This article was written by Michael Snyder and originally published at his Economic Collapse blog.
Editor’s Comment: How much more can the economy take? It seems that already bad numbers are just getting worse. As average Americans are paying more for living costs, while millions face fewer and lower paying jobs, consumer spending is really taking a hit.
Even the biggest box store corporations on the planet are seeing dramatic declines, and the logistics of shipping and supply is showing serious strain on commerce, in turn forecasting even more difficult times ahead. Is this really headed where everywhere fears it will, or could things turn around? Don’t count on good times to come; prepare for the worst and get ready to tighten your belt.
The Amount Of Stuff Being Bought, Sold And Shipped Around The U.S. Hits The Lowest Level In 6 Years
by Michael Snyder
When less stuff is being bought, sold and shipped around the country with each passing month, how in the world can the U.S. economy be in “good shape”? Unlike official government statistics which are often based largely on projections, assumptions and numbers seemingly made up out of thin air, the Cass Freight index is based on real transactions conducted by real shipping companies. And what the Cass Freight Index is telling us about the state of the U.S. economy in 2016 lines up perfectly with all of the other statistics that are clearly indicating that we have now shifted into recession mode.
If you are not familiar with the Cass Freight Index, here is a definition of the index from the official Cass website…
Since 1995, the Cass Freight Index™ has been a trusted measure of North American freight volumes and expenditures. Our monthly Cass Freight Index Report provides valuable insight into freight trends as they relate to other economic and supply chain indicators and the overall economy.
Data within the Index includes all domestic freight modes and is derived from $25 billion in freight transactions processed by Cass annually on behalf of its client base of hundreds of large shippers. These companies represent a broad sampling of industries including consumer packaged goods, food, automotive, chemical, OEM, retail and heavy equipment. Annual freight volume per organization ranges from $1 million to over $1 billion. The diversity of shippers and aggregate volume provide a statistically valid representation of North American shipping activity.
When they say “all domestic freight modes”, that includes air, rail, truck, etc. As you are about to see, the total amount of stuff that is being bought, sold and shipped around the country by all these various methods has now been declining for 15 months in a row.
If it was just one or two months you could say that it was just an anomaly, but how in the world can anyone explain away 15 consecutive months?
Not only that, but the brand new number that just came out for May 2016 is the lowest number that we have seen for the month of May in 6 years.
Of course the number for April was the lowest number that we have seen for that month in 6 years too, and the number for March was also the lowest number that we have seen for that month in 6 years.
Are you starting to get the picture?
Below is some analysis of these numbers and a chart from Wolf Richter…
The Index is not seasonally or otherwise adjusted, so it shows strong seasonal patterns. In the chart below, the red line with black markers is for 2016. The colorful spaghetti above that line represents the years 2011 through 2015. The only month this year that was not the worst month since 2010 was February; only February 2011 was worse. That’s how bad it has gotten in the Freight sector:
“Truck tonnage continues to slide for both linehaul and spot markets,” according to the report. And railroads are also singing the blues.
To me, these numbers are absolutely staggering. How anyone can look at them and then attempt to claim that the U.S. economy is heading for good times is a mystery to me.
And this is especially true considering all of the other news that is pouring in. Just today, we learned that new home sales have fallen by the most in 8 months. If you are trying to sell your home, hopefully you will get that done very quickly, because this latest property bubble is starting to burst in a major way.
Of course there are many, many more numbers that tell us that a new U.S. economic crisis has already begun and has been going on for quite a while. If you doubt this at all, please carefully read my previous article entitled “15 Facts About The Imploding U.S. Economy That The Mainstream Media Doesn’t Want You To See“.
Today, I also came across a stunning IMF report that was just released that criticized the U.S. for our shrinking middle class and our rising levels of poverty…
A rising share of the U.S. labor force is shifting into retirement, basic infrastructure is crumbling, productivity gains are scanty, and labor markets and businesses appear less adept at reallocating human and physical capital. These growing headwinds are overlaid by pernicious secular trends in income: labor’s share of income is around 5 percent lower today than it was 15 years ago, the middle class has shrunk to its smallest size in the last 30 years, the income and wealth distribution are increasingly polarized, and poverty has risen.
If you follow my work on a regular basis, you already know that everything that the IMF said in that paragraph is true.
A little bit later in the report, the IMF shared some absolutely startling facts about the growth of poverty in this country…
There is an urgent need to tackle poverty. In the latest data, 1 in 7 Americans is living in poverty, including 1 in 5 children and 1 in 3 female-headed households. Around 40 percent of those in poverty are working.
This distressing growth in our poverty numbers has taken place during Barack Obama’s so-called “economic recovery”.
