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"Welcome To The Contraction": Q1 GDP Drops By 0.7%, Corporate Profits Crash

Tyler Durden's picture




 

And you thought the preliminary 0.2% Q1 GDP print from last month was bad. Moments ago, just as we warned, the BEA released its latest, first, revision of Q1 GDP (pre second-seasonal adjustments of course), and we just got confirmation that for the third time in the past four years, the US economy suffered a quarterly contraction, with the Q1 GDP revised drastically from a 0.2% growth to a drop of -0.7%: the worst print since snow struck, so very unexpectedly, last winter.

Incidentally, there has not been a US "expansion" with three negative quarters in it in the past 60 years.

Worse, the breakdown shows that far from being a non-core slowdown, consumption rose just 1.8%, below the 2.0% expected, and contributed just 1.23% of the bottom line GDP number. This was the worst Personal Spending contribution since Q1 of last year, when revised GDP dropped by -2.11%.

What is disturbing is that as noted before, inventories contributed the biggest component of Q1 GDP growth, adding $106 billion in nominal "growth." Without that contribution, annualized GDP would have been worse than -3%!

And worst of all, was the plunge in corporate profits. According to the report:

Profits from current production (corporate profits with inventory valuation adjustment (IVA) and
capital consumption adjustment (CCAdj)) decreased $125.5 billion in the first quarter, compared with a
decrease of $30.4 billion in the fourth.

 

Profits of domestic financial corporations decreased $2.6 billion in the first quarter, compared with a decrease of $12.5 billion in the fourth. Profits of domestic nonfinancial corporations decreased $100.4 billion, in contrast to an increase of $18.1 billion. The rest-of-the-world component of profits decreased $22.4 billion, compared with a decrease of $36.1 billion. This measure is calculated as the difference between receipts from the rest of the world and payments to the rest of the world. In the first quarter, receipts decreased $28.9 billion, and payments decreased $6.5 billion

Or visually, here was the third largest corporate profit crash since the financial crisis:

In short: welcome to the recession, which however will soon be double seasonally adjusted into another flourishing, of only stiatistically, "recovery."

 

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Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:50 | 6143276 S Spade
S Spade's picture

gee, who woulda thought the tax and regulation stimulus wouldn't work...

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:51 | 6143283 Headbanger
Headbanger's picture

What's this "profits" thing?

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:57 | 6143294 Dubaibanker
Dubaibanker's picture

Just BTFD!

If anyone survives the coming disaster, it will be the corporations. People have just become a number...people come and go...but the corporations remain!

With so much cash, there is almost no way that the corporations can collapse, because the Govt, the tax man, the SEC, the judiciary, the police, the FIFA....even the movie stars and sports stars.....everyone supports and obeys the corporation!

Corrupt eilte rule the world!

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:57 | 6143301 Headbanger
Headbanger's picture

Just STFU!

Oh yeah corporations... duh duh duh...

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:02 | 6143319 Shocker
Shocker's picture

No one could see that coming.... How many times have we heard that

Layoff List: http://www.dailyjobcuts.com

-

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:05 | 6143332 lordylord
lordylord's picture

But there was no contraction w.r.t. government programs, budgets, etc.  In fact, wasn't there record tax collection and record spending?  That's all that matters in the eyes of .gov. 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:06 | 6143335 Silver Bul
Silver Bul's picture

If the BLS doubles their winter seasonal correction up, won’t they also doubly correct the summer down? No guesses please, only answer if you know for sure.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:14 | 6143360 eclectic syncretist
eclectic syncretist's picture

The correct answer is that they will come up with any number that supports whatever counterfeiting policy they want to parasitize us with. Please refer to the fact that they've narrowed the data used to compute inflation recently too.  

http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpinewest.htm

They are protecting the value of the dollar and propping up the stock market, which are the last legs holding it all together.  If the stock market falls they really can't pump it back up (short of causing hyperinflation, which they do not want to do).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYajHZ4QUVM

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:25 | 6143390 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

I am Jack's raging bile duct....

No gas or food in the CPI, and it's chained.  No long term unemployment measure to U-3.  The wars in Iraq and Af/Pak rage on (military spending has increased under Obama).  The POMO desk rolls on buying toxic US debt with future tax payments.  Old people think their pensions will save them and young people can't pull their heads out of their cell phones.

