Store Inventory Levels Reduced Nationwide

[angelburst29]

In late Fall, there were news reports of a large number of container ships waiting to dock and unload goods in California, Boston and New Jersey. At the same time, the Docker's Union were threatening to strike. Since then, China and neighboring Countries have reduced their number of Container Ships to the U.S. About three weeks ago, there was a AP report of low activity of Container and Supply Ships in the docks and transit was light to moderate (coming in and out of Port). The Baltic Dry Index is down due, to the decline in the shipments of goods, which affects retail and consumer goods including grocery.

After Walmart systematically flooded the U.S. with it's stores, successfully closing many smaller established food chains (AP, Giant, Grand Union, Family Pride, etc.) and Mom & Pop ethnic corner stores, by offering low prices and low pay to it's employees, it's now systematically pulling out it's smaller stores - leaving customers to travel miles to it's larger Walmart Supercenters. I suspect, prices for groceries and dry goods will steadily increase in the next few months. Sam's Club, which is a parent company of Walmart and serves as a warehouse and distribution center will eventual stop it's membership program, for buying in bulk. Target has increased it's store's grocery dept. but only have a fraction of stores, compared to Walmart.

Walmart closures a “double blow” for many frustrated residents
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/walmart-stores-nationwide-closures-impact-small-towns-employees/

January 29, 2016 - More than 100 Walmarts around the country shut their doors Thursday for good — many in small towns and rural areas with few other shopping options.

The retailer cites a long-term strategy shift and financial performance. Company shares are down 25 percent over the past 12 months, and the nationwide closures will also impact thousands of employees, reports CBS News correspondent David Begnaud.

Walmart is closing 154 stores in 27 states, many of them in small towns.



Shipping Said to Have Ceased… Is the Worldwide Economy Grinding to a Halt? (Report - Graphs)
http://www.maxkeiser.com/2016/01/shipping-said-to-have-ceased-is-the-worldwide-economy-grinding-to-a-halt/

Last week, I received news from a contact who is friends with one of the biggest billionaire shipping families in the world. He told me they had no ships at sea right now, because operating them meant running at a loss.

This weekend, reports are circulating saying much the same thing: The North Atlantic has little or no cargo ships traveling in its waters. Instead, they are anchored. Unmoving. Empty.

You can see one such report here. According to it,

Commerce between Europe and North America has literally come to a halt. For the first time in known history, not one cargo ship is in-transit in the North Atlantic between Europe and North America. All of them (hundreds) are either anchored offshore or in-port. NOTHING is moving.

This has never happened before. It is a horrific economic sign; proof that commerce is literally stopped.

We checked VesselFinder.com and it appears to show no ships in transit anywhere in the world. We aren’t experts on shipping, however, so if you have a better site or source to track this apparent phenomenon, please let us know.

We also checked MarineTraffic.com, and it seemed to show the same thing. Not a ship in transit…

If true, this would be catastrophic for world trade. Even if it’s not true, shipping is still nearly dead in the water according to other indices. The Baltic Dry Index, an assessment of the price of moving major raw materials by sea, was already at record all-time lows a month ago.

In the last month it has dropped even more, especially in the last week.

Factories aren’t buying and retailers aren’t stocking. The ratio of inventory to sales in the US is an indicator of this. The last time that ratio was this high was during the “great recession” in 2008.

The world’s economy seems in serious trouble. You can’t print your way to prosperity. All you are doing is hollowing out your economy. Draining it. And sooner or later it’s empty and you have to start over after a good deal of crisis and chaos.



Longshoremen strike at ports in New York and New Jersey
http://www.thetrucker.com/News/Stories/2016/1/29/LongshoremenstrikeatportsinNewYorkandNewJersey

NEWARK, N.J. — More than 1,000 longshoremen have walked off the job at ports in New York and New Jersey, putting ship unloading at a standstill.

The walkout began at about 11 a.m. Friday. It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted the action.

No ships were being unloaded and no trucks were being allowed to enter the port.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is the ports’ operator. It is working to get trucks that were in the port at the time out of the area.

Spokespeople for the International Longshoremen’s Association and the New York Shipping Association didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking information.

The New York-New Jersey port is the busiest port on the East Coast and the second-busiest in the country, behind Los Angeles/Long Beach, California.



Strike Shuts Down Third-Biggest U.S. Port
http://www.portside.org/2016-01-30/strike-shuts-down-third-biggest-us-port

A labor dispute has shut down one of America's busiest ports. More than 1,000 union dock workers in New York City walked off the job Friday, halting business at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey shipping terminals. The bi-state agency operates a vast complex of terminals in Newark, Elizabeth, Brooklyn and Staten Island and rents those facilities to 40 different shippers.

In a statement, the Port Authority confirmed the walkout and asked members of the International Longshoremen Association (ILA) to return to work. "As the agency that oversees the largest port complex on the East Coast, we strongly urge the ILA members to return to work immediately and resolve their differences after they return," the agency wrote. "In the meantime, Port Authority Police are actively working to ensure public safety for all of the stakeholders at the port." A spokesperson for the New York Shippers Association (NYSA), which represents the port's shipping companies, told CBS MoneyWatch the group believes the job action constitutes an "illegal strike" because the ILA is operating under a current and binding contract. -



Report: Store Inventory Levels Reduced Nationwide: “Stock Up Now While You Can!”
_http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/report-store-inventory-levels-reduced-nationwide-stock-up-now-while-you-can_01292016

Sometimes good comments are worth an entire article.

#1 (From DJ, January 24, 2016)

[Regarding the] alerts about the current state of the RR industry. This is in line with what I’ve been noticing as I visited our local/regional grocery store, Walmart, and Target this week in WI. I worked in big box retail for 20 years specializing in Inventory Management. These stores are all using computerized inventory management systems that monitor and automatically replenish inventory when levels/shelf stock get low. This prevents “out of stocks” and lost sales. These companies rely on the ability to replenish inventory quickly from regional warehouses.

