So far for the last two weeks all the panic and bad news has been about Europe, It was our turn after America hogged the lime light for so long with its shameless showing off over its debt ceiling. But I think next week America might be about to muscle back to centre stage.
Two things make me think this. First was the news that Dell was just not doing as well selling cheap computers as everyone was expecting. It seems the US consumer is just not stepping up. And today we have an absolutely crushing report from the Philadelphia FED. The report is their usual survey of confidence in their area which all the regional Feds do. Last month it was +3.2 and the usual experts predicted this month would be +2. The result today is -32!
The number measures ‘confidence in their area. But the report also measures tangible things such as manufacturing orders and shipment orders . Both were way down. So were the number of contracts to build a new house. Seems cancellations are increasing as banks and borrowers both pull out.
Put these things together and I think we are seeing the breeze that precedes the storm front. I think we are about to see a collapse in consumer spending and if it happens then we will get a collapse in the one and only bright spot in the US – the Tech bubble. If people stop buying iPads and cable television subscriptions then the full-on reloaded recession is here.
Meanwhile Matt Taibbi writes on a whistleblower's claims that, for the past two decades, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has been destroying the records of its preliminary investigations into financial crime once they're closed. This apparently includes the Madoff case.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/is-the-sec-covering-up-wall-street-crimes-20110817
Test post
I seem to be having difficulty posting on the 'Greece' thread in reply to Golem & others?
If this works I'll try again there!