Coming out of the pandemic related disruption, the larger story of U.S. manufacturing has been an odd blend of good data and bad data depending on the sector. While some manufacturing was growing as a result of clearing supply chains, other sectors of manufacturing remained soft.
In total, the full supply chain rebound should have completed around the end of the third quarter, beginning of the fourth quarter of 2022.
However, simultaneous with the correction within the supply chain(s), consumer purchase activity began contracting.
The consumer pullback led to very weak holiday sales last year, and a combination of increased inventories of finished goods.
Keep in mind that Maersk overseas shipping noted significant drops in orders for the movement of material in the third quarter of last year. Considering the lag, the previously noted inventory buildup in combination with the drops in unit sales of durable goods, would generally mean lower manufacturing purchase order activity Q4 (’22) and Q1 (’23). This reality is reflected in the actual data as reported by The Wall Street Journal:
(Via WSJ) – […] New orders for manufactured goods contracted for the sixth straight month through February, according to surveys by the Institute for Supply Management. Manufacturing output is down 1.7% from its postpandemic peak in May 2022, according to a three-month moving average of Federal Reserve data. And the Commerce Department’s measure of civilian capital equipment orders, excluding aircraft—the building blocks of business—was down 3.4% in January from its recent high in November 2021, after adjusting for inflation.
[…] Production of appliances, furniture and carpeting was down almost 15% in January from the previous year, according to the Fed. That coincides with sales of previously owned homes falling for 12 straight months. Consumers often buy furnishings after they move.
Production of steel, iron and other primary metals was down 3.6% and machinery production fell by 1.8%. Output of plastics, food, beverage and tobacco products, and computers and electronics, also fell during that period.
[…] Business inventories swelled in the fourth quarter of last year, when consumer spending cooled. The ratio of inventories to sales for durable goods was higher in November and December than at any point since 2009, with the exception of April and May 2020, when pandemic-related lockdowns froze commerce.
Pat Weiler, chief executive of paving-equipment maker Weiler, said inventory levels are up more than 50% over the last two years. (read more)
Unfortunately, the U.S. doesn’t really manufacture much any longer. Manufacturing only accounts for around 11% of GDP. However, if purchase orders for inbound component goods are down for six straight months, we can generally infer the absence of downstream consumer demand.
I fully expected a recession statistic in the fourth quarter last year and was quite surprised we didn’t see one. The scale in the drop of imports was statistically the majority reason for the outcome. Imports are a deduction to GDP. However, that said, there is nothing visible in the consumer purchasing side to indicate why durable good manufacturing is even as strong as it is.
We are in a very weird economic environment that is not helped by the financial punditry pretending that things are going swimmingly.
I just heard a report that food is now close to 40% of the average household’s budget. Isn’t 40% or is it 50% the number they link with civil unrest, revolution, etc.?
So, yeah a huge portion of the population can’t afford much of anything.
4 bags of groceries last Friday, enough for 3 days, cost me $200. I can afford it, but for a lot of people, they just can’t.
One week’s+ groceries: goat milk, yogurt, frozen fruit, 6-pack Kombucha, 3# Honey, cinnamon came to ~$75. It was the Kombucha & Cinnamon I don’t usually buy that almost doubled the $35/wk I pay for milk, yogurt, eggs…
Try to make your own yogurt and kombucha.
I don’t use kombucha, but yogurt is a staple for me and I have decided to learn to make my own.
Will be checking out Youtube videos to learn how.
Bidenism is setting in.
With rent (including utilities) & rent tax taking up 67% of my monthly income that leaves me only 33% left for phone, food, internet, car insurance, gas, co-pays on Rx’s & OV’s…
I am so sorry.
Have you thought about raised beds or container gardening on a patio?
It is possible to raise greens, cherry tomatoes and even bush green beans inside, in front of a sunny window or using inexpensive grow lights. Check out the Provident Prepper Youtube channel.
Perhaps there are community gardens where you live? Maybe your church could let members start a garden on church property?
Or is there a friend or relative with a yard you can use to garden? Lots of older folks own their home but can no longer garden.
