The lies and misinformation being spewed by the MSM and politicians is at such an extreme level now – IT BURNS!!!
Retail sales in October FELL versus the prior month. This only happens in recessions. The bullshit excuses about Hurricane Sandy are being used, even though the storm resulted in a surge of purchases before the storm. Not only did retail sales decline versus the prior month, they were weak compared to last year. Here is a link to the actual report.
http://www.census.gov/retail/marts/www/marts_current.pdf
Now I’ll give my assessment, which you will not hear from CNBC or any of the other captured corporate media:
- Retail sales declined by $1.3 billion versus September, but you’ll be thrilled to know that you spent $700 million more for gasoline and $300 million more at the grocery store. But don’t worry. Ben says inflation is well contained.
- Even thought the government is subsidizing auto sales through Ally Financial and their Wall Street co-conspirators, auto sales fell by $1.1 billion. I guess everyone in West Philly got a car.
- Discretionary spending on furniture and electronics fell. With a savings rate back down to 3.7%, there is no discretion left.
- If there is really a housing recovery, how could garden centers and building materials retailers have a $500 million DECLINE in sales?
- Things are so bad that Obese Americans actually ate $200 million less at restaurants in October – See McDonalds.
- The implementation of sales tax on all Amazon purchases in the country is having its desired affect. Online sales declined by $700 million.
Even worse than the one month decline was the 3.8% increase over last October. When you realize that real inflation is running above 5%, you see that real retail sales are declining.
- Retail sales are only up $15 billion over tlast October.
- Auto sales, through 0% financing to subprime losers and GM channel stuffing, are up $3.5 billion.
- Gasoline sales are up $3.4 billion, or 23% of the total increase. Yippee!!!
- Food store sales are up $2 billion. Senior citizens buying cat food to eat for dinner account for the majority of the increase.
- Clothing sales were up $1 billion as prices rose.
Yes Virginia, we are in a recession. The facts are conclusive. The MSM will continue to spin. So it goes.
Every Friday should be a black Friday.
You know as this nation tears itself apart, i decided to enjoy it, after all we deserve it. Yes i know a lot of suffering will ensue, me included, but what am i going to do about it? So I will laugh at the Stupidityuntil I cannot. Ha ha to this story. That is a i told you so laugh, nit directed at anyone one this sight. You folks can think for yourself.
I’m with hollow man…. hahahahahahaha bwahahahahaha lol lol lol
Laugh till we cry!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA
Do these figures include internet sales?
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Just wait until the effects of the cascading job losses get factored into the holiday sales, oooohhhheeeee.
Also start thinking about all the producing class that is going Galt with their discretionary income.
It is just such a BAD idea to make 70% of your economy based on consumerism instead of manufacturing and exports.
I have put an immediate halt on a $100K remodeling project, the $50K I give in charity, all trips to the spa, thoughts about a new car, no 10 day HI vacation, fired my yard guy and put the housekeeper to every other week. Since I am anticipating a 50% cut in my salary over the next 2-5 years assuming I can even stay in business! Oh, and business wise, we have an immediate freeze on all hiring, wage increases and overtime. No one is going to order so much as a paperclip without my okay.
Bug….Meet Windshield.
Splaaaattttt.
“If there is really a housing recovery, how could garden centers and building materials retailers have a $500 million DECLINE in sales?” ————— from the article
They are using the Chevy Volt inventory to build houses, and using Obama’s promises to fertilize the garden.
Strong steel houses, increased car sales, Ally Bank profits, green lawns …. EVERYBODY wins!s
Clearly workers wages must be slashed and CEO wages raised to save the economy.
Also we need 2 trillion broken windows.
Im sure the FSA will be happy to assist.
Now, if only we can get some big name sports star in some JC Penney loafers , some foreign aid to Haiti involving the delivery of tone billion pounds of Twinkies, America will be saved I tell you saved!!
Does anyone here use http://www.shadowstats.com? It shows pretty good numbers when it comes to inflation, unemployment, GDP, etc. I read the term “real unemployment/inflation/GDP” and the figures are always based upon a government’s published number. The man that runs this website is using metrics from a few decades ago and it tells a very different story.
