Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Food and Gasoline

Here's a blast from the past.

March 20, 2008
Eating Out vs. Eating at Home v.3



Here's the update to that chart. While updating the data I noticed that there have been some serious revisions to the data. It does not change the overall effect though.



I'm still bearish.


Apologies to all Darden investors. Perhaps I should have posted this chart sooner.

December 21, 2010
Darden Gets Cooked On Slippage In Comps

Stock tanks nearly 5% as Red Lobster and Olive Garden operator sees sales at existing outlets fall from last year.

In my defense, it was actually the news from Darden that inspired me to update these charts though. Go figure.

Here's a glimpse of gasoline sales.




Did I mention that I'm still bearish?

I offer a special thanks to Ben Bernanke. There's nothing quite like rising gasoline prices to create all kinds of pretend prosperity. Your ongoing actions should give this blog plenty of long-term staying power, lol. Sigh.


Source Data:
U.S. Census: Monthly & Annual Retail Trade
St. Louis Fed: CPI-U
St. Louis Fed: Population

6 comments:

mab said...

Stag,

Bernanke is a fool. His understanding of inflation is pathetic.

Ten to fifteen million households have negative equity thanks to Greensham and Bernanke. And the percentage of commercial properties that are underwater is likely higher.

The solution? Cover up the Fed's incompetence, cover up fraud and inflate gas (& cpi) prices.

Unbelievable.

Stagflationary Mark said...

Bernanke's Best One-Liners of 2010

Enjoy!

Charles Kiting said...

I love how gasoline sales are up but vehicle miles are flat. And this AFTER cash 4 clunkers took some guzzlers off the road (allegedly).

If I were a cynic, I'd say the cash 4 clunkers program was the harbinger of quantitative easing to come.

remy said...

Cash 4 clunkers was the auto industry stimulus gift... imo

Stagflationary Mark said...

Charles Kiting,

Let's not be cynical!

Let's just assume that all those extra gasoline station sales are for the great prices on beer and candy bars! Woohoo! Sigh.

Stagflationary Mark said...

remy,

If we're "lucky" it will be the gift that keeps on giving.

Who am I kidding? The auto industry gifts were just a one time only thing no doubt.