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Two Views of Depression

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MaxedOutMama looks at the GDP data for the two most recent quarters:

We didn't fall into a recession - we fell into a depression. …

  • Real spending on food dropped 2.6 billion.
  • Clothing and footwear dropped 4.4 billion.
  • Gas & fuel dropped 3.5 billion.

This economy is not improving. This is structural on real incomes.

Although I prefer measures of physical quantities (tons, yards, barrels), dollar-based statistics are not subject to much shenanigans over a recent short term.

Tam looked at the landscape a week ago and saw the same thing:

Driving out 38th Street to get to MCF&G the other day was bleak. The road is lined with shuttered big box stores, deserted strip malls, and boarded-up chain restaurants. A fun 21st Century travel game is trying to tell the Chili's from the TGI Friday's from the Applebee's by the architecture with all the corporate signage gone.

If you’re not getting government stimulus work or not floating in Big Ed’s student loan debt bubble, all the chatter about economic recovery and the stock market reaching new highs must sound like a foreign language.