Economic Outlook: Things Are Not As Good As The Headlines Would Have You Believe [View article]
I have a 7-day-a-week retail business so I experience consumer confidence face to face. My store is in a well-established, resilient area, where up to 70% of kids attend private schools. My daily contacts include kitchen help, nursing home workers, clerical help, nurses, doctors, lawyers, contractors, bankers, teachers, other retailers, etc. They are all reacting to inflation and spending less. Every retailer is working harder just to maintain cash flow, sales volumes and market share. Meanwhile, margins and profits get squeezed as our costs rise and our dollars saved or earned are devalued by Fed-led paper-printing.
To Mr. Flynn's point, I can only imagine that those who write the headlines a) inhabit stimulus-funded enclaves of government and high finance where the fresh money never stops flowing, or b) are handsomely rewarded for following an Orwellian career path.
At ground level in flyover country, the plain truth is that the administration's meddling with and outright mishandling of the economy is choking US citizens from all walks of life. Take the boots off our collective necks and the merry band of Winston Smiths wouldn't have to resort to doubletalk to lower our expectations and standards.
The Fed must fight unemployment with more aggressive policies, even if they lead to higher inflation, Paul Krugman writes: "If the Fed refuses to take even the slightest risk on the inflation front, despite a disastrous performance on the employment front, it’s violating its own charter. And, beyond that... a rise in inflation to 3% or even 4%... would almost surely help the economy." [View news story]
As a retailer of consumer discretionary products, I can tell Paul that price increases of 3 to 4% will cause my customers--whose incomes are not increasing and whose staple costs are already inflating--to downward adjust their spending accordingly. This will squeeze my margins and profits, discourage capital investment and hiring, and so on throughout the supply chain. In fact, that's pretty much been the pattern with BO, Turbo, and the Helicopter at the helm.
Where do I pick up my Nobel Prize? I could use the honorarium to help take care of my family.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
GM is too busy running high-dollar advertising on March Madness to pay back what it owes. Every time I see that "people don't understand the Volt" spot I think how proud I am to be a complicit dupe of the UAW and the greeniacs.
Paul Krugman: "The austerity agenda looks a lot like a simple expression of upper-class preferences, wrapped in a facade of academic rigor. What the top 1% wants becomes what economic science says we must do." Ken Langone responds: Runaway deficits are the older generation "stealing" from the young, and Paul Krugman has never met a payroll and doesn't have to worry about profit margins. [View news story]
Paul Krugman resembles his own remark: "a simple expression of upper-class preferences, wrapped in a facade of academic rigor. What the top 1% wants becomes what economic science says we must do."
Algerian troops have stormed the gas plant in the Sahara desert that had been taken over by Islamist terrorists, killing all the militants. However, while 792 hostages survived, 23 were killed during the four-day siege. The terrorists' capturing of the facility, which is operated by Statoil (STO), BP and Algeria's state oil company, highlights the vulnerability of the operations of multinational energy firms in the Sahara. [View news story]
Poor lame duck SecDef Leon Panetta abroad, having to mouth meaningless platitudes about how the US might respond to these events at some undetermined time in the future. If only the foreign press had followed Dear Leader's "hear no evil, see no evil" example of silence and indifference to this major terror incident.
Back to children reading letters on youtube, comrades. Ignorance is Strength. Forward!
Jobs Shortage Equals A Poor Economic Outlook [View article]
Thoughtful piece, Mr. Hansen. As a 20th century American who had a couple different career phases before having to invest significant capital to create my own business, I agree that the "barriers to entry" into self employment have become harder to negotiate.
Your closing speculation about how much new economic activity is "off the books" will be topical for the next four years. At the retail consumption-and-service level, there are growing incentives to barter, trade in unreported cash, make bookkeeping mistakes, and report losses rather than profits. A rapacious government forces individuals underground before it drives the people into the streets.
How To Position For President Obama's Second Term [View article]
"Obama's policies in his first term haven't been particularly pro-growth, but I expect that lame-duck Obama will want to fund the many investments he has been discussing since before he was elected the first time. I think that we could see spending aimed at boosting jobs (and funded by cutting defense). In general, I expect lame-duck Obama to be very pro-growth, which likely won't play well in bond land."
So unaccountable deficit spending to grow government and reward political donors that wasn't "particularly pro-growth" will somehow become "very pro-growth"?
The Sequester - Why No Wall Street Panic? [View article]
I sure hope the country can survive 22 days less of productivity from you Jari. I have relatives who are current federal employees and I've been worried (not) if the country can survive a little belt-tightening from their respective offices. Dare I suggest that you all have a HUGE pity party.
Is The U.S. Building An Unsustainable Welfare Support System? [View article]
Thanks for the quick reply. My query has nothing to do with whether the aid is recv'd in form of public housing or as Section 8 but rather with how your catalog of available resources may have been playing out for well over a decade in the real world example of our POTUS's fraternal aunt's life in poverty in the Boston area.