Yeah, everything is awesome.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:37 | 6143441 motorollin
motorollin's picture

But what if I'm reading ZH on my phone?

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:51 | 6143498 Temporalist
Temporalist's picture

Joe Lavagina says that GDP is understated.  Yes this is a joke but it's also true.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:10 | 6143570 MillionDollarBonus_
MillionDollarBonus_'s picture

It's been a tough quarter with the rise of ISIS and ongoing aggression by Russia. Economists had no way of seeing these international conflicts in advance, which may have resulted in some uninformed economic policy. I expect Q2 GDP to resume its positive upward trend as our government and Federal Reserve adopt more apropriate fiscal and monetary policies, and green shoots continue to emerge. 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:26 | 6143621 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

You'll have to extrapolate; just how has ISIS and Russia affected GDP?

If you want to troll, troll hard.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:50 | 6143697 nope-1004
nope-1004's picture

"Green shoots"... lmao.  Atta boy MDB.  Or is it green chutes?

And BTW, the sign on the wall as you enter the FED building says "interest rates will rise tomorrow".  So yes, I'm with ya and not a fool either.

 

 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 12:36 | 6144104 Creepy A. Cracker
Creepy A. Cracker's picture

Heading into the Recovery Summer number... six? 

<sigh...>

Welcome to government economy strangulation.  If we only had more regulations (costs forced on businesses) and higher pay (price increases on U.S. made products)...

At least government employees and government connected are still doing incredibly well - at the expense of everyone else.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 23:45 | 6146125 Gobbler
Gobbler's picture

It's important to remember that Satan enjoys anal sex, so please try to avoid it.  Thank you.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 23:14 | 6146063 Nick Jihad
Nick Jihad's picture

MDB doesn't troll hard, he trolls with effortless panache.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:42 | 6143675 BandGap
BandGap's picture

You left out China building sand runways in the Spratlys.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:45 | 6143682 Blano
Blano's picture

Yay he's back! !!

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 11:27 | 6143857 greenskeeper carl
greenskeeper carl's picture

You guys gotta read this. We are officially turning the corner according to market watch

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-economy-actually-is-not-in-a-recess...

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:49 | 6143700 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

And when the " positive upward trend " doesn't resume in Q2 will you remind us? or will you just bring happy meaningless paragraphs that have zero substance? IE ISIS aggression...

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:17 | 6143593 mrdenis
mrdenis's picture

We do need more confetti for New years 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:51 | 6143499 KnightTakesKing
KnightTakesKing's picture

The real reason for this is the bad weather. This winter was cold and snowy. Now we are seeing a lot hot weather this spring.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:06 | 6143556 The Merovingian
The Merovingian's picture

Just remember, who puts the BS in BLS!  There is nothing to see here ... they still have one more month to 'fix' this ... a pinch of seasonal adjusting here, a dash of channel stuffing there, then throw in some bad weather and presto! ... that number will be back in the green for the 'final' reporting next month ...  

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 23:16 | 6146069 Nick Jihad
Nick Jihad's picture

This is all part of BLS's long-term plan to groom their seasonal adjustments, such that come  October 2016, they'll be able to juice the numbers to boost Hillary's chances.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:07 | 6143557 max2205
max2205's picture

We need a blizzard hurricane earthquake and a super  volcano. ...

Or just Moar Cowbell! 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:52 | 6143500 KnightTakesKing
KnightTakesKing's picture

. dupe

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 11:53 | 6143949 Shock and Awe (not verified)
Shock and Awe's picture

I agree but the one outstanding question is, where will ZH have it's victory party when the whole thing crashes to 0?

The 4 Seasons?

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:07 | 6143333 knukles
knukles's picture

Well, not really unexpected since it's hot in India and rained in the Amazon. 
Hedonistic Adjustments, Bitchez

             pass the Treacle

    kicking stone, hands in pocket humming Against the Wind

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:19 | 6143379 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

Obamacare will save us.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:34 | 6143424 Dizzy Malscience
Dizzy Malscience's picture

The good news is that although every productive person in the US is being taxed, fee'd and utilitied into complete serfdom, that SSRI drugs which cost almost nothing to produce by big pharma are almost free to the Obamacare masses.

