Retail Sales Plummet For 3rd Month In A Row, But All Is Well On Wall Street

Retail Sales Plummet For 3rd Month In A Row, But All Is Well On Wall Street
I thought all those Obama jobs, the millions of Obamacare enrollees getting “free” health insurance, and the plunge in gas prices would lead to billions of excess disposable income being spent on stuff. Considering consumer spending accounts for 68% of GDP, this juggernaut of jobs would propel the US economy to new heights. Keynesianism at its finest. But something went awry on the road to prosperity. The American people have stopped spending money they don’t have on shit they don’t need. The blathering boobs on the tube will use the tried and true weather excuse, except last winter was the winter of the polar vortex. The very same morons who reported that this past winter was the 15th warmest in recorded history, will use cold and snow during winter time as the reason the American sheeple didn’t shop. How could they possibly get to the mall in their leased four wheel drive SUVs, pickups, and minivans?

Retail sales have fallen three months in a row. The last time this happened was at the beginning of the 2008 financial collapse. Do retail sales fall three months in a row when the economy is booming, or does it do that when we are in a recession? And these haven’t been miniscule drops: December -0.9%, January -0.8%, February -0.6%. If we dig into the numbers we can assess the truth of our current situation:

• Retail sales have only grown by 1.7% versus last year. This is far lower than the real level of inflation.
• If you back out the subprime loan juiced auto sales, retail sales have grown by a pathetic 0.8% in the last year.
• The rapidly rising level of auto loan defaults and repossessions is leading to a decline in auto sales, as they fell 2.6% in February versus January.
• All the discretionary retailers – furniture, electronics, building materials – have seen sales fall over the last three months. How could this happen if we are having that strong housing recovery I’ve read about?
• In a positive development, the gas price plunge reversed, and you spent $500 million more for gas in February.
• Department store sales fell again and were $350 million lower than last year. The JC Penney, Sears death march slogs on.
• Things have gotten so bad, people are even drinking and eating out less. Makes you wonder how we can keep adding those Obama jobs – waitresses, bartenders, fry cooks.
• On-line retailing, which used to grow at 10% to 20% rates, has grown by 3.9% YTD. Maybe Amazon isn’t really worth $370 per share. It couldn’t happen to have anything to do with the government sucking the life out of the business by implementing sales taxes.

http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/03/12/retail-sales-plummet-for-3rd-month-in-a-row-but-all-is-well-on-wall-street/

How’s That Deflation Working Out For You?

The BLS put out their monthly CPI lie last week. They issued the proclamation that inflation is dead. Did you know your costs are 0.1% lower than they were one year ago. They then used these deflation numbers to proclaim your real wages soared last month. It’s all good. The American consumer is so flush with cash, they decided to spend less money for the second month in a row. The Wall Street shysters are so happy with declining consumer spending, declining corporate profits, and a global recession, they pushed the NASDAQ up to 5,000 for the first time in 15 years. Hey!!! That was the year 2000. Things really got better after that milestone.

So we know gasoline prices have plummeted in the last year (but are up 20% in the last month), but I’m trying to think of other things I use in my everyday life that have declined in price. Maybe going through the BLS detailed list will jog my memory. Here is the link to their data:

http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpid1501.pdf
Let’s see how much deflation we’ve experienced in the last year for things we need to live our everyday lives.
Beef and veal  +22.5%
Ground beef  +21.0%
Steaks  +14.9%
Pork  +7.4%
Ham  +11.5%
Whole Chicken  +6.1%
Fresh Fish  +3.5%
Eggs  +8.2%
Cheese  +7.8%
http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/03/02/hows-that-deflation-working-out-for-you/