As I shopped this week and looked at inventory levels I was shocked. There were numerous (above and beyond acceptable levels) out of stocks across category lines at all three retailers. And even where inventory was on the shelf, the overall levels were noticeably reduced. Based on my experience, working for two of these three organizations in store management, they have drastically/intentionally reduced their inventory levels. This is either due to financial stresses/poor sales effecting their ability to acquire new inventory, or it could be the result of what was mentioned earlier regarding the transporting of goods to these regional warehouses. Either way this doesn’t bode well for the what’s to come. Stock up now while you can!”

#2 (From a Commenter following up #1 who didn’t provide a name, January 26, 2016)

“I’d like to tailgate on the SQ Alert “based on my experience…” regarding stock levels in big box stores. This weekend we were in two such stores, each in fairly isolated communities which are easily the communities’ best source for acquiring grocery items in quantity.

I myself worked in retail (meat) for thirty years so I know exactly what a well-stocked store looks like, understand the key categories and category drivers, and how shelves are stocked and displays are built to drive sales and profits. I also understand supply chain and distribution methodologies quite well.

Each of the stores we were in were woefully under-stocked. This time of year-the few weeks following the holidays-is usually big business in groceries and low stock levels suggest either poor ordering at the store level, poor purchasing at the distribution level or a purposeful desire to be under-stocked.

Anyone familiar with the retail grocery industry is also familiar with how highly touted “the big box store’s” infrastructure is. They know exactly when demand is high and for what items and in what quantities. It is very unlikely that both stores somehow got “surprised” by unusually high demand. It is reasonable then to imagine that low stock levels in rural areas with few options is a purposed endeavor to assure that both the budget conscious and the folks in more remote areas are not fully able to load up their pantries.

Simply put I believe the major retailer in question is doing their part to limit the ability of rural America to be sufficiently prepared. Nevertheless, we are wise to do our best to keep ahead of the curve. God bless your efforts, Steve.”

Now, both of these two guys have a lot of experience regarding inventory and supply at the retail level. The comments fall upon the heels of the railroads in the U.S. suffering declines in revenue to match a corresponding decline in the shipments of goods and containers. As of this writing, the BDI (Baltic Dry Index) is down to 317; this alone should be substantial cause for alarm. We are seeing supplies disappear in the stores because of the plummeting BDI and the oil companies defaulting due to the plunging price of crude.

Note - I would "highly suggest" doing a household inventory of products generally used, making a list, including food items and doing whatever is in your means and budget - to obtain and stock up on needed goods in the very near future. Warm clothing, paper products, detergent, soap are another factor.

 

[angelburst29]

The Final Blueprint for the Enslavement of the American People
http://investmentwatchblog.com/the-final-blueprint-for-the-enslavement-of-the-american-people/

The Baltic Dry Index continues to plummet. America’s debt ratio, with regard to credit card debt, student loan debt, the Federal Reserve’s inability to pay even the interest on the derivatives debt and the coming negative interest rates, spells disaster. I implore you to act now, and I mean today!

The only thing left to do is for the banksters to steal your bank accounts. The correct “crisis” will bring about the collapse of the dollar now that the wealth transfer has largely been accomplished.

What America Will Look Like Following the Collapse of the Dollar

The aftermath of an economic collapse can take different forms, however, history demonstrates that there are some universal things you can count on:

1. Obamavilles People will lose their jobs and ultimately will be evicted from their homes and America will see a dramatic spike in the rate of homelessness. During the Great Depression (1929-1941),the growing number of homeless people in America began to live in communities with cardboard boxes as their only shelter. The communities took on the name “Hooverilles” in reference to the President that most Americans blamed for the Great Depression.

Today, as the economy collapses, a new homeless class will be created and they will come from the former middle class. A large number of Americans own property. This will shift to a large amount of properties that will subsequently be owned by the few and America will witness the introduction of feudalism to our country. This is why the Federal reserve has been buying $40 billion dollars of mortgage backed securities every month.

2. Dramatic Food Shortages Because of “Just In Time” deliveries, the American food industry operates on quick and multiple deliveries and survives only as the result of the rapid payment of invoices. As the failing economy reaches the service industry, most of these business will fail in very large numbers. Who then, will be delivering the food?

3. Food Riots Because of the food shortages, riots and organized gang violence will occur. The military is trained to isolate these
areas, but will not intervene. If you call 911, nobody will be answering. This will be the time that you wished you had listened to many in the alternative media because this is the time that America will begin to see a large loss of life.

4. Martial Law Will Be Declared DHS and the military have already practiced for this development. Travel will be limited and it will stopped all together in areas where the civil unrest is at its worst.

The 2012 and 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), will allow government officials to “disappear” anyone they want to and for any reason, or no reason at all. The NDAA suspends habeas corpus, provides for indefinite detention and this is done on the premise that certain kinds of Americans are threats (e.g. Second Amendment supporters, Bible-believing Christians). This is where the present harassment of Christians will turn into the outright persecution of Christians.

I think the public has a right to know how its government plans to handle future protests. Is America the new Venezuela, Egypt, or Ukraine? A previously secret document which was leaked online; entitled FM 3-39.40 Internment and Resettlement Operations (PDF).

RIOT FORMATIONS

H-42. Quick-reaction force teams should be established with a minimum response time. Because of the physical nature of riot control, individuals in riot control formations should not carry rifles. Nonlethal attachments should follow closely behind the riot control formation. Lethal coverage must be provided for this entire formation. (See FM 3-22.40.)

DESIGNATED MARKSMEN

H-43. During a nonlethal engagement, the use of designated marksmen provides confidence and safety to those facing a riot. If a lethal threat is presented, the designated marksmen in overwatch positions (armed with appropriate sniper weapons mounted with high-powered scopes) can scan a crowd and identify agitators and riot leaders for apprehension and fire lethal rounds if warranted. Additionally, they are ideally suited for flank security and countersniper operations. (See FM 3-22.40.).

Government Control Over All Fuel and Transportation

These are some of the things that government can do to you courtesy of several executive orders.