SOMA, anyone?

 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:49 | 6143481 lordylord
lordylord's picture

Pharmaceutical products are relatively cheap to produce, but expensive to research and bring to market.  Only 5% of products make the money back that was spent researching it.  Get a clue buddy.

The rest of your post may be accurate.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:54 | 6143515 Dizzy Malscience
Dizzy Malscience's picture

yeah, ok..  so it takes $400M to make a drug that  produces hundreds of billions in .gov taxed and subsidized misdistribution, and is authorized by our wonderful FDA..

http://www.bad-drug.net/bad-drug-list

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:06 | 6143541 lordylord
lordylord's picture

It does take hundreds of millions to research and bring a drug to market.  Some drugs (very few) are "blockbusters" and make billions, but like I said, 95% don't even make their money back.  Also, try a little harder to get that clue.  Your link wasn't even relevant.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 11:27 | 6143854 chunga
chunga's picture

Poor, poor pharma giants. Doxy has been around for decades and now it's through the $$$ roof. The profits are obscene.

When a drug costs 30 times what it once did

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/07/business/la-fi-lazarus-20130308

 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:31 | 6143640 gimme soma dat
gimme soma dat's picture

gimme soma dat

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:20 | 6143382 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

.

Incidentally, there has not been a US "expansion" with three negative quarters in it in the past 60 years.

Why, then, this qualifies as an economic miracle! The US economy simply refuses to stop expanding!

Look outside, everybody, it's snowing green shoots, and all the bowls of porridge are Juuuuust Right®!

Glory to Krugman! To the printers glory!

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:19 | 6143605 chunga
chunga's picture

The economy is so great I'm starting my Christmas shopping right now!

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:27 | 6143626 GeezerGeek
GeezerGeek's picture

Your comment made me wonder: just how many of today's youth can identify the reference to bowls of porridge? I remember a few years back (20 or so, actually) I was working with a group of Hispanic immigrants (legal, nice people, no disrespect intended here) and made a comment including "in for a penny, in for a pound". The cluelessness on their faces indicated a serious cultural gap. Speaking with 20-somethings today - mostly my son's friends - makes me often feel the same way.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:03 | 6143305 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

No, it's the debt that will outlive us all.

When the human race is gone from the planet there will still be banks and computers shuffling our debt back and forth for hundreds of years, desperately trying to preserve liquidity in a system long dead.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:03 | 6143321 XAU XAG
XAU XAG's picture

 

 

 

 

@NoDebt

That is very very funny

Those banks and computers ..... made bye who Apple? Microsoft?

or China?

 

LOL

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:05 | 6143330 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Skynet.  That's why we won't be around any more.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:10 | 6143346 NoVa
NoVa's picture

There is classic Sci Fi book you may want to read.  A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter MIller.  

I've read a few times, starting with a college assignment last century.  It is a great story of the folly of man versus God/Nature, and how Mankind continues to think we are supreme but we continue to repeat our behavior and lead ourselves to self-destruct.  

RE:  In this case your comment on debt.  Debt will outlive us.  

 

NoVa

 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:21 | 6143607 BandGap
BandGap's picture

I'm somewhat of a math whiz so I think a drop from 0.2% to -0.7% is equal to a -0.9% drop. Just sayin'.

Don't mean to pile on, obviously this country has some work to do.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 12:22 | 6144060 disabledvet
disabledvet's picture

An inventory build is bullish actually.

The product has been paid for so that does represent actual payment in cash. Since anything that's sitting on the shelf or in the tank is pretty much worth zero that's a powerful incentive to start moving product going forward.

The most powerful actually.

And of course the best way to do that is to start hiring..."putting people back to work" as it were.

Hard to see these big price moves holding that we've had this Spring but we'll see.

Sears Holdings has had a huge run...

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:30 | 6143635 GeezerGeek
GeezerGeek's picture

So you're saying that all that debt being accumulated now won't fall on the shoulders of our progeny but rather on some robots/automatons? In that case, let's cut taxes and let the government borrow everything it wants to spend.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:57 | 6143528 cheech_wizard
cheech_wizard's picture

Corrupt elite ruin the world! (There, fixed it for you...)

