Record Retirements Continue in August

8/31/09 922,000 new Social Security retirees so far this year. Breaks the recent record in 2000 of 601,000. Most of these people probably stopped looking for work and will help keep the August unemployment rate below 10%.

Payments to Docs Rising Fast

8/28/09 Greedy Doctors? July Y/Y payment to doctors jumped close to 5 % while wages of the general public fell 5%.

July Retail Sales

August 15 2009 - The July Retail Sales report - Retail sales x autos x gasoline stations x Building material continues to fall.

8/14/09 MZM is a monetary aggregate that I call the official money "under the mattress." Its all the cash and money in banks that you can get your hands on quickly without a hassle when you really want to buy something and a credit card just won't do. At the end of July this supply of money was still near a record high level. My hunch is that this high level is sustained by cash (USD) held by foreigners.

8/14/09 Port of LA Containers report for July shows a m/m increase in outbound containers but year over year there was a 20% decline. When will the effects of a weaker dollar kick in? Does China's peg to the USD negate the advantage of a weak dollar with our trading partners in Asia?

New Social Security Retirees so far this year

8/1/09 Record increase in new Social Security retirees this year. What's driving this increase? Demographics or a bad economy?