So how bad are things ultimately going to get for America’s poor now that a new economic crisis has begun?
Michael T. Snyder is a graduate of the University of Florida law school and he worked as an attorney in the heart of Washington D.C. for a number of years.
Today, Michael is best known for his work as the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog and The American Dream.
If you want to know what is coming and what you can do to prepare, read his latest book [amazon text=Get Prepared Now!: Why A Great Crisis Is Coming & How You Can Survive It&asin=150522599X].
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Obama did it He built that
Actually you can thank Free Trade Agreements that we’re backed by Republicans such as GH Bush and guided through the House and signed into law by Bill Clinton.
The Democrat v Republican is a dog chasing its tail.
oops were not we’re
Kevin:
I agree.
FREETRADE is killing the economy.
Personally, the defeatist line does nothing to help. There IS a difference between the Hillary and the Trump. Trump is leading. When he becomes President, the first thing he’ll do is put in 4, 5, or 6 Supreme Court Justices. I didn’t know he could do that. It is going to be interesting with a character like Trump as Pres. Will he build back the infrastructure with top-of-the-line materials? I certainly hope so. Don’t want cheap and fast. Build quality that lasts. There are buildings and infrastructure that are hundreds of years old. Remnants of the Holy Roman Empire still can be found. A lasting legacy of a Country rebuilt on solid ground with 21st Century technology. I can’t help but get just a little bit excited. I don’t think he’s just telling the people what they want to hear. I think he loves building. And based on his record, that’s what he’ll do.
FREE TRADE is great! Its not killing the economy!
.
Unfortunately, we DONT HAVE FREE TRADE, we have crony capitalism!
.
If we had true free trade, goods and services would flow without tax, legislative hindrance, or government interference and be almost entirely dependent upon basic supply and demand.
.
But again, we don’t have that!
Free trade is that we are trading with people making $2000 a year. You like the thought of your family living on $2000 a year you keep voting for the democrats and repubs that want to keep ‘FREE TRADE” going.
Mensa
It is worse than just making $2000 a year. Those countries do not have laws in place like we do regulating how we live. Republicans are trying to make tiny houses illegal nationally. As the squeeze worsens, we have so many laws regulating living that we will be in worse shape. We now have people arrested for anything and prison slave labor. We are headed to vast prison compounds and slave labor camps.
I sure hope that you are right! (And that every last one of us on this earth- are still here when Trump gets in!) It’s that serious!)
I agree too. WE are not falling in love with Trump the way the liberals are about Obama. We know he has flaws. However, he GETS it and KNOWS America is in trouble–and I truly do NOT care if he is only running for POTUS to protect his business interests because I am hiring him, with my vote, to run America for the next 4 years. If he gets rid of the bloodsucking illegals and gets jobs and the economy going, I will vote to extend his contract in 2020. Trump won the primary because 80% of America wants the G0dd@mn illegals GONE and he was the only one who said he’d do that. Illegals, Jobs and ISIS are the issues in this election. We are livid over being lied to by the campaign conservatives and furious over the direction our country is moving in and we ARE going to hire Donald Trump to fix this crap. Hillary is going to prison because a Trump administration will not stop Comey from doing his job and if the DOJ ignores the FBI recommendation to indict, it will be a huge scandal come September and she will not survive it.
I love Trump and am voting for him, but i have a sick feeling that in spite of everything the Witch is gonna win, somehow, fraud, or more dems will vote than pubs. I predict here H will win. I will be sick to my stomach tho if she wins and then it’s all over for us.
You are correct. They are all related and play act that they are different. Two sides of the same coin…. no difference at all. We are in the end game now and is easier to see.
Kevin2
The Donald has played inside the D/R Corporate Machine his whole life. It is foolish to think he will do anything but scam the country like he scams investors.
Yes obama built this :
“Just today, we learned that new home sales have fallen by the most in 8 months. ”
The sales are falling because there are no new homes to sell , thanks to crazy energy demands from UN adopted building standards and the cost of lumber due to “green” policys and other burdensome regulations involved in building new homes , few can afford a new home.
They dont always appraise for what it costs to build !
Throw in some DEQ regs and EPA demands and its all over.
The economy is being choked out by over regulation .
And thats why everything is down .
Part-time, low paid workers don’t buy much. In my area there are obviously more poor and homeless. Drug usage has skyrocketed. More people are walking moderately long distances for grocery shopping. The change in demographics at the bus stop is noticeable. And it’s going to get worse.
I have been selling specialty and vintage t-shirts on Ebay for over a year now. My sales were always steady. The past 2 months they have almost ground to a halt. Where I normally sell 3-5 a week, I am now selling about that many a month.
