What happened to all of the doom and gloom economic threads?

[IrezumiKiss]

Look at Rob and Irezumi go, still giving Obama double head and a rim job even after he shit and piss all over their dreams. Drones up their ass so far you can see Gitmo from here.

Hope there is no change is the latest motto, eh?

Awww, Lustatopia's back! Where you been, guy? We've missed you like we miss catching a terminal case of syphilis. A dollar still makin' you holla, Lusty Boo Boo?

Obama is doing alright by me personally and my dreams are far from being shit and pissed on, but thanks for projecting your suppressed fantasies on me!

Speaking of which, how's being right wing and conservative doing for your bisexuality these days? Enjoying stroking your baloney to the porn and erotica on this liberal website still?

Hey, as we always like to remind you, we're here for you when you get too stressed out from keeping up your straightedge pretenses in the meat world just to pay the rent on time, guy!

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdns33XjG31qgfax7.gif

 

[Beco]

US retail sales fall 0.4 percent in March, most in 9 months, a sign of consumer caution
By Associated Press,

WASHINGTON — Sales at U.S. retailers fell in March from February, indicating that higher taxes and weak hiring likely made some consumers more cautious about spending.

Retail sales declined a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent last month, the Commerce Department said Friday. That followed a 1 percent gain in February and a 0.1 percent decline in January. Both February and January figures were revised lower.

 

[IrezumiKiss]

http://24.media.tumblr.com/0bcc8ec1ca35df56a4cd8a3beb96b95f/tumblr_mkvw4lMuY51rpy7hjo1_1280.jpg

 

[jeninflorida]

good point, fact is we need to fire 2/3 of the federal government! great job izzy

 

[jeninflorida]

US retail sales fall 0.4 percent in March, most in 9 months, a sign of consumer caution
By Associated Press,

WASHINGTON — Sales at U.S. retailers fell in March from February, indicating that higher taxes and weak hiring likely made some consumers more cautious about spending.

Retail sales declined a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent last month, the Commerce Department said Friday. That followed a 1 percent gain in February and a 0.1 percent decline in January. Both February and January figures were revised lower.

Obama has set America up for the next great depression. the printing of money aka obama ponzi scam is running out of steam and no one wants to buy in...therefore, times will be worse than Jimmie Carter...worse then the first depression

arrest the corrupt, evil, and morally bankrupt obama regime before its too late

 

[Sean Renaud]

Obama has set America up for the next great depression. the printing of money aka obama ponzi scam is running out of steam and no one wants to buy in...therefore, times will be worse than Jimmie Carter...worse then the first depression

arrest the corrupt, evil, and morally bankrupt obama regime before its too late

Except the stock market is at a high because people desperately want to buy in. They know America is on the right track and picking up steam. Funny how whatever you see is patently false.

 

[jeninflorida]

Except the stock market is at a high because people desperately want to buy in. They know America is on the right track and picking up steam. Funny how whatever you see is patently false.

just wait, the crash is coming.

ps, did you see the other great communist Soro's dumping consumer based stocks?

 

[Beco]

Obama has set America up for the next great depression. the printing of money aka obama ponzi scam is running out of steam and no one wants to buy in...therefore, times will be worse than Jimmie Carter...worse then the first depression

arrest the corrupt, evil, and morally bankrupt obama regime before its too late

I hope not

 

[Sean Renaud]

just wait, the crash is coming.

ps, did you see the other great communist Soro's dumping consumer based stocks?

I've been waiting for five years. You've claimed I need to wait an addition 18 months. So I assume in late 2014 early 2015 you'll admit you were wrong about Obama? It's not like folks on Lit don't have long memories.

 

[IrezumiKiss]

just wait, the crash is coming.

Didn't you say this exact same shit last year?

And the year before that?

And the year before that?

And the year before that?

And the...

http://squatchmakesthree.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/homer.gif

 

[Busybody]

Yeah there have been so many corn riots.

What emission is higher in ethanol than in gasoline?

the same ones that will riot cause of GLOWBALL WARMING, TurdFace

 

[Busybody]

I'd say that Eco-fascists don't give a shit about poverty in Africa and Asia and would rather play make-believe... burning millions of acres of corn each year in rich people's SUVs will save the planet.