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 12:40 | 6144130 Grimaldus
Grimaldus's picture

Only the coprorations that obamatron assclown progressives like will survive like big medical (obamacare anyone?) or the secret corporations in obamas secret trade deal and of course the super favorite darling of the the criminal progressive elite, finance and banking corporations, where execs can do no wrong and taxpayer money will bail them out.

Embrace the progressive suck dude, there is not a constitutional conservative anywhere directing this crime show.

Grimaldus

 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:56 | 6143296 XAU XAG
XAU XAG's picture

 

 

 

 

Government

 

Data

 

Propaganda

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:00 | 6143313 XAU XAG
XAU XAG's picture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Projected

Rate

Of

False

Investment

Targeted

Suprise!

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:04 | 6143326 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

If you're going to use that much real estate in the thread could you at least have the courtesy to put up some nice porn shots?

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:10 | 6143349 XAU XAG
XAU XAG's picture

@No Debt

 

You mean this type of porn?

https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=pictures+of+nail+guns

 

or this

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/

Chart Porn?

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:52 | 6143286 DeadFred
DeadFred's picture

Nothing here that a third seasonal adjustment won't fix.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:54 | 6143291 Millivanilli
Millivanilli's picture

But actually, he thought as he re-adjusted the Ministry of Plenty’s figures, it was not even forgery. It was merely the substitution of one piece of nonsense for another. Most of the material that you were dealing with had no connexion with anything in the real world, not even the kind of connexion that is contained in a direct lie. Statistics were just as much a fantasy in their original version as in their rectified version. A great deal of the time you were expected to make them up out of your head. For example, the Ministry of Plenty’s forecast had estimated the output of boots for the quarter at 145 million pairs. The actual output was given as sixty-two millions. Winston, however, in rewriting the forecast, marked the figure down to fifty-seven millions, so as to allow for the usual claim that the quota had been overfulfilled. In any case, sixty-two millions was no nearer the truth than fifty-seven millions, or than 145 millions. Very likely no boots had been produced at all. Likelier still, nobody knew how many had been produced, much less cared. All one knew was that every quarter astronomical numbers of boots were produced on paper, while perhaps half the population of Oceania went barefoot. And so it was with every class of recorded fact, great or small. Everything faded away into a shadow-world in which, finally, even the date of the year had become uncertain.

 

1984

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:58 | 6143308 ZH Snob
ZH Snob's picture

I've shown various people a chart of GDP to debt, how the 2 diverged in opposite directions in '08 and continue in extremis.  most have no idea why this is important, and how it can only result in a default or repudiation of the debt.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:19 | 6143377 starman
starman's picture

Meh another half a million in student loans with 84 month auto financing will triple that number! 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:32 | 6143423 slaughterer
slaughterer's picture

A Little Recession (TM) inside the Great Recession (TM, patent pending) should be good for more recorder highs in ES/Russel/Nasdaq, et. al.  BTFD is the new national anthem, beats "We Will Rock You!"

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 12:30 | 6144097 tempo
tempo's picture

Illegals should be able to vote according to a poll of democrats. OK, but they will never pay taxes or carry health or car insurance like citizens are required. The Democrats only push for more benefits but never face the issue of who pays.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:50 | 6143277 gafgroocK
gafgroocK's picture

 

 

"We GDP'd some Folks"

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:51 | 6143282 onewayticket2
onewayticket2's picture

ZH was right about the inventory build.....way ahead, Tyler.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:58 | 6143303 BeaverCream
BeaverCream's picture

Schiff has been saying that for months as well.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:52 | 6143503 JoeTurner
JoeTurner's picture

Schiff has also been predicting QE4 (QE4EVA) once it's clear to the FED we are in another downturn. I'll give it until late Summer before Uncle Yellen ramps up the printing press...

 

The stock market must not be allowed to go down comrades !

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:52 | 6143285 Devils Advocate
Devils Advocate's picture

I don't know how much longer I can take this extend and pretend bullshit!

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:58 | 6143304 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

You'll take it and you'll like it. Got that mister?

