PeakTrader.com

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PeakTrader said...

Even if Walmart destroys 1,000 jobs creating 100 jobs, it frees-up 900 people to do productive work. Also, Walmart drives-down prices and drives-up profits, which benefit society.

However, although Walmart workers are paid well above the minimum wage and above the industry average, perhaps they should receive quarterly or annual bonuses for contributing so much value to society.

Moreover, it does seems Walmart attracts other "brand name" businesses in the immediate area, and may increase property values (both commercial and residential).

Walmart frees people out of bondage, and creates capital so those free people can borrow at low rates to start their own businesses and hire people.

Of course, we could put people back into bondage digging holes and filling them up repeatedly.

Walmart induces demand through lower prices and lower interest rates. More goods and capital per person raise living standards. No one is forced to supply Walmart.

The alternative is shopping at Kmart, Target, a mom and pop store, etc. Some don't seem critical about those stores, which are less efficient at providing goods and capital for the masses.

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PeakTrader said...

Does Obama believe in free or fair trade?:

Obama: Pressing China on currency to make trade fair
Jun 30, 2010

"We've got to make sure that countries we're trading with are being fair. I believe in free trade," Obama said at a campaign-style meeting in Racine, Wisconsin.

I think, the Chinese elitists know if their export prices rise too much, U.S. multinationals will shift their operations to Indonesia or Bangladesh. Obama isn't satisfied destroying the U.S. economy. He may end up destroying the Chinese economy too.

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PeakTrader said...

A glass can be one-third full or two-thirds empty:

US new vehicle sales slowing, but still up in June
July 2nd, 2010

Sales for the first half of the year finished at 5.615 million (up 17 percent over 2009), with the latest projections estimating a total 2010 market of 11.1 million vehicles.

U.S. Auto Sales (new vehicles)

2002 16.8 million
2003 16.6 million
2004 16.9 million
2005 16.9 million
2006 16.5 million
2007 17.1 million
2008 14.1 million
2009 10.4 million

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rjs said...

here's a chart to show total sold, rather than YoY % change, back to 1967:

http://calculatedriskimages.blogspot.com/2010/07/light-vehicle-sales-long-june-2010.html

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PeakTrader said...

RJS, on the bottom of your chart are links to other charts, e.g. "Light Vehicle Sales (short)." Also, "Long Term Unemployed" and "Fannie Mae Serious Delinquency Rate" look awful.

So, the chart "Light Vehicle Sales (short)," i.e. monthly auto sales at annual rates, shows more of an L-shaped than V-shaped recovery.

Also, the "recovery" looks very uneven, in part, perhaps because of the many uncertainties created by government.

Earlier this year, many were predicting 12 million new auto sales in 2010, and almost everyone was predicting at least 11.5 million sales.

I stated before, this is a very expensive recovery, because the government has one foot on the accelerator and the other foot on the brake.

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PeakTrader said...

Unfortunately, the slowdown, this year, has begun, and next year, there may be a Perfect Storm of huge tax hikes, reduced government spending, private debt remaining high, and the U.S. reaching the 90% threshold of government debt-to-GDP, which locks in countries into slow growth and high unemployment economies. It looks like a slow U-shaped recovery at best.

There will be a huge tax hike from the new health care law next year, and another huge tax hike from the expiration of the Bush tax cuts.

The country could better handle tax hikes if there was a strong economic recovery underway rather than the weak recovery today.