Reserve is behind the hiking curve, is a contact close with the Fed complaining about out-of-control golf membership prices. Yes, you heard that correctly. Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker's speech cited "one of our contacts," presumably a Wall Street banker or corporate elite, complained about the "whopping membership fee increases at his golf club."
Harker said the contact even "suggested it may be a good time to play at your local muni instead" of a private course.
As Matt Taibbi of TK News notes,
"I know I’m a little out of practice, because just as I was about to begin speaking, I made sure my mute button wasn’t on," he cracked. "In all seriousness..."
Shifting to a graver theme, he mentioned the old saw about being cursed to live in "interesting times." The novel coronavirus, he said, "has tragically killed at least 6 million people globally and around 1 million here in the United States," adding, "That’s the equivalent of a city larger than San Francisco or Seattle." Russia has also invaded Ukraine, he said, "fomenting death and destruction and spurring a humanitarian crisis in the heart of Europe."
Next in this parade of calamities: the scourge of inflation, a problem so serious that it touched him and his colleagues personally.
"One of our contacts, for instance, mentioned whopping membership fee increases at his golf club," Harker said, "suggesting this summer may be a good time to play at your local muni instead."