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The Schism Between Wall Street and main street: Green shoots for the Banking Oligarchy and Crap Shoots for Others.
He then lists:
Chart 1 - Retail Sales
Chart 2 - Motor Vehicle Sales
Chart 3 - Housing Starts
Chart 4 - Single Family Home Sales
Chart 5 - Personal Savings Rate
Chart 6 - Real GDP
Chart 7 - Hours Worked
Chart 8 - Household Debt
Chart 9 - Stock Markets
Chart 10 - Trade
And then we get to the REALLY interesting bit:
And that links in with the latest report from Chris Martenson:
And then there is also the High Spin link from Chris
On Wednesday we learned that GDP contracted by a stunning 6.1 percent in the first quarter of 2009. This came on top of the already large 6.3 contraction in the fourth quarter of 2008. This back to back contraction is the deepest in over 50 years when in the fourth quarter of 1957 GDP contracted by 4.2 percent followed by a 10.4 percent contraction in Q1 of 1958. Yet the market rallied on this news because of glimmers of hopes. Green shoots as some like to say. The glimmer of course comes from banks because the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury are doing everything in their power to destroy the U.S. dollar and keep rates artificially low so banks can keep on creating excessive debt. You may recall that it was excessive debt that got us into this mess so apparently creating more excess debt is the way out. Yet the average American household is seeing their access to debt contract while banks and Wall Street suddenly have a platinum American Express line directly linked to the Fed and U.S. Treasury.
In this article I want to look at 10 charts that clearly show we are nowhere near a bottom. These charts will also show that for trillions in bailouts, we have seen a marginal gain in the real economy.
In this article I want to look at 10 charts that clearly show we are nowhere near a bottom. These charts will also show that for trillions in bailouts, we have seen a marginal gain in the real economy.
Chart 1 - Retail Sales
Chart 2 - Motor Vehicle Sales
Chart 3 - Housing Starts
Chart 4 - Single Family Home Sales
Chart 5 - Personal Savings Rate
Chart 6 - Real GDP
Chart 7 - Hours Worked
Chart 8 - Household Debt
Chart 9 - Stock Markets
Chart 10 - Trade
And then we get to the REALLY interesting bit:
So as you can see from the above charts, there is no green shoots in the Main Street economy. Sure, Wall Street is shooting to the moon but that is because the pit bosses are now trading amongst themselves fleecing the public. Recent data shows insiders actually selling into the momentum:
“(Barrons) Leading us to the question with which we began these musings: If those now infamous shoots of recovery are popping up all over, why would insiders be so aggressively dumping stocks?
Yet, they indisputably are. According to a study prepared for Bloomberg by Washington Service, a research outfit, directors, officers and the like have sold $353 million worth of stock in this fading month, or 8.3 times the total bought. As a matter of fact, according to the firm, insider purchases of $42.5 million are on track to make April the skimpiest month for such buying since July 1992.
The pace of selling in the first three weeks of this month, incidentally, was the swiftest since the market peaked and the bear came out of hibernation with a vengeance in October ‘07.
We’re quite aware that insiders are not infallible. But they are, after all, in the front lines of commerce and industry and so presumably have a better fix on the economy and the prospects for recovery than analysts and economists, whether of macro or micro persuasion.”
This is the ultimate bear market rally so proceed with caution.
“(Barrons) Leading us to the question with which we began these musings: If those now infamous shoots of recovery are popping up all over, why would insiders be so aggressively dumping stocks?
Yet, they indisputably are. According to a study prepared for Bloomberg by Washington Service, a research outfit, directors, officers and the like have sold $353 million worth of stock in this fading month, or 8.3 times the total bought. As a matter of fact, according to the firm, insider purchases of $42.5 million are on track to make April the skimpiest month for such buying since July 1992.
The pace of selling in the first three weeks of this month, incidentally, was the swiftest since the market peaked and the bear came out of hibernation with a vengeance in October ‘07.
We’re quite aware that insiders are not infallible. But they are, after all, in the front lines of commerce and industry and so presumably have a better fix on the economy and the prospects for recovery than analysts and economists, whether of macro or micro persuasion.”
This is the ultimate bear market rally so proceed with caution.
Thursday, April 30, 2009, 9:17 am, by cmartenson
Executive Summary
* GDP report for 1Q2009 is a mess of Fuzzy Numbers
* The surprising 2.2% increase in PCE, or Personal Consumption Expenditures, is discussed
* Ostensible signs suggest that the bottom is in, but the numbers do not line up at all with hard, factual data
* Sales tax receipts declined in first quarter
* The GDP report for the first quarter of 2009 is in serious conflict with actual state sales tax data
* Vehicle sales are down nearly twice as much as the 19% claimed by the BEA
* The extent to which investors are fooled by these government reports is the extent to which they risk losing a lot of money in the stock market
Executive Summary
* GDP report for 1Q2009 is a mess of Fuzzy Numbers
* The surprising 2.2% increase in PCE, or Personal Consumption Expenditures, is discussed
* Ostensible signs suggest that the bottom is in, but the numbers do not line up at all with hard, factual data
* Sales tax receipts declined in first quarter
* The GDP report for the first quarter of 2009 is in serious conflict with actual state sales tax data
* Vehicle sales are down nearly twice as much as the 19% claimed by the BEA
* The extent to which investors are fooled by these government reports is the extent to which they risk losing a lot of money in the stock market
And then there is also the High Spin link from Chris
One of the things I especially enjoy about the “spin cycle” is when its operators have a tough time deciding how to spin the news. Here’s a particularly humorous example that flitted across the wire feeds yesterday – pay careful attention to the displayed times:
7:55AM ET CURRENCIES: Dollar Pressured As Recovery Hopes Rise
9:54AM ET CURRENCIES: Dollar Gains As Recovery Hopes Rise
7:55AM ET CURRENCIES: Dollar Pressured As Recovery Hopes Rise
9:54AM ET CURRENCIES: Dollar Gains As Recovery Hopes Rise
) then things will look gloomy.
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