Executive Order 10990

Allows the government to take control over all modes of transportation, highways, and seaports.

Executive Order 11003

Allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.

Executive Order 11005

Allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways, and public storage facilities.

Executive Order 10997

Allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels, and minerals.

Government Control Over All Food and Water

Executive Order 10998

Allows the government to take over all food resources and farms

The Ability to Enslave the American People

Executive Order 11000

Allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.

Executive Order 11001

Allows the government to take over all health, education, and welfare functions.

Executive Order 11002

Designates the Postmaster General to operate national registration of all persons.

Executive Order 11004

Allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

Ability to Grant the President Total Dictatorial Control

Executive Order 11051

Specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

Executive Order 11310

Grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.

Executive Order 11049

Assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period.

There are more examples, but I think you get the idea. Your government has practiced to subjugate and even murder you in times such as these.

 

[angelburst29]

More than 1 million in US face food stamps cutoff
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/02/02/snap-j01.html

More than 1 million low-income people across the United States could soon lose their government food stamp benefits if they fail to meet work requirements. The threatened mass cutoff of the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits constitutes a vindictive bipartisan attack on some of the nation’s poorest and most vulnerable residents.

A Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) report last month predicted 500,000 to 1 million people would be cut off of SNAP benefits in 2016 due to the return in many areas of a three-month limit on benefits for unemployed adults aged 18-49 who are not disabled or raising minor children.

The SNAP cutoffs loom as hunger and food insecurity continue to rise sharply. According to the most recent statistics from Feeding America, a food bank network, a staggering 48.1 million Americans lived in food insecure households in 2014, including 32.8 million adults and 15.3 million children.

US food banks gave away about 4 billion pounds of food last year, double the amount a decade earlier. Social service providers and food pantries are bracing for an influx of hungry people in response to the SNAP rule change.

[...] The provision applies to “able-bodied” adults, ages 18-49, who have no children or other dependents in their homes. Such individuals must work, volunteer or attend education or job-training courses at least 80 hours a month. If they don’t, their benefits are cut off after three months.

Looking for work does not qualify as an exemption from the three-month cutoff. “Another major concern is that states are not required to offer people an opportunity to participate, to keep their benefits,” Lower-Basch said. “It’s one thing to say you’re going to have a work requirement to keep your benefits, but we’re going to offer you an opportunity to participate, and if you don’t you’re going to lose your benefits. But people can be cut off without being offered the opportunity.”

[...] The growing and unbridgeable gulf between the rich and poor in 21st century America finds one of its most noxious expressions in the drive by the ruling elite to slash minimal food assistance to some of the nation’s poorest and most vulnerable. While the presidential candidates in both big business parties trip over themselves to support the “war on terror” and the drive to war, the potential cutoff of 1.1 million people from food stamps receives no mention.

 

[curious_richard]

[...] The provision applies to “able-bodied” adults, ages 18-49, who have no children or other dependents in their homes. Such individuals must work, volunteer or attend education or job-training courses at least 80 hours a month. If they don’t, their benefits are cut off after three months.

If someone has no dependents, what is the problem with being a volunteer? That might be the easiest "job" one might have. Help other people and don't worry about job security. That seems a lot more rewarding than sitting at home and watching TV all day. One would have to be truly bad to be "fired" from a volunteer job.

Then there is the "education or job-training courses". There might be a price to pay for this, but I think anyone who is a good person can borrow from friends and relatives. I think it is a bad sign when someone's relatives and friends refuse to help. They probably know that "helping" that person is a waste.

 

[3DStudent]

The Final Blueprint for the Enslavement of the American People
http://investmentwatchblog.com/the-final-blueprint-for-the-enslavement-of-the-american-people/

I don't know if it's because I took 4 drops of 5% Lugol's today, and/or that I went to bed too late, but the economy issue hits me at a visceral level more than anything. As I was reading that I had a thought of, "I don't want to go through that, can we just get comets instead?" Anyone else feel something similar? Nonetheless angelburst29, it's good to stay grounded in reality and thanks for sharing.

 

[angelburst29]

Retail Apocalypse: 2016 Brings Empty Shelves And Store Closings All Across America
End of the American Dream – by Michael Snyder
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/retail-apocalypse-2016-brings-empty-shelves-and-store-closings-all-across-America

January 31st, 2016 - Major retailers in the United States are shutting down hundreds of stores, and shoppers are reporting alarmingly bare shelves in many retail locations that are still open all over the country. It appears that the retail apocalypse that made so many headlines in 2015 has gone to an entirely new level as we enter 2016. As economic activity slows down and Internet retailers capture more of the market, brick and mortar retailers are cutting their losses. This is especially true in areas that are on the lower portion of the income scale. In impoverished urban centers all over the nation, it is not uncommon to find entire malls that have now been completely abandoned. It has been estimated that there is about a billion square feet of retail space sitting empty in this country, and this crisis is only going to get worse as the retail apocalypse accelerates.

We always get a wave of store closings after the holiday shopping season, but this year has been particularly active. The following are just a few of the big retailers that have already made major announcements…

-Wal-Mart is closing 269 stores, including 154 inside the United States.

-K-Mart is closing down more than two dozen stores over the next several months.

-J.C. Penney will be permanently shutting down 47 more stores after closing a total of 40 stores in 2015.

-Macy’s has decided that it needs to shutter 36 stores and lay offapproximately 2,500 employees.

-The Gap is in the process of closing 175 stores in North America.

-Aeropostale is in the process of closing 84 stores all across America.

-Finish Line has announced that 150 stores will be shutting down over the next few years.

-Sears has shut down about 600 stores over the past year or so, but sales at the stores that remain open continue to fall precipitously.

But these store closings are only part of the story.

All over the country, shoppers are noticing bare shelves and alarmingly low inventory levels. This is happening even at the largest and most prominent retailers.

 

[Yupo]

Here is some accurate back story on global shipping and inventories. I got this from World Affairs Brief. There is more, and more detail on that site from the brief last week.


