By
Monty Pelerin, posted January 3rd, 2010 http://www.economicnoise.com/2010/01/03/some-recovery/
Sucker Born Every Minute
Below is a graph from the US Treasury Department. It tracks the
rolling 12-month growth rates of taxes received. There are two points
to be made:
- Two of the three categories are down 30%; the other is down about 8%.
- There is no indication that these figures have stopped going down.
The government is telling us that the recession is over. Forecasts for the 4th quarter GDP run as high as 5%
At best, this is surreal mathematics, probably unsaleable to a sixth
grader (in private school). At worst, it is outright duplicity on the
part of the government.
Simply put, there can be no recovery without private sector growth. The chart below clearly shows the private sector is not growing but continuing to shrink!
I have maintained in several posts that we are nearing an end point
where the economy, government, the currency or a combination of the
three occurs. If some of us can see this, surely many inside the
government know it. After all, they are supposed to be smarter and
certainly have access to better data. Because there are no options or
ways out of what must happen, I have likened the government to a
cornered, wounded animal that is willing to do ANYTHING to survive.
Lying to the public is probably the least harmful thing they can do.
Two posts earlier today dealt with other data published by the
government that make no sense, at least with respect to an economic
recovery. These are Unemployment and Market Manipulation?
