Lost in all the stories yesterday about gas-pedal problems at Toyota, the impact on their sales in January (which fell almost 50% from December), and sales gains by GM and Ford was the fact that overall domestic vehicle sales (including the big 3 and foreign transplants) plunged to an annual rate of 7.9 million vehicles in January, much worse than analyst expectations of a small decline from 8.5 million in December to 8.4 million. After rising for three consecutive months, domestic vehicle sales fell in January to their lowest level since October.
Aside from the happy 4th quarter GDP report, evidence is mounting that the economy has stalled again and may already be back-sliding into recession – the “double dip” that many economists have predicted. Jobless claims have begun rising again; job losses have resumed and now vehicle sales have slipped badly. The government’s efforts to gloss over the realities of the post-globalization economy and the root causes of the collapse are failing. The Federal Reserve is out of ammo and will halt its balance sheet expansion (currently in the form of purchases of mortgage-backed assets from the banks) in March. And patience with exploding deficits is growing thin. Things are going to get very interesting this year.
"Five Short Blasts" Forum 
Pete:
I read in a news article that the Federal Reserve recently purchased some elaborate equipment and is now dredging for “gold” in Lake Michigan.
Is there something that you should be telling your readers?
Ooops! Just our luck. It was “fools gold”.
Another wasted $100 billion. Oh well, it’s only money. Just add it to our tab!
Our new national motto “A Penny Earned is A Dollar Spent”.
I like that last line, Mark! Or, I suppose the banking system version might be something like “A penny earned can be securitized and sold for thousands of dollars!”
To Who?
Fannie-Mae & Freddie-Mac?
i.e., the American Tax Payers.
Why was the U.S. mainland never bombed or invaded during WWII?
The “Instinct For Survival”. We took the INITIATIVE!
WE RISKED ALL TO SURVIVE!
What would General Marshall, General Patton and General McArthur think if they were alive today?
Why are we NOW so willing to give up everything they fought for?
WE AGAIN ARE IN A WAR FOR SURVIVAL! WE JUST WON’T ADMIT IT!
If our economic CASUALTY LIST (Federal Deficit) was converted from “dollars” into “human lives” we would have ended this now decade long economic “Price Point – Free Trade” war years ago.
Again, why are we so willing to throw it all away on a policy (Free Trade) that we have interpreted and implemented SO POORLY?
I often wonder what our founding fathers would think if they came back and saw how our economy was being run and how their constitution was being interpreted. I suspect they’d immediately sit down and draft some new amendments to prevent the things that they assumed no responsible national leadership would ever do, but now do routinely to satisfy their corporate benefactors.
Would deforestation feel like this?
The eloquent inscription on the Statue of Liberty includes the following:
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
We ARE here!
Politicians LISTEN, TALK & TALK & TALK…
Leaders LISTEN, ANALYZE & ACT…
WHERE ARE OUR LEADERS?
WHO ARE OUR LEADERS?
WILL ANYONE PLEASE STAND UP?