The February 2016 Retail Sales report shows retail sales decreased -0.1% for the month as gasoline sales plunged by -4.4%. Without autos & parts sales, retail sales still decreased by -0.1%. Gasoline sales have dropped -15.6% from a year ago. Declining gasoline sales are once again responsible for the disappointing figures, as without gas stations considered, retail sales increased by a modest 0.2%.
The Mortgage Monitor for January (pdf) from Black Knight Financial Services (BKFS, formerly LPS) reported that there were 659,237 home mortgages, or 1.30% of all mortgages outstanding, remaining in the foreclosure process at the end of January.
In the 21st century Americans have been distracted by the hyper-expensive “war on terror.” Trillions of dollars have been added to the taxpayers’ burden and many billions of dollars in profits to the military/security complex in order to combat insignificant foreign “threats,” such as the Taliban, that remain undefeated after 15 years. All this time the financial system, working hand-in-hand with policymakers, has done more damage to Americans than terrorists could possibly inflict.
When did “low information” become the new political slur de jour? People need to stop. Even Ted Cruz, who should know better, foolishly used it to describe Donald Trump’s supporters. Well guess what, Einsteins, low information likely describes 95% of the voting population compared to political hobbyists who argue about politics on FaceBook, Twitter, political websites, etc. the way others talk about sports or their kids.
Our trade deficit rose by 2.2% January, while the net value of both our exports and our imports decreased. The Census report on our international trade in goods and services for January indicated that our seasonally adjusted goods and services trade deficit rose by $1.0 billion to $45.7 billion in January from a December deficit which was revised from $43.4 billion to $44.7 billion
The February 2016 unemployment report is being reported as great news once again. The official unemployment rate is 4.9%, a rate not seen since February 2008 and no change from January. Overall, this month's CPS does have some great news in it. There were over half a million more employed than the previous month and those not in the labor force declined by over 300 thousand.
Sometimes it seems as though the mainstream media reports superdelegates as though they were permanent votes. Or if they don't, they only mention superdelegates as a side bar or an asterisk when reporting, like an afterthought, in a quick sound bite, when no one is really listening. They post the superdelegate numbers on the TV screen in big bold type, to be sure that if someone is busy and can't watch the entire segment, they will see the graphic and just assume that Bernie Sanders has no chance at all of winning the Democratic primary.
The February 2016 ISM Manufacturing Survey is yet another month of manufacturing malaise. Manufacturing is in a 5th month of contraction, although much less so than last month. PMI was 49.5%, 1.3 percentage points higher than January.
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