Posted on 08/05/2009 10:20:46 AM PDT by arthurus
While we have gotten several economic reports in a row that indicate the economy is stabilizing, if not starting to expand, there is one indicator of the real economy that is not budging, namely rail traffic.
The table below comes from Railfax, which tracks activity on the nation's rails. It shows very little change in activity. Look at the 4-week rolling average (the weekly numbers can contain a lot of noise, the 4-week average smooths them out) relative to the year-to-date numbers. For total rail traffic, there has been only a 0.2% difference in the year-over-year rate of decline, down 18.6% instead of down 18.8%.
The amount of rail traffic is not just important to the big railroads like Norfolk Southern (NSC) and Union Pacific (UNP). They are a measure of how much stuff is being shipped. If stuff is not moving, the economy is not moving.
(Excerpt) Read more at seekingalpha.com ...
Quick somebody tell Obama.
Down here in Colton, Ca the UP rail yard has hundreds of locomotives lined up for miles.. Thats my ecomonic indicator. Idling trains arent making anyone any money.
“If stuff is not moving, the economy is not moving.”
It doesn’t matter what kind of “stuff” either.
Nationwide trucking is still a great indicator also, cause if stuff is moving by truck the economy is also.
Obama and the Leftists in charge of being in charge DON’T WANT THE ECONOMY rolling along because then people will be employed and not turning to the government, aka the Left for their ability to put bacon on the table.
The Commie Left which Obama represents wants the citizenry of the U.S. to feel the pain, and come to papa.
Nothing, but nothing is being done because they want you in their pocket.
Thanks for posting this...I added www.seekingalpha.com to my favorites. Great resource for biz news.
I have noticed similar on my morning commute which takes me through Hayward, CA. Except in my case, it is a long string of rail cars sitting idle, not engines. I have never seen rail cars parked on the train tracks in this part of Hayward before (near residences and businesses, not in a rail yard). However, a few months ago, a long string of them appeared, parked near my commute route, and not going anywhere.
At first, I thought the cars were transient, and represented overflow from all the "work" happening in the nearby rail yards. Then, after a few weeks, I started noticing that the same rail cars seemed to be in the same position each day, without moving. So I started noting features, like grafiti and serial numbers, on some of the cars. Sure enough, the same rail cars were parked in the same spot day after day. All those rail cars are still sitting there, right in the middle of town, and are not going anywhere. I think the railroad is using their tracks through town as long-term storage for hundreds of unused rail cars.
This is going on all over the country. In some towns people are complaining that the railcars are ruining the view, etc. But the usual storage yards are not large enough to hold all the idle rolling stock.
Lies, rumors, mis-information, whispers. Report them, report them!
Simply manufactured evidence that the zero gang is lying.
All those engines and rolling stock parked are just rumors, phantoms!
the mail address for reporting is 1-800-328-7448
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