Perhaps they could buy the seed and provide the space and you could provide the labor, and then split the veggies?
That’s huge. Glad I’m not living in an inner city.
Just in time for the start of riot season.
That’s going to put a big dent in Meth sales. The trading of food stamps for Meth will impact those Dimwaste run cities.
Covid may be over, but prices are still going up, and the amount you get for the higher price is less….either in size or ounces or whatever you are buying. I got nasty and e-mailed one outfit and told them to let me know when it goes back to its used to be size and packaging. Guess they all think we are stupid and don’t know how expensive it is to make everything change in a mfg. plant unless one has worked in on and seen the extra costs and time and re-training it takes.
Many years ago, when the cost of gas got high, our grocery store explained that they had to raise the price of groceries due to the fuel cost for their trucks.
Funny thing-once the price of gas went back down, the grocery store never lowered their prices…
“let me know when it goes back to its used to be size and packaging”
yeah, potato chips and cereal boxes are famous for declining amount of contents within
but other stuff that didn’t change ever — canned soups, canned vegetables, cans of beans, etc just went to about 2/3 rd their former size this year
standard size used to be 16 ounces, a 16-ounce can
and there were larger “family” sizes at 28 ounces
now, I bet the 28-oz ones are just gone
and the standard size is 12-oz or even 10-oz
oh yeah — and the potato chips and cereal boxes?
fuhgettaboutit
Ice cream containers went from being 1/2 gallon to large cups . . .
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/government-trying-kill-us-now-low-income-americans-fume-mile-long-food-lines-after
Almost like they are trying to foment violence…
I’d guess a bullwhip effect is going on where manufacturing thinks demand is strong due to soft inventories, which will lead to inventory bloat, then discounts and purchasing.
The old axiom…a recession is when your neighbor loses his job, a depression is when you lose your job.
Ah yes, things are just peachy keen.
My fence repair guy told me that construction materials will stay high for 2-3 years.
Good, I want to redo my kitchen. Hope those inventories are nice and high so they drop some prices!
In the modern Biden Communist era, even if you have a basic job you are in a depression.
Here’s something some may enjoy from Armstrong’s explanation on this paradox. Heads up for investment purposes
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/armstrongeconomics101/understanding-cycles/time-is-always-fixed-crude-is-the-example/
His graph makes no sense. FJB did not seize power in Jan 2020. That was Jan 2021. The big dip was pandemic related, no?
I suspect that there was a recession statistic in the fourth quarter. And then it was buried deep, deep, deep in the bowels of some lower functionary’s filing cabinet.
There isn’t one government statistic that isn’t manipulated before it is released to the public.
Prevaricators all.
Are durable goods “strong” because the FedGov is buying thus propping up the numbers?
This pretending crap gotta cease! I stopped pretending before I was a teeny bopper!
Federal Reserve Pres Powell pretends that Biden’s cutbacks in oil and natural gas production has no impact on inflation. Ignores the obvious and thinks Americans are idiots!
To be fair, a disproportionate percentage of our friends on the Left *ARE* idiots.
Especially the supposedly “highly educated” ones.
Can’t say most of those on the fake-right are not idiots, as well.
Mitt, his niece, McConnell, Ryan, etc. Hardly mental giants, they are the epitome of “over educated”,. perhaps “HIGHLY over-educated idiots”.
LOTS of real intelligence and common sense in MAGA, however!
Not just our VSG, look at KL, KK or most all of those who ran as TRUE MAGA in 2022.
Deliberate ignorance only effects about 10% of them the other 90% are genuine idiots!
Education and intelligence are not necessarily synonymous.
Just wait until the irs knocks on the door and wants mo money.
At some point their families will be starving as well.
*Agent pulls out pistol* “Your pantry or your life?”
So instead of a highwayman it will be a g-man.
Best practice that quickdraw.
Best keep a gun in your pantry.
Dictators always keep their own bodyguards, the military and the tax men well-fed.
