Analysis Topic: Economic Trends Analysis
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Europe in Deflation: Got (cheap) Milk? / Economics / Deflation
By: EWI
Why falling food prices are not a boon for Europe's economy
In the early 1990s, two simple words from a genius ad campaign radically transformed the way the U.S. consumer saw it: "Got Milk?"
Suddenly, the narrative changed from an obligatory drink you had to finish as a kid, along with eating your vegetables -- into a sexy, funny, and above all desirable treat for all ages.
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Friday, October 30, 2015
BEA Reports 3rd Quarter 2015 U.S. GDP Growing at Just 1.49% / Economics / US Economy
By: CMI
In their first estimate of the US GDP for the third quarter of 2015, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that the economy was growing at a +1.49% annualized rate, down -2.43% from the second quarter.
This report included significant changes in the details as well as the headline. By far the greatest quarter-over-quarter change was in inventories, which subtracted -1.44% from the headline after being essentially neutral during the prior quarter. As we have mentioned before, the BEA's treatment of inventories can introduce noise and seriously distort the headline number over short terms -- which the BEA admits by also publishing a secondary headline that excludes the impact of inventories. This BEA "bottom line" (their "Real Final Sales of Domestic Product") reported a much more respectable +2.93% growth rate for the third quarter.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
The Financialization of the Economy / Economics / Economic Theory
By: John_Mauldin
Roger Bootle once wrote:
The whole of economic life is a mixture of creative and distributive activities. Some of what we ‘‘earn’’ derives from what is created out of nothing and adds to the total available for all to enjoy. But some of it merely takes what would otherwise be available to others and therefore comes at their expense.
Successful societies maximise the creative and minimise the distributive. Societies where everyone can achieve gains only at the expense of others are by definition impoverished. They are also usually intensely violent….
Much of what goes on in financial markets belongs at the distributive end. The gains to one party reflect the losses to another, and the fees and charges racked up are paid by Joe Public, since even if he is not directly involved in the deals, he is indirectly through costs and charges for goods and services.
The genius of the great speculative investors is to see what others do not, or to see it earlier. This is a skill. But so is the ability to stand on tip toe, balancing on one leg, while holding a pot of tea above your head, without spillage. But I am not convinced of the social worth of such a skill.
This distinction between creative and distributive goes some way to explain why the financial sector has become so big in relation to gross domestic product – and why those working in it get paid so much.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2015
U.S. Economy On the Precipice of Deflation / Economics / Deflation
By: EWI
Weakest economic recovery in seven decades gets weaker
Most people extrapolate present trends into the future. But yesterday's trend can look like day vs. night when tomorrow arrives.
Almost no one expected deflation when the December 2007 Elliott Wave Theorist said:
Inflation has raged, but deflation is next.
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Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Zero Percent Inflation…What’s Next? / Economics / Deflation
By: Harry_Dent
During World War II, the Fed bought its own bonds to keep interest rates low and demand high enough to finance the war effort.
Back then, the Fed’s efforts did what you’d expect: they caused a modest level of inflation.
So you’d expect the unprecedented stimulus of today to create substantially higher inflation. In fact, with the greatest money printing in history, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to fear hyperinflation.
Monday, October 26, 2015
The Global Depression and Deflation Is Currently Underway! / Economics / Deflation
By: Chris_Vermeulen
"The clear and present danger is, instead, that Europe will turn Japanese: that it will slip inexorably into deflation, that by the time the central bankers finally decide to loosen up it will be too late." Paul Krugman, "The Euro: Beware of What you Wish for", Fortune (1998)
Most central bank policy makers, investors, and analysts around the world today are gripped by the worry of declining growth rates, dwindling international commodity prices, high unemployment, and other macroeconomic figures.
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Thursday, October 22, 2015
Everything’s Deflating And Nobody Seems To Notice / Economics / Deflation
By: Raul_I_Meijer
Whenever we at the Automatic Earth explain, as we must have done at least a hundred times in our existence, that, and why, we refuse to define inflation and deflation as rising or falling prices (only), we always get a lot of comments and reactions implying that people either don’t understand why, or they think it’s silly to use a definition that nobody else seems to use.
