The US Economy Continues To Look Stronger And Stronger

BI ^ | 1-26-2015 | Sam Ro

[blam]

Sam Ro
January 26, 2015

There's nothing wrong with using a little borrowed money to finance purchases. For businesses, financing with debt is cheaper than financing with equity.

One of the things that's dragged on the economic recovery has been the deleveraging of consumer and business balance sheets. Specifically, everyone scaled back on the amount of debt they held, which means their assets shrank, too.

However, that trend has reversed noticeably.

"The Fed’s weekly bank lending data (released Friday) shows a continued acceleration in credit growth in the first two weeks of 2015, see chart below," Deutsche Bank's Torsten Slok said.

Of course, the big worry is that businesses are now borrowing too much. During the financial crisis, many companies found themselves with onerous interest expenses and not enough cash to cover those costs.

Despite the increased borrowing activity, corporate balance sheets have much more cash and much less debt than they did leading into the credit crisis.

For now, we can consider this releveraging as a sign of an increasingly confident economy.

(snip)

[Cowboy Bob]

It “looks” stronger, but only if look at the manipulated data.

[Gaffer]

Yeah....we’re doing great...I guess that’s why good hamburger meat is so damn cheap..../s Bacon, milk, eggs, butter, cheese.......

[cripplecreek]

Happy days are here again...

[CincyRichieRich]

People like this are just dangerous; wish I could attack for hours with Nerf darts or something.

[bajabaja]

“For now, we can consider this releveraging as a sign of an increasingly confident economy.”

Or ZIRP, Zero Interest Rate Policy, where money can be borrowed by large borrowers at essentially zero cost.

Try that same “releveraging” at interest rates that have prevailed over the last 50 years, when the Fed did not wave the ZIRP wand.

BI —Business Insider— isn’t looking very much “inside” things to figure that out?

[VanDeKoik]

If the economy is “strong”, people would not need idiots in the press to tell us.

[Arm_Bears]

Bravo Sierra!!

[blam]

Things Are Bad In Texas: Crash In Oil Prices Is Weighing On Eonomy.

[scooby321]

If the Economy was going all guns. The Fed will raise interest rates

[Huskrrrr]

Soooo... I guess many should no longer receive food stamps.

[SamAdams76]

Yes, they should cut way back on welfare and food stamps.

I'm actually on board with the concept that the economy is fundamentally strong. We just need government to get out of the way.

[Mastador1]

How can that be? I’m pretty sure that there are more people being dropped off the unemployment rolls into the obscurity of non existence than are being added, so nanny pelooni’s economics plan cannot be feeding the growth they’re alluding to, and from what I have been reading companies are scaling back, laying of or just outright going out of existence.

[cripplecreek]

Whatever happened to low energy costs being good for the economy?

I’m beginning to think the financial gurus are a bunch of charlatans.

[ForYourChildren]

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/pricebasket.html

The link has details as to what was used to calculate the prices.

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Our Price Basket - or Cost Of Living 2008 - 2014 Latest Inflation Update December 2014 Interest Rates, Housing, Food, Gas, Stamps, Dollar Exchange Rate, Dow Jones, Movie Ticket, College Tuition and Wages. We created this page to address two specific needs 1. Providing a comparison for earlier years and 2. As a means of watching how prices and wages react and the effects on inflation, prices and wages when the world comes out of the recession . As you can see we have changed the format to make it easier to read. Hope You Like the new style. To gain an idea of true inflation check 2008 prices to current with our Price Basket Graphic -- Steve As you can see from our table the overall basket of goods has increased significantly from 2008 to 2014, Our real world Price basket of goods shows an increase of over 45% from May 2008 to September 2012 far above published inflation figures and I believe reflects how the working class and the middle class have been effected by real world prices and stagnation in wages due to high unemployment, our basket is representative of the goods and services we all use and buy. Obviously different people spend on different amounts and types from our food basket dependent on multiple factors 1. Size of family, 2. Income, but we hope it offers an insight into real world inflation we are all affected by as opposed to government statistics. Our basket of goods shows a slight increase from 2013 to 2014 which could be suprising when you consider the price of Gas has decreased ( the big factor was the increase of Tide Soap Powder ) other factors including rent, taxes ( local and State ) College Tuition, Cost of a Stamp, Movie Ticket or going out for a meal all affect how much disposable income we have available

And even the fed numbers shows household income declining during the same years from $58,000 to $54,000.

[faithhopecharity]

Business Insider frequently runs these propaganda pieces, sort of like Time Magazine in its editorial slant. Insofar as the economy, goes, it keeps going down down down in most places for most people...with the greatest unemployment since the Great Depression and almost no help wanted ads in the paper at all anymore

, the small businesses can’t pay the new Obamacare taxes and are having trouble paying their rent

and there are almost no jobs anywhere except for a few specialized trades and locations

we have eyes. we can see....

[E. Pluribus Unum]

TRANSLATION: It’s looking better and better for the US Chamber of Crony Fascists.

[tbw2]

Or businesses borrow at 5% because it is a deal when you can raise prices 10%.

[SoFloFreeper]

LOL. Someone post this under Humor.

[depenzz]

Oh, just wait until we get closer to the general election (2016), economy will be so good we won’t be able to stand it.