Consumption Crashes In December

The Burning Platform

Let the spin begin. The country has clearly entered recession, but the government bureaucrats, corrupt politicians, criminal Wall Street bankers, and their corporate media mouthpieces refuse to acknowledge the truth. They have too much wealth at stake to report the facts. They need to exit the markets before the muppets.

Consumer spending in December collapsed at the greatest rate in five years. Remember 2009? It wasn’t a great year for the economy.  

That always happens when the economy is growing at 4%. Right? That always happens when the unemployment rate has plunged to 5.6%. Right? That always happens when the weather was downright balmy compared to the Polar Vortex December last year. Right? That always happens when consumer confidence is supposedly at 7 year highs. Right?

I thought the massive savings from the collapse in gasoline prices was supposed to translate into huge spending gains and boost the economy to new heights. That was the MSM storyline, and they are sticking to it.

Despite the absolutely dreadful data, the spin started immediately. They grasped onto the 0.3% increase in personal income as a straw of positivity. One problem. The increase wasn’t driven by people with jobs getting higher wages. And the increase was actually only 0.28%. The press release reveals the truth you won’t get from CNBC or any of the other corporate shill networks.

http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/pi/2015/pdf/pi1214.pdf

Here are my observations, which you won’t hear elsewhere:

• Personal income rose by $41 billion in December. Sounds impressive. I guess all those jobs are finally generating wages for the masses. Not quite. Wages only went up $7 billion. They increased by a staggering .09%. Goods-producing wages actually declined by 0.2% in December, driven by a drop in Manufacturing sector wages. Thank you strong dollar.

• So if personal income grew so strongly, but wages were in the toilet, where did all the growth come from? You guessed it. The government doled out $13 billion of your taxes to the 102 million non-working Americans and called it personal income. Isn’t that precious. They got almost double what working stiffs got in December. Time to go on the dole.
• Another $13 billion was generated by something called Proprietors’ income with inventory valuation and capital consumption adjustments. WTF that means is anyone’s guess. It jumps around wildly from month to month and smells like another government model created figure used to mislead the sheep.
• Senior citizens around the country will be thrilled to know they earned $3 billion less in interest income than last month, with the amount hitting a new post 2008 low. Kibble and Bits never tasted so good. At least the titans of Wall Street got an extra $4 billion of dividends. I’m sure they are sleeping well at night.
• Not all spending collapsed in December. It seems spending on services rocketed up by $11 billion in one month. Obamacare is the gift that keeps on giving. I’m sure the $7 billion increase in wages that was used to pay for Obamacare premiums and copays are doing wonders for the economy.
• The $50 billion collapse in spending on goods, led by autos, surely doesn’t portend recession. It surely doesn’t mean the debt fueled fake recovery is falling apart as the Federal Reserve QE heroine injections have been withdrawn.

Obama said the shadow of crisis had passed. He’s always truthful and accurate in his assessment. Right?

Shit is hitting the fan all over the world. I hope you are ready to withstand the shitstorm of the century.

http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/02/02/consumption-crashes-in-december/