Despite the constant barrage of bullsh*t narratives from the Old Wall Establishment Media trying to convince people that the economy is “rainbows and puppy dogs” – the economic reality is not good (and it’s getting worse).
In this brief clip from The Macro Show this morning, Hedgeye CEO Keith McCullough cites something the financial MSM loves to ignore.
Data.
“The July University of Michigan Consumer Confidence number slowed,” explains McCullough. “All people were talking about was the Conference Board number accelerating earlier in the week. It was the only number that accelerated—in all of U.S. economic data. Red Book Retail Sales slowed. Aggregate Retail Sales slowed. Industrial production went negative.”
“We are in a f**ked up situation right now when it gets down to the selective disclosure that people have about the numbers. June was a consumer slowing month and a big ass, Big “G” government spending month. That’s what happened.”
As far as that “big ass, Big “G” government spending month is concerned, here’s what we pointed out in Weekend Reading.
The headline 2.4% 2Q GDP growth number is highly misleading. Look below the surface. As U.S. Macro analyst Christian Drake wrote, the Consumption component continues to decelerate as “real spending growth remains in Trend deceleration and on a path to converge with zero growth.”
Then there’s the Government spending component. Our Senior Macro analyst Josh Steiner points out that, “In the last two quarters, on a year-over-year basis, Government spending has accelerated from 0.9% to 2.7% (in 1Q) then from 2.7% to 3.8% this quarter.”
American consumption falling? Government spending accelerating? Not exactly a clean bill of health for the U.S. economy.
In closing, two key takeaways: First, the U.S. economy is not well. Second, choose your news sources wisely.