ANALYSIS OF A DECLINING WORLD ECONOMY
Economic growth is down all across the world, including the USA, but that doesn’t mean that the economies are dying, dead or collapsing—as you would think if you listened to the ever-growing collapse crowd. A decline in growth is just that and is not an actual decline in the economy. Yes, there are strong deflationary forces but that is natural when central banks (which have been pumping up economies for decades) are being forced to be somewhat restrained in their money creation out of fear of igniting inflation again. I strongly object to the words “collapse” or “crash.” What we are seeing is the rather tumultuous volatility when the speculative markets have become too bloated as insiders seek higher than normal profits from speculation rather than investing in the real economy. These speculative markets are kept hot by new injections of electronic money created by the FED which go to insider brokers, banks, and Wall Street firms giving them an unfair advantage over the normal economy. A severe decline in these speculative markets will affect the real economy—but only partially as I will explain.

Let me give you some examples of the ill-informed headlines from the net that have been picked up and marketed by every hawker of gold and silver and other alternative investments:

“Venezuela declares economic emergency”
“Canadian dollar crashes”
“world markets ‘tanked’ as oil dropped below $30/barrel...”
“With the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) at an all time low, ships aren't moving raw materials around the world....”
"Commerce between Europe and North America has literally come to a halt. For the first time in known history, not one cargo ship is in-transit in the North Atlantic between Europe and North America.”

The last is simply not true, but the one thing that all these negative headlines have in common is that they are reflections of the strong decline in demand for raw commodities and the decline in the price of oil due to the current glut, which are not directly related. The low demand for shipping of commodities is driven in large part by the severe drop in Chinese demand and the high inventories of manufacturers who stockpiled large quantities in anticipation of continued demand.

The Chinese went on a totally artificial and government driven building boom, including whole cities that stand empty. The only part of the raw commodities demand in China that has not fallen is that of strategic minerals and steel used by the military armament industries which are still going full bore.

The decline in demand for raw commodities is related to the strong decline in shipping prices. As you may be aware, the big harbinger of doom that everyone in the alternative media is quoting is the strong decline in the Baltic Dry Index—a shipping price index which has declined even more recently. But a low price index doesn’t necessarily reflect a similar decline in volume. There are other factors, like excess capacity due to new construction started years ago when the boom was in full swing.

Inventories are now a major factor in raw commodities shipping. The production cycle for putting raw materials into finished industrial products is slower than the production of finished consumer products. Right now industries have high volumes of raw materials in inventory and thus few orders for bulk carriers of raw commodities. That will end as inventories are used up, but we are in a major lull right now that won’t end anytime soon.

In reality, even the Baltic Index has not collapsed at all, if you take a long term view. There have always been major cycles in raw materials demand. If you look at the last 5 years you see that yes, 2012 and 2014 were inflationary peaks, but it is currently only slightly lower than the average lows the industry has seen historically.

But what is really impacting the Index, both in bulk carriers and container ships is the amount of new tonnage in shipping that is coming out of shipyards. Here’s the data from MarineLink, one of the biggest shipping industry related websites, talking about this past year’s supply glut of ships:

Supply: 2015 will see a new record inflow of newbuilt tonnage. BIMCO forecasts close to 1.6 million TEU [Twenty-foot Equivalent Units, a measurement of ship container space] will be delivered by the end of 2015. This marks the highest inflow of new capacity ever. As the record settles, it will be done by less than 200 ships. The trend is strong, as 436 ships were needed to reach 1.502 million TEU in 2008. The container-ship fleet is going through large charges these years, as owners strive to cut down unit costs by introducing bigger and bigger ships everywhere. The average size of a newbuilt ship in 2015 is 8,400 TEU; in 2008 it was 3,435 TEU.

What’s more, even fewer ships have been retired than normal:

In the past three years, owners have parted with 553 ships with a combined capacity of 1.162 million TEU. 2015 marks an end to this flurry that has dented fleet growth markedly. So far, only 51 ships with a combined capacity of 94,000 TEU have been sold for demolition with the average built year being 1991, similar to that of 2013-14. Container-ship demolition activity has been weak for a full year now. [As a result] The fleet has grown by 5.8% until now and is expected to reach 7.3%, which is the highest in four years and largely surpassing demand growth.

As you can see a glut in the supply of new ships is also responsible for this decline in shipping prices. And the glut hasn’t stopped. Look at the new shipping still on order:

At the halfway point through the year, container-ship capacity equal to that of the full 2014 has been ordered. At the end of August 1.4 million TEU of new contracts had entered into the orderbook. Orders hold no surprises at all, neither in size nor in numbers, as no ships with a capacity in the [small] range of 5,300 TEU to 8,800 TEU have been ordered since 2011. Moreover, half of the new orders were in the shape of 37 ships with +18,000 TEU capacity, with another 39 ships with 10,000-14,000 TEU [large] capacity.

A much more accurate indicator of shipping volume is for finished products, mostly shipped by containers. Let’s look these actual volumes, according to MarineLink:

The container shipping market may find comfort in the fact that global volumes were up by 1.1% in the first six months of 2015. Following a disastrous first quarter, all three months of the second quarter posted year-on-year increases. Behind the headline, though, the story of US East Coast imports was the only positive one on the vital East–West trading lanes. First-half growth of 17% was posted after an immensely strong first quarter.

That paints a totally different picture than the claim that shipping on the Atlantic between the US and Europe has “ceased.” In fact, it is shipping from Asia to the US West Coast that has declined the most.

On the US West Coast, it’s been slow all year, starting with the labour disputes that weren't resolved until mid-March. Since then year-on-year growth in the second quarter was almost on par with 2014. But for the first half year alone, inbound loaded volumes dropped by 2% according to BIMCO data.

Trade between Asia and Europe has also declined, but not precipitously:

On the Asia to Europe trades, volumes were down by 4.2% in the first half of the year as 7.4 million TEU was transported. Northern European imports fell by 3.6%, while the East Med and Black Sea imports fell by 4.8%. In the first six months of the year, the euro dropped 19% compared to the yuan, and this resulted in more costly imports, which dampened importers’ interest.

