MidDays with Gerard Gibert 2026-10-14

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Get ready to go beyond the headlines and join a meaningful conversation with people from around the state. You're listening to MidDays with Gerard Gibert here on SuperTalk Mississippi.

Gerard Gibert (1:02)

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to MidDays. SuperTalk Mississippi, I'm your host, Gerard Gibert, along with Rhino in the Element Wealth Studio, guiding you through the middle of your day with facts, fodder, and fine music on this Hump Day. How many days we got left to the old election now? 22, 23, something like that. Ain't too many left.

And we got, what is the final CPE?

SPEAKER_3 (1:34)

20 days.

Gerard Gibert (1:35)

20 days! Good grief! I missed a couple there. 20 days. Man. We got the final report on inflation this morning. Final report, I should say, in advance of the old midterm elections. Got that out this morning, and it wasn't real good, honestly. And this is really going to put the Fed in a conundrum. So consumer inflation rose faster than expected. That's in September. That's what the CPI report indicates this morning. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, of course. That's the federal agency that tracks its information, the Consumer Price Index specifically. And it's a broad measure, if you will, of how much the old everyday goods cost Americans. Things like gasoline, groceries, rent.

Well, the report came in, and it was not in line with expectations. It was a little hotter than expected. The monthly data rate picked up with a reading of 0.4% in August. And so it came in higher this particular month. It came in higher than the 0.4% it ticked up in August. The annual figure, it up higher as well from 3.4. So we went from 0.4 August, 0.6 September, the monthly reading, 3.4% in August to 3.7% in September on an annualized basis.

So both figures, hotter than the prior month, higher than the prior month. And that has sent the markets, it certainly, I wouldn't say into a tailspin, but into negative territory. But the most important thing about this reading is that it's the final one before the midterms, twenty days out, as Rhino just told us.

Will the Democrats leverage this news to their advantage as we go to the polls in less than three weeks?

I think they'll probably say something about it. The problem is, they ain't got no solution to this.

They can talk about it and bloviate about it and point fingers all day long, but they've not offered any solution, except, we're going to send you some money. That's pretty much what they've said. All of their policy prescriptions involve expanding government programs. That is their solution to everything, and of course, raising taxes on those dirty, greedy, rich people.

Amazingly, however, the consumer is strong. It just blows me away when we've got this kind of sticky, persistent inflation. But consumer spending, consumer sentiment is actually quite good, and they keep spending. How long can it last? One of the things that is a strong, or a few things that are strong indicators of consumer spending is the amount of transactions on credit and debit cards, because banks track that, and they report that. It's a big part of their business.

And those figures continue to trend upwards. So people are using their debit cards and their credit cards a lot. They're spending a lot of money. The theory is, by economists, that the top 20% of earners in our society are spending the most money, and they're spending more than they ever have.

And that's driving our economy. Now, to a great extent, I think it's fair to say, Rhino, that it's because they've had a good run in the markets. They've seen their wealth increase, and they feel better about opening up the old wallet and making purchases. So you sort of see a bit of a dichotomy. You got those that, I guess, have not benefited as much personally in the short term from these tremendous market gains. And they feel like they're really getting hurt at the pump, at the grocery store, buying the essentials of life.

But so consumer sentiment is a record low because of the frustration over the economy, but the data doesn't reflect that. What I mean by that is they keep spending money. So I'm not sure, honestly, what all that means. But we're going to talk to Ty Pinkins at 1035 Mr. Pinkins is an independent candidate for the United States Senate. We'll get his thoughts on the current campaign for US Senate, the race for US Senate. Of course, the seat currently held by Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, the Republican, the incumbent, and Scott Colombe also in the race, the Democratic nominee who's got now, I know, the endorsement of Barack Obama, even running an ad featuring the former president, has lots of other national Democrat money at his disposal. And did I see that Pete Buttigieg might be coming to town to stump for him? I heard that this morning at breakfast. I haven't verified it. That's kind of interesting. But today, it's Ty Pinkins. He is an independent candidate. We'll certainly ask him about the motivation to enter the race as an independent, and then we'll also dig in to some of his policy ideas. Speak to him about that. Cameron Stubbs, the communications team with the Mississippi Department of Rehab Services on it, 1105 October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, so we'll certainly dig into that. Kimberly Guilfoyle looks like she's done. I think the little scandal there did her in using her position as this country's ambassador to Greece for some personal financial gain, so it looks like she is out as the US ambassador.