Free Republic

"New orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods rose far less than expected in July and, excluding transportation equipment, posted their largest decline in 1-1/2 years, according to a government report on Wednesday that pointed to a slowdown in manufacturing." "The Commerce Department said durable goods orders rose 0.3 percent after a revised 0.1 percent fall in June. Excluding transportation, orders dropped 3.8 percent—the biggest fall since January 2009—after rising 0.2 percent in June." "Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast orders increasing 2.8 percent last month from June's previously reported 1.2 percent fall."

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sales of new homes dropped sharply last month to the slowest pace on record, the latest sign that the economic recovery is fading. The Commerce Department says new home sales fell 12.4 percent in July from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 276,600. That was the slowest pace on records dating back to 1963.

Positive gross domestic product readings and other mildly hopeful signs are masking an ugly truth: The US economy is in a 1930s-style Depression, Gluskin Sheff economist David Rosenberg said Tuesday. Writing in his daily briefing to investors, Rosenberg said the Great Depression also had its high points, with a series of positive GDP reports and sharp stock market gains.

If Adam Smith were here today to witness our economic debacle, this “Great O-pression” which seems to be consuming our wealth with an unprecedented fury, would he support the idea of massive government intervention to “fix” the problems we face? Adam Smith is, of course, the father of free market economic thinking, the great initial intellectual force behind capitalism, the author of our seminal text, The Wealth of Nations, the man behind the proverbial “invisible hand” that mysteriously and relentlessly drives our individual economic activity toward the efficient allocation of scarce resources and the achievement of the greatest possible good...