Stagflation Conversations with Fexingo: High Inflation, Slow Growth, and 1970s Echoes

Episode 29 of Stagflation Conversations with Fexingo dives into a corner of the economy that rarely makes headlines but is quietly being turned inside out by persistent high inflation and sluggish growth: industrial real estate. With core CPI still running at 3.2% and real GDP growth barely positive, the warehouse-and-factory floor has become a strange battleground. Lucas and Luna break down a spe...

Episode 28 of Stagflation Conversations with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna explore how persistent inflation and slow growth are squeezing the pet food industry. With the year-over-year CPI for pet food running at 8.6% — well above overall inflation — households are trading down from premium brands to private-label kibble. Major manufacturers like Nestlé Purina and Mars are seeing volume declines even as...

In this episode of Stagflation Conversations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore how persistent high inflation and sluggish growth are upending the auto insurance market. With core inflation at 3.3% and real GDP growth limping at 1.6%, insurers face surging repair costs, rising medical payouts, and a claims frequency that defies recession logic. Lucas breaks down how State Farm and Allstate are h...

Episode 26 of Stagflation Conversations explores the quiet resurgence of barter networks as inflation and slow growth squeeze cash flow. Lucas and Luna dig into new data from the International Reciprocal Trade Association showing a 34% jump in barter transactions among small businesses since 2024. They discuss how platforms like Tradebank and IMS are seeing membership spikes, why a Tennessee HVAC...

In episode 25 of Stagflation Conversations, Lucas and Luna explore how stagflation is pushing cities to overhaul property taxes on vacant land. With commercial vacancy rates soaring and municipal budgets squeezed, cities from San Francisco to Detroit are experimenting with land-value taxes and vacancy penalties. Lucas breaks down the economics: higher taxes on unused lots could unlock development,...

In this episode of Stagflation Conversations, Lucas and Luna explore why the gold mining ETF GDX has surged over 5% in a single week while the broader market drifts sideways. With core inflation at 3.3% and GDP growth barely above 1.5%, investors are piling into hard assets. Lucas traces this back to the 1970s playbook when gold returned over 400% during the worst of stagflation. Luna questions wh...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore a surprising consequence of stagflation: the surge in home renovation lending. With existing home sales stuck near historic lows and mortgage rates hovering above 7 percent, homeowners are choosing to renovate rather than move. The hosts examine data from the latest Federal Reserve survey on bank lending, which shows home improvement loan originations up 23...

Episode 22 of Stagflation Conversations digs into an overlooked casualty of the current economic climate: rural hospitals. With CPI at 332.4 and core inflation still above 3%, these facilities face a deadly combination of soaring supply costs, flat Medicare reimbursement rates, and shrinking patient volumes as locals delay care. Lucas and Luna examine a specific case—a 25-bed critical access hospi...

In this episode of Stagflation Conversations, Lucas and Luna explore the surprising resurgence of barter networks as both consumers and small businesses adapt to persistent high inflation and slow growth. With the latest CPI at 332.4 and core PCE running at 3.3% annually, more people are trading goods and services directly to preserve cash flow. Lucas digs into a specific barter platform in Ohio t...

In this episode of Stagflation Conversations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore how persistent high inflation and sluggish growth are transforming the used car market. With April's core CPI at 3.3% and the unemployment rate holding at 4.3%, the hosts dive into why wholesale used car prices have been falling while retail prices stay stubbornly high. They examine how rising interest rates are crus...

In this episode of Stagflation Conversations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore a less obvious casualty of the current economic environment: insurance premiums. With core inflation at 3.3% and the Fed struggling to tame price pressures, property and casualty insurers are raising rates at a pace not seen since the 1970s. Lucas breaks down how rising replacement costs, higher auto repair expenses,...

Episode 18 of Stagflation Conversations with Fexingo: With core inflation at 3.3% and the unemployment rate flat at 4.3%, homeowners and renters are seeing another cost creep up: insurance premiums. Lucas and Luna drill into how persistent inflation in property and auto lines is pushing carriers to raise rates aggressively, even as wage growth lags. They examine the role of climate risk, rising re...