In our household we have stopped all purchases except food (no eating out), fuel and utilities. Had a $600 dog vet bill, $2100 truck repair and vacation trip to Indochina this past month, other than that suck it.
Sodbuster
I hear ya. My summer food bill goes way down because of my garden as do utilities because it is warm. I spend less but just bought an oil press so I won’t buy oil anymore. My first Barley crop is coming in… not professional but plenty for me and chickens. Growing beans corn potatoes. If I buy something, it is designed to make me more self-sufficient. If not, I don’t need it.
Obullshit: You have done it you have completed your dream. You have made the USA a third world. We just haven’t quite made it to the bottom.
Good news is your days are numbered in the white house. (Come on January) One draw back is if Hitlery gets the House and not the Chair we are F@@@@@@@@!
Sgt.
So True. Real estate is dead in our area, but we want to stay where we are…just sorry for others who want or need to sell. The local gas station has all the local business for our very small town, and just put in a pizza station. The Senior Citizen bus quit running its route here, so the poor and elderly have their choice of white bread, milk, soft drinks, beer or pizza since it’s twenty miles to the nearest grocery store. Like all rural “used-to-be” towns, we have our share of welfare people looking for fewer laws, or just an escape from the slums of the larger towns. We also have many elderly too poor to move, or with no family, who are stuck here. Many of us garden, so we have some options, but many more don’t, due to either sloth or ignorance. It will probably take a week for our area to find out when the banks collapse as cable is the first to go when the budget breaks. No antenna programs are available as the nearest TV transmitter is about 70 miles away, and it’s hard to find an old-fashioned antenna and rabbit ears won’t do it. We’re fine for now, but are in the minority. It would be much worse if we were in a large city, and I thank God we’re tucked away in the clay of rural Ohio.
Sounds like someone could make some money with a grocery shopping or delivery business.
Just stop all the Food Stamp cards and the new Welfare SSI and watch the US hit rock bottom fast(((
Sakera
7 million people starved to death during the Depression. They were not lazy.
BREXIT now that the whole world is in a panic, Cigarette Stocks are going through the roof. Everybody is chain smoking. Trekker Out. Almost As Good As PM’s
Trekker, check what happened to PM (Philip Morris) today.
Down over $4.00+
either not enough smokers or they’re dying off.
still a good stock to own!
Ketchup, Altria Group was up a buck and a half at one time today and closed with a good gain, as did RJ Reynolds, I believe PM is the international branch of Altria and they did take a big hit. MO known as Altria is a better stock than PM but both have a good div. and normaly are a safe buy in a down market. But I’m not a stock broker, so don’t take my advice, although I only have 3 stocks in my 401k or IRA and all 3 were up today. Trekker Out
The local mall looks pretty empty. The sign out front says:
GIANT
DICKS
TARGET
Don’t if these are the only stores left in the mall or if this is something GIANT does to TARGET.
🙂
loaned my 19 year old the dough to buy a 5.56 before our globalist elite politicians ban them. topped off some preps today. Been in a fairly great mood since our yankee brothers have given the EU Globalists the finger. Well see where it all goes from here. It was funny to listen to a pundit spin this positive for hillary, because she is against regulation and globalization. Really? WTF was that chic smoking?
The second largest mall in the US (just outside Detroit) missed a $170 million debt payment this week. It’s actually in a nice area.
The manager at our mall just quit and went to work for local government.
If it weren’t for the Chinese buffet restaurant, there would hardly be any traffic at all at the mall.
Lots of cash being spent at Mohegan Sun center in Uncasvill Conn….At the first time Ever East coast Barret Jackson autos auctions!
the place looks like a basketball stadium with at least Three upper tier seat levels, with the lower floor area reserved for actual vehicle registered bider folks.
if I heard correct tv announcer guys said around 4000 folks signed up to bid on cars there…With what looks like at least another 15+ thousand in upper levels just observing it all….Overall the entire corwd looks much akin to a typical rock concert venue with as many folks present too. They Pay entrance fees too to get in.
And typically at Barret jacksons and also at Mechums auctions they consistantly sell at least 90% of vehicles offered for sale…Main reason a few do not sell is reserve price was not met. But even those, most often owners remove reserve so to sell if high bid is close to reserve price.
We are talking BIG Cash sales!…Avg weekend such events sell Gross cash dollar amounts upwards of as high as $19 Million worth and average are a bit lower, depending on how many cars and trucks offered for sale at each venue.
Fla Kisseemmee Mechum auction which is the first one each year held there in January…has on average 3,000 Total vehicles for sale at auction and event goes on for a week straight if I recall correct..
That Fla event Is the entire worlds largest single cool collector and mussle car auction of all such events yearly and globally.
