Green Shoots?
Posted on 03/13/2014 10:40:14 AM PDT by blam
We're Starting To See Some Economic Green Shoots In The US
Marc Chandler, Marc to Market
Mar. 13, 2014, 11:56 AM
US retail sales rose 0.3% in February, a little more than expected. The news was blunted by sharp downward revisions to the January series, leaving the level of retail sales lower and pointing to somewhat less personal consumption to drive GDP here in Q1.
The take away is that as the weather returns to a greater semblance of normalcy, the US economy should be expected to return to trend. Since mid-2009, the US has grown at an average quarterly annualized pace of 2.4%. We acknowledge that there are other factors slowing the world's largest economy in Q1. These include slower inventory growth (after a surge in H2 13), the end of the tax break for new capital investment, and the end of the emergency jobless benefits (direct impact on 1.7 mln Americans), but weather also took a toll.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Do you remember the last time we had 'green shoots'?
The last time we had “green shoots” was last spring. It is amazing how grass comes up each spring. Not the veiled reference to global warming.
Too bad those green shoots are mainly being sold in Washington and Colorado where they go up in smoke.
Yeah! Obama is cutting the military to provide more money for his “GreenShoots’ donors like Solyndra. Treason!
Let the Summer of Recovery Part VI commence!
Let the Summer of Recovery Part VI commence!
It’s mold.
If there are any it’s only because some businesses are watching the Magical Moving Deadlines and concluding that Obamacare will never be implemented.
I actually read the article and can say I honestly don’t know where this guy is getting his numbers. He makes the claim retail sales were up and everything I’ve read is to the effect that retail sales are in the toilet. JC Penney is on life support, Sears is closing something like 250 stores, there’s over 1 Billion of abandoned retail space across the country, and while they tout that employment grew, the unemployment rate is back up!
I’ve studied this economy and I simply don’t get it. The markets up but that’s only because money rolled out of bonds in fear of rising interest rates. I don’t see any real underpinning for this market rally in the “main street” economy. McDonalds sales are down; Walmart is being encouraged to shutter low performing stores and Walmart has seen quarter over quarter lower sales figures for something like 18 months.
With the continued death of brick and mortar retail outlets and the prospect of mall closings across the land, I don’t see employment getting better any time soon. In fact, with the combination of a skills mismatch in the work place for displaced workers and the huge growth in the “sitz” class, i.e., those living on government handouts in free HUD apartments, we may well have past the point of peak employment in terms of the percentage of people participating in the work place.
Then of course, there’s the problem with auto sales. We’ve seen actual miles driven decline since 2007 and the 20 somethings could care less about buying autos or, forming the family units necessary for growth in housing or durable goods.
So...........what is doing well in this economy? I call it the “entertainment” and finance economy. This population will spend its last dollar on smart phone connectivity, Xbox type games, and fancy tennis shoes..........and that’s about all they can afford. The other sector that does well of course is banking/finance and insurance. The aircraft manufacturer, Boeing seems to do well, but earth moving equipment isn’t a barn burner because of sluggish demand for raw materials.
Then of course.........there’s the overhang problem of the prospect of a Hillary Clinton election. Politico reported today she trounces any GOP candidate in an Iowa poll.
My guess is that this market has 2, maybe 3 years of life left in it (and that’s optimistic) and then, shortly after Clinton is elected, everything goes to crap. My guess is that with Clinton elected, capital will start fleeing the US in a big way.
Well, we know tax returns are going to be up - because of all those big capital gains from the stock market being way ahead last year - another contribution to the country for which the top 1% will get no credit.....
I consider Business Insider just another wing of the White House propaganda machine. Very left wing.
No, but if involves open season on environmentalists, I'm in.
Green Shoots?
More like projectile vomit.
Green Shoots?
why does that chart remind me of global temperatures as caused by global warming?
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