Wisdom

Saving the American Ideal

"It’s no longer Republican versus Democrat. It’s not about good government or bad government. It’s not even 'liberal' versus 'conservative.' It’s about limiting the government’s monopoly on force and unleashing our freedom to try, to choose, to take responsibility, and to make things better. It is about the political elites and the insiders they collude with versus America. It’s Them versus Us, for sure."

-- Matt Kibbe,

FMC Barometers

Numbers as of last Friday close.

• Gold: 1,282.70 (-2.97%)
• Reuters-Jeffries CRB: 173.35
• Total Govt Spend as % of GDP: 36.5%

[Total = Federal, state & local
Source: usgovernmentspending.com]

• Quarterly Gross Output (GO): $44.4 trillion +7.9% (Real GO for Q2 2018)

What is Gross Output?

Why are these numbers important?

Shadow Stats Snapshot

ShadowStats alternate economic indicators are based on the methodology of noted economist John Williams, specialist in government economic reporting.

• Unemployment:
  BLS: 4.05%
  Shadow Stats: 21.5%
• Inflation:
  January Year-to-Year: 2.87% (CPI-U*)
  Shadow Stats: 9.9%

*[cpi-u is the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation rate for all urban consumers]