So there sure seems to be quite alot of folks that are spending cash money and plenty of it.
And NO not all are just very rich types at all..Fact is Most look like typical middle class mom and dad and/or with or without kids aged around grade school averages.
Many look like baby boomers recently retired or still work full time but will probably reach retired status soon.
not sure what type location that city is?…By looks of partisipants it appears to be similar to any average middle class city in usa.
Plus many such vehicles are about The best ever investment one can buy in to…Many such vehicles that sold as New in 1970’s era and 1950-60’s eras also for anywheres from Less than $2,000 for 1950-60 cars and around $3,400 to Highs of $4,000 for 1970s era cars or trucks…..Now are selling for as high as Several Hundred grand!..Just Now as I type a 1969 Mustang-Mach I sold for $50,000 and a Red 1969 350 cu in/350HP Vette sold for $48,000…The Vette is a reg base vette and sold for a price comparable to a 2008-2009 Z-06 which typically costs new aprox $25-30 Grand more than a base vette!…Someone earned great profit if bought it new eh!..New the vette was probably about $6,500 or so brand new cost.
Even Low rated cars like a VW-Bug car and VW Window Van Bus that sold for same low prices when new…A VW window Bus/van new was $3,248.00….Now sell for over $200,000 and one other sold for around $115,000 Cash!
Typical orig or restored as new VW Bug car sells now for an avg of between $20,000 to some as high as $30,000 cash bids….New they went for about $2,000 or Less.
Best investments by far are 1970’s Detroit Big Three auto Co’s Mussle Cars like Chevelle SS with 396 cu in and 350-375 HP factory stock…1969 Mustang BOSS-429’s!! and Boss-302’s!!….Vettes of all types!…and many more typical Hot Rod 1932 ford coupes etc and 1940 willys coupes.
Avg sell prices on typical mussle cars named here around Lows of $40,000 to Many sell as high as $65,000 to even $100,000 per car!
Hot rod 1930-40’s coupes same prices usually and typically.
Yet today Many many Mercedes Benz’s that look as new with mileages on odometers of around Lows of 30-40,000 orig miles to highs of 80,000 orig well kept miles..
Benzes that New sold for from low of $65-80,000 to 500-SL’s and SK’s sold new for around $200,000 have been selling like Hot Cakes todays auction for prices of.
$24,000 to $30,000!
A 1994 first year made Dodge Viper in Red color and black leather interrior, do not know orig mileage?..Has to be very Low as the viper looked showroom New!
That viper sold for $26,000 Cash bid!! I never yet saw a viper any years sell so cheep…$30,000 lowest I ever yet seen ad’s for sale of vipers..Those had tons of miles too!
Cannot beat an investment thats almost certain to grow in value by leeps and bounds and also have ability to Play with it, Drive it!! Wash wax and polish it and just spend Quality time with Fathers and Sons that appreciate these abject works of art created by the same folks who created worlds greatest civilization and nation in america eh…That would be White Anglo-Saxon Males incase you are asleep at wheel for past couple centuries.
That final part of my posting here must have slipped the minds of savage BLM and Social Justice warrior, groups and Orgs eh?….They cannot seem to do anything else but Rail and Rage against white males at every chance eh!
They sure do enjoy all white males created though no?
I also noticed that regardless Where such Car auctions events are held at and which city etc…One glaring observation stands out plain as day…Each event contains a huge majority of white folk…and Yes these car auctions do have many Cadilacs for sale too! but even so…Not very many folks of color attend it seems eh?
Do not get me wrong there as I am NOT complaining of any Lack of colored folk at these events! Just observing and reporting what I see.
Bottom line is Invest in Cool and collectable Cars and trucks and Have some real FUN because if these Many ongoing auctions are an indication of economic issues too, and yes they sure are…Then perhaps all the daily Fear mongerings articles are not so much to worry of eh.
“The Poor you shall Always have amoung yourselves”…Biblical Verse by Christ
Them Guys, the Black CRIMINAL Lives Matter and Social Justice turds can kiss my white ass.
Those auctions are just another dog & pony show. The buyers are vetted and receive a line of credit. then they are plied with drinks and get caught up in the circus. The auction company uses shill bidders to drive prices above the reserve. Some sales are the owner buying their own car. Its a kinda fake partially real reality show.
Old Guy: thats 100% total BS!….Just watch a couple such auctions see for yourself…maybe at some small Farm type auction in rural usa lands with maybe 50 to 100 bidders at it can get away with such tactics you stated of?
