This analysis was originally published by Jim Quinn at The Burning Platform
The Census Bureau put out their monthly retail sales report this morning. During good times, the MSM would be hailing the tremendous increases as proof the consumer was flush with cash and all was well with the economy. Considering 70% of our GDP is dependent upon consumer spending, you would think this data point would be pretty important in judging how well Americans are really doing.
It’s not perfect, because the issuance of debt to consumers to purchase autos, furniture, appliances and electronics can juice the retail sales numbers and create the false impression of strength. That’s what has been going on with auto sales for the last two years.
The retail sales figures have been propped up by the issuance of subprime auto loans to deadbeats, 7 year 0% interest loans to good credit customers, and an all-time high in leases (aka 3 year rentals). Despite this Fed induced auto loan scheme, retail sales have still been pitiful, as the average American has been left with stagnant wages, 0% interest on their minuscule savings, surging rent and home prices, and drastic increases in their healthcare costs due to Obamacare.
The retail sales for March, reported this morning, were disastrous and further confirmed a myriad of other economic indicators that the country is in recession. GDP for the first quarter will be negative. And this time they can’t blame it on snow in the winter. They have already doubly seasonally adjusted the figures, and they will still be negative. Retail sales in the first quarter were atrocious. It might make a critical thinking person question the establishment storyline of solid job growth being peddled by politicians and their MSM mouthpieces. If people had good paying jobs, they would be spending money.
The Ivy League educated “expert” economists expected March retail sales to increase by 0.1%. They only missed by $6 billion, as retail sales FELL by 0.3%. They have fallen for three straight months. At least gasoline sales were strong, as prices have risen 22% since mid-February. That should do wonders for the finances of American households. If you exclude gasoline sales, retail sales fell by 0.4%. As the chart below reveals, the year over year change in retail sales has been at or near recessionary levels for most of 2015, and into 2016.
Digging into the details reveals some worrying trends for the establishment purveyors of propaganda. It seems every deadbeat in America has been convinced to buy a car on credit. They’ve run out of useful idiots. Auto sales plunged by 2.3%, the fourth decline in a row, and the biggest decline since last February. This ongoing plunge in auto sales is happening in spite of dealers offering tremendous levels of incentives, rebates, extended 0% financing, and low priced leases. The TV commercials from the automakers offering once in a lifetime offers are endless.
The Fed induced auto loan bubble is bursting, as default rates on the billions of subprime slime loans issued in the last few years skyrocket, and the prices of used cars crash as the millions of leases come due. Dealer lots are overflowing with overpriced automobiles with no demand. The implications of this bubble bursting are far reaching. The fallacious demand created by easy money kept the union manufacturing plants humming and allowed Obama to crow about saving the auto industry. As demand collapses, layoffs will surge, and the minimal profits being generated by GM, Ford, and Chrysler will turn to huge losses again.
The two retail areas which had remained strong over the last few years, restaurant sales and internet sales, both went negative in March. Their growth rates have slowed dramatically over the last three months. It might make you wonder whether paying $600 per share for Amazon stock is really a smart investment. With restaurant sales petering out, how many more waiters and waitresses are going to be hired to keep the Obama jobs recovery on track? With year over year retail sales, excluding autos, up by a pitiful 1.3%, and real inflation for real American families of at least 5%, real retail sales are falling. That might explain the plunging retail profits.
The free fall in department store sales continues unabated, with year over year sales down 6.1%. Anyone buying into the JC Penney, Sears, Macy’s, Kohl’s revival storyline is a fool. Wall Street can sell that tripe to their “clients”, but the bricks and mortar department stores are dead retailers walking.
You would think real journalists working for real business websites like Marketwatch (owned by the Wall Street Journal/Rupert Murdoch) would report these disconcertingly bad economic numbers in great detail. But shockingly, when I clicked onto the Marketwatch website to find their brilliant detailed analysis of the horrific retail sales report, I found absolutely nothing. It was as if this report never existed. I checked back all day long, and nada. It’s almost as if they wanted to bury the story.
Evidently, recessionary levels of retail sales doesn’t fit the agenda of the establishment. They prefer concentrating on the rising stock market, driven by short covering and HFT machines buying from each other. The mainstream media is controlled by six corporations. Their job is not to tell you the truth. Their job is to keep you sedated, distracted, and amused. Any critical thinking individual can discern they are in the midst of a recession, but those in power will never allow the truth to reach the masses. Bad news reflecting reality is unacceptable to an entrenched ruling class who are not quite done pillaging the remaining wealth of the nation.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” – Ron Paul
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We have been lied to for decades.