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:53 | 6143288 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

Clearly they aren't printing enough. If only they would have listened to Krugman and printed moar. When will they learn, moar is never enough?

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:55 | 6143295 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

I think we all agree it's time for the Fed to raise rates.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:14 | 6143365 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

Not Krugman!  Give him negative rates or give him death!

:)

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:00 | 6143315 venturen
venturen's picture

I won't have OD on Heroin if only I had taken more! 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:23 | 6143392 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

.

When will they learn, moar is never enough?

Plan B: moarer!

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 11:36 | 6143889 divingengineer
divingengineer's picture

If they print me some, I'll spend it.

That is my pledge to them.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:54 | 6143290 MATA HAIRY
MATA HAIRY's picture

BULLISH

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:08 | 6143338 onewayticket2
onewayticket2's picture

so the Fed is going to Raise Rates into a negative GDP print?

 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:25 | 6143292 Rainman
Rainman's picture

Granma blames it on a transitory strong dollah in ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 

   Musta snowed in Canada during winter too.

              http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-29/canada-s-0-6-gdp-contraction-is-most-since-2009-on-investment

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:56 | 6143298 gatorengineer
gatorengineer's picture

And a million Algo's subroutines screamed out buy all things......

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:57 | 6143302 becky quick and...
becky quick and her beautiful mouth's picture

just change the model, fixed.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:04 | 6143325 Jethro
Jethro's picture

Seasonally adjusted, seasonal-seasonal adjustments. Then average the daily average twice a week, then average the monthly average +1.  Done.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:58 | 6143306 youngman
youngman's picture

coporate buybacks should keep the stock prices high...and EPS looking great....but the strong dollar and regulations are killing us

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:37 | 6143440 cooky puss
cooky puss's picture

"coporate buybacks should keep the stock prices high...and EPS looking great....but the strong dollar and regulations are killing us"

Strong dollar *giggle*

You meant, "stronger" than the rest of the currencies that engaged in the race to the bottom. FIFY

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:58 | 6143307 replaceme
replaceme's picture

Seriously, this is nothing - the new adjustment model will make it all better. Go to the Keys.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:59 | 6143309 yogibear
yogibear's picture

Do I hear QE4 coming. 

Ever larger QEs. 

Double up on the QE. This time $170 billion/month. 

The debt addicts need ever larger QEs to keep functioning.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:01 | 6143316 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

QE4?  There have been so many QELites and QE Twists that we entered QEINFINITY long ago.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:09 | 6143345 gatorengineer
gatorengineer's picture

Next QE will be the bail out of state and local giverments....

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:15 | 6143368 onewayticket2
onewayticket2's picture

Think ELECTIONS.

 

the worse 2015 looks, the better 2016 looks by comparison.   

(you take out 100bps of gdp today, that's 100bps less 2016 has to grow to be "positive")

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:59 | 6143310 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

It's all good.  China will BTFD.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 08:59 | 6143311 Fun Facts
Fun Facts's picture

If the GDP deflator wasn't rigged, the "data" would show a continuous recession/depression since 2008.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:13 | 6143358 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

If the GDP deflator wasn't rigged, the "data" would show a continuous recession/depression since 2000.

 

 

There fixed that for ya.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:19 | 6143381 holdbuysell
holdbuysell's picture

John Williams' Shadowstats blog has all the analysis. Good stuff.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:33 | 6143318 ejmoosa
ejmoosa's picture

The term "Corporate profits" is misleading.  It should be called "Business Profits" because it includes all businesses.  The First implies that it is only corporations.

And you are late to the party.  For the four quarters ending 12/14, business profits after taxes were down 8.29%.

Profits after taxes were actually up for the first quarter relative to last year by 2.04% 

Profits before and after taxes were both higher than for the same quarter 1 year ago.

Businesses are in the process of "right-sizing themselves to return to higher profit growth.  And most of us know how they will do that.

Here are two charts if you are interested. The second is the profits after taxes for the last four quarters back to 1994. 

 

http://ejmoosa.tumblr.com/post/120184187339/year-over-year-business-prof...

http://ejmoosa.tumblr.com/post/120184933079/profit-growth-after-taxes-la...

