American Economy

[TropicCat]

New data:

“Apparently, all those reports of a robust holiday shopping season were made by people too much into the holiday spirits as retail sales did not surge in December,” said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors, Inc.

Electronics were touted as one of the strongest sectors for holiday shopping. But the Commerce Department’s data showed a 3.9% monthly decline at electronic stores.

Sales at online retailers, another supposed holiday hotspot, fell 0.4%.

Sales at the nation’s malls were lower in December. Sales at general merchandise stores fell 0.8%, including a 0.2% decrease at department stores.

Excluding a 1.5% rise in motor vehicles sales, retail sales for the month fell 0.2% — much weaker than the 0.3% gain expected.

Sales at gasoline stores fell 1.6% in December. Excluding autos and gasoline, sales were flat on the month.

So-called “core” sales, which exclude autos, gasoline, and building materials, fell 0.2% in December.

U.S. retail sales rise scant 0.1% in December - Economic Report - MarketWatch

And unemployment claims rose.

[WouldaShoulda]

Originally Posted by TropicCat

The U.S. Q3 GDP just underwent a very quiet third revision ---downward

US GDP sucks

Unexpectedly??

[TropicCat]

ummm...yeah....unexpectedly

It appears that Citibank and Goldman Sachs aren't the only investment bankers struggling with their bottom line. JP Morgan Chase is having problems too. Profits at the investment bank were down 52 percent. Profits from retail banking and consumer lending were down 12 percent from the previous year.

You can't decimate the middle class and expect earnings to hold up. I think Wall St is finally beginning to get it now. People making near minimum wages don't use investment banks and the 1% ters just aren't enough to keep investment bankers wives in a new Bentley. I think realization sets in when their Congressmen get less in payoffs this year.

Even the GOP candidates are beginning to mumble something about 'good jobs' as if they suddenly realized this might be an issue.

I'm wondering how Republicans plan on escaping the "no wins for Obama" strategy's effect on the American economy? They must have a plan, right?

[SloopJonB]

Originally Posted by TropicCat

You can't decimate the middle class and expect earnings to hold up. I think Wall St is finally beginning to get it now. People making near minimum wages don't use investment banks and the 1% ters just aren't enough to keep investment bankers wives in a new Bentley. I think realization sets in when their Congressmen get less in payoffs this year.

Even the GOP candidates are beginning to mumble something about 'good jobs' as if they suddenly realized this might be an issue.

It's remarkable how stupid and short sighted the people controlling the economy are. They are so focused on attempting to slake their insatiable greed that they can't comprehend the eventual outcome of their actions. Keep cutting pay, benefits and staff and then wonder where all the customers have gone. Brilliant

I referred to it before but Henry Ford knew better 100 years ago when he raised the daily wage of his workers to $5 so they could afford to buy cars. Apparently he took an enormous amount of flak for it but history has told the truth about it. Sound familiar to anything going on today?

Even Nikita Khrushchev understood the concept better than our Titans of industry - he once stated (paraphrased) that national economic success consisted plucking the maximum number of feathers from the goose while keeping the hissing to a minimum and keeping the goose alive.

Our bright boys have not only killed the goose, they are fighting over the bones and wondering what happened.

P.S. if anyone knows the exact Khrushchev quote, please post it - I haven't been able to track it down.

[TropicCat]

Hmmm....

Jean Baptiste Colbert, Minister of Finance under King Louis XIV of France

“The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing”

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by SloopJonB

Even Nikita Khrushchev understood the concept better than our Titans of industry - he once stated (paraphrased) that national economic success consisted plucking the maximum number of feathers from the goose while keeping the hissing to a minimum and keeping the goose alive.

Our bright boys have not only killed the goose, they are fighting over the bones and wondering what happened.

P.S. if anyone knows the exact Khrushchev quote, please post it - I haven't been able to track it down.

Ta da

When you are skinning your customers, you should leave some skin on to heal, so that you can skin them again.

Read more: Nikita Khrushchev Quotes - Page 2 - BrainyQuote

Interesting take on one of his more famous quotes

I once said, "We will bury you," and I got into trouble with it. Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you.

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/au...#ixzz1jNE4tOhk

[Bene505]

Originally Posted by TropicCat

I wonder why no one commented on this:

"...The Commerce Ministry of China announced the duties on U.S.-made sedans and SUVs, raising the cost of those vehicles to Chinese buyers by between 2% and 21.5%...."

China slaps duties on U.S. auto exports - Dec. 14, 2011

"This tariff was imposed two days after the US Trade Representative issued a report to Congress that criticized what it said was China's "industrial policies that rely on trade-distorting government actions to promote or protect China's state-owned enterprises and domestic industries."

It's a 2 week old story which no major media reported. We all wonder why America keeps getting weaker, yet's here's a prime example. We catch them cheating and to show their displeasure with us for catching them, they nail our automobile imports to teach us a lesson.

I wonder why there has been no Congressional response to this? Is this an example of Republican "no wins for Obama" mindset becoming dangerous? Or is this Republican "Free Trade" in action?

I think Both...

Perhaps the Chinese own, either directly or indirectly, more shares in our news corporations than we think.

There's nothing surprising in this. For pennys they can have the effect of dollars otherwise spent in "owning" our country.

Ditto on campaign contriutions. Like those Chinese monks in California that were sworn to powerty. They gave Al Gore $5k each. That was right about the time Clinton transferred approval authority away from DoD and to the Commerce dept. -- approval for the Chinese to launch a DoD satellite. That high tech spy satellite never made it to orbit but supposedly blew up on the launch pad. (Or at least something blew up for the cameras, I guess ball bearings and miscellaneous parts are pretty cheap.)

I don't believe in conspiracies, but that connect-the-dots event was too obvious to ignore.

Regards,
Brad

[knothead]

Your Taxes Subsidize China
August 14, 2006

"Each year the people of the United States write a check to subsidize China, one of the most brutal, anti-American regimes in the world....

....I offered an amendment before the House of Representatives last month that would have ended the $4 billion subsidy our nation quietly gives China through the US government's Export-Import Bank....

....Apparently, many members of Congress are happy to bash China, but don’t mind lending her U.S. taxpayer money at sweetheart interest rates. Some of your money went to fund a nuclear power plant in Shanghai owned by the China National Nuclear Corporation, a state-run company. Many US-based multinational corporations benefit directly from Export-Import Bank subsidies to China, including Boeing, Westinghouse, and McDonnell Douglas. So it’s not hard to understand that business trumps the feelgood rhetoric condemning China....

....I firmly believe there is a higher law which dictates that people exposed to the principles of liberty will not for long allow themselves to remain shackled to an oppressive government. Economic freedom, i.e. capitalism, now has a strong foothold in China. The Chinese people may soon demand political, religious, and personal freedom as well. But in the meantime let’s stop sending tax dollars to support a government we claim to despise."

Your Taxes Subsidize China

[SloopJonB]

Originally Posted by jackdale

Ta da

Interesting take on one of his more famous quotes

I guess I mixed my metaphors.