Nothing new…
The media have their own brand of TAQIYYA
Problem is the sheeple refuse – refuse to believe it
Why??? Simple. The government press does not want to temper the wild optimism of American consumers. Or else corporate profits would fall …… further.
BTW, zero hedge had an interesting article the other day about the used car and truck OVERSUPPLY. Seems like I remember someone mentioning the same thing here in the last month or so, suggesting that by next year, these massive inventories might be liquidated at fire sale prices for those with cash to buy.
Who was that masked man??? 🙂
LOL
hummmmm I can wait for a deal on a new ride.
no-problem-O
If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and or military consequences of the lie.
It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.
This is why the Media lies. It is just an extension of the government.
Gee it’s the first poster again today.. Boring..life..again.??
~Why Is The Mainstream Media Covering Up Recessionary Data?
Because the Media aka: (Tribe) is “in” on the big Scam, to Fleece Amerikka and destroy everything good about our Country, morals and culture. The Media needs to be busted up into a Billion Pieces. And get back to real reporting. Not 5 families owing 98% of the MS Media. Its all Psyopps to dupe the sheeple.
~WWTI…
Not a boring life.
Are you being an asshole again?
Or just being yourself?
Worry more about your neighbors instead of me posting.
They are planning on taking the rich city boy out early in the game.
Or are you too stupid to figure that out???
Stick with one moniker…
Off subject. Something is going on at Yellowstone.
such as ?
Possible explosive eruption.
LINK ?
I cant find anything on yellowstone ?
The MSM is simply the propaganda wing of the current regime .
Hush up the sheep while the socialist wolf slides in quietly.
Destroy beliefs in freedom and knowledge of rights , everything must be equal as long as your half is only a fifth of theirs.
You can live the American dream as long as regulations permit you to dream and think, speak freely , dontcha know .
Yogi and Boo-Boo bear forgot the pic-nic basket?
A tree fell in the woods?
What’s going on at Yellowstone?
A Jap region just got shaken pretty hard…There probably will be more soon along the line.
Yep…’Truth is TREASON !”
Not sure about ALL of the elite treachery against ALL the
freedom loving AMERICANS…BUT…we cannot be proud of our
Government ELECTED Official ; Wall Street ScumBAGS ; and all the …….PIRATE- BANKERS .
Honesty , Integrity , Duty , Honor & Country have GONE DOWN
the tube (toilet bowl)…
“Rigged Elections” …Slicing & Dicing junk mortgages and all
other ZOMBIE loans not to mention the TOTAL SCAM of all our
TOO BIG TO FAIL banks who SUCKER millions of U.S. Citizens into buying in to the “CASH BACK” credit card schemes..
Whoa is ME..Saddened our Country has come to this..
SHAME ON ALL POLITICIANS , BANKERS , WALL STREET BROKERS
HOW DO WE ERADICATE ALL THES RATS ????
HYSTERIC HOOSIER
Can anyone recollect the last time the public was told the entire truth about anything? I believe that even if lying was counterproductive to the end goal they would at a minimum embellish the facts. They lie to get where they are, they lie to stay where they are, they lie to advance from where they are so it becomes the default mode. Gobbles said if you repeat a lie loudly enough and often enough it becomes the truth in peoples minds. I think if you do it often enough you become incapable of telling the truth. I think its referred to as a pathological lier. Hell our Superhero’s motto was, “Truth, Justice and the American Way” and it conned a generation enough for Vietnam cannon fodder.
That last time we were told the truth was, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”
Or was it “I did not have textual relations with that server?”
If I were to buy a car or truck with zero interest, I would buy something comfortable to live out of. That is the honest truth. Some of the newer models are made in such a way that you can’t lay down and stretch your feet. It might seem silly to some people, but if you had ever lived out of your car for even a couple of weeks. You would know how important that can be on an already aching back. Just saying. Sometimes you can’t find a hotel or motel and your car is all you’ve got even when you have money.
That is why I chose my Yukon. Before I bought, I laid down in the back to try it on for size.
I’m dating myself but, “If this vans a rocking, don’t come knocking”.
A van, an RV, a dirt bike/motor cycle, a boat, couple of bicycles, some fishing poles and off to the wild blue yonder.