“Biden expected to propose new tax hikes as America’s debt surges
Kingsview Wealth Management’s Scott Martin and retail watcher Hitha Herzog weigh in as President Biden is set to release tax proposals next week”
https://www.foxnews.com/video/6321665375112
“Biden expected to propose new tax hikes as America’s debt surges”
It’s all according to Plan.
We are being taken down by this puppet regime.
They are hitting us with multiple body blows to put us on the ropes, next they will KO us with WWIII.
That will cause the Bill of Rights to be superseded by “wartime national security”, the weakened US will fold, and a “multipolar global governance” will take over (with the red dragon calling the shots). End of the Constitutional Republic and Bill of Rights.
No so, Have to look at the full series and the revisions. Dec spiked, this was just a pull back due to very large orders for aircraft. Vehicles continue to rise and have 20% rise ahead with several years of undersupply vs demand.
The basic industrial economy continues to hire driving employment, retail sales and personal income.
The country continues to operate despite the current attempts to force a recession and install digital currency. A country of free-thinkers is very resilient.
Possible reason why durable goods sales have remained where they have:
‘Chinese’ (foreign) junk products! I personally know of several people that have HAD to buy dishwashers, washers and/or dryers, and especially refrigerators and AC systems recently. NOTHING LASTS ANYMORE!!
I had to replace a TV that wasn’t even 10 years old and not used much. Old microwave replacement also. And vehicle that was worn out. Know several others that did the same thing.
We were forced to buy a new fridge last month. The one that failed was around a 2007 model.
The repairman made clear the compressors in that model only last around 10 years, so we got lucky in some respects.
He also made clear there were no parts to fix it.
Quite a contrast to fridges that had been made in America that lasted 50-60 years or more.
OUR landfills are full of made-in-ChyNa crap…and the Uniparty knew they would be!
Ironically, if you go back to refrigerators made in the 50-s and 60’s,…ALL of the parts are STILL AVAILABLE.
There are even online “groups” that restore these old appliances,.
Same is true for cars of the same era; parts are still available.
It was before controlled obsolescence,…
So, nobody is “FORCED” to buy this new, built in obsolescent crap, with “internet of everything” spying devices.
It just takes a little research, time and effort.
I understand what you are saying, but when a bit of food is going bad in the fridge, there is no time for internet research to find old appliances. I still have the fridge. The fridge still works, but the freezer quit working.
I fixed my furnace last week. The igniter failed again. $54.00 part on Amazon, but I needed it faster than they could deliver.
After multiple calls to HVAC companies in town, I found one that would sell the part to me for $127.00. That was the cost of the part. It would have been much more for a service call.
Most wouldn’t sell it because I am not a licensed contractor. Thanks friggin libs.
2 screws and an electrical connector later, my furnace was running again.
Which leads me to think, since we are helping each other with gardening and other food/survival tips, perhaps we need to think about helping each other with heating/plumbing/automotive tips or help on doing our own repairs.
Haha, I’ve been thru the igniter issue as well. Always had forced air heat via oil or gas so when I moved into
a gas-fired boiler home it was a learning experience. First thing I did after the first igniter failed was check the price. Four years later 2nd one was gonna cost $138! Luckily I learned my lesson and had the spare sitting on top of the furnace……which I had paid $42 for 3 years ago. Installed it and bought another spare ($54).
I wasn’t a Boy Scout but “Be Prepared” is one of the wisest slogans out there.
Yeah LG is crap. Had the appliance repair guy out regarding the 5 year old fridge door dispenser. The power wire breaks in the door hinge because it is just a wire getting flexed back and forth. $1,500 to fix it. So the little woman gets no ice water or ice dispensed.
A tip from him to make your micro last longer: do not turn it off by hitting the door button because that causes an arc in the system and you only have so many arcs until failure. Instead hit the off button.
If you have time, take the door off and find where it’s arcing. It should be obvious. Buy a soldering iron and resolder the wire.
$1500 is to replace the entire wiring harness. Not needed.
At that point shrink tubing is your friend:)
The only economic thing that they can not hide with funky math and lies is
how the real economy is effecting and hurting people all across america.
