The government released retail sales figures today – the number jumped 1.8 percent versus the 0.6% predicted by economists. The stock market panicked, dropped 2% despite solid earnings from many big companies. Everybody said the Fed would have to raise interest rates to slow down the steaming economy. They’re wrong because most of those products in retail sales aren’t even made in America, and they know that. The massive outsourcing of jobs has changed all the parameters, and Wall Street is still reacting to all the old parameters ~ all those Ph.D. economists are probably confused as hell right now, trying to figure out this profound flaw in their holy predictions. The sad part about this is that nobody has the courage to doubt the economists, even to the point of panicking when their expert predictions are wrong.
Moreover, their predictions have been consistently wrong since this whole so-called recovery began years ago, and people still haven’t shown even the first tentative signs of doubt… talk about brainwashing. This is something on the order of what the Nazis did.
Meanwhile, Intel’s stock – after reporting a 90% increase in revenue from a year ago, and a 60% profit margin on all their computer chips sold – dropped after hours. Four out of five computers in the whole world have Intel processors – little wonder they can get 60% profits; but lots of wonder why nobody has accused them of being a monopoly. The government didn’t mind going after Microsoft, because two competitors were backing them; but Intel doesn’t even have any competitors to help make the government’s case.