Micro-Be
I use John Williams charts constantly when I’m looking for the truth.
Cruel accountant
They include internet sales.
Even the internet sales declined.
So many John Williams in the world. Now I have two favorite John Williams. The man that gave us the Imperial March and the man that gives us Shadow Stats.
Shadowstats has great data, but I don’t always agree with John Williams’ conclusions…expecially with regards to hyperinflation, which he believes is inevitable.
I’m interested to hear your counter argument towards hyperinflation. I’m inclined to think it has a great chance of happening but that it doesn’t necessarily have to happen. Macroeconomics is a great thing, just not really my strong point.
This gets a little over my head but the deflationary pressures in the world are simply enormous. Bad mortgage, student loan and soon, car loan debt all of which will, of course be exacerbated by any effort to reduce government spending and or increase tax revenues. European governments having to reduce their fiscal deficits by LAW and their banks holding similiar bad debt from their own private sectors. China with enormous overcapacity in its manufacturing and property sectors and it all floating on its own sea of debt.
Now enter this thing called the Triffin paradox in which the US as possessor of the world’s reserve currency needs to run a trade deficit with the rest of the world in order to supply dollars to the rest of the world to allow their dollar denominated debts to be paid, to fund domestic investment in their own economies and hold as reserves to keep their currencies value more or less stable. Or such is my understanding of Triffin.
But what happens if the US stops exporting dollars to the rest of the world? Certainly US imports of foreign manufactured goods can be expected to slow as the US government deficits shrink and taxes go up. That is happening in a major way right now in Europe as demand for Chinese manufactured goods plummets due to their efforts to reduce budget deficits. However, the US trade deficit has always had two components, trade in goods and trade in energy and this energy deficit is fast disappearing. The surge in US oil and gas production and a smaller but still signficant shift in US coal production from domestic consumption to exports appears to be ending our energy deficit. Add in corollary impacts such as the return of some manufacturing to the US to take advantage of our relatively cheap energy prices and the inelasticity of demand for some of our major exports like food and pharmaceuticals and the US trade deficit could disappear or shrink to insignificance. What then?
Dollars would be in high demand. The value of the dollar vis a vis other currencies or a basket of goods would climb. Those who had debts denominated in dollars would experience the same problem Irving Fisher detailed in the 1930’s depression of debt deflation.
dailyjobcuts.com
But only if you are seriously into some Doom Porn.
Me above.
C’mon. The most intelligent black president evah just announced that he doesn’t want the Bush tax cuts for the lower 98% to expire in January, because it will mean those people will have les money to spend for the upcoming holidays. WTF?
I’m still amazed that Hope has a maid come every week.
EF
I’d always assumed hyperinflation would happen if/when the dollar was decoupled from the world reserve currency and oil. What happens if either or both of those happen coupled with a federal default on debt or something like that? Seems like so many different scenarios that are equally as worrisome could play out.
’tis the same worldwide…
Over her in Oz, 1/3rd of mortgages are now in negative equity as the poor fools bought at the peak of a hyper-inflated bubble.
In my state, 1 in 6 kids are in families where both parents are unemployed.
Tent cities and homelessness are going crazy as rents become unaffordable.
Welfare organisations are struggling to keep up with demand for their services and the collapse hasn’t even hit yet ! Dog help them when it does.
The sheeple masses are STILL on their delusional consumerist junk buying fiestas, buying the latest and greatest piece of worthless plastic crap to piss their lives away playing with.
Normalcy Bias:1, Reality:0.
Retail is collapsing countrywide. In my industry sales have dropped BY 80% in the past 5 years.
Living on borrowed time but I’m outahere REAL soon thankfully.
People living from payday to payday and taking out payday loans..
No savings.
No idea of world events.
No food reserves.
Totally dependent on “the system”
No idea.
No future.
Come to the lucky country oh boat people and watch it go down like everywhere else, albeit at the end of the line…
In order for hyperinflation to occur in this country, there would have to be some other alternative currency for people to trade their dollars for. Every currency in the world now is fiat, and our banking problems are almost worldwide.
Gold is not a likely candidate for a currency alternative because there isn’t a lot of it and it’s very expensive and getting more so. And safe storage is a problem.
