Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Disturbing Charts (Update 10)


I find the following charts to be disturbing.   These charts would be disturbing at any point in the economic cycle; that they (on average) depict such a tenuous situation now – 44 months after the official (as per the 9-20-10 NBER announcement) June 2009 end of the recession – is especially notable.

These charts raise a lot of questions.  As well, they highlight the “atypical” nature of our economic situation from a long-term historical perspective.

All of these charts (except one, as noted) are from the Federal Reserve, and represent the most recently updated data.

The following 8 charts are from the St. Louis Federal Reserve:

(click on charts to enlarge images)

Housing starts (last updated 2-20-13):

EconomicGreenfield 3-13-13 HOUST_2-20-13

-

The Federal Deficit (last updated 10-15-12):

EconomicGreenfield 3-13-13 FYFSD 10-15-12

-

Federal Net Outlays (last updated 10-15-12):

EconomicGreenfield 3-13-13 FYONET 10-15-12

-

State & Local Personal Income Tax Receipts  (% Change from Year Ago)(last updated 2-28-13):

EconomicGreenfield 3-13-13 ASLPITAX Percent Change from Year Ago

-

Total Loans and Leases of Commercial Banks (% Change from Year Ago)(last updated 3-9-13):

EconomicGreenfield 3-13-13 TOTLL Percent Change from Year Ago

-

Bank Credit – All Commercial Banks (% Change from Year Ago)(last updated 3-8-13):

EconomicGreenfield 3-13-13 TOTBKCR Percent Change from Year Ago

-

M1 Money Multiplier (last updated 2-28-13):

EconomicGreenfield 3-13-13 MULT

-

Median Duration of Unemployment (last updated 3-8-13):

EconomicGreenfield 3-13-13 UEMPMED

-

This next chart is from the CalculatedRisk.com blog post of March 8, 2013, titled "February Employment Report:  236,000 Jobs, 7.7% Unemployment Rate" and it shows (in red) the relative length and depth of this downturn and subsequent recovery from an employment perspective:

CR 3-8-13 EmployRecFeb2013

-

This last chart is of the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI, and its 3-month moving average CFNAI-MA3) and it depicts broad-based economic activity (last updated 2-25-13):

cfnai_monthly_MA3 2-25-13

-

I will continue to update these charts on an intermittent basis as they deserve close monitoring…

_____

The Special Note summarizes my overall thoughts about our economic situation

SPX at 1550.03 as this post is written

1 comment:

  1. How would these deficit and outlays charts change if you made them as % of GDP? Or as % of tax revenue? Things have structurally changed in the US since 1920.
    Thanks for putting this together. Very interesting.

    ReplyDelete