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:02 | 6143320 CHC
CHC's picture

Everything is awesome.  Welcome to the MATRIX.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:04 | 6143322 SERReal1
SERReal1's picture

I guess Liesman will recommend a triple seasonal adjustment on this news.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:03 | 6143323 yogibear
yogibear's picture

In the meantime smaller packaging of goods to eek out ever more profits.

Time to boycott those goods.

 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:05 | 6143327 Low Tech Future
Low Tech Future's picture

I know that this is stating the obvious, but as long as online shopping continues to grow where comparision shopping for lowest price is so fast and painless, we'll get lower prices.  I've tested the waters of online retail.  It's a race for the bottom.  Very thin (if any) margins. Many months, the best you can do is get some good tax deductible benefits.

 

Race to the bottom.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:06 | 6143334 kowalli
kowalli's picture

Hillary as new president can fix this XD

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:06 | 6143336 Bryan
Bryan's picture

What... you still take any numbers handed out by the oligarchy as legitimate?

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:07 | 6143337 G_T_A_44
G_T_A_44's picture

Real Figure=     -2 /- 2.7 % The global financial structure remains on life support appartus. Zero organic growth.

That is all.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:08 | 6143341 Mat Cauthon
Mat Cauthon's picture

Kicked can gets stuck on curb...

Yellen and Krugman try to figure out if dent in aluminum is somehow good for economy.

 

Dovie'andi se tovya sagain (It's time to toss the dice)

Got Karatbars? 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:11 | 6143351 zeroaccountability
zeroaccountability's picture

Don't Worry!  The stawk market is 'forward looking'.  So, with stawks at  all time highs, this is all priced in, right?  RIGHT?

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:11 | 6143352 Seasmoke
Seasmoke's picture

Sure looks like a Depression to me. 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:12 | 6143356 CoastalCowboy
CoastalCowboy's picture

Just think how much worse things would be without Obamacare levitating our economy. Our Kenyan Messiah's master plan for hope and change is our only chance. Unaffordable and unusable health insurance and ISIS are just two facets of his superior plan. He's a Nobel Peace Prize winner you know.

One of my business clients has seen their company's health coverage costs increase 50% each year for the past two years.

Unfortunately, we're going to have to augur into the ground.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:14 | 6143363 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

i know the economy is bad by how the hotels treat me. when times are phat even sucky rooms are outrageously priced if you can get one. however, in lean times it is way better. in 2009 i booked a reasonably priced room but when i got there they moved me into the best room in the house. it happened again recently so i know it isn't all sunshine and roses out there.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:58 | 6143524 lordylord
lordylord's picture

The hotel was overbooked and they were hoping for a cancellation before giving away the "best room in the house".  You got lucky or unlucky depending how cheap you are.  If someone reserved that room, you would have been on a bus to a nearby hotel where your room would have been comped.  

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:48 | 6143696 Pareto
Pareto's picture

+1 what an awesome indicator Buzz.  you can't fudge that data point.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:19 | 6143378 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

QE5. Save McDonald's with $15/hr to boost share holding expectations, until sales forecast fall off the cliff. 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:21 | 6143384 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

yeah, the ceo is the only one worth a damn in any corporation. they are like 10,000 times better than all the other low lifes working there put together.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:25 | 6143399 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Cook a burger on your grill. Fuck fast food bullshit. Our society is lazy. 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:29 | 6143406 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

oh i don't eat there. yuck. you think i'm going to let those scumbags handle my food? ew, gross. that still doesn't make the ceo any better than the rest of the disgusting employess who serve that crap.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:21 | 6143386 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

  F/X is completely fucking detached from reality. Bond yields are lower and the macro is shitty yet usd/jpy goes bid. You can see the panic buying on the last day of the month.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:24 | 6143394 TheFourthStoog-ing
TheFourthStoog-ing's picture

Government numbers can't be trusted, right Zeroes?? So why do you now choose not to question these? Is it because the numbers confirm your "the world's going to hell in a hand basket" bias?

Idiots....

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:25 | 6143403 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

if they are willing to print a negative number you can bet your ass that it's way worse than that.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:29 | 6143411 Navymugsy
Navymugsy's picture

It's the old Wall St. adage of "if the numbers are that bad, how bad would they have been if they hadn't tweaked them?"