At some future date if the dollar loses its status as reserve currency, hyperinflation could happen. Some smart people think the Chinese ultimately plan to have a yuan partially backed by gold. That would be a game changer.
If we do have hyperinflation, I see it as happening sometime after the next major deflationary collapse, which looks baked into the cake for sure now.
Deflation, hyperinflation, to the vast majority of us, doesn’t fucking matter.
Here is the truth: every single item we HAVE to have to survive is going up in price (even as deflation callers run around screaming thanks to wages and houses), insurance, banking fees, taxes, fines, tickets, interest rates, food, energy, gas, clothing, taxes, taxes, hidden taxes. Every single way we have to make money/hold wealth is being destroyed; wages, employer paid benefits, housing, soon the stock market, bonds, interest received, investment properties.
We may never see “actual” (as announced by the Ivory Tower, paid-for-life, rich guys) hyperinflation, nor hyper-deflation (or whatever it is called), but the effects on our standard of living will be just as devastating.
It has already started, most are too busy trying to stay afloat to pinpoint, nor notice it.
What fun our bureaucratic led lives are becoming.
@farmer: I work 60-70 hours a week and Mr. HZK’s considerable mechanical skills do not extend to vacuuming or mopping. Although he makes the best chicken pot pie and Margarita in the known universe.
However, my two kids are now about get a reintroduction to Mr. Vacuum, Mrs. Mop and Baby Featherduster.
I worked my way through college as a maid, just so ya know.
Admin
Internet sales dropped too. That is not good. Thanks for the clarification.
@acc-
Probably because every form of government around is trying to crush online sales. Fed, state, county, and even city.
Everytime I turn around I’m voting down another use tax. Here’s an idea, want more tax revenue, make living in your county a better option than the other counties.
Things like infrastructure, education and JOBS entice people to live there. Instead they do the opposite. Raise taxes on the breadwinners, hand out free bread to the bread eaters, and fuck over everyone trying to make a living.
Lets look for the simple answer….
The banks fucked up and helped create a massive bubble in real estate prices that enabled americans (and to a certain exten, the rest of the world) to continually refinance their homes, pay off their credit cards and start over, spending like they’ll never have to pay for it…
Bankers got bailed out, and used that money to speculate in eurobonds instead of loaning it to ameican homeowners…
Now that the credit cards can be paid of with a new HELOC, the spending has to slow down….
The intended inflation, as a way to re-inflate housing prices has only raised the prices of everything BUT houses…
And once again a moron complaining about people getting free shit…maybe if the government wasn’t so intent on giving business free reign to offshore jobs, and taxes, more would go towards renovating and building infrastructure in the US thereby creating jobs for people now getting free shit…
Y’all realize that the vast majority of those getting free shit are those that don’t have any shit, and that can’t find a job that pays a living wage?
No…because y’all fall for the bullshit propaganda…
Well,,,just stop it…and get your government to do something for americans, instead of the free loading rich, who don’t pay their fair share, who hide money offshore, and move production facilities ofshore taking jobs, and the reason for infrastructure to the lowest wage contries they can find…even if they’re enemies….
…usually getting a tax credit (free shit) from the government to do it…
“now that the credit cards CAN’T…”
Hope,
Just having a little fun, although good to hear the kids will have chores. Chores and work are the reason that young people from the farm states are so sought after in the real world. They know how to work.
EF
Micro-Be, in the most basic terms, deflation is a reduction in the supply of money and credit in the economy. It leads to lesser levels of economic activity, prices, employment and wealth over time. Each remaining dollar in a deflationary economy would be worth proportionately more. Therefore the signs of an impending deflation are: weakening economy, declining commodity prices, increasing debt defaults, sinking stock markets and a rising dollar. All of this is currently happening — we will see if the current conditions turn into a lasting trend.
Deflation over the next few years is damned likely, and is also likely to be a monolithic event, of greater magmitude than the early 1930’s. The major cause will be the vaporization of massive amounts of debt and notional derivative assets which will leave gaping holes in balance sheets all over the world.
It is important to note that up to now, inflation has been the trend, and as part of a turning or wave, major trends are about to reverse; and 2) There has never been a hyperinflation in a credit-based monetary system.