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The National Federation of Independent Business is now out with its December survey results. Given all the politics going on, the optimism/pessimism part of the survey is not worth commenting upon. The actual earnings trends, however, are. Here is the relevant graph (LINK): For some reason, these companies have a baseline earnings trend of [...] Calculated Risk has a nice chart up that helps to illustrate the ultra-unusual nature of the post-Great Recession business expansion (LINK). This chart focuses heavily on employment statistics rather than gross state production.
The United States has not experienced this sort of volatility in employment trends during an (alleged) business expansion. This time [...] I want to share some updated thoughts here rather than in my trading blog because they tie into the broad theme that inadequate capital has been rebuilt following the “Great Recession” to allow a durable economic expansion in the U.S., and thus this sort of thinking makes it easy to accept the ECRI premise that unfortunately another [...] Recent economic data, and especially today’s unemployment numbers reveal the powerlessness of the Fed in the face of underlying economic problems that they fail to understand. The Fed has tried every trick in the book for the past 4 years to revive the economy only to see it continue to weaken. Unfortunately they only know [...] This comes from an interview with David Rosenberg, one of my favorite analysts, who claims “We are living in a modern-day depression.” As I went down the list of his points, there is nothing I can really disagree with since we have been saying the same things. He’s not “Austrian” but his thinking is very close. [...] Much of what we see in recent economic growth is caused by one thing: cheap money and credit. This is obvious as we look at two important economic drivers: autos and homes. Both are significant in that they represent the two biggest purchases that most Americans will make in their lifetimes, so their dollar volume [...] I want to make a few points briefly. First, if you haven’t, please read Dr. Davis’ discussion of our economic data two posts below this (or click HERE). He documents that economic times remain difficult, in line with the Gallup.com polling data I have frequently referred to. He also points out how difficult it is to [...] Consumer credit expanded at a 10.2% annual rate in March. Of that, nonrevolving credit grew 11.3%. This “includes automobile loans and all other loans not included in revolving credit, such as loans for mobile homes, education, boats, trailers, or vacations.” Revolving loans, mainly credit card debt, grew at 7.8%. For the Fed’s G19 report go here. [...] In 2009, Drs. Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff published This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. This academic work became topical as it was nearing its completion due to the “Great Recession”. They added a long ending chapter to deal with the crisis and predicted a great deal of what has transpired: several [...] |
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