Friday, March 27, 2009

Jobless States, Plus Real Spending Declines

Unemployment shows no sign of bottoming out:

More states logged double-digit unemployment rates in February, with North Carolina and Rhode Island seeing their rates hit record highs.
(snip)

Seven states have unemployment rates that topped 10 percent last month. That's up from four states in January.


This is what happens when you outsource highly skilled manufacturing jobs to China and replace them with brokers pushing paper into a FIRE economy. Creating more paper money to light on fire (my puns rock!) won't bring back lost jobs, but it will drive up prices:

A price gauge tied to consumer spending rose by 0.3 percent in February and was up 0.2 percent excluding food and energy, indicating that the recession has contributed to a significant moderate in inflation pressures.


That little tidbit is buried at the bottom of supposedly good news on a consumer spending increase of 0.2%. Let's be clear about this: If consumer spending increased by 0.2% this February but the corresponding price gauge increased by 0.3%, the difference between the two is a decline in spending of 0.1% in real terms! I can't be the only one who noticed that!

I refreshed my bearish option positions this week. Now you know why. As the Mogambo Guru might say, this investing stuff is easy!

Nota bene: Anthony J. Alfidi is short uncovered calls on SPY and IWM.