Money Talk Daily

Archive for the ‘The Economy’ Category

For anyone who really believes that this economy has “turned the corner,” real, unbiased economic reporting is what you need. For that I refer you to John Williams of Shadow Stats, and the following summary excerpt from his recent report.

Note that I am a paid subscriber and receive no compensation if you do subscribe.

• “Core” CPI-U Inflation Hits Cycle High
• April Year-to-Year Inflation Softens: 2.3% (CPI-U), 2.4% (CPI-W), 9.9% (SGS)
• Real Average Weekly Earnings in Ongoing Year-to-Year Decline
• Retail Sales Were Stagnant, Statistically Insignificant

For anyone who really believes that this economy has “turned the corner,” real, unbiased economic reporting is what you need. For that I refer you to John Williams of Shadow Stats, and the following summary excerpt from his recent report.

Note that I am a paid subscriber and receive no compensation if you do subscribe.

• For Second Month, Household-Survey Employment Fell as Payroll Growth Faltered
• April Unemployment: 8.1% (U.3), 14.5% (U.6), 22.3% (SGS)
• Annual M3 Growth Weakened in April as Velocity Rose
• New Indicator Shows Intensifying Systemic Stress
• Impaired Construction Spending Continued

Those of us who believe in free-markets and limited government as essential elements of a prosperous society have a tendency to feel alone – like “voices crying in the wilderness.” And if you believe that gold is truly a money of the people and that paper money backed by nothing is a path to eventual national bankruptcy, you can feel really isolated. You tend to get blank stares a lot. It’s not fun.

So, imagine my delight as I’m having supper at my favorite restaurant while the family sitting at the booth behind me is having a discussion on the evils of central banking and, specifically, the founding and nature of the Federal Reserve Bank! Included in their discussion was support for several of the principles that those of us who are adherents of the Austrian School of economics hold dear. How encouraging! (And, no, I’m not given to eavesdropping on others’ conversations. But when they are less than three feet away … and speaking in at least a normal tone of voice … it’s clear confidentiality was not one of their concerns. In other words, I couldn’t have missed what they were saying if I tried.)

And I’m glad I didn’t miss their conversation. This was a very normal-looking family – no “tin-foil hats” on – nothing to identify them with any “radical” causes as many in the media like to portray advocates of sound-money and limited government. It was just, plain encouraging to me.

But I wonder where they are getting this knowledge. Could it be that the internet is making the difference? Are we really reaching people? I watch very little television, but unless they are watching some specialized cable channel, I’ll bet they’re not learning about the FED and the economically destructive impact of central banking on TV.

Whatever the case, it was a good dinner.

If you keep hearing that the economy is improving, but don’t see that in real life, the problem is you are getting lousy information from main-stream sources. You need real, unbiased economic reporting. For that I refer you to John Williams of Shadow Stats, and the following summary excerpt from his recent report.

Note that I am a paid subscriber and receive no compensation if you do subscribe.

• Housing Starts Continued Three-Year Pattern of Bottom-Bouncing
• Economic Recovery Never Happened; Hyped Gains Were Based on Gimmicked Inflation Adjustments
• Current Downturn Already Exceeds Duration of Great Depression’s First Down-Leg

For anyone who really believes that this economy has “turned the corner,” real, unbiased economic reporting is what you need. For that I refer you to John Williams of Shadow Stats, and the following summary excerpt from his recent report.

Note that I am a paid subscriber and receive no compensation if you do subscribe.

• GAAP-Based 2011 Federal Deficit Likely Within Five- to Seven-Trillion Dollar Range
• Effects of High Oil Prices Still Spreading in Broad Economy
• October’s Annual Inflation: 3.5% (CPI-U), 3.9% (CPI-W), 11.1% (SGS)
• Real Retail Sales and Industrial Production Gained in October But the Series Share Inflation-Adjustment Issues

For anyone who really believes that this economy has “turned the corner,” real, unbiased economic reporting is what you need. For that I refer you to John Williams of Shadow Stats, and the following summary excerpt from his recent report.

Note that I am a paid subscriber and receive no compensation if you do subscribe.

• Monthly Payroll and Unemployment Changes Were Not Statistically Meaningful
• October Payroll Employment Not Only Was 6.5 Million Below the Pre-2007 Recession High, But Also Was 1.0 Million Below the Pre-2001 Recession High
• October Unemployment: 9.1% (U.3), 16.2% (U.6), 22.9% (SGS)
• Annual Growth in October Money Supply M3 Held at About 2.6%

Here are the latest headlines from John Williams’ Shadow Government Statistics. If you’re not a subscriber, you might want to consider it as a great source of competent economic reporting. (Disclosure: I am a subscriber only. I get no compensation if you do subscribe.)

October 27th, 2011

• Consumer Confidence and Sentiment Sink to Levels Never Seen Outside of the Worst Recessions
• No Economic Recovery Is in Place or in the Works
• Third-Quarter GDP Gain Not Statistically Meaningful
• GDP Nonsense: Consumption Surged 1.7% While Disposable Income Collapsed 1.7%?

www.shadowstats.com

You don’t have to look too far to realize that Americans are unimpressed with their elected officials. Studies abound verifying our general disgust with their job performance. And it could just be that they simply don’t know what they’re doing. Should we be surprised? Think about this.

How to you get elected to political office? By being proficient at economics or financial management? By being honest or compassionate? Perhaps by having excellent leadership skills? Forgive me for being a bit cynical, but it seems to me that you get elected to political office by being good at campaigning – and that may have nothing to do with any of the desirable characteristics just mentioned.

So I would suggest that we not get too surprised by the mess in which our country finds itself. While it would be easy to engage in lengthy political discussions relative to our current crisis, I’m going to keep this blog focused on pursuing ideas each of us can employ to succeed regardless of what or elected “leaders” do or fail to do. And I’ll leave the political battle to the other bloggers – there are plenty of them.

Here are the latest headlines from John Williams’ Shadow Government Statistics. If you’re not a subscriber, you might want to consider it as a great source of competent economic reporting. (Disclosure: I am a subscriber only. I get no compensation if you do subscribe.)

• Consumer and Wholesale Inflation Jumped in September
• September’s Annual Inflation: 3.9% (CPI-U), 4.4% (CPI-W), 11.5% (SGS)
• Annual PPI Inflation Hits 6.9% in September