Let’s look at shipping out of China exclusively. These have dropped significantly according to the China Containerized Freight Index (CCFI), which explains the strong decline in the Chinese stock market:

The severe lack of exports from China is seen from the composite index, which dropped below 800 in early July. This is the first time on record (index started January 2009) that the index went below 800.

The instability of the Chinese markets has destabilized all the Asian markets and there has been some repercussion in Western markets as well.

 

[LQB]

Here is some accurate back story on global shipping and inventories. I got this from World Affairs Brief. There is more, and more detail on that site from the brief last week.

Thanks for the analysis Yupo - good stuff.

 

[angelburst29]

Peter Schiff: Obama “Peddling Fiction” As Unemployed Tops 100 Million People (Video)
http://thelastgreatstand.com/2016/02/07/peter-schiff-obama-peddling-fiction-as-unemployed-tops-100-million-people/

In the video below, President Obama gives one of the most disingenuous speeches he has ever given. Either the man is a pathological liar, or in the alternate universe where he lives, there really is an economic recovery, and unicorns really do run free! Neither of those things helps any of the now 100 million Americans living in REALITY who are not currently working.

While all the sane people in our weary nation are bracing for a global economic reset, Obama is flat out "peddling fiction," as he put it during his State of the Union speech. There is no other way to say it. Period. It’s unconscionable that Obama is STILL out in front of the cameras taking credit for a recovery when 1/3 of our entire nation’s POPULATION is out of work. Listen to him spew his garbage!

Meanwhile, in the second video, Peter Schiff gives his assessment of the economy where the rest of us live, where there is NO recovery, and where none of us get to ride magical unicorns bred and paid for by the evil rich.

Friday, Peter said the complete antithesis of what Obama did, starting by talking about the brutal hit the NASDAQ took this week when it dropped ANOTHER 5.5%, and don’t forget the markets had their worst January in the history of the stock market, so the NASDAQ could ill afford to drop another 5.5% drop in only a week. This week's plunge puts the NASDAQ down over 17% just since January 1st. After just :10 seconds into the video, Peter has already told more truth than all of Obama’s press conference.

Peter also discusses what is happening with the weakening U.S. Dollar, which also took a brutal hit this past week week when it suffered its worst loss since 2009. Without ruining the video for anyone intending to watch what Peter has to say about this week’s poor jobs report, I’ll make one comment about the future of the the U.S. economy. Recall from the post titled, Jim Willie Says the U.S. Dollar is Now a Matter of National Security Due to Fed’s Poor Decisions, that the Exchange Stabilization Fund is being used as a matter of national security to blunt massive worldwide sell-off of U.S, treasuries. The use of the fund prevents transparency in the bond market, and hides the carnage from plain view of investors. Despite that, the U.S. Dollar STILL had its worst week since 2009.

To anyone still buying the bullsh** Obama keeps shoveling: Do you need a bullhorn in your ear before you finally grasp the reality that the President is a pathological liar, and economic devastation is on the horizon for Americans who don’t prepare? As the article below highlights, we are at the same level of unemployment that the country faced during the HEIGHT of the Great Depression, and the global economic reset hasn't even hit yet!!!!!! Hello!?!?!

Saving the Republic writes:

No progress has been made economically when you write off people who have given up looking for a job. The unemployment rate (UE) of 4.9% Obama takes credit for is only based on those people who are on the books, the actual true unemployment rate is 23% (22.9%)

At it’s HEIGHT during the Great Depression the Unemployment Rate reached 25%!

By the govts Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers:

94,062,000 Americans are out of the work/ labor force

+ 7,800,000 Americans are officially on the books as unemployed

= 101,862,000 Americans are out of work

If you also factor a percentage of those on disability because their UE benefits ran out, so people applied and were granted disability benefits, the number of those out of work grows even higher!


Welcome to the Recovery – 1 Out of 7 Americans (45.5 Million) Remain on Food Stamps
http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2016/02/04/welcome-to-the-recovery-1-out-of-7-americans-45-5-million-remain-on-food-stamps/

The following article from the New York Times is shameful in many ways. While the paper is forced to cover the undeniable fact that real wages for the lowest income Americans have plunged during the so-called “economic recovery” over the past six years, it fails to actually pin blame on the undemocratic, oligarch institution most responsible for this humanitarian crisis: The Federal Reserve.

Of course, I and many others have been saying this for years, but now more than half a decade into what is supposed to be a recovery, people are finally being forced to admit what this really is — large scale theft.

In fact, Ben Bernanke and his crew of upward wealth distributing academics have pulled off the greatest wealth heist in American history. In its wake we have been left with a hollowed out, asset striped Banana Republic. Thanks for playin’ Main Street. Or more accurately, thanks for being played.

– From the post: The Oligarch Recovery – Study Shows Real Wages Have Plunged for Low Income Workers During the “Recovery”

More than six years into Dear Leader’s glorious economic recovery, 45.5 million Americans, or one in seven, remain on food stamps.

I’d say that’s a problem, but I don’t want to be accused of “peddling economic fiction.”

From Bloomberg:

During the 2007-2009 recession, state and federal governments actively encouraged people like Crofoot to take advantage of the aid. Millions did, and many are still claiming benefits. Enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the formal name for food stamps, remains near record levels, even as the unemployment rate has fallen by half.

“When unemployment was rising people said enrollment would fall sharply when things got better,” said Parke Wilde, an associate professor of nutrition policy at Tufts University in Boston. “That hasn’t happened.”

About 45.4 million Americans, roughly one-seventh of the population, received nutrition aid last October, the most recent month of data. Unemployment was 5 percent that month. The last time joblessness fell to that level, in April 2008, 28 million Americans used food stamps, and the program cost less than half of what the government paid out last year.

There goes Bloomberg News, “peddling that economic fiction” again.

The uneven recovery has swelled the ranks of long-term unemployed and reduced the number of people working or looking for work, further boosting demand. Even for those with jobs, pay may be lower than in the past: In real dollars, SNAP recipients in 2014 had net incomes of $335 a month, the lowest since at least 1989.