Economic Pain is here, it’s getting worse and that doesn’t bode well for the swamp in either party
#Trump2024 should have 50 deep red states by then
With housing in the crapper, durable goods orders will be gone soon enough. Financing shenanigans may help short term, but interest rates will kill that too, from both sides.
We just had a round of layoffs at my company (homebuilderr). First we’ve had since ’09. 116 people across the country, 7 in our division. Sales had picked up a bit in January but still slumping. Trying to get a PO approved for any work not contracted is like getting a coherent answer from Biden! No, our pricing has not dropped much as our costs are still sky high; some concessions like upgraded options but unless it’s on a dog lot, no home price reductions.
They should send the employees to FL ( and prob TX). I know they cannot build fast enough in FL.
In the Texas Hill Country where I live the price of used trucks doesn’t reflect a slow down of purchases or drop in prices. I have been waiting for used 22 model year pick up’s to come down since Aug/Sept last year. Hasn’t happened yet. I check Truck Trader online several times a week and prices are holding steady around $55k for used 22 low mileage GMC 1500 SLT Texas Edition 4-wheel drive. I think they are only worth 47/48K and waiting for that price point before buying. The price of new 2023 models is ridiculous. Glad my 2014 is running good.
Yes some coworkers are eyeing used cars, but decided the cost of new vs old wasn’t that different, so now looking for new.
I started out last year looking at new. I am nearly 78 yrs old and have bought many new trucks in my lifetime. When they told me they were making me a great deal by selling it to me at sticker price, I laughed and walked out. They told me a few weeks ago that they would give me $2,000 off sticker. I laughed again. I have finally decided that at my age I don’t need to pay $65,000 for a new 1/2 ton truck. I am going used but it doesn’t look like it will be anytime soon. They want 55/57K for used 2022 and 65K new. Going to wait till the used 2022 can be bought for under 50K. The new ones are starting to build up on their lot again so I think things will be changing
1/2 ton pickup truck is only worth 10-20K new.
Yep…
Would like to replace my 2011 F-250, with it’s current 513+k miles, as well.
But to replace it in 2023 would be $80-$90k, for a new truck in the same model. A greater than 50% increase in price from 2011!
My income has not increased more than 50% in 10 years! In fact, my income hasn’t changed ANY in the last 20 years!
Even with 513+k miles, this truck still runs really great.
Think I’ll just keep driving it, till the collapse of the economy, or my F-250…. whichever comes first.
I’m driving a 2005 Honda, will keep it until I can’t get parts anymore. 18 years old and just hit 89k miles. I do my best to drive frugally.
you sound like, I have a 2017 Camry with 28k miles..
Inflation will be the death of globalism. No matter how much money you give the dependents and the government workers, at a certain point, prices get so high that they stop buying. And the ROI becomes more and more negative as everyone skims along the way. Like the saying goes, this ain’t going to end well
Look at Ukraine. It’s costing us four times as much to get war material into action. And they are running out of conscripts willing to die for our military industrial complex. And no matter what Samantha Power and George Soros want, no other country is going to be feeding their young man into that suicide assignment. This will be over this year.
That’s the reason for the rush to try to feed high ticket machinery into the grinder. F-16s or leopard tanks aren’t going to change anything. They will get destroyed almost immediately, and they’re very expensive to replace. But isn’t that exactly the reason for sending them there?
Agreed. And extra points for the Stones reference.
Nobody ever gets that
I got it immediately. Looong time Stones fan here. Just check my screen name!
Dishonest and sick. Who would promote something like this? Oh yeah, Paul Ryan. https://www.foxnews.com/world/texas-college-student-fights-russian-troops-ukraine
“Globalism lasts, until they run out of other peoples $!”
Updating, from the great Iron Lady (with Titanium balls!).
The inflation and everything else including the biowarfare is designed to push the commoners into a weak condition, with decimation and culling and fear, then the great reset will occur by the necessities of a major war.
After that: America partly modeled on China, under veiled control by the same.
The globalists are salivating at the thought of a world like China, a de facto slave world.
It won’t be the death of Globalism, but it will be the death of national currencies.
Those will be replaced by central bank digital currencies, to be followed by a global digital currency.