Episode 17 of Stagflation Conversations with Fexingo digs into a surprising casualty of the current stagflation environment: municipal and state budgets. Lucas and Luna examine how persistent inflation — core CPI at 3.3% in April — and sluggish real GDP growth of just 1.6% are forcing local governments into unprecedented trade-offs. They focus on the case of California's 2026-27 budget gap, estima...

In this episode of Stagflation Conversations, Lucas and Luna dig into a surprising trend in the current stagflation environment: corporate research and development spending is actually rising, even as profit margins shrink and the economy slows. Using recent data from the National Science Foundation and earnings reports from large industrials and tech firms, they explore why companies are increasi...

Episode 15 of Stagflation Conversations with Fexingo digs into a blind spot in the stagflation narrative: healthcare. With CPI at 332.4 and core inflation still sticky, hospital systems and insurers are facing a unique cost structure that breaks the normal recession playbook. Lucas and Luna unpack why health insurance premiums are rising 7–9% even as patients delay elective procedures, how hospita...

Episode 14 of Stagflation Conversations with Fexingo. Lucas and Luna examine how high inflation combined with sluggish wage growth is forcing a structural shift in higher education. With real GDP growth at just 2% annualized and consumer sentiment at a record low, families are reassessing the ROI of a four-year degree. The hosts break down new data showing a 6% drop in freshman applications at pri...

Episode 13 of Stagflation Conversations with Fexingo dives into a quiet but sweeping shift in commercial real estate: the death of the five-year fixed lease. With inflation running hot and growth sluggish, landlords and tenants are rewriting contracts mid-term—tying rent escalations to CPI plus a margin, shortening lease durations, and embedding break clauses tied to economic triggers. Lucas and L...

Episode 12 of Stagflation Conversations looks at a counterintuitive trend: even as inflation erodes purchasing power and consumer sentiment hits record lows, the personal savings rate in the U.S. has actually crept up to 4.8 percent — well above the 2.3 percent trough of mid-2022. Lucas and Luna explore why households are hoarding cash despite high prices, drawing on recent JOLTS data showing job...

In episode 11 of Stagflation Conversations, Lucas and Luna examine how stagflation is accelerating automation in US manufacturing. With real GDP growth at just 2 percent annualized and labor costs rising, companies are finding that investing in robots and AI-powered machinery is cheaper than hiring workers. Lucas points to a record 4.5 percent of capital expenditure now going to automation, citing...

In episode 10 of Stagflation Conversations, Lucas and Luna examine how stagflation is transforming the U.S. labor market in ways that break the old rules. With unemployment stuck at 4.3 percent even as job openings fall — JOLTS dropped to 6.866 million in March — and average hourly earnings barely creeping up to $37.40, the hosts argue we're seeing a structural shift, not a cyclical blip. They zoo...

Lucas and Luna dive into how stagflation is transforming corporate debt markets in 2026. With CPI at 332.4 and real GDP growth stuck at 2.0%, companies are facing a double squeeze: rising borrowing costs and slowing demand. Lucas explains why investment-grade bond yields have surged to 6.5%, while junk bond spreads widen to levels not seen since 2020. They discuss how firms are pivoting from long-...

Episode 8 of Stagflation Conversations with Fexingo examines how high inflation and slow growth are squeezing small and mid-size businesses, using the recent collapse of a regional furniture chain and new NFIB data on profit margins. Lucas and Luna discuss why small firms lack the pricing power of large corporations, how rising labor costs and input prices are eroding bottom lines, and what the re...

In this episode of Stagflation Conversations with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna examine how persistent high inflation and slow growth are forcing a fundamental rethinking of global supply chains. While the 'China plus one' strategy was already underway, stagflation is accelerating a shift toward nearshoring and regionalization. Using the latest data—including a consumer sentiment record low and rising c...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine how stagflation is hitting commercial real estate. With the ten-year Treasury yield elevated, cap rates are climbing and property values are falling. The hosts drill into specific sectors — office, retail, and industrial — and explain why the downturn isn't uniform. Lucas walks through the math: when the risk-free rate is around 4.5 percent, a building gener...

In episode 5 of Stagflation Conversations, Lucas and Luna examine why companies that successfully raised prices during the 2021-2023 inflation cycle are now losing that power. With CPI at 332.4 and consumer sentiment at a record low, firms from consumer staples to tech are seeing margins squeezed. Lucas points to a specific case: a major packaged-foods company that hiked prices 12% year-over-year...