Do you believe the planet needs saving by government technocratic intervention on a global scale?

and indeed the COLOREDS in Africa are starving cause of the CORN PRICES

 

[jeninflorida]

don't think so...but just look at it. unemployment is high and what is supporting the rise of stocks? nothing!!!!

see, if we had a real American POTUS a man with leadership skills and one that knew how to balance a check book...someone that realized its the private sector that makes the country great...

oh we have our dreams while the enemy of freedom aka obama is in power

Didn't you say this exact same shit last year?

And the year before that?

And the year before that?

And the year before that?

And the...

http://squatchmakesthree.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/homer.gif

 

[Sean Renaud]

Unemployment is down Jen, and the stock market is held up by what always held it up. Confidence.

 

[Busybody]

Unemployment is down Jen, and the stock market is held up by what always held it up. Confidence.

anther Obama PUSSY eater

 

[mercury14]

So you just keep pretending everything is Kool, O-Kay? Just relax. Put your money in stocks and bonds.

Conservatives on Lit have been giving me this warning since Obama's inauguration. Then my wife and I saw our portfolios take off and we bought a half million dollar house (cash) with money almost generated almost entirely from capital gains.

Was our choice a bad one?

 

[Busybody]

NIGGER POON ZANDI overjoyed

Moody's Mark Zandi Set To Head Fannie, Freddie


Ever since Moody's head economist Mark Zandi, together with Princeton's Alan Blinder, authored a paper in July 2010 titled "How We Ended The Great Recession" (which incidentally is wrong on two key counts: i) it is a great depression not recession, and ii) it has not ended as three years later and $5 trillion in extra central bank liquidity the economy is in worse shape now than it was then), it became clear that the Keynesian sycophant would not rest until he somehow found a way to penetrate deep inside one or more of the darkest administrative orifices of the Obama regime. Surely, Zandi must have been heartbroken when it was not him but Jack Lew picked to replace Tim Geithner - a post the Keynesian had a desperate craving for.

Yet his recent appointment to head up the ADP "payroll" joint venture, which was nothing more than a test of his propaganda skills, should have given us advance notice something was cooking.

Further notice should have emerged when the US Department of Injustice launched its rating agency witch-hunt campaign only against S&P, not Moody's,***** where the abovementioned Zandi still officially works. Last night all of this finally fell into place, when the WSJ reported that Zandi has emerged as the leading candidate to head the FHFA - the regulator in charge of the two zombiest of zombie US institutions: the still insolvent Fannie and Freddie, in the process kicking out current FHFA head Ed DeMarco who recently emerged as Obama's persona non grata number 1 for his stern refusal to espouse socialist practices and wholesale debt forgiveness and principal reduction.

From the WSJ:






Mark Zandi, a prominent economist, has emerged as a leading candidate to head the regulator of mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac amid signs that he would likely attract support from Senate Republicans, according to people familiar with the matter.


The FHFA director has become an increasingly important economic-policy position in Washington, because the agency serves as the warden of Fannie and Freddie, which own or guarantee half of all the nation's mortgages.


Mr. Zandi, co-founder of an economic-forecasting firm that was purchased by Moody's Corp. in 2005, serves as chief economist of Moody's Analytics. A registered Democrat, he was an economic adviser to the 2008 presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.). He speaks frequently on the economy, fiscal issues and housing—testifying before Congress at least nine times in the last two years—and played a key role advising congressional Democrats on the 2009 economic-stimulus bill.


The FHFA's current director, Edward DeMarco, took the job four years ago in an acting capacity after his predecessor left for the private sector. Mr. DeMarco has at times clashed with the Obama administration over homeowner aid, and left-leaning groups have campaigned to replace him. The agency, created five years ago, has never had its own director confirmed by the Senate because of Republican opposition to an earlier nomination.

Why is Zandi acceptable to both the left and the right? Because the Wall Street puppetmasters behind America's politicians love him for his policies which will merely perpetuate the interests of Wall Street by not even remotely daring to rock the boat.






Mr. Zandi has attracted attention, in part, because he may have a good chance at winning Senate confirmation. Senate Republicans have largely supported Mr. DeMarco and are expected to scrutinize his successor closely. But Mr. Zandi may placate these critics.


Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), who serves on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a written statement Friday: "If Mark Zandi and the administration have an acceptable plan to transition us away from our dependence on [Fannie and Freddie], I'm optimistic that he could do a good job helping our country effectively execute that plan while also protecting the taxpayer."