This new global digital currency will be accessed via a mark on the hand or on the forehead.
We are in a recession. By all previous standards. And more likely a massive depression. They can paper over a lot of ugly with printed money.
oh, I don’t think we have seen nothin yet
Aircraft and weapons manufacturing on the rise while basically manufactured products are being produced in Marxist hellholes with slave labor. The unavoidable fact that oil is being phased out will in the final outcome, the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Exactly what you want when you’re intentionally shrinking the economy.
“Unfortunately, the U.S. doesn’t really manufacture much any longer. Manufacturing only accounts for around 11% of GDP.”
Bingo. Part of the downward spiral. A nation that cedes developing and making things becomes a second-class nation. Leading to third-class.
The fiat debt house of cards has been propping things up for decades, but it is teetering, collapse imminent. So the US bloc powers are ginning up WWIII, to serve as pretext to default and reset as a totalitarian vassal under the “multipolar global governance” in the aftermath.
Gird your loins!
[Peter Navarro, the White House trade adviser in a November 2018 in a speech in Washington:]
“Economic security is national security. And if you think about everything the Trump administration has been doing in terms of economic and defense policy, you understand that this maxim really is the guiding principle.”
PDJT will be THE ONLY candidate NOT saying we need to make drastic changes to SS and Medicare, “because its unsustainable”.
Its unsustainable, because of how it was created, demographics, AND that THEY have done NOTHING, for 40 years since the “baby-boomer” problem was first identified.
Anyway, PDJT is saying we don’t NEED to cut either program, HE (and he alone) can grow the economy, enough to easily make the programs solvent.
And, given his first term, how does an RDS argue with THAT, or try to co-opt it?
According to TPP Ron’s handlers, PDJT accomplished nothing in his 4 years in the White House.
Yeah. He didn’t do anything. Only the following and More!:
Under PDJT we had the strongest economy in decades.
Inflation less than 1.5%
Most rapid growth of GDP ever recorded.
Best unemployment numbers for any ethnic group measured in 50 years.
U.S. gained 7 million new jobs.
Bottom 50% of U.S. households had a 40% increase in net worth.
Got nearly 7 million people off food stamps.
U.S. was energy independent and the largest oil producer in the world.
Companies were moving production back to the U.S.
Repatriated over $1.7 trillion from overseas.
Created over 1.2 million manufacturing and construction jobs.
Record stock market numbers.
Cut two regulations for every one new regulation created.
Cut personal and business taxes.
Doubled the standard deduction.
Doubled the child tax credit.
Eliminated the estate tax.
Created 9,000 opportunity zones attracting $75 billion and driving $52 billion of new investments in economically distressed communities and creating over 500,000 new jobs.
Removed 25,000 pages from the federal register.
Eliminated the Waters of the United States Rule and replaced it with the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, providing relief and certainty for farmers and property owners.
Lowest amount of illegal immigration in decades.
Got U.S. out of disastrous T.P.P.
Ended N.A.F.T.A. and signed the U.S.M.C.A.
Got U.S. out of Paris Climate Accord.
Cut funding to the W.H.O.
Advanced reforms to the W.T.O.
Created the best US-centric trade deals with China.
Kept China, Russia, N. Korea in check
Supported and Built up our military.
Convinced NATO countries to pay more towards their defense.
Two peace deals in middle east.
Draw down of U.S. forces in middle east.
No new wars.
No Mandates.
I could go on and on about this great man’s accomplishments . There are many more, but it wouldn’t matter to those that think there are better choices.
Short version.
Energy is up 30%. Fuel, electricity, heating, etc.
Food is up 30%+.
Taxes are up.
Wages stagnant.
Mortgage Interest rates have doubled
Layoffs are happening. 10% or more for many employers.
Credit card debt is up.
Auto repossessions are up.
Companies are defaulting on office rental agreements
Leery of big ticket purchases? Well, Duh.
With the price and struggle for those who do work….contributions to food banks are dwindling.
I would drop off canned food at local area but I can no longer afford to do it.
The paper printing industry has been crippled by paper supply shortages, some Commercial printers are even hiring professional paper procurement staff.