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:31 | 6143418 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

if those are the triple whammied double seasonally adjusted numbers how bad is the real deal?

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 11:51 | 6143936 SillySalesmanQu...
SillySalesmanQuestion's picture

Just move the decimal point a teeny bit to the right...

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:54 | 6143513 TheFourthStoog-ing
TheFourthStoog-ing's picture

It's all a big conspiracy, huh? :-)

Zero Hedge thinks it's the arbiter of truth, telling us which number sets are believable and which are not. Invariably, the numbers that suggest the economy's either in or headed to the toilet get the seal of authenticity and the ones that don't follow the narrative are discarded or proclaimed part of a "conspiracy."

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:46 | 6143685 Pareto
Pareto's picture

Holy fuck!!  Its Paul Krugman!  Or is it?  I mean - it sure sounds like Paul Krugman because thats what annoying pieces of shit sound like.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 13:28 | 6144289 r00t61
r00t61's picture

TheFourthStoog-ing - not to be confused with longtime ZH poster TheFourthStooge-ing (note the 'e') is the latest user account of the multiple-time banned user Amerikan Patriot (aka iofera).

 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 13:38 | 6144326 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

So your stupidity and primitivism increase significantly...

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 11:45 | 6143920 Tursas
Tursas's picture

The weapons trade has slowed down!

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:29 | 6143415 Seasmoke
Seasmoke's picture

What an annoying motherfucker. 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:31 | 6143420 Eahudimac
Eahudimac's picture

Are you suggesting .gov would fudge the numbers to the downside?

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 13:25 | 6144276 red_pill
red_pill's picture

Only if the Big Boyz have loaded (up on) their shorts.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:33 | 6143425 Monty Burns
Monty Burns's picture

Because the offical gov figure will inevitably be revised downwards in due course. In that sense the current one is a useful benchmark.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:36 | 6143436 Unstable Condition
Unstable Condition's picture

You must be Mr. Yellen's bottom bitch.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:44 | 6143680 damicol
damicol's picture

Becaue, you brain dead Kenyan faggot monket cim sucker, we on Zero can read  fucking accounts and  can also calculat

FUN_DER-MEN-TAALS

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:26 | 6143404 Secret Weapon
Secret Weapon's picture

Want to jump start the real economy - suspend payroll/income taxes for 3 years. 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:39 | 6143446 Stormtrooper
Stormtrooper's picture

Want to jump start the economy? Suspend payroll/income taxes forever.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:13 | 6143582 Shitgum Suicide
Shitgum Suicide's picture

Aw you beat me to it storm trooper. Along with that solution just convert the tax code to a Flat 15% for businesses and corporation and institute a consumption tax that is half state and federal. Make the politicians accountable for not paying the government for once. If they fuck it up or corruption is involved not only do you lose your job but a mandatory. 20 year sentence in the federal pokie in the butt.

Put the fear of going to prison on the people who should have that stress placed upon, not the people who pay the fucking check.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 11:15 | 6143806 Kprime
Kprime's picture

too late, regulations strangling merika.  suspend .gov for 3 years

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 11:35 | 6143883 ejmoosa
ejmoosa's picture

Eliminate income taxes on businesses altogether.

The trillions offshore are returned for investment.

No more games with earnings.  The bottom line will be the REAL bottom line.

We already know that every business tax sooner or later is paid by the individual anyway, so it's just a shell game at this point.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:27 | 6143407 Navymugsy
Navymugsy's picture

Three years ago I would have been shocked but after being an avid reader here all I can say is, how could anybody NOT know what was going to happen? If I had cable I'd put on CNBC just to watch Steve Lies-Man turning purple as he tries to spin this into something positive.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:30 | 6143416 Jungle Jim
Jungle Jim's picture

So, will metals prices go up or down because of this, today? Because I have to sell some, today. What *time* of day would be best? Earlier? Later?

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 11:13 | 6143800 Kprime
Kprime's picture

never a good time to sell metal

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:31 | 6143421 Monty Burns
Monty Burns's picture

Wait till the adjusted (i.e.real) figure comes in.

Wow, just wow!