What happens when Zandi takes over Fannie and Freddie? Nothing but 4 more years of living mortgage free for all those who bought homes at the peak of the housing market and are still tens of thousands of dollars underwater on their mortgages.






Replacing Mr. DeMarco could give the administration greater latitude to expand initiatives to help homeowners facing foreclosure and to mediate disputes over when banks should be forced to "buy back" defaulted mortgages, which some policy makers fret has kept credit standards too tight. But people familiar with the process have said that the Obama administration's push to fill the FHFA position has less to do with specific policy flare-ups and more to do with its desire to have a permanent director oversee the process of overhauling Fannie and Freddie.

Which begs the question: why does anyone still pay their mortgage in the US? It's not like the US banks need the money - after all they are drowning in fungible liquidity courtesy of the Fed and its nearly $2 trillion in excess reserves, they mark any and all non-performing mortgages on their balance sheets to whatever mythical price they want, and nobody dares to ask any questions because it would collapse the entire house of cards for everyone involved. As for the US consumers still paying mortgages, this is hundreds of billions in dollars that could be redirected away from paying banks into much more important purchases: like iGizmos, or whatever the next iteration of "cool" purchases is now that Apple is so 2012, or in other words, helping funds the Chinese trade balance and boosting China's GDP.

In fact, while we are here, why pay taxes? With the Fed funding about half of the annual US deficit and rising, is there any other point to pretending the country even needs taxes to operate aside from fanning the flames of class warfare and scapegoating those who are evil enough to be rich based on whatever Obama's daily definition of "rich" and "fair" may be?

 

[Busybody]

The real reason

Why the INjustice Dept went after S n PEE

and

Not MOODYs, though they BOTH did the same

Is cause

BuddyBuffett owns Moodys

 

[Busybody]

College and U's should just teach

CUNT STUDIES

all be well


Bad economic data? There is true pain in the American populace as the Great Recession not only lingers but continues its pattern of gains to end and begin a year only to be followed by a slump. Indeed, 401K retirement account loans jumped 28% in Q4 2012 with 1/5 of those with 401k's now having loans against them to make ends meet.

No problem. As long as the economy is not in full dive mode the Fed dollars, the European euros converted to dollars, and the US investors, worried suddenly that he has missed out on the move, are filling in the dips with their cash. Thus the US stock market avoided a Friday selloff and capped off a strong recovery week by at least hanging onto the gains.

What about those people out if the workforce? The rise, and fall, of the 'full-time part-time' worker.

Many hopeful workers hung on for months and months then years and years at low paying part-time jobs, hoping to use that job as the usual path to full employment. The financial stations for awhile touted the rise in part-time workers in each monthly jobs report that would of course lead to full time jobs. Now the stations don't even bother talking about that because it is clear that the policies in place that are helping perpetuate the Great Recession are perpetuating 'full-time part-time' workers. There are others, such as Mark Zandi, perched in their ivory towers reading data, who remain convinced the recession is over and jobs are trending positively. Yet, they fail to recognize or acknowledge that the part-time jobs are not turning into full-time jobs. As I said early in 2012, if you create a million part-time, lowest pay scale jobs, is that as good as the same number of full time, leading edge technology jobs? Of course it is not, but somehow that critical analysis is lost in the current debate.

The problem is, even those workers, not officially counted in the headline unemployment number because they had jobs (albeit well below their skill level) but picked up in the so-called U6 report as underemployed due to economic reasons, see the handwriting on the wall and are simply leaving the workforce. U6 dropped from 14.3 to 13.8 in one month! Over 90M (some say over 100M) non-institutionalized (i.e. not in jail) working age US citizens are now out of the work force. Not for disability, just a decision not to work.

Indeed, WHY WORK at a low pay job with no hope of advancement when you can do NOTHING, collect federal and state benefits, and have the SAME or even more disposable income than when you were working? The reverse incentives created by our policies have blunted our inherent desire to work and contribute to society as people make the economic decision to quit low paying, dead end jobs, collect benefits, and perhaps work some cash basis odd jobs where they don't have to report the income and pay taxes. These people are not stupid. They are making the rational ECONOMIC DECISION placed before them not to work.

