RETAIL SALES CONTINUE TO SUCK

As usual, the corporate MSM is attempting to spin a shitty retail sales report into a report showing consumers are back baby. They desperately want this storyline to convince the sheeple that all is well in our consumer spending dependent economy. The headline on the Rupert Murdoch owned Marketwatch was:

U.S. RETAIL SALES RISE AT A BRISK PACE

I guess their definition of brisk and my definition of brisk are slightly different. The storyline during the winter was the shitty retail sales were due to the cold weather. We were told retail sales would skyrocket come spring. Well let’s examine what has happened from March through May, which the last time I checked constituted Spring. Here is a link to the data I’ll be referencing:

http://www.census.gov/retail/marts/www/marts_current.pdf

• Retail sales grew by a pitiful 0.3% over April.
• Excluding the debt financed auto sales, retail sales grew by an infinitesimal .07%.
• We know for a fact that auto loan length is at a record high of 66 months, auto leases are at an all-time high of 26%, and 34% of all loans are being made to people with bad credit. Does anyone really think these are sales? They constitute 20% of all retail sales in this country.
• Retail sales are $18 billion higher this May versus last May. $8.4 billion, or 47% of that increase, is attributable to Government Motors through Ally Financial and the rest of the Wall Street bankers doling out easy money loans to deadbeats.
• During this supposed retail recovery from the dreadful winter, total retail sales have grown by a total of $3.6 billion from March through May. That is a miniscule 0.8%. When you back out the auto sales, it is a microscopic 0.5%. On an annualized basis retail sales are growing at below 2%.
• With inflation running at 5% or higher, REAL retail sales are declining. This is why retailers are reporting horrible profit results.
• Over the last three months retail sales, excluding autos, has risen $1.7 billion. You’ll be thrilled to know that $0.6 billion of that increase is from you paying more at gasoline stations. That is 34% of the increase. Another $0.8 billion was spent at building and materials stores to make repairs on your houses damaged from the winter storms.
• Over the last three months sales have declined at electronics & appliance stores, food stores, restaurants and for all the idiots thinking on-line is the reason bricks and mortar is dying – INTERNET SALES DECLINED. I guess sales tax does matter.

Again, the MSM and the Wall Street shyters are wrong. There is no retail recovery. It was not the weather. The only retail being done is through easy long-term auto and home furnishing debt. The loan losses will follow when the next financial crisis arrives. The retail death rattle grows ever louder as Radio Shack announced results that foretell a bankruptcy filing before year end. That will mean 5,000 more SPACE AVAILABLE signs in strip malls and regional malls across America.