Numbers Are Ugly, Saied Takes Charge and Oklahoma Rocks

<p>The seemingly inexorable march deeper into recession continues this week with more bad economic news from all sides. Bloomberg is reporting that, approximately 38% of workers have looked for a second job, while an additional 14% have plans to do so, according to a survey of more than 1,000 full-time US employees by Qualtrics. The combination of stubbornly high inflation and the approach of salary increase season will likely see this number increase.</p><p>In today's episode of The Higher Standard, Chris and Saied dive into this news along with many other topics in order to help you make sense of the immense amount of information (and disinformation) found out there.</p><p><br></p><p>They discuss a report from The Street indicating that 30-year fixed mortgage rates hit 7.22%, the highest in 20 years. However, that number has since jumped again to an average of 7.646%, making the prediction of rates rising to up to eight and a half percent all the more likely unless something changes.</p><p><br></p><p>Chris and Saied look at recent comments by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who said that investors should expect more blowups after a crash in U.K. government bonds last month nearly caused the collapse of hundreds of that country’s pension funds. He went on to suggest that markets will continue to be volatile so long as the Federal Reserve is boosting rates and shrinking its massive balance sheet.</p><p><br></p><p>They look at the IRS' announcement of higher federal tax brackets for 2023 to adjust for inflation. The standard deduction is increasing to $27,700 for married couples filing together and $13,850 for single taxpayers. There are also changes to the alternative minimum tax, estate tax exemption, earned income tax credit and flexible spending account limits.</p><p><br></p><p>Chris and Saied also discuss recent comments from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has become the latest corporate leader to warn about the state of the economy, cautioning that rougher times are likely ahead, and why his comments feel li