 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:41 | 6143455 MickV
MickV's picture

As the tide goes out the criminal bankers will fall like rain.

 

http://nypost.com/2015/05/28/man-falls-to-death-outside-luxury-building/

 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:41 | 6143458 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Junk bonds, dot.com blow-up, i didn't have sex with Monica, 911, go out to spend money, Libor default, and we are going to charge banking debits. 

Look at the Bank of International Settlements.  

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:47 | 6143486 corporatewhore
corporatewhore's picture

So of all the candidates running to capture the Presidency who has any solutions that can WORK? or do we have to endure another 12 to sixteen months of bullshit media about stupid issues such as gay marriage or other wedge issues.  Tackle serious problems people.  We are in a depression and have been.  The old solutions don't work.  Come up with some new ideas and get us out of this mess

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 11:13 | 6143794 Kprime
Kprime's picture

I'm predicting another 16 months of media bullshit, followed by another 16 months, groundhog day.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 12:18 | 6144043 Raging Debate
Raging Debate's picture

Corporatewhore - The US has been structurally impaired based on 40 years of bad decision making. It is going to be a good decade more from here of LOG (low organic growth). Big problems such as demographic imbalance (older folks downsize and get benefits with less people to support it) and trade imbalance are major headwinds.

Still, the US as a banana Republic still is a pretty big banana and it need not be complete disaster. However, until politicians go to jail again for accepting bribes from corporations, there is a much higher chance of continuing to become Mexico over the next couple of decades. Based on an expensive cost of living and low wages, we're well on our way.

 This is a very weak year so far for my business, but I learned during small spurts of activity to bank for the next nasty slow periods. Plus I turned my small business into a micro-business, use every tax loophole available and do far more grunt work myself. It is not easy, that is for sure.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:48 | 6143488 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

  Here's some good news... It certainly made my day after wanting to throw Liesman in a wood chipper after the GDP print.

  Banker jumps to his death from luxury apartment | New York Post

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 11:11 | 6143783 Kprime
Kprime's picture

why is it always bankers?  You ever hear the following

plumber jumps to his death from high rise

hair dresser jumps to her death from tower

McDonald's flipper jumps to his death (he really should)

Auto mechanic jumps to his death from the top of a bus

 

and they say marijuana makes you do crazy things, try drinking the banker coolaid.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:50 | 6143494 fremannx
fremannx's picture

Evidence of a looming deflationaryy depression just keeps mounting. This print is further confirmation that the vortex is spiraling out of control...

http://www.globaldeflationnews.com/inflation-vs-deflation-part-1which-on...

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 09:57 | 6143526 Smegley Wanxalot
Smegley Wanxalot's picture

Fuck yeah, I've been doing my part to bring down GDP for a long while.  Glad to know the rest of Dumbfuck USA is finally waking up a bit.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:08 | 6143559 Seal
Seal's picture

This has NOTHING to do with stock prices

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:27 | 6143596 steelrules
steelrules's picture

Shemitah! I'll jump in with both feet and call the next market collapse in September. You and I don't have to believe in this hocus pocus but the bankers of that tribe do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5M7NngNW70

 

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 11:22 | 6143837 Tursas
Tursas's picture

Just the Jewish Banking Empire under Rothshilds at work - Empire is growing in strength and the GAME gets stronger!  They use this fable to keep the plebs obedient and multiplying!

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:19 | 6143602 mrdenis
mrdenis's picture

If the numbers don't fit you must resubmit ..

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:56 | 6143732 Tursas
Tursas's picture

Numbers = shoes?

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 10:19 | 6143604 Shitgum Suicide
Shitgum Suicide's picture

You can't pollish a turd but you can roll it in glitter.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 11:00 | 6143745 Kprime
Kprime's picture

spray paint them with gold flake and sell them at the flea market.  After all people buy "proof struck' coated with .000000000000000000000000000000000000001% 24 carat fine gold tin trinkets for 19.95 each, especially when they are strictly limited to 5 per caller.

 

GET UR GOLD PLAINTED SHIT HERE, only 19.95, strictly limited to 2 per moron.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 12:18 | 6144040 I Write Code
I Write Code's picture

I want you in the Republican candidates debate!

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!