Tuesday, July 16, 2013

The Housing "Recovery" in One Chart


Click to enlarge.

Welcome to 1989.

Source Data:
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart

11 comments:

Troy said...

http://i.imgur.com/9Pw8ckJ.jpg

via reddit

Stagflationary Mark said...

Troy,

That is the most depressing picture I've seen in a long time. It definitely feeds my long-term employment growth gloom and doom.

The "person" in that picture never complains and can "work" 24 hours a day each and every day without pay? Sigh.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting again--your charts do more than any other website to debunk the sycophantic BS we are fed by our public relations mainstream media.

Stagflationary Mark said...

Anonymous,

One wonders if the are any mainstream economists left who can fog a rear view mirror. ;)

Housing Starts in U.S. Unexpectedly Fall to Lowest in a Year

Work began on 836,000 houses at an annualized rate last month, the least since August 2012 and down 9.9 percent from a revised 928,000 pace in May, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. The reading was weaker than projected by any economist in a Bloomberg survey, and permits for future projects also declined.

Emphasis added.

Stagflationary Mark said...

As a side note, this news implies ZIRP could be with us longer than projected by any economist as well. I can think of one in particular.

Jeremy Siegel once assured us that the Fed would raise rates well before 2014.

Any second now! Brace for it, lol. Sigh.

Anonymous said...

Well B-enron Bernanke has said that if rates go up too much he will push back. So there is a good chance that long rates could be capped at 2.5% for the ten year or some such tomfoolery. This of course happened after the "emergency" that we had in WW2. This "emergency" we are in NOW bears more resemblance to the old TV series from the 60's (??).

http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/historical-inflation-rates/

See 1947 on the above chart, as an example of capped rates and what inflation can do in such "emergencies."

LOL--TIP heaven--not that I am wishing TIP heaven on anyone :).

mab said...

One wonders if the are any mainstream economists left who can fog a rear view mirror.

The future is so bright I have to where shades. ;)

Anonymous said...

Mark - You're on a tear - thanks!

Fred

Stagflationary Mark said...

Anonymous,

See 1947 on the above chart, as an example of capped rates and what inflation can do in such "emergencies."

World War II was definitely factored into my investment decisions, not that I expect an exact replay 10+ years after our modern and financially innovative Great Recession.

I'm definitely not expecting a repeat of post-World War II, if for no other reason than women cannot enter the workforce en masse. They are already here! And currently looking for work! Well, some of them anyway. Sigh.

Stagflationary Mark said...

mab,

Over the long-term, we have an extremely bright future. I'd be a fool to deny it, lol. Sigh.

Stagflationary Mark said...

Fred,

Mark - You're on a tear - thanks!

Sprained ankle pun alert! ;)