Have you ever wondered why the Administration is pushing so hard for a hike in the minimum wage? It is an unspoken recognition that its policies have turned the US innovation and entrepreneur jobs engine into a stagnant, cost-avoiding assembly line mindset. The costs associated with employees due to federal programs such as the Affordable Healthcare Act force businesses to look at employees in an entirely different light in order to compete internationally. Thus part-time jobs now dominate the employment scene. Moreover, given the stagnant economy, the majority of the jobs created anyway are low end, low paying positions.

So, in order to avoid a mass migration into poverty that could be hung as an albatross around the Administration's neck, it and other proponents of the policies creating the low-wage problems tout a minimum wage that will keep those forced into low paying jobs for lack of any other positions from being a poverty statistic. What used to be starter jobs on the way to better permanent jobs are now 'full-time part-time' jobs, and instead of advancing through the ranks, the only way to get them a higher wage and out of poverty status is by raising the minimum wage. That is how bad this economy is.

 

[Busybody]

You can be 100% certain it will come here

You can be 100% certain, the real rich wont be hit.....they are BamBuddies

It will be the little people

Germany's 'Five-Wise-Men' Confirm Wealth Tax Is Coming


As we have vociferously warned since September 2011, and most recently as the Cyprus debacle exploded explained why it is just beginning, Germany's Council of Economic Experts (or so-called 'Five Wise Men') just confirmed a wealth tax is coming. As the Telegraph reports, confirming our expectations, Germany warns that states in trouble must pay more for their own salvation, arguing that there is enough wealth in homes and private assets across the Mediterranean to cover bail-out costs. They further added that targeting deposit-holders is also a mistake, since the "resourceful rich just move their money to banks in northern Europe and avoid paying," preferring instead taxes on property or other less-mobile assets, "for example, over the next 10 years, the rich should give up a portion of their assets." As we noted here and here, the differences between mean and median wealth in the peripheral nations suggest that people in the bailed-out countries are often better-off than those in Germany - - "this shows that Germany has been right to take a tough line of euro rescue loans." However, the implications of a wealth tax - implicitly impacting the pro-euro Southern European uber-rich - raises the specter of EU breakup once again.


Via The Telegraph,






Any serious move to a wealth tax could the erode the pro-euro ardour of South Europe’s uber-rich. The ECB bond buying policy has largely rescued the wealthiest strata while the full brunt of EMU austerity has fallen on ordinary people and the unemployed.


The political debate on euro membership may change dramatically if rich Cypriots, Italians, Spaniards, and Portuguese start to see EMU as a threat to their property, rather than a defence.

Via Der Spiegel,






Prof Lars Feld, another “wise man”, highlighted a recent study by the European Central Bank, which Germans say show that the people in bailed-out countries are often better-off than those in Germany. Less than half of Germans own their own home, lower than the rate in many southern eurozone members.


The ECB study found that the “median” wealth in Cyprus is €267,000 (£227,600), compared to just €51,000 in Germany. The median or midpoint level – which strips out the distorting effect of the super-rich – was €183,000 for Spain, €172,000 for Italy, and €102,000 for Greece, and even €75,000 for Portugal. Average wealth in Cyprus is €671,000, far higher than in the four AAA creditor states: Austria (€265,000), Germany (€195,000), Holland (€170,000), Finland (€161,000).


Prof Feld said the report showed that people in the crisis countries are richer than the Germans. “This shows that Germany has been right to take a tough line of euro rescue loans,” he said.

As Mark Grant comments:






Here may be the next "one-off" and it is a frightening one. A tax on "wealth and property" would almost certainly include equities and bonds. This then would mean that dividends and fixed income coupons would be taxed. This would ostensibly mean that if you were a U.S. money manager and that you owned securities in any Eurozone debtor states that you could get taxed on your investments. Then go one step further because if the debtor nation got into trouble you could have your holdings expropriated just like the depositors in Cyprus. This is scary stuff in my opinion.

 

[Busybody]

lending a problem, restrictive mtg a problem, (Unless one is a COLORED PERSON), costs are an issue

demand is up.....


a perfect screwup

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- A gauge of confidence among home builders fell in April for a third month of declines, hitting the lowest level in six months, hurt by weaker views on present sales of single-family homes and prospective-buyer traffic, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing-market index released Monday. The overall builder-confidence index decreased to 42 in April from 44 in March. "Many builders are expressing frustration over being unable to respond to the rising demand for new homes due to difficulties in obtaining construction credit, overly restrictive mortgage lending rules and construction costs that are increasing at a faster pace than appraised values," said Rick Judson, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders. Even as gauges of present sales and buyer traffic declined, a barometer of home-builders' sales expectations rose to the highest level since February 2007. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected the overall builder-sentiment index to rise to 46 in April from 44 in March. The last time the index reached above a key reading of 50 was in 2006. Readings over 50 indicate that more builders see sales conditions as good than poor. Despite April's decline, the sentiment level among builders is up 75% from a year earlier.

