HEADLINES vs REALITY

This is the headline on Marketwatch this morning:

Consumers boost spending by most in six years

The article then goes on to make the false case that all those new Obama jobs are allowing consumers to spend like there is no tomorrow, again. One problem. It is complete and utter bullshit. The government propaganda release buries the FACT that half of the entire increase is due to auto “sales”. Now that is funny. They actually call the rental of autos for 7 years at 0% interest a sale. Over one-third of these “sales” are going to subprime deadbeats. Another third are actually leases. And the last third are the 7 year loan “sales”. Nothing like some more mal-investment created by the Fed and their ZIRP/QE fiasco. So jobs have nothing to do with this surge – low payments and high risk borrowers are the reason.

Then we get to the FACT that the rest of the spending was driven mainly by a 4.72% surge in spending on Energy goods & services. Yep. Gasoline prices have surged by 40% in the last 5 months, so you are spending a lot more for gas. That has a lot to do with those new Obama jobs, right? In reality, spending excluding energy spending was the lowest since 2011. Sounds a little different than the Marketwatch headline, doesn’t it?

So the reality is that senior citizens are getting 0.25% on their savings while paying a lot more for energy and food. Therefore, they have to dip into their dwindling savings to survive during this great economic recovery. The Fed keeps pumping the bubble with 0% interest rates and Wall Street/Auto Industry machine keeps doling out autos to anyone that can fog a mirror. The never ending monthly payments for the ignorant masses never cease. The faux journalist dolt at Marketwatch worries that the 5.1% savings rate is too high. He cheers on spending and scorns saving. This is what passes for economic journalism today.

So there is your daily dose of reality versus fantasy. Now I’m off to the beach.