But Not these auto auctions!…Its Real, Cars are absolute Gems, ALL are open to full Pre auction event scrutny inspections and too many smart car builders attend to pull off any scams like you described!
get Off that farm property and see that yes much else is ongoing in america besides hoarding preps and awaiting calamity!
yes I too have tons of preps…But I also want a reg normal life too…Too many folks it seems are unaware of being able to do both lifestyles eh.
Scam?…Ok…Watch a few on tv then get back to us ok…Point out each detail proof you observed.
Pay close atten to that Floor Long car length Mirror well Lit up with camaras to see every angle of Underside of each vehicle as it arrives to main stage sale zone…Watch as Cars pass SLOWLY over floor mirrors so you can see how sweet and clean most cars there are.
That cannot get faked Old guy….Neither can they fake the documented histories that come with many such vehicles.
I am certain a few cars get thru that aint worth buying or priced way too high also…So what? Every place in usa to buy any stuff has a mix of good vs not so good products for sale… and most of it goes Down in value as you exit store. Also so what if some folks use low intrest credit to buy stuff?….Not everybody is capable of saveing for 30 yrs to buy in cash only. If they can afford payments why is that so bad or wrong?
Many avg reg type guys have earned millions by buying and later selling such cars as the prices go Up. Then do it again and again as a hobby that functions like a real job with high pay…Bet they can afford tons preps eh.
I am still waiting for articles here or actual workable plans by folks on just How does a person continue a hard farm type preper lifestyle once they Age considerably or are too Old or too Phys disabled to keep it going?
That never seems get talked of here eh? Maybe the plan is once get too old or fragile, go into deep cave hiddy place with tons preps and…wait for death?…ok but I rather enjoy life more so And prep too.
Gee I bet even actual start to finish Videos of entire restoration process many cars go thru have also been faked?….get real!
Don’t confuse Barret Jackson with the real world. Just try to sell that $30,000 VW Beetle for anywhere near that price on the open market and not during a media event and it will not go that high. Plus, the cars that fetch that kind of price are either unusually nice survivors (which are exceedingly rare) or heavily restored cars that many times cost more than that to build. Barret Jackson is a pissing match for people with money who want to prove they have money to those around them in that room. In the real world, expect about 25% of that price to evaporate since most sane people will not pay auction prices private party. Also, expect those prices to crash soon because when the music stops and the easy money stops flowing, so will the ability to drive prices on toys and art ever higher.
Yet the msm polls and self called pundits have Killary leading big, even GOP voices calling “her” the landslide winner because Trump is unacceptable. Magic pill Killary is the establishment choice to raise the stakes on the hell breaking loose. Too many people, a nuclear exchange will do wonders to protect the power brokers, I’m done reading her puppet mind. Lower the prices across the board drastically for everything, that should stave off the collapse. Or is it those who amass the most win in the end. Don’t break what’s fixed.
I had to go to Wal-Mart today for a couple of bulk items unavailable anywhere else here. I went in the door, and there was not a single shopping cart. They were all out in the parking lot. I had to go back out in the parking lot and hunt for a shopping cart.
After I got my cart loaded, I went to the checkout, and there was this 80 year old guy moving in slow motion. He was almost like Tim Conway’s shuffling old man character on the Carol Burnett Show. It took him 10 or 15 minutes to check me out. Then he had a hard time getting me my 17 cents in change.
Wal-Mart keeps running out of things I want, or even stops selling them altogether. I know Neosporin comes in ointment and cream, but the Wal-Mart never has the cream, which I prefer. I wanted to stock some more, but they don’t have it at all, even in their own brand.
The local grocery store keeps running out of things and not stocking enough to begin with. I went there yesterday to buy an item that was on sale at 5 for $10.00. The wholesale delivery person was stocking the shelves. I had to go to three different displays throughout the store to find five of the kind I wanted to buy. So my one order just about wiped out the store of something they had on sale and had supposedly just stocked up on. It’s ridiculous. I hate to go to three stores just to get a load of groceries.
I wonder, would it blow OPSEC to have the wholesalers deliver directly to my house?
Yes. Someone would be watching. 🙁
That was only a theoretical sarcastic question. But where I live, I might not be noticed.
Shopping Carts at wall mart: I Always and I do mean Always return my cart back inside store…And…I also Always YELL! at anybody when I observe them use a cart out in parking lot to load car and walk away and just leave cart there so it can roll into someones nice new car side or door!
When I say YELL! I mean yes YELL loudly to get their atten and I Demand they retun cart to inside of store.
I Never allow them to get in a word edge wize either!
I ask them in an angry voice how they like it if their car door got a huge dent or paint scratch due to some Asshole like they are?!!
And most timed it works swell as they sheepishly look away and take cart back into store pronto quick.
I absolutly Hate such retarded idiots!…
Many are simply so damn fat assed its likley difficult for them to walk back inside stroe with cart return eh.