I have been wanting (needing) to remodel my kitchen for
a few years. Not wanting to pay the high ticket, I am waiting
for the recession to set in. Probably save 30-40%!!!!
If you can find the materials.
Might want to stock pile materials now, and hire the labor once the depression hits.
and Joe Biden (and his handlers) is laughing all the way to his bank
Manufactured Hoaxes Continues Downward Trend As Fake News Consumer Grows Leery Of Big Government
Buy American. Do your research. If it doesn’t say “Made in USA,” it isn’t.
I kinda feel bad for a lot of people. As a “survivor” of every recession since Carter, I believe I’ve learned a few things. One, when Democrats are in charge, expect bad times. Two, stop buying anything that won’t last years! Name-brand jeans and other clothes don’t last. Carharts last! Three, when you’re out of work or you can’t pay all your bills EVERY month, if the repossessor takes your truck, you’re in big trouble! That’s why Everytime a yellow light comes on in my GMC 4X4, I get it fixed tout de suite! Not having a way to Move ain’t good for the soul! Granted, I’m a single old man (divorced twice 🙂)…..BUT I have two Sons , two beautiful sweet lovely Daughters-in-Laws ,8 Grandsons, a Four wheel drive , a shotgun(or two) and a Good Dog. And Four! I consider myself lucky that I experienced Rush Limbaugh, Sundance, Neil Oliver and many others. Couldn’t have kept my sanity without them! The Big Guy Above gave me all I need! Good luck All. We will need it.
My dog has a Carhart jacket. We didn’t think anything about it – it was on sale at Tractor Supply when we got his food and a tube of horse paste. We get A LOT of comments on it, apparently Carhart is ascending the trend coaster with all the cool kids. Yes, our dog is cooler than us.
Mine does too! And he loves it! Our dogs….yep, they are Cool!! My oldest Sons mother-in-law asked me where I buy clothes. Took me a second, but I replied”Tractor Supply!” She just smiled! 😁
apparently Carhart is ascending the trend coaster with all the cool kids
I wonder how many of those ‘cool’ kids actually work the dig-a-ditch jobs that Carhart gear is designed for
None of them do.
CEO of Carhart forced his employees to take the death jab….just saying.
Good thing I don’t have to buy anymore clothes from them for quite a while!!!
Try Duluth Trading.
Thanks for your post Rick..
Good luck and God bless
Carhart CEO did force employees to vaccinate or lose their jobs and that is when I removed the tags from every Carhart product I owned while promising to never buy another Carhart product and encouraged my family, friends, and anyone I converse with to do the same. Don’t forget the pain Carhart caused their employees and their families that feared the vaccine but sacrificed for the sake of livelihood. I don’t blame them and came close to giving in for my family but luckily my company did not go full stupid so I was not forced to make that decision. Please don’t support the companies that did this and stay firm so other companies don’t follow suit. Just raising awareness and God bless and protect those that felt they had no way out!
X 2 on the Carhart. Those labels on their tee shirts are hard to get off. I always liked their clothes. But after i heard they mandated their employees to take the poison. I said no more Carhart. My list of companies i wont buy from keeps growing and growing. Seems they are all going woke these days.
Not to mention most Carhartt is not made in the USA
Take a look at Berne apparel. Made as well if not better than carhartt, and a third of the cost. An Indiana company, hopefully not sourcing from the commie country but the quality is there. Maybe it doesn’t have the cachet of carhartt, but you can buy extra food with the money you saved. You can’t eat cachet.
Duluth Trading has great sales.
Don’t do Carhart, as they seem to have gone a bit woke.
I do buy Duluth Trading when they have some great sales during the seasonal change-overs.
Milk is $10/gal here in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, south of Portland, so yeah–that sort of impacts whether or not the other things that might be needed are needed all that badly.
Nothing worse than a bunch of educated fools, and that’s who’s running the country right now.
