Post 355: Gold, Housing, Jobs & Debt: What the Data Is Really Telling Us And What It Isn’t

• Eddie Bauer: Another retailer is going by the wayside.
  • And a look back.
• For Canadians who file for insolvency, on average they owe money to over 10 different lenders.
• The Chart of the Century shows car prices in Canada going down 15% over a nine-year period.
  • When in fact they actually increased 23%
• US jobs numbers are once again revised downwards.
  • And Canada continues to struggle.
• Vancouver and Toronto lead the North American housing affordability crisis charts.
• A look at how high wages have grown much faster than lower wages.
  • This wasn’t always the case.
• Toys:
  • Mattel sales are still rising but the company is having to discount to move product.
    • Hot Wheels accounted for most of the growth.
  • Hasbro sales are booming in large part because, unlike Mattel, they pivoted to a “digital first” strategy including gaming.
    • Wizards and Digital Gaming was up +86%.
• Sugar prices are plummeting.
  • But it’s probably not because of weight-loss drugs like Wegovy.
    • At least not yet.
• In Financial Ructions:
  • He’s back: The Reuters main stream economics journalist.
    • And a few corrections.
  • And what could drive the second phase of the gold bull market.
• In our book review section, we finish our review of the great book by John B. Taylor.
  • Taylor says that the great economic harm caused by the GFC was a result of “a series of unpredictable government actions and interventions with little or no basis in economic theory.”
    • With the Fed keeping short-term rates at basement levels for so long it started to impact long-term interest rates.
  • An unwillingness to admit what the issues were, and their own role in the debacle, delayed the Fed from doing the right thing.
  • And he finishes off saying that policy should be based on the way things are and not the way we wish them to be.
    • Ah men.