Well Too Bad fatty assed idiots! Lose weight! and return all shopper carts, or Deal with Them Guys! and yer momma should have pre warned ya about “watch out for Them Guys Suzie and Timmy”!
Them Guys, LOL. I know what you mean about the “land whales”. I see them everywhere besides wallyworld.
Braveheart: man you aint kidding! I got slammed into by one massive huge fat assed idiot while I walked thru local grocery store here a few months ago! Almost knocked me to floor I got hit so hard…They were rideing around in store provided glof cart type conveyance.
I at first thought of falling to floor hard and then calling my Lawyer whom helped me win Three prior lawsuits when I had Three accidents of me on my Harley bike Vs Cars and all were driven by Women drivers!
And each of the three times cops report it was 100% Their faults…I sued every time and won!
Bad part is that final third accidnt caused me to be on perm full phys disabled list and I had to take a wage cut down to less than one third prior wages earned yearly.
Soc sec disability don’t pay much..But its all I could do so oh well eh…Wish I knew Then what I now know and I would have bought extra insur incase disabled.
i Did request and got the Companys insurance guy to come to our work place and tried to get all workers to agree to pay for our own extra policy…But None wanted to do so!
And the monthly fee for Just myself on such a policy was outrageously priced!…Was aprox a full one Third of months Take Home pay after taxes etc! Nobody can afford that policy.
But there is some good to it all too..Was able to Move away from detroit for good to Up north Mich where its 99.99% white…ZERO serious crimes now for past 21 yrs I been here!
and while many folks here cry of huge property Taxes of $3,500 or more per year?
Up here on avg a house with say, ten acres or even twenty acres filled with 90+% Trees etc surrounded by like sixty+ Lakes within a few miles, couple Million acres State and Fed Forest lands both…
An avg years property Tax on such a place thats SEV or appraised total worth of say, $120,000 Tax is about…
$1,100 per year…Low income can get back a third from state homestaed act rebates each year too…
My crib on Ten acres went down in value after 2008, and is now rated at just $65,000 or close to less than Half it was at prior…My total years property tax for house and lands is around $600 per year.
Same for house insurance years total fee for insur is same at about $600 to, for just $100 per month Tax and insurance is paid…Plus get back a third or more tax paid at end of year!
Braveheart You should consider a Move to Up north regions.
especially if the floods of colords and muslims and mex illeagles keeps going down south eh!
You can get a very NICE smaller size 1-2 bedroom totally Refurbished on every important detail house with an acre of land here as LOW as $30,000 ask prices!
I mean VERY swell house with zero needs fixing up.
Well maintained Two lane blacktop roads that Had to get designed for a Z-06 Vette Like mine to travel on and ZERO Local cops! Just a sherrif, one or two deputies, and One maybe Two squad cars that barely ever visit our areas unless a real 911 emergency event calls them to come here.
It is way cheeper to reside here compared to monky infested Detroit by Far!…Only Gasoline is a bit more here…maybe .20 cents per Gal more here…Good trade off to liev in all white zero problem or crime zones eh?
Braveheart You can visit me here and stay a couple weeks if so wish to do…Anytime Brother! Just ask ok..Who knows maybe you too will like up north Mich areas as so many others has discoverd.
Them Guys, sorry to hear about you being disabled. I appreciate the offer about your region, but your winters last too long for me. t he part of north Ga where my family and BOL are located have the same demographics. I doubt if those foreign turds want to venture into the mountains where the family is located. They’ll just ‘disappear’. The BOL sits on 30 acres and borders a year-round creek on one side. Wood stove for heat and a lifetime supply of firewood all around. Good solar system ready to go whenever we lose the grid. I’m going back the middle of July. That can’t get here soon enough. BTW, that “sit-in” the morons in the House just had featured my local congresscritter Steve Cohen. He as a CCW permit and carries a 9mm, but he doesn’t have any problem trying to get us disarmed. Oh yeah, did I say his last name is COHEN? You know the origin of that name. Oh yeah, one of THEM.
Hey them guys , I weigh 270 and have one good leg and one arm that works. I always return my carts. But since you’re such a–holes, go ahead and kiss my big,fat, rebel ass anyway!
I just checked the DOW. It’s sad that the best performing stock in the DOW right now is Wal-Mart, and it’s in the red just like all the rest. The DOW is down 650 points.
Looks like the buyers are scooping up some bargains, today was all about closing the weak hands. New highs in the S&P by election.
Kept my VXX, let it ride in the Casino. If they want the witch bad enough they may let it free fall???
