The Golden Truth: Here Come the Retail Layoffs...

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Here Come the Retail Layoffs...

Walmart kicks it off by sacking 11,200 Sam's Club workers, which represents 10% of the Sam's Club workforce Article Link. This is somewhat surprising because Wall Street and the financial media have been selling the idea that discount retailers were thriving in this environment. To make matters worse, U.S. retail credit card defaults hit near-record levels during the holiday season. Here's the link: Credit Card Defaults

I went on record last month with a prediction that the 1st quarter would see a huge surge of layoffs in the retailing sector and that at least one major retailer would hit the wall. We know Zales is in restructuring negotiations with its creditors, so I get 1/2 credit for the bankruptcy call so far.

It looks like Wall Street is looking for a +4% GDP number for Q4 this Friday. This will be a bogus number. Recall that Q3 GDP was initially reported to be 3.5% but was revised down to +2.2% by the final reading reported in December. I suspect that any uptick in Q4 GDP was fueled by heavy Government spending, something which will continue but which will pile even more debt onto the hopeless Treasury debt-load.

3 comments:

JMacSunday, 24 January, 2010
Kranny how about the greeters? Did they spare the greeters? I hope they spared the greeters. I know a great many people who will be vying for those jobs.
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JMacSunday, 24 January, 2010
That was wierd, my verification post code was "yotaxess"

Are you inputting those Kranny?
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Dave in DenverSunday, 24 January, 2010
LOL. No I don't set the verification code thingy. For some reason the movie "Soylent Green" popped into my thoughts when I read your post about the greeters LOL.
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Why Gold?

Gold is the world's oldest currency. You exchange your fiat currency (dollars, euros, yen, yuan) into gold as an insurance policy against catastrophic Central Bank and Government policies which serve to destroy the value of fiat currencies and destroy democracy.

Gold can ONLY be considered an investment to the extent that it remains significantly and historically undervalued in relation to the fiat currencies against which its value is measured. Otherwise it remains the world's oldest currency and is completely free from the counterparty risk associated with currency by Government fiat (i.e. fiat currencies rely on a Government's "full faith and credit.")

Quote Of The Month Courtesy of "Jesse"

Unfortunately for Larry Summers, Ben Bernanke, and their friends at the BIS, they have not yet figured out how to print physical gold, silver, and other essential commodities, and the world is reaching the point where it might simply start ignoring the New York based markets with respect to essential commodities such as basic materials, oil, foodstuffs, and the like, as they become increasingly irrelevant, fraudulent, and Orwellian. And then where will the financial engineers be, except with no more excuses and no place to hide?

Here is the link to his entire commentary, well worth a read:

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2010/07/gold-daily-chart-shock-and-awe-for.html

Great Quote From Jim Rogers On Govt CPI Reporting

JR: I mean, we have inflation now. If you go to the shop, whether it’s groceries, or education or insurance or health care, prices are going up for everything. The government lies about it in the US. Some countries lie, many countries don’t: Australia, China, India and Norway. Many countries don’t lie about it and acknowledge that we have inflation. Others lie about it, the UK and the US, but if you go shopping you know prices are up.

Q: Are you saying that the American Consumer Price Index (CPI) published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics is a lie?

JR: In my opinion, yes, of course it is. Have you looked at it? They’ve changed their accounting several times in the past few decades. When housing was 20% to 25% of the CPI and housing was going up, they didn’t count it, saying rents weren’t going up, and then when home prices started going down, they counted it. It’s the same with many things. It’s staggering some of the tortuous reasoning that the BLS has used over the past 25 or 30 years. When the price of gasoline goes up, they say it’s not really going up because it’s better gasoline, better quality, therefore you’re getting more for your money. I mean, it’s endless, the stuff that they say and for some reason people sit there, although more and more people are catching on, and accept what the government says.

source: www.clusterstock.com

Quote of the Week

"The primary function of a Central Bank is to engage in the massive transfer of wealth from the middle class to the wealthy elite. The Federal Reserve was set up to do this with the blessing and support of Congress." - Dave in Denver

If you refuse to believe the above, please read "The Creature From Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve" by G. Edward Griffin and then explain to me why the Senate voted down the Vitter Amendment and Congress refuses to pass a law requiring a full audit of the Fed, even though the Fed is using taxpayer-backed money to bailout Wall Street and Europe.