-More or less- recent events, though, show us once more why we’re right to insist on inflation being defined in terms of the interaction of money-plus-credit supply with money velocity (aka spending). We’re right because the price rises/falls we see today are but a delayed, lagging, consequence of what deflation truly is, they are not deflation itself. Deflation itself has long begun, but because of confusing -if not conflicting- definitions, hardly a soul recognizes it for what it is.
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Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Why Star Trek Is Wrong: There Will Always Be Scarcity / Economics / Economic Theory
By: MISES
Jonathan Newman writes: With the recent successes and announcements of sci-fi movies and TV shows like The Martian, Interstellar, and new incarnations of Star Trek and Star Wars, no one can deny that we crave futurism and stretching our imagination on what advanced technology can accomplish. Many look to the example of these fictional worlds as an indication of what life might be like when technology can provide for all of our basic needs, a condition some call “post-scarcity.”
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Quantitative Easing Was a Bust; Let’s Try Higher Wages Instead / Economics / Wages
By: Mike_Whitney
Why is the economy still in the doldrums after 6 years of zero rates and three rounds of Quantitative Easing?
It’s because consumers aren’t consuming and there’s too much debt. You see, despite the Fed’s wacko theories about pumping liquidity into the financial system to make investors feel wealthier, people actually have to buy things to generate growth. And the truth is, consumers have reduced their spending because wages are flat, incomes are falling and many of them are still hanging on by the skin of their teeth. So consumption has been unusually weak. Economist Stephen Roach made a good point in an article at Project Syndicate. He said, “In the 22 quarters since early 2008, real personal-consumption expenditure, which accounts for about 70% of US GDP, has grown at an average annual rate of just 1.1%, easily the weakest period of consumer demand in the post-World War II era.” (It’s also a) “massive slowdown from the pre-crisis pace of 3.6% annual real consumption growth from 1996 to 2007.” (“Occupy QE“, Stephen S. Roach, Project Syndicate)
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Thursday, October 15, 2015
Ignore The Media Bullsh*t – Retail Implosion Proves We Are In Recession / Economics / Recession 2015
By: James_Quinn
Here we go again. The dying legacy media will continue to support the status quo, who provide their dwindling advertising revenue, by papering over the truth with platitudes, lies, and misinformation. I have been detailing the long slow death of retail in America for the last few years. The data and facts are unequivocal. Therefore, the establishment and their media mouthpieces need to suppress the truth.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
The Deteriorating U.S. Economy / Economics / US Economy
By: Antonius_Aquinas
Despite doubling the national debt and the expansion of the money supply to some $8 trillion since the beginning of Obummer’s misbegotten presidency, the U.S. economy is once again in a free fall. Actually, there has been no real recovery, but a continual deterioration of living standards despite the lies and distortions from the financial media and government authorities.
Conditions, however, are now descending at an even faster pace.
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Friday, October 09, 2015
U.S. Can Expect Recession in 1-3 Years / Economics / Recession 2016
By: Bloomberg
David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-CEO at The Carlyle Group, joined hosts Stephanie Ruhle and David Westin on Bloomberg TV's new flagship morning program, Bloomberg <GO>. Rubenstein discussed his call for one or two percent U.S. growth in the next year and explains why the country can expect a recession within the next three years. He also spoke about a transformation taking place in China and unrealistic expectations for 10 percent growth in the nation's economy.
Rubenstein told Bloomberg TV that a U.S. recession is "inevitable." He said "We have not really had a recession in six years. We came out of the last recession in June of 2009. We tend to have recessions every seven years, more or less in the United States, since World War II. So at some point in the next year or two or three, you can expect a recession."
Friday, October 09, 2015
The Greater Economic Depression Deep State / Economics / Great Depression II
By: Casey_Research
Master speculator and economic expert Doug Casey believes a global financial crisis is just around the corner, which will result in what he has termed the “Greater Depression”...
This essay originally appeared in The Casey Report. In it, Doug details a hidden but powerful force known as the “deep state” that’s ruining the country.