Archivist,
If my Walmart shut down, we wouldn’t have a store. Even so shelves were bare last year. This year they did a major reset… moved everything around and removed shelves, made the aisles wider. Prices kept rising last year, but now they are having clearance sales. I am picking up some things that improve self-sufficiency. I am glad I set up my back bedroom as a green room for fresh veg all winter. They have less produce than before. I am start summer crops now and next month or so fall crops.
the economy is killing the economy…
Well with the Brexit vote in watch Brussels start to “punish” the Brits for their audacity to leave the nest. Watch the rush to the door as France, Italy,Greece, and several Scandinavian countries do the same. However, don’t be too sure that this is the greatest thing since sliced bread,as TPTB may very well use this to push the world’s economies into ruin and set off the massive Chaos they so crave. Remember the motto “order out of chaos” is their dream. And they don’t mind how many billions of us are not around to see the final one world government.
Yep. Free trade can be blamed on both parties. I am an equal opportunity hater of both parties. Washington has sold us out time and time again. Funny how our plants are moving down there and the Mexicans are coming up here Trump talks about the currency manipulation but not the wicked witch. We have got to get manufacturing back or we are doomed. Probably too far gone to save it. Shame for our kids and grandkids. We went from a powerhouse to a outhouse very quickly. Third world status here we come!
Powerhouse to Outhouse.
Funny yet sad.
Part of Trump’s speech from Scotland this morning focused on the condition of roads across the country, making the point that owner/operators he knew were suffering damage to their rigs driving over unmaintained highways. This is part of it too- Like I said on another thread, even brand new toll roads around here have poor exchanges and choke points. I wonder when the time will come when operators charge more to deliver in areas where the roads are badly maintained-
Truckers are really going to call the shots in the not too distant future… deciding what runs they will or will no take.
Thankfully, all the zillion dollar, uber-luxe vacations by Michelle-Marie Antoinette Obama is keeping the economy afloat.
We have been spending to shore up our preps. We hope that we do not have to make any major breakdowns for a while. Anybody have thoughts on ammo storage?
Freight is dead there is no volume right now this time of year the barn is blowing out the seams. Economy is in trouble. My email is blown up by retailers ads every day. I’d say I get 20 or more a day used to be 4 or5. People just getting into prepping better step it up fast. Get yer firearms and ammunition. Gov is failing and will start tightening the clamps soon.
I’ll toss a couple of related issues out there: rail cars are being dry docked all over the country, and the number of homes being listed for sale is starting to increase dramatically.
One destination for those dry docked rail cars is Rhode Island. On the southbound side between exits 26 and 25 you have three lines of cars which, if they were nose to tail, extend a minimum of two to three miles. There were also a number of coal and tanker cars docked there but which are being moved around in some sort of shell game. Using 75 cars per mile as an estimate, you’re talking a minimum of 150 to 225 cars, without the ones that are being moved around. The Quonset/Davisville area is another dry dock destination, particularly for tankers and hoppers. I would estimate the numbers to be a minimum of four to six dozen cars, and that Quonset/Davisville area has plenty of room to dock rail cars.
On to real estate. What I’ve seen is an increasing number of properties in what one would consider desirable areas not only listed for sale, but also listed for sale, price reduced. I would suspect a number of those properties are upside down on their mortgages. Same is true with properties in rural and urban areas: sales listings increasing, and more “price reduced” stickers being slapped on the realtor signs. That tells me that prices are going to fall off a cliff in the very near future.
How does it all relate to the Cass numbers? Nothing, whether it be finished consumer-use goods, finished industrial-use goods or the raw materials to make them, get to their end destination without trucks, rail or both. When goods are not moving, people lose jobs. That means they can’t afford the mortgage, upside-down or not. When goods are not moving, you eventually have shortages of basic goods. Unless you’re building your stockpile of goods now or have the resources to acquire what would be scarce goods, you’re going to be royally screwed.
Peter, where I live is a major distribution center in the US with 9 major railroads passing through here. Not as many trains passing through here as there used to be. got a number of railcars piling up in storage here too. a lot of empty warehouse space for lease. Strip malls 50 to 90% empty. More people walking and riding the buses now than there were 5 years ago. I’m surprised we don’t already have shortages on anything but they may change before long.
Good points there on warehouse and retail space. Seen lots of space available for lease on those two fronts. We’re only at the beginning of the run on retail bankruptcies that are going to really increase the supply of available retail space on the market. There’s also an ever-increasing supply of existing commercial office space available for lease. In the midst of all that, they continue to keep building store front and commercial office space. A lot of these existing and soon to be new commercial/retail spaces are never going to see occupants other than squatters or survivors, depending on how fast and how badly things go off the cliff in this country.
