The economy is strong. The American consumer is resilient. Everything is great. At least that’s the mainstream narrative. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey explains why it’s all just an illusion of prosperity. Along the way, he covers the September retail sales data, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech this week, and the recent gold rally.
Every time retail sales come in higher than expected, the mainstream media breathlessly reports this as proof that the American consumer is strong and resilient. In his podcast, Peter Schiff explained that these retail sales numbers aren’t a sign of a strong economy. They just reflect Americans paying more for less. And what’s worse, they’re burying themselves in debt to do it.
The economy is in a slow burn. You can’t even see the flames. But you can smell whiffs of smoke every now and then if you’re paying attention. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap, host Mike Maharrey calls attention to that smoke with a breakdown of August’s CPI and some other data that came out this week. He also busts a myth about silver.
A lot of the economic data this month looks strong. But when you dig a little deeper, you find that this “strength” is an illusion.
Following is a breakdown of several of these data points with some help from our friends at Passant Gardant.
Garbage in, garbage out. The phrase is usually associated with computers, but it also applies to the formulas used to generate government economic data. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey goes over the January CPI and retail sales data with that phrase in mind.
Retail sales came in much stronger than expected in January after declining the previous two months. Mainstream financial media pundits immediately declared that this “jump in consumer spending” was a good sign for the economy. The Wall Street Journal called the robust sales report “evidence that US economic growth picked up at the start of the year.”
But there is a dark side to this retail sales report.
When it comes to the economy, inflation, and the Federal Reserve, the mainstream just doesn’t get it.
This headline from Fox Business reveals the level of confusion.
“Retail sales unexpectedly edge higher in August despite soaring inflation” [Emphasis added]
The mainstream has suddenly discovered price movements impact retail sales.
For months, retail sales generally came in higher than expected. And for months the mainstream financial punditry ignored inflation and told us this signaled a strong economy. But in July, retail sales unexpectedly fell flat. Now the mainstream financial punditry claims this signals a strong economy.
Retail sales rose 1% in June after a 0.1% decline in May. Mainstream media breathlessly reported that the jump in retail spending “eases” recession fears.
Does it though?
Retail sales unexpectedly dropped in May, casting doubt on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s “the American consumer is healthy” narrative.