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Friday, October 09, 2015
Why This Feels Like an Economic Depression for Most People / Economics / Economic Depression
By: James_Quinn
Everyone has seen the pictures of the unemployed waiting in soup lines during the Great Depression. When you try to tell a propaganda believing, willfully ignorant, mainstream media watching, math challenged consumer we are in the midst of a Greater Depression, they act as if you've lost your mind. They will immediately bluster about the 5.1% unemployment rate, record corporate profits, and stock market near all-time highs. The cognitive dissonance of these people is only exceeded by their inability to understand basic mathematical concepts.
Wednesday, October 07, 2015
Retirement Fears in China Ageing Economy / Economics / China Economy
By: Rodney_Johnson
The current economic mess in the developed world is easy to explain and hard to fix.
This is a demand-driven downturn, where aging populations choose to save more of what they earn, take on less debt, and generally rotate to a risk-averse world view.
The change isn’t new. It happens to almost all of us as we get older.
Wednesday, October 07, 2015
The 5th Convergence…An Economic & Financial Superstorm That Will Devastate America / Economics / Cycles Analysis
By: Harry_Dent
This morning we had to face some hard truths. The economy’s beginning to show its true colors.Last month the economy added just 142,000 jobs. August was revised substantially lower to just 136,000 jobs. Analysts were expecting 200,000-plus jobs growth like it would go on forever.
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Tuesday, October 06, 2015
U.S. Economic Recovery Failure to Launch / Economics / US Economy
By: Peter_Schiff
The popular belief that the U.S. economy has been steadily recovering has endured months of disappointing data without losing much of its appeal. A deep bench of excuses, ranging from the weather to the Chinese economy, has been called on to justify why the economy hasn't built up any noticeable steam, and why the Fed has failed to move rates off zero, where they have been for seven years. But the downright dismal September jobs report that was released last Friday may prove to be the flashing red beacon that even the most skilled apologists can't explain away. The report should make it abundantly clear that we are far closer to recession than recovery. But old notions die hard and, shockingly, most economists still believe that we have hit a temporary speed bump not a brick wall. But at some point healthy hope turns into dangerous delusion. We may have just turned that corner.
Monday, October 05, 2015
U.S. Recession Watch, High-Yield – Rising Defaults / Economics / Recession 2015
By: John_Mauldin
“Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.”– J.C. Penney
“Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.”– Napoleon Hill
“We’re lost, but we’re making good time.” – Yogi Berra, 1925-2015, RIP (For a most moving and memory-laden tribute to Yogi, see The Lefsetz Letter.)
The Yogi Berra quote above, which was brought to my attention this week, seems an apt description of where the markets and the economy are today. Nobody is quite sure where we are or where we’re going, but we all seem to think we’re going to get there soon.
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Friday, October 02, 2015
A Worrying Set Of Recession Signals / Economics / Recession 2015
By: John_Mauldin
By John Mauldin
There is presently a bull market in complacency. There are very few alarm bells going off anywhere; and frankly, in reaction to my own personal complacency, I have my antenna up for whatever it is I might be missing that would indicate an approaching recession.
It was very easy to call the last two recessions well in advance because we had inverted yield curves. In the US at least, that phenomenon has a perfect track record of predicting recessions. The problem now is that, with the Federal Reserve holding the short end of the curve at the zero bound, there is no way we can get an inverted yield curve, come hell or high water. For the record, inverted yield curves do not cause recessions, they simply indicate that something is seriously out of whack with the economy. Typically, a recession shows up three to four quarters later.
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Friday, October 02, 2015
The Reality Behind the Numbers in China’s Boom-Bust Economy / Economics / China Economy
By: MISES
Yonathan Amselem writes: Last year, the world was stunned by an IMF report which found the Chinese economy larger and more productive than that of the United States, both in terms of raw GDP and purchasing power parity (PPP). The Chinese people created more goods and had more purchasing power with which to obtain them — a classic sign of prosperity. At the same time, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite more than doubled in value since October of 2014. This explosion in growth was accompanied by a post-recession construction boom that rivals anything the world has ever seen. In fact, in the three years from 2011 – 2013, the Chinese economy consumed more cement than the United States had in the entire twentieth century. Across the political spectrum, the narrative for the last fifteen years has been that of a rising Chinese hyperpower to rival American economic and cultural influence around the globe. China’s state-led “red capitalism” was a model to be admired and even emulated.
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