I’ll say this much, though: when that day of economic reckoning does come, those who have a solid supply of dry economic powder are going to have all sorts of opportunities to cherry-pick once we have a legitimate price discovery process run its course.
I hate my neighborhood but my house and land are paid for. I have been reduced from 70 hours a week to 40. That sounds like a blessing. But in my job 70 hours is like 20. I can no longer afford to buy ammo every payday. My prepping has dropped to minimal. Things are going bad quickly. And if Hillary gets in all hell is going to break loose.
I hate my neighborhood but my house and land are paid for. I have been reduced from 70 hours a week to 40. That sounds like a blessing. But in my job 70 hours is like 20. I can no longer afford to buy ammo every payday. My prepping has dropped to minimal. Things are going bad quickly. And if Hillary gets in all hell is going to break loose. Stupidly my manhood stepped in and I bought a hotrod 3 years ago. I refinanced it for a lower percentage rate and less time to pay off. I still owe $21,000. I don’t care if they take it but that extra 500 a month would go toward making sure I’m alive. I really screwed up buying it. I’m trying to hold out for the next three years to pay it off because I love it so. However I don’t think our country is going to last three years. If need be I’ll start making the payments and start find prepped. They can come take it away because after all if the country fails nobody will have fancy cars anymore. We’ll all be struggling just to eat.
I live in SE AZ. Just east of Tucson, there are about 300-500 Locomotives just sitting there, on a pull out in the middle of the desert. They have been steadily adding more and more. This, the Baltic Dry Index, the Cass index the Brexit, etc. We have been warned for years and i think it is actually here. I am happy to post a link to pictures which are in imgur.
Are these the ones parked near route 10 or are they something totally different? I’ve seen the pictures on the ones near route 10: 292 Union Pacific engines, lined up nose to tail, covering four miles of track. If they’re something different, I’ll call it a confirmation of the figures quoted by Montana Rail Link, which state that rail cargo volume has seen a decline equivalent to 1800 miles worth of rail cars needing to be dry-docked. Using 75 cars per mile as a bench, that equals 13,500 cars.
Look up the shipping stats from dot gov. Rail is down about 15% but trucking is up and about 85% of all shipping. Well, rail looks to be transitioning from commodity (railcar) to finished goods (intermodal/container). So, probably don’t need as many locos to pull lighter loads.
Overall, I’d say this article is way off and the main thing is reduction in fuel costs. Charts appear down as prices might be down. partial analysis.
Kearney mgt consultants had a video ad on cnn or something recently. They project shipping is growing and need for alternative shipping schemes. Same thing I conclude. Same thing dot concludes. Limiting factor is probably shortage of waterways, rails, and roads.
I guess freshly printed money does buy what it used to.
don’t worry, Hillary said Bill would fix the economy. Why is she running again?
I know we could always start a war with Russia or China and hope we can keep it from going nuclear.
It worked well for the USA during WWII when we sold the British a load of old junk ships that were on the way to the scrap yards for top buck and then told Hitler with his ‘U’ Boats where to sink them.
Mrs H Clinton is the woman to pull us out of the recession we never stop coming out of and Bill said she was fantastic in bed and loves a bit of a fight so them ruskies have no chance now we have gays in the military wathcing our back………sides
What could possible go wrong with our tried and tested plan i axe you.
Just a side note….. One of the rarest and most sought after commodities post SHTF? FRIGGIN pet food! It sucks to store, as canned and dry take up a lot of room, AND it’s expensive as hell, but God forbid you run out of it and cannot replace it post-SHTF. When you have to begin feeding table food to your pets that was earmarked for HUMANS, pragmatism says your pet’s days are numbered….
Dogs are useful in a SHTF scenario. Make sure you got the fuel to keep em going. They’re the best early warning system I ever had….
I worry about the pet food too. I have bags of dry dog food, but have no room for more. I have a tiny house. I have some canned, but also stock up on Spam for the dogs….yeah, too much salt, but yu can put it in a strainer under hot/warm water and squish it up to get 90 percent of the salt out. I can’t eat salt or my bl pr goes up so i rinse all the salt out and it’s fine. I used to store big bags of dry dog food outside in plastic cans, but they got all moldy so quit.
Hey Guys Here in northern Arkansas…from MI I Harry I hate where I live and do not talk to any neighbors where I live am 65 husband in bad health 76 trying to be a prepper…never fired a gun but got a double barrel shotgun for Mothers Day from my son getting dry and canned food and water grow a few veggies toilet paper soap medical supplies and everything I can afford and think of for as long as possible so at least we don’t have to ask for anything from our fine government and can decide when to shoot my husband and myself…wondering where Them Guys live in MI as all my family is till there and think Im nuts for prepping…