My own personal reason for not shopping is not just price. I don’t drive much, so I buy on line, and the way they all seem to keep changing the pass-codes (supposedly to keep us safe) has kept me from shopping more. They also tell you something is free, then at least Amazon with their Kindle books will charge you even tho you picked it off the their own “freeKindleBook” list even tho you looked to be sure it was supposed to be free. I Just returned my latest batch and I swear I will not by from them again. If I can’t find it locally guess I don’t really “need” it do I?
When leaving the grocery store to your car, guard your shopping carts. Best if two or more go shopping with you and be the lookouts.
Me too, in oc. I learned a lot from being a girl scout, and living in Santa Monica.
And don’t forget to mention our senior citizens on SS. If my husband & I weren’t now taking care of mom’s utilities and most meals, she would be eating canned tuna with her now-reduced-to-$19-monthly food stamps allotment, in a cold dark house and without a means to get out and go anywhere! How many people are in that financial mouse-trap right now & don’t have family or anyone else who they might turn to for help? I’m already reading about people starving to death in their homes in meaner neighborhoods. It breaks my heart when I contemplate how close most of us are to that same situation; Do I know anyone who might even now be in need but too embarrassed to ask for help? I think I’ll touch base with a few neglected friends tonight just to make sure they’re doing okay…
Well, dang! I WAS going to go to Michael’s tomorrow to pick up some crafting supplies, but now I think I’d feel better getting some groceries for the senior center’s pantry. to distribute. Actually, thinking about it, that’ll be a perfect two-fer: Some neighbors will get to eat for a few more weeks, and since the Feds seem to want them to starve, I’ll be figuratively spitting in FJB’s eye at the same time by keeping the numbers of starved down below their expectations, at least by a bit! I may make this a new habit for as long as I can afford to! Call it my personal rebellion towards the illegitimate occupants of our Government’s seat of power. Thanks! You guys always make me think deeper than I would anywhere else, and I do appreciate it!
You are an angel and a saint. Thank you.
When leaving the grocery store to your car, guard your shopping carts. Best if two or more go shopping with you and be the lookouts.
“cartS” … plural?
who can afford 2 carts of groceries?
This is engineered economic taxation, ment to crush the middle class. Period. There is no way you can argue with this point. This government wants poor people.
The middle class will be gone in 2 years or sooner.
This government cares nothing about you or your family. They are actively trying to harm you. This government is actively trying to destroy this country from within, this fact is plain to see. In my 60 plus years I have never experienced such division, inflation, debt, destruction and lack of pride.
May God have mercy on us
“This government is actively trying to destroy this country from within…”
Clearly, but why?
Look forward, to the state of the US Bloc after this is done, there lies the answer.
The illegals in my state are doing very good. Not gonna hurt them one bit. The husband works for cash and the wife collects the welfare benefits.
Agricultural prices will probably be skyrocketing soon (or more than they already are) as well if the next level of the Green agenda is implemented across the Western world.
How many of you have joined the movement to ensure you are “Eating the Best Meals to Save the Planet?”
This article was posted May 4, 2022
FTA: Maersk has found possible buyers for its stake in Global Ports Investments, which operates ports in Russia as it withdraws from the country following a final cargo shipment this week, the Danish shipping group said on Wednesday. Maersk put its 30.75% share of Global Ports up for sale as it decided to quit Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine. One of the world’s biggest container shippers with a market share of around 17%, Maersk also said that while consumers had spent more on goods during the pandemic rather than services such as restaurants and travel, that was changing.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/market-talk/market-talk-may-4-2022/
Maersk, Maersk, Maersk…..
Now …. where have I seen them? Or, more importantly where did I not see them,
recently?
Try Savannah. Less then a month ago. Was taking in a short vacation at
Tybee Island. Been there numerous times, and in the past have always seen
numerous cargo ships, bearing “Maersk” on the containers. Sometimes will see
five at a time, in the distance.
It was beautiful both days YTG was there. Spent tons of time at the beach. And
did not see: one. cargo. ship.
Maersk or otherwise. Something’s up. Savannah as a port is crazy busy.
But NOTHING was going on when we were there. Weird.
Boots on the ground always the best info. That’s really interesting. Wonder if shippers are consolidating to fewer ports to save money?