Kevin, I dated myself once but it didn’t work out. I wasn’t compatible. Bwawahahahaha
Good chance the SHTF event will happen when you are at work, at home or in the car….
Yep. I have a big long dodge van real nice and long, but inside trying to lay down on the back seat i cannot stretch my legs out. I have to sleep on my side and curl up my knees a bit. Sorta comfortable. Not the best, but doable. The middle seats now are just two bucket seats with space in the middle so can’t lay down there like if ya had two people. I suppose one could put a long board on and then pad it with blankets. That would work, but i don’t sleep in the car all the time since i still got a roof overhead. I do like to take short naps in the van., read the paper, have something to eat and then lay down and take a nap. Sounds strange, but i live i the country where it is SUPER quiet and so i like to park in a plaza or market and hear the people and the sounds. Sounds strange, but i live alone and the quiet sometimes gets to me.
This sounds like possibly good news for people looking to buy a used car if the prices are falling. I’ve been looking in the classified ads but the prices wanted are outrageous, near 100,000 miles on the vehicles and 10 or more years old wanting 10,000 dollars to purchase. It may just be this area that this is so. I agree that a vehicle to sleep in is important.
Look at the Toyota Sienna. We just found an ’04 with 155k, that had been serviced regularly, but had a few dings. got it for 1000 under book value, at 5k.
The toyota is the only mini that has the better tranny to handle the weight. if serviced regularly from the start, and maintained, they are capable of getting 300k mileage out of a motor.
The best places to find several to choose from is in the larger cities. Many big city folks don’t have a clue as to how big of a difference there is in the minis.
We just about bit the bullet on a Honda, until i did the research on customer feedback. We liked the fact that the back seats could be removed, and the third seats could be folded down into the rear compartment. An air mattress, coupled with a four inch foam on top, makes for a comfy bed on camping excursions.
At 25 mpg it beats the heck out of a 5 mpg RV on wheels. With the roof rack we can haul everything we need for a week at our favorite lakeside camping spots. Even our 9 ft. inflatable raft on top.
Summertime is what you make of it. We scrimp during the winter, to enjoy our summertime retirement camping excursions…on an easy budget.
Life is what you make of it! Enjoy before there is nothing left to enjoy, but your preps at home.
Used to be a car with 80,000 miles was considered junk. It is rare to find used cars now with less than 100,000 miles.
Cars are built so much better. The engines are for all practical purposes blueprinted as they are 100% in tolerance. The clearances are much tighter too necessitating thinner oil. On that note lube oil today, even petroleum based is multiple tomes better than its 1980 counterpart. I was in the industry and the best conventional lube in 1980 would be the lowest quality conventional lube oil today. Synthetic is off the chart better.
A car today, taken care of with maintenance and not abused should last 150,000 to 200,000 miles.
In the eyes of the MSM, Obama is perfect, so anything that is less than perfect is never reported. Since it’s not reported, it is as if it never happened.
Also, if this was happening during the Bush years, this news would be discussed 24/7, and come with screaming headlines.
Well, their stupidity is someone else’s opportunity-
Those repo men are going to bring in some relatively new vehicles back to a car lot near you. 3/4 of our car purchases have been preowned. Since the 90s we’ve bought high end preowned vehicles with warranties. It is a good way to get ahead, paying off a smaller car note. It’s never new once it leaves the lot anyway.
passinwiththewind… Toyotas have been known for their durability. I bought my Tercel new in ’91 and am still driving it with about 169 grand miles on it. Cheap on gas and repairs. Biggest problem is room, I’m a quarter inch shy of 6 feet 5 inches tall, but I’ve slept in it sitting up on long trips. Well tried to sleep.
The job of the govt. and media has never been to tell the truth.
Correction, it is a DEPRESSION. It is only a recession if you believe Enron was good with numbers.
How the Mainstream Media became a Neo-Stalinist propaganda regime for the Wealthy Neocons!
http://tapnewswire.com/2015/12/how-the-mainstream-media-became-a-neo-stalinist-propaganda-regime-for-wealthy-neocons/
(supporting article)
Not sure if anyone else saw this but, I did see on either Fox or Cnn that we were going to have a financial reset and new money system. This was about two weeks ago at like 3 am on there ticker tape. I guess they weren’t really wanting many to see it seems the way they handle material, so they can say they informed the people. There wasn’t much information about a time line, or when to expect it. sure seems like things are picking up and with China not excepting USD anymore after the 19th when there gold backed system starts up, probably won’t be long.