 

[Busybody]

Empire Fed Latest Economic Disappointment, Drops To Lowest Since January, Misses Expectations



As if the world needed yet another confirmation that the US economy is floundering (even if it means a new all time high for the now largely laughable farce formerly known as the S&P500), it just got it courtesy of the April Empire Fed Mfg Index, which dropped for the second month in a low to the lowest since January, printing at just 3.05, down from 9.24, and well below expectations of 7.00. Supposedly this too will be blamed on either balmy April weather, or Easter. The key New Orders index dropped from 8.18 to 2.20, which in itself may be insufficient to push the S&P to new all time highs, so the Shipments drop from 7.76 to 0.75 should definitely top the ES well into the green. The only piece of bad news for the "market" was the Number of Employees, which rose from 3.23 to 6.82. Although this may be one of those reports where bad data is great, but good data is greater.



From the report:


The general business conditions index was positive for a third consecutive month, though at 3.1, it suggested that conditions had improved only slightly. Twenty-five percent of respondents reported that conditions had improved over the month, while 22 percent reported that conditions had worsened. The new orders index posted a similar decline, falling six points to 2.2—an indication that orders were just slightly higher. The shipments index, down seven points to 0.8, showed that shipments were little changed. The unfilled orders index inched down a point to ?3.4, and the delivery time index also fell one point to ?3.4. The inventories index held steady at ?4.6, indicating that inventory levels fell slightly.

Finally, and as always, Empire Fed respondents were lamenting that all potential job workers are only qualified to play Call of Duty and collect unemployment and disability:


Responses in this month’s survey were not substantially different from those recorded either last April or in August 2011. As in the earlier surveys, workers with advanced computer skills were seen as the hardest to find: on a scale of 0 to 100, this task received a difficulty rating of 62 in this month’s survey— almost identical to its rating in earlier surveys. (See the table for a detailed explanation of this measure.) Finding workers who are punctual and reliable received the second highest difficulty rating; this rating climbed slightly from 54 in the survey conducted a year ago to 57 in the current survey. In general, difficulty ratings for most of the skill categories were a bit lower than in the April 2012 survey but about the same as in the August 2011 survey—an interesting comparison given that New York State’s labor market has tightened over the past year.

But, everyone knows how to tweet on their iPhone: isn't that a sufficient advanced computer skill?

Lastly, and most laughably, for the third year in a row employers keep expecting to keep their workers more, yet somehow never do.



Source: NY Fed

 

[JohnnySavage]

Gold margin accounts are squealing.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Gold margin accounts are squealing.

No kidding!

Gold suffered its worst two-day selling spree in 30 years, with the metal falling down to $1,366, from a level of $1,500 on Friday. The 9 percent dive in gold follows a five percent decline in the metal Friday.

"I think the last $20 has been margin selling. The market is falling like a knife. People are saying, 'Get me out now,' " Phoenix Futures President Kevin Grady said. "You're also seeing people selling energy profits to pay for metals losses. You're seeing a tremendous amount of gold liquidation today."

LINK

Bad times in wingnut nation.

 

[mercury14]

No kidding!

Gold suffered its worst two-day selling spree in 30 years, with the metal falling down to $1,366, from a level of $1,500 on Friday. The 9 percent dive in gold follows a five percent decline in the metal Friday.

"I think the last $20 has been margin selling. The market is falling like a knife. People are saying, 'Get me out now,' " Phoenix Futures President Kevin Grady said. "You're also seeing people selling energy profits to pay for metals losses. You're seeing a tremendous amount of gold liquidation today."

LINK

Bad times in wingnut nation.

Vette is going to have to get a job now. All it took to destroy his entire retirement portfolio was the slightest bit of paranoia about a tiny island in the Mediterranean.

But, but, but.... It's an opportunity to buy! Except in order to buy he has to sell his current gold at a loss.