“Unfortunately, the U.S. doesn’t really manufacture much any longer”
America doesn’t MAKE anything anymore
America makes pizzas and pole dancers
Study Shows 60% of Americans Are Living Paycheck to Paycheck
https://www.rightwing.org/study-shows-60-of-americans-living-paycheck-to-paycheck/
I always love seeing the $10,000 dollar + tax refund freebies. Back when I worked 80+ hours a week I couldn’t even save $10K in a year…. it’s quite hilarious to be living in this socialist/communist scam known as Biden’s America. Where tax refunders who barely work, are richer than a person working 80+ hours a week at tax time.
You must be talking about the Earned Income Credit.
Well … we’ve been told incessantly that Americans are too damn fat … so, once again, Joe Biden is doing us all a huge favor by starving us and impoverishing us. And if you are REALLY LUCKY … you live in CA … where we are made to pay 3x the market price for Nat. Gas … to help wean us off that “evil” fossil fuel as well. Oh thank you … thank you … Global Warmists … for showing us the sinful errors of our ways. Punish us. Impoverish us. Make us BEG Gaia forgiveness as we pray before the cow god.
/hard sarc.
Food, gas, winter heating oil… will I eat soup and be warm?
The late 19th century was a time of astounding technological advancement.
Electricity and radio and phonographs and the internal combustion engine, and on and on.
But as a conservative, I’m not required to buy into the Hegelian fantasy that progress is somehow automatic.
Commenters here, so-called conservatives, mock me for not accepting the Hegelian dialectic, without providing an answer for why I’m wrong.
Our culture, our society will not automatically progress. Of course, of course.
Liberal Americans who think progress must fall from the sky, despite global warming superstitions, are wrong.
Humans succeed by triumphing over nature. Read Eric Hoffer. Read almost anything, you goofs.
Financial perfidy is more like it. Why is the fake casino of a market still going up? Because the Fed is still printing money for the banks. That’s why.
When this thing collapses it will make the Twin Towers look like a child’s set of Lincoln Logs.
There’s an economic war going on right now. The globalist green nations against BRICS. We’re losing, and soon the petro dollar collapses. We have No Hope and we’re Short Changed. DEI, universal income, digital dollar, BBB. Everything will be ushered in under total government control. Constitutional bill of rights are written history. Look at the composition of the Supreme Court. That branch is a farce.
To add a small example as proof in support of Sundance’s article …. a few years ago when I retired we had already organized our retirement funds into the 3-part classical (at the time) Income-Growth-Emergency structure.
The income part included 2-deferred annuities that smoothed out cash flow and isolate income from the growth parts of the plan. The deferred annuities are essentially composed Fidelity Managed Funds held by another financial institution.
I admit to not being very good at “picking” investments but I do have a pretty good record and eye for assessing things. Fast forward to 2021, when the puppet masters removed all pretenses and facades from the “market” being … well a “market”. I took all my investment positions to cash and kept the annuities due to the highly favorable terms in the contracts.
The cash positions are still growing .. admittedly at a snails pace but “growing” in value.
vs … The Fidelity Managed Funds inside the annuities are still on a downward trajectory, based on the monthly statements I get. No matter what Fidelity tries to stabilize them, the trend is DOWNWARD and tall the whip saw activity of their puppet master buddies to attract moths to the flames.
Plus, for all their good and bad traits … Fidelity has very good educational and analytical services for its clients. One of the big lessons I learned was “watch and compare the Market Economic Sectors” as they is a major set of indicators used by the Puppet Masters to assess impact of their actions. This is likely the one reason Market Economic Sector Indicators remain honest for the time being.
The performance of the Market Economic Sectors have reflected Sundance’s economy focused articles 100% and if the Business News “Experts” ever pointed to them while reporting … every pronouncement made by Governments and their Economist lackeys around the globe would fall apart in front of our eyes.
Note: I say “Fidelity’s puppet master buddies” because Fidelity is one of the Global TOP 5 investment firms based on Assets Under Management.
Perhaps the illegals will find things more congenial back home?
That might be the canary in the coal mines-when the illegals flee this nation.