Read that over and over and over again. Since 1989. Now here’s a chart of what a gradual transition into oligarch serfdom looks like:

Able-bodied, unemployed adults aged 18-49 who don’t have children are supposed to be limited to three months of food stamp benefits during a 36-month period. That can be extended during tough job markets, a provision that’s boosted the percentage of recipients who fit that description to 10.3 percent in 2014 from 6.7 percent in 2007.

But isn’t the job market supposed to be strong?

I think it’s clear who’s actually peddling economic fiction, and it’s not me.

For more on the oligarch recovery, see:

The Oligarch Recovery – U.S. Military Veterans are Selling Their Pensions in Order to Pay the Bills

Use of Alternative Financial Services, Such as Payday Loans, Continues to Increase Despite the “Recovery”

The Oligarch Recovery – 30 Million Americans Have Tapped Retirement Savings Early in Last 12 Months

The Oligarch Recovery – Study Shows Real Wages Have Plunged for Low Income Workers During the “Recovery”

Another Tale from the Oligarch Recovery – How a $1,500 Sofa Costs $4,150 When You’re Poor

 

[angelburst29]

Canada - Goodwill retail shutdown blamed on ‘fiscal crisis’
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/01/18/goodwill-retail-shutdown-is-unavoidable-says-toronto-ceo.html

Mon Jan 18 2016 - A fiscal crisis brought on by high rent and declining sales has forced the surprise closure of 16 Toronto-area Goodwill stores, according to the charity’s CEO Keiko Nakamura.

The 80-year old organization, which collects and resells donated clothes and goods, abruptly shut down 16 stores, 10 donation centres and two offices in the GTA, Barrie, Orillia and Brockville on Sunday.

The shut down has left the organization’s 430 retail workers, drivers, and cashiers “shocked and deeply concerned,” according to their union.

“Goodwill stores also help a lot of low-income people with community programming and affordable shopping. We need to get these stores open and our members back on the job,” said Artan Milaj, the Canadian Airport Workers Union (CAWU) vice-president, in an emailed statement on Monday.

Goodwill Industries of Toronto, Eastern, Central and Northern Ontario reported total revenue in 2014 of just over $28 million and expenses of $29 million, according to the registered charity’s tax filing. It also reported more than $4 million in government funding.

Ontario budget documents show that the organization received $1.7 million in funding from the Ministry of Community and Social Services last year. The charity also delivers employment services on behalf of Employment Ontario.

Nakamura made $206,763.90 as CEO of Goodwill Toronto, Eastern, Central and Northern Ontario in 2014 according to Ontario's Sunshine List, which tracks all public sector workers who make more than $100,000 yearly.

Also listed is David Chu, vice president of business services. Chu made $129,252.47 in 2014. Both received roughly $8,800 in taxable benefits in addition to their salaries.


Update - Mon Feb 08 2016

Goodwill Toronto files for bankruptcy, loses rights to Goodwill name
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/02/08/goodwill-toronto-files-for-bankruptcy-loses-goodwill-name.html

Goodwill Industries of Toronto, Eastern, Central and Northern Ontario has filed for bankruptcy and lost its right to use the Goodwill name, three weeks after abruptly closing its doors.

The news came in two separate announcements Monday. In one, posted on the charity’s website, CEO Keiko Nakamura announced the company had filed for bankruptcy and hopes to restructure.

“We’re considering elements to the number of stores that would reopen … this give us a great opportunity to really look at the real estate that we are in,” Nakamura told the Star.

Goodwill TECNO abruptly closed all 16 of its stores, 10 donation centres and two offices on Jan. 17, throwing more than 400 people out of work. The entire board of directors had resigned two days before.

Nakamura said the company was challenged by a low-profit market that had to compete with other retail businesses.

 

[angelburst29]

Parmesan cheese sold at stores including Walmart and Whole Foods might not be what you think it is
https://www.yahoo.com/food/parmesan-cheese-sold-stores-walmart-170007725.html

A new report shows your favorite Parmesan cheese may contain some ingredients that you might find disconcerting.

Bloomberg News tested store-bought grated cheeses for cellulose, revealing that all of the cheeses tested contained the anti-clumping additive made of wood pulp.

Walmart's Great Value 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese registered 7.8% cellulose, while Jewel-Osco's Essential Everyday 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese clocked in at 8.8%.

Kraft had 3.8%.

Cheese makers and retailers told Bloomberg they were investigating the test results further.

Cellulose is a safe additive, Bloomberg notes, listed as an ingredient in these "100%" cheeses. However, an acceptable level is 2% to 4%.

Whole Foods does not list cellulose as an ingredient, but the Whole Foods 365 Parmesan tested at 0.3% cellulose.

The company told Bloomberg it is investigating the matter, but believes the test may have been a false positive.

Cheese makers often mix in higher levels of the wood pulp when making cheese because it is more inexpensive than pure Parmesan.

The FDA is investigating another cheese marker: Castle Cheese Inc.

The company’s president is scheduled this month to plead guilty to pumping products full of cellulose and using cheaper cheddar instead of real Romano.


Some brands promising 100 percent purity contained no Parmesan at all.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-16/the-parmesan-cheese-you-sprinkle-on-your-penne-could-be-wood

The cheese police are on the case.

Acting on a tip, agents of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration paid a surprise visit to a cheese factory in rural Pennsylvania on a cold November day in 2012.

They found what they were looking for: evidence that Castle Cheese Inc. was doctoring its 100 percent real parmesan with cut-rate substitutes and such fillers as wood pulp and distributing it to some of the country’s biggest grocery chains.

One might be tempted to think of this as a ripped-from-the-headlines episode of “NYPD Bleu,” except that the FDA wasn’t playing. Some grated Parmesan suppliers have been mislabeling products by filling them with too much cellulose, a common anti-clumping agent made from wood pulp, or using cheaper cheddar, instead of real Romano. Castle President Michelle Myrter is scheduled to plead guilty this month to criminal charges. She faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

German brewers protect their reputations with Reinheitsgebot, a series of purity laws first drawn up 500 years ago, and Champagne makers prohibit most vineyards outside their turf from using the name. Now the full force of the U.S. government has been brought to bear defending the authenticity of grated hard Italian cheeses. Which is good news for Neil Schuman.

