Believe your lying eyes: The economy sucks.
Posted by: Donna
From Crooks and Liars:
Ann Taylor closing 117 stores nationwide.
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Catherines closing 150 stores nationwide
Talbots will close all 78 of its kids and men’s stores plus another 22 underperforming stores.
Gap Inc. closing 85 stores
Foot Locker to close 140 stores…
So much for our retail based economy, indeed. This is what happens when people can no longer use overinflated houses as ATMs and everyone realizes that the prosperity that was supposed to trickle down to them evaporated somewhere along the way. Throw in $4 a gallon gas just to salt the wound.
But hey, did you know that the economy grew 1.9% last quarter? Somebody’s economy did, supposedly. I’m no expert on the economy by any means but something about that doesn’t jive to me so I did some poking around and found this:
Lately, it seems the US economy is flat on its back, with companies going bankrupt left and right. Yet, government statistics say quite the opposite. In the second quarter, the US economy supposedly grew 1.9% annualized q-o-q. Sounds pretty good, huh?
The sceptic in you might be asking, “how did we manage a 1.9% GDP growth rate in Q2 when the economy looks so awful?”
The answer: bogus data. I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but this data is so obviously false that it galls me to see the US government releasing it.
Pay attention to the table in that Credit Writedowns post. It shows how the government is misleading us, using inflation figures that are pure malarkey. Supposedly, we had 1.1% inflation last quarter. 1.1%. Raise your hand if you’ve gone grocery shopping lately and it seemed like the costs went up a tad more than that. Or if you put gas in your car last quarter. 1.1% inflation, my fine Irish fanny. Who are they trying to fool?
I doubt even Rush Limbaugh’s audience believed him last week when he was proudly bleating about the 1.9% growth. At some point even the most dangerously ignorant among us (and that would be Rush’s listeners) are forcibly confronted with the truth.
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