I find it comically ironic that her nephew (having amassed considerable wealth from his books) constantly demagogues about the "neediest among us" and our "fair share" yet he gets a free pass on Aunt Zeituni's living at the expense of MA taxpayers. I realize that my sense of irony is different than the typical MA voter but "[son of her] brother, can you spare a dime?"
Some people are apparently comfortable seeing their relatives incur huge societal costs instead of practicing private charity.
More on Consumer Sentiment: The final read is even worse than the cliff-dive of the preliminary report (2 weeks ago). Falling to 72.9, the sentiment index has erased all of its gains since bottoming out in July. Stocks remain sharply lower, the S&P 500 -1.1%, the Nasdaq -1.4%. [View news story]
Be patient, comrade. He'll be getting back to the job after Hawaii, with the customary laser focus and first priorities.
"It seems like the [factory] sector is stuck in neutral," says RBS's Guy Berger. Several reasons are at play. "Japan is going nowhere, Europe is in recession, and we’ve got our own problems," such as stalemate over tax and spending, says MFR's Josh Shapiro, who reckons the chance of recession in the next year is 50%. [View news story]
If Obama gets re-elected and the Bush tax rates expire, there is a 100% chance of collapse.
Steve Forbes: How To Bring Back America [View article]
BTW, we call 9/11 a "terrorist attack" and the Holocaust "genocide." Glad to be of help.
Economic Outlook: Things Are Not As Good As The Headlines Would Have You Believe [View article]
To Mr. Flynn's point, I can only imagine that those who write the headlines a) inhabit stimulus-funded enclaves of government and high finance where the fresh money never stops flowing, or b) are handsomely rewarded for following an Orwellian career path.
At ground level in flyover country, the plain truth is that the administration's meddling with and outright mishandling of the economy is choking US citizens from all walks of life. Take the boots off our collective necks and the merry band of Winston Smiths wouldn't have to resort to doubletalk to lower our expectations and standards.
The Great Recession Is Over: Time To Back Up The Truck [View article]
The Fed must fight unemployment with more aggressive policies, even if they lead to higher inflation, Paul Krugman writes: "If the Fed refuses to take even the slightest risk on the inflation front, despite a disastrous performance on the employment front, it’s violating its own charter. And, beyond that... a rise in inflation to 3% or even 4%... would almost surely help the economy." [View news story]
Where do I pick up my Nobel Prize? I could use the honorarium to help take care of my family.
Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News [View article]
These Are Bad Days For Garbage [View article]
Paul Krugman: "The austerity agenda looks a lot like a simple expression of upper-class preferences, wrapped in a facade of academic rigor. What the top 1% wants becomes what economic science says we must do." Ken Langone responds: Runaway deficits are the older generation "stealing" from the young, and Paul Krugman has never met a payroll and doesn't have to worry about profit margins. [View news story]
Algerian troops have stormed the gas plant in the Sahara desert that had been taken over by Islamist terrorists, killing all the militants. However, while 792 hostages survived, 23 were killed during the four-day siege. The terrorists' capturing of the facility, which is operated by Statoil (STO), BP and Algeria's state oil company, highlights the vulnerability of the operations of multinational energy firms in the Sahara. [View news story]
Back to children reading letters on youtube, comrades. Ignorance is Strength. Forward!
Jobs Shortage Equals A Poor Economic Outlook [View article]
Your closing speculation about how much new economic activity is "off the books" will be topical for the next four years. At the retail consumption-and-service level, there are growing incentives to barter, trade in unreported cash, make bookkeeping mistakes, and report losses rather than profits. A rapacious government forces individuals underground before it drives the people into the streets.
How To Position For President Obama's Second Term [View article]
So unaccountable deficit spending to grow government and reward political donors that wasn't "particularly pro-growth" will somehow become "very pro-growth"?
The Sequester - Why No Wall Street Panic? [View article]
Is The U.S. Building An Unsustainable Welfare Support System? [View article]
I find it comically ironic that her nephew (having amassed considerable wealth from his books) constantly demagogues about the "neediest among us" and our "fair share" yet he gets a free pass on Aunt Zeituni's living at the expense of MA taxpayers. I realize that my sense of irony is different than the typical MA voter but "[son of her] brother, can you spare a dime?"
Some people are apparently comfortable seeing their relatives incur huge societal costs instead of practicing private charity.
More on Consumer Sentiment: The final read is even worse than the cliff-dive of the preliminary report (2 weeks ago). Falling to 72.9, the sentiment index has erased all of its gains since bottoming out in July. Stocks remain sharply lower, the S&P 500 -1.1%, the Nasdaq -1.4%. [View news story]
As expected, with a comfortable majority, Greece passes its 2013 austerity budget. German finmin Schaeuble maintains there's no rush on signing off on the newest €31B tranche of aid, though. [View news story]
"It seems like the [factory] sector is stuck in neutral," says RBS's Guy Berger. Several reasons are at play. "Japan is going nowhere, Europe is in recession, and we’ve got our own problems," such as stalemate over tax and spending, says MFR's Josh Shapiro, who reckons the chance of recession in the next year is 50%. [View news story]