For years, Schuman has been a one-man Reinheitsgebot, insisting that the fragrant granules Americans sprinkle on their pizza and penne ought to be the real thing; if not, the label should say so.

The stakes are 100 percent real for him. Schuman’s Fairfield, New Jersey-based company, Arthur Schuman Inc., is the biggest seller of hard Italian cheeses in the U.S., with 33 percent of the domestic market. He estimates that 20 percent of U.S. production — worth $375 million in sales — is mislabeled.

“The tipping point was grated cheese, where less than less than 40 percent of the product was actually a cheese product,” Schuman said. “Consumers are innocent, and they’re not getting what they bargained for. And that’s just wrong.”

How serious is the problem? Bloomberg News had store-bought grated cheese tested for wood-pulp content by an independent laboratory.

Cellulose is a safe additive, and an acceptable level is 2 percent to 4 percent, according to Dean Sommer, a cheese technologist at the Center for Dairy Research in Madison, Wisconsin. Essential Everyday 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese, from Jewel-Osco, was 8.8 percent cellulose, while Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Great Value 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese registered 7.8 percent, according to test results. Whole Foods 365 brand didn’t list cellulose as an ingredient on the label, but still tested at 0.3 percent. Kraft had 3.8 percent.

“We remain committed to the quality of our products,” Michael Mullen, a Kraft Heinz Co. spokesman, said in an e-mail. John Forrest Ales, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said he questioned the reliability of testing a single sample and that Wal-Mart’s “compliance team is looking into these findings.”

Jewel-Osco is also investigating, spokeswoman Mary Frances Trucco said in an e-mail. “We pride ourselves on the quality of products we deliver for our customers,” Trucco said.

“We strongly believe that there is no cellulose present,” Blaire Kniffin, a Whole Foods Market Inc. spokeswoman, said in an e-mail, adding that it could have been a false positive. “But we are investigating this matter.”

According to the FDA’s report on Castle, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, , “no parmesan cheese was used to manufacture” the Market Pantry brand 100% grated Parmesan Cheese, sold by Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc., which along with its subsidiaries supplies 3,400 retail stores in 30 states. Instead, there was a mixture of Swiss, mozzarella, white cheddar and cellulose, according to the FDA.

Castle has never been an authorized Target vendor, according to Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder. “We are investigating the information provided in the report,” she said in an e-mail. Jeff Pedersen, an executive vice president of Associated Wholesale Grocers, had no comment.

DairiConcepts, a Springfield, Missouri-based cheese maker that’s a subsidiary of Dairy Farmers of America, said on its website that in a test of 28 brands, only one-third of label claims about protein levels in grated parmesan were accurate. The company blamed fillers such as cellulose.

Until recently, there was little incentive to follow labeling rules. Criminal cases are rare. That’s because the FDA, which enforces the country’s food laws, prioritizes health hazards, said John Spink, director of the Food Fraud Initiative at Michigan State University. But civil lawsuits abound. A Jan. 29 complaint accuses McDonald’s Corp. of selling pure mozzarella sticks that contain starch , considered a filler, a claim the company denies.

Cheese makers commit adulteration because it saves money.

Marty Wilson, chief executive officer of New York-based Sugar Foods, which buys cheese from Schuman and supplies major pizza chains with to-go packets of parmesan, said whenever his contracts come up for renewal, competitors peddling ersatz cheeses surface. And he has lost business to them. “We’re constantly battling cheap imitators across all of our product lines,” Wilson said.

Bob Greco of Cheese Merchants of America said competitors hawking bastardized products have underbid him by as much as 30 percent. “The bad guys win and the rule-followers lose,” Greco said.

The FDA regulates what can legally be called Parmesan or Romano according to standards established in the 1950s to ensure that manufacturers wouldn’t sell cheeses wildly different in composition.

Americans love their hard Italian cheeses. Last year, U.S. Parmesan output rose 11 percent from 2014 to around 336 million pounds, while Romano production grew 20 percent, to 54 million pounds, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

Italian producers, however, aren’t loving it as much. The Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium, a trade group based in Rome, asked the European Union in December to protect its manufacturers against U.S. companies that were using the names of their cheeses and Italian flags on their packaging. “A deceit” is how the organization’s president, Giuseppe Alai, characterized Americans’ use of Italian names and symbols.

Of all the popular cheeses in the U.S., the hard Italian varieties are the most likely to have fillers because of their expense. Parmesan wheels sit in curing rooms for months, losing moisture, which results in a smaller yield than other cheeses offer. While 100 pounds of milk might produce 10 pounds of cheddar, it makes only eight pounds of Parmesan. That two-pound difference means millions of dollars to manufacturers, according to Sommer.

Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania-based Castle produced mainly imitation cheeses for nearly 30 years. The company, whose factory was adorned with crenelated battlements and curved archways to look like a medieval castle, had $19 million in sales in 2013.

The trouble started in 2010 when it began making what it called 100 percent grated Parmesan. A plant manager designed flawed recipes, and after Castle fired him in 2012, he alerted the FDA, the company said in a December 2012 letter to the agency, obtained through the FOIA.

The FDA accused Castle Cheese of marketing as real grated Parmesan what was in fact a mixture of imitation cheese and trimmings of Swiss, white cheddar, Havarti and mozzarella. After the probe, Castle stopped production of the problematic cheeses and dumped inventories. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2014.

A lawyer for Michelle Myrter and Castle Cheese didn’t respond to requests for comment. In the 2012 letter to the FDA, Castle said there was inadequate documentation, and the FDA could note only the potential that the products weren’t 100 percent pure.

Lauren E. Sucher, an FDA spokeswoman, said the agency couldn’t comment on pending legal cases. “The FDA takes economic fraud very seriously,” she said in an e-mail.

The FDA’s investigation may be the spark that changes things, said John Umhoefer, executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.

“The industry wants to be known for a wholesome, safe, honest product — it’s what’s kept the industry growing for 100 years,” he said. “The wholesomeness of dairy products is a treasured part of our story.”

 

[angelburst29]

A Frostburg State University, Maryland teacher is bucking the status quo, offering a course in Survival Skills and it's gaining traction.

Instead of Providing “Safe Spaces” This University Teaches Survival Skills
http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/instead-of-providing-safe-spaces-this-university-teaches-survival-skills-02222016

Once upon a time, the goal of higher education was to prepare kids for life, but in past decades they’ve gotten further and further from that path. Now, in an era of crybabies and safe spaces, one university teaches survival skills and is completely bucking the status quo.

Frostburg State University has a freshman-level interdisciplinary course called Doomsday Preppers and Surviving the Unexpected Emergency, playing off the popularity of the National Geographic Channel’s show of the same name. In the class, Recreation and Parks Management Professor Robert Kauffman teaches disaster preparedness to help the kids get ready for a variety of scenarios. Kauffman is the author of a paper about “the rescue curve” that discusses the point at which injury, damage or loss can increase as time between an incident and an intervention increases. The class is now in its second semester of preparing students for emergencies, and the professor plans to continue it next year. Here’s a little bit more about the course:

In Kauffman’s class, he uses clips from “Castaway” and “Blast From the Past” among others to augment his examples of the psychological and physical effects of disaster preparedness.

As January’s snowstorm demonstrated, these skills come in handy whether stranded on a highway or isolated in your neighborhood.

Among the assignments in IDIS 150, students have to plan for short-term disasters and one-year disasters, take inventory of their food at home, design a shelter, determine how much in supplies and food they need, organize communication tools and, yes, learn how to prep for life in an underground bunker. But it’s the more likely scenarios that Kauffman really hopes the students will be prepared for.

“It is a reprocessing of your camping skills. Really, what we did is take the old-fashioned camping course and repackaged it,” Kauffman said. “The real emphasis is surviving the unexpected emergency we could be thrust into anytime, our car breaking down on the road, being stranded at a rest stop, or we just had a storm where people were stranded for three days.”

Ebersole, of New Enterprise, Pa., found the course helpful for when he goes hunting in the winter. He now makes sure he has an extra coat and supplies in his car for unexpected situations. It was a simple exercise in class that showed him why it’s important to have extra supplies.

“We pulled out everything from our pockets, and whatever you had with you at the time is what you’ll have during an emergency,” he said.

He also was well-prepared for the January snowstorm in part thanks to the class, having stocked up on enough food and supplies to make it until his neighborhood’s streets were cleared.

These kids are being prepared for actual life, toughening up by considering the possibilities, and gaining the confidence that comes from being ready to meet challenges.

Liberal Institutions of Wussification

This is in sharp contrast to what many colleges are teaching these days. Instead of nurturing competent kids into adults that can go out and conquer the world, they’re wrapping them in cotton and turning them into wusses who require shelter from mean words.

Just last week, Rutgers University was the scene of a dramatic protest with an aftermath that required trauma counseling. If you’re wondering what awful thing happened, there was a guest lecturer who hurt some of the students feelings. In protest, they smeared blood on their faces, because words. Words had wounded them.

Afterward, they had to seek help in a group therapy session to deal with the trauma of listening to another opinion. Many students said in the aftermath that they were fearful as they slunk around the campus for days after the event.

Protesters at the University of Missouri required a “safe space” to recuperate from the rigors of protesting, in which no one could say mean things to them and the media couldn’t report on them.

So unbelievably gutless are many young adults that numerous guides have been written about how to keep from offending, treading upon, or discriminating against anyone. (You can see a list of these guides here so you can laugh at them follow the new rules of conduct.)

Matthew McConaughey gave the 2015 commencement speech at the University of Houston, and may not be invited back. “Life’s not fair. It never was, isn’t now and won’t ever be. Do not fall into the entitled trap of feeling like you’re a victim. You are not.”

What do you think kids should be learning to prepare them for adult life?

If we really wanted kids to be prepared for an adult life full of accomplishments and freedom, we’d teach them that overcoming obstacles is the route to success, not hiding under your blankie. Never have I seen it so well said than in this essay by a combat veteran Marine.

If you were designing a course for life for kids stepping into adulthood, what would that course teach? Disaster preparedness? How to handle your finances? How to budget? Home economics? Shop? It seems that none of these things is included in education anymore, and we’re sending kids out into the world completely unprepared, deeply in debt, and unable to find employment.

No longer do youngsters seek adventure and live to tell the tale (at least not without someone getting arrested or taken away by CPS). Helicopter parenting and “higher education” are lowering the thresholds of common sense and, well, cajones. These coddled, wimpy kids could be the sensitive future leaders of our country, an alarming thought at best.

The course at Frostburg is a refreshing change from the tripe we’re seeing in the news from other colleges. I would much rather send my kids to a place where the headline is “University Teaches Survival Skills” than one that says “University Creates Safe Spaces for Word-Wounded Students.”

Here’s hoping that other schools follow their leads.

 

[Yupo]

Did you mean to include links to other materials? I didn't see any. Good article.

 

[A Jay]

An interesting chart from the US Census Bureau:

https://www.census.gov/mtis/www/data/pdf/mtis_current.pdf

Seems the inventories/sales ratio got out of 'normal' levels in the latter part of 2014, and has been going up ever since. Not good.

 

[angelburst29]

Did you mean to include links to other materials? I didn't see any. Good article.

Hi Yupo, you might be interested in this article on "Surviving the Unexpected Emergency" which I had passed on to family and friends. It focuses on several topics and gives good common sense ideas - that are easy to implement.

Hard Core Realities: How Horrific Will It Be For People That Fail To Prep
http://www.fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/hard-core-realities-how-horrific-will-it-be-for-people-that-fail-to-prep/152059