This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Are these 27 statistics one-offs or combined signs of a gasping economy?

27 indications of economic struggle but are they an aberration or an accurate sign of the times?

There are any number of opinions on how the US economy is actually doing and whether it's heading in the right or wrong direction!

Whether it's statistics such as the labor force participation rate, mortgage originations, GDP growth or retail sales the combined evidence concerning economic strength is not particularly encouraging.

Is it simply due to rough winter weather as so many claim or is it actually more of a systemic problem?

Find out what's happening in Syossetwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

And, that said, is the United States we poised for an economic climb as the White House believes, or a fall as many economic prognosticators believe?

The following list of 27 economic indicators seem to point to the latter point but, if any reader has similar evidence to the contrary, we would love to see and report that as well!

#1 Despite endless assurances from the Obama administration that we are in an “economic recovery”, the number one concern for U.S. voters is “Unemployment/Jobs” according to a recent Gallup survey.
#2 Historically, sales for construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar have been a pretty good indicator of where the global economy is heading next.  Unfortunately, sales were down 13 percentlast month and have now experienced year over year declines for 17 months in a row.
#3 During the first quarter of 2014, profits at office supply giant Staples fell by 43.5 percent.
#4 Foot traffic at Wal-Mart stores fell by 1.4 percent during the first quarter of 2014.  Analysts seem puzzled as to why Wal-Mart is “underperforming“.  Perhaps it is because the U.S. middle class is being steadily destroyed and U.S. consumers are tapped out at this point.
#5 It is being projected that Sears will soon close hundreds more stores and will eventually go out of business altogether…
The company said this week that it may sell its 51% stake in Sears Canada, which operates nearly 20% of the company’s stores worldwide. It has quietly closed nearly 100 U.S. stores in the last year. Next week, it’s expected to announce dismal fiscal first quarter results and possibly yet more store closings.
“They have too many stores and they’re losing a lot of money, burning cash,” said John Kernan, an analyst with Cowen.Kernan expects the company to close 500 of its 1,980 U.S. stores in a few years and, ultimately, to go out of business.
“The lights are going off at Sears and Kmart,” he said. “There are tumbleweeds blowing through the parking lots at Kmart. They’re basically completely irrelevant.”The “retail apocalypse” just continues to roll on, but the mainstream media is treating this like it is not really a big deal.
#6 The labor force participation rate for Americans from the age of 25 to the age of 29 has fallen to an all-time record low.
#7 According to official government numbers, everyone is unemployed in 20 percent of all American families.
#8 As families struggle to pay their bills, many of them are increasingly turning to debt in order to make ends meet.  Earlier this month we learned that total U.S. household debt has increased for three quarters in a row.  And as I noted in one recent article, total consumer credit in the United States has increased by 22 percent over the past three years, and 56 percent of all Americans have “subprime credit” at this point.
#9 Interest rates on student loans are scheduled to increase substantially on July 1st…
As of July 1, federal student loan rates will edge up. Rates overall will be up 0.8% compared to current rates.
Federal Stafford Loans for undergraduate students will be 4.66% — up from 3.86%. Federal Stafford Loans for graduate students will be 6.21% — up from 5.41%.
Federal Grad PLUS and Federal Parent PLUS Loans will be at 7.21% — up from 6.41%.This is going to put even more pressure on the growing student loan debt bubble.
#10 U.S. industrial production fell by 0.6 percent in April.  This should not be happening if the economy truly was “recovering”.

You can read numbers 11-27 at the Hallmark Abstract Service